1. Frances Horner was depicted several times by Edward Burne-Jones, and commissioned works by Edwin Lutyens, Eric Gill, and William Nicholson.
17 Facts About Frances Horner
1. 2.
Frances Horner was the impetus for Norah Lindsay beginning a paid career as a garden designer as her garden at Mells Manor was designed by Lindsay.
3.
Frances Horner was the sixth child and fourth daughter of William Graham and Jane Catherine.
4.
Frances Horner's father became the head of the family business which imported dry goods from India and Graham's port from Portugal.
5.
Frances Horner served as the Liberal MP for Glasgow from 1865 to 1874.
6.
Frances Horner was educated at home by governesses, at Langley Hall near Manchester and later at 54 Lowndes Square in London.
7.
In 1869, when Frances Horner was 15, he drew her as "The Lady of the Window" in the Vita Nuova.
8.
Frances Horner was included in The Golden Stairs in 1880, carrying cymbals at the bottom of the stairs.
9.
Frances Horner has been described as one of the most important women in his life, after his wife, his daughter and his mistress Maria Zambaco.
10.
Frances Horner's family owned Mells Manor and Mells Park near Frome in Somerset.
11.
Frances Horner's husband served as a Justice of the Peace, a Deputy Lieutenant, and became the latest in a long line of Horners to serve as High Sheriff of Somerset in 1885.
12.
Frances Horner became Lady Horner when her husband became a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1907.
13.
Frances Horner continued her father's role as friend and patron of Burne-Jones.
14.
Frances Horner undertook elaborate embroidery work: an example designed by Burne-Jones, hangs in St Andrew's Church, Mells.
15.
The village of Mells contains other works commissioned by Frances Horner from leading artists, including two shelters designed by Lutyens in memory of her son Mark Frances Horner, both with lettering by Gill.
16.
Frances Horner served as a Justice of the Peace, and she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1919.
17.
Frances Horner continued to live in Mells after her husband's death in 1927, living with her widowed daughter Katharine Asquith.