Frances Horner

Frances Jane Horner, Lady Horner (née Graham; 28 March 1854 – 1 March 1940) was a British hostess, member of the Souls social group, and a patron of the arts. She was depicted several times by Edward Burne-Jones, and commissioned works by Edwin Lutyens, Eric Gill, and William Nicholson. She was the impetus for Norah Lindsay beginning a paid career as a garden designer as her garden at Mells Manor was designed by Lindsay. Early life She was the sixth child and fourth daughter of William Graham (1817–1885) and Jane Catherine (née Lowndes; 1819/20–1899). Her father became the head of the family business which imported dry goods from India and Graham's port from Portugal. He served as the Liberal MP for Glasgow from 1865 to 1874. Both of her older brothers died young in 1872: Rutherford of diphtheria aged 23 and William of an accidental morphine overdose aged 17. Her younger sister Agnes married Herbert Jekyll, a younger brother of the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. She was educated at home by governesses, at Langley Hall near Manchester and later at 54 Lowndes Square in London. Her father's background in "trade" limited her opportunities in London society, but according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, she was one of the first young unmarried women in London to entertain her own guests.