Frances Molesworth, later Marchioness Camden
British, 1760 - 1829
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyFrances Molesworth was born around 1760, the only child of Anne (Smyth) and William Molesworth, of Wembury, Devonshire. Following the early deaths of her father (1762) and mother (1767), she was raised by her mother's only surviving sibling, Lady Margaret Bingham (d.1814), and her husband, Sir Charles Bingham (1735-1799), created first Baron Lucan in 1776. Her beauty, wealth, and accomplishments outshone that of the Lucans' three daughters--the eldest of whom, Lavinia, was two years younger than she (see cat.nos. 81, 148). Eager to see their niece settled, the Lucans announced on January 8, 1778 that she would wed William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (1737-1805), a prominent politician who became prime minister in 1782. Mary Delany believed the seventeen-year-old heiress could do better if only she would assert herself, for she had "a fortune of £40,000, and a right to twice as much, but she is pretty, quiet, and young, and I believe will be obedient to his nod." By January 24, however, Frances had broken off the engagement. One newspaper claimed that Lord Shelburne's subscription of £100 toward the support of American prisoners convinced her that he would squander her fortune. It was more widely reported, however, that Lord and Lady Lucan had imposed on their unwilling niece, who at the eleventh hour tearfully begged her aunt to "break off the detested match." Encountering Frances Molesworth in Florence in October 1778, Sir Horace Mann observed, "I cannot blame [her] for refusing the Lord who wished to marry her. With her figure and fortune she won't want younger admirers to choose from." Indeed, she soon refused a second proposal from a widower who "made a horrid husband to his first wife," and a third in December 1779 from George Augustus North (later 3rd Earl of Guilford), who "had not sixpence in the world, from his own extravagance." Finally, at the age of twenty-five, she met John Jeffreys Pratt, Viscount Bayham (1759-1840), eldest son of the first Earl Camden and a recent graduate of Cambridge who was just a year older than she. Within three weeks of their meeting, they were engaged, and despite the bride's reputation as a jilt, the marriage took place on December 31, 1785 at Lord Lucan's house in Charles Street, Berkeley Square. Gossips charged Lucan with cheating Frances of much of her inheritance, but according to Horace Walpole, it was actually her cousin Sir William Molesworth who deprived her of all but £30,000, which Lucan "nursed...up to £45,000." John Jeffreys Pratt had already embarked on a distinguished political career, serving as Member of Parliament for Bath from 1780-94 and Lord of the Admiralty from 1782-89. After succeeding his father as 2nd Earl Camden in 1794, he served as Lieutenant of Ireland from 1795-98 and was created Marquess Camden in 1812. While raising three daughters and a son, Lady Camden sustained a prominent role in court circles. When her uncle was created Earl of Lucan in 1795, Walpole credited her influence, observing dryly, "No wonder. Lady Camden, the Vice-Queen, is, as you know, Lady Lucan's niece." Renowned in youth for her beauty, Lady Camden deteriorated rapidly in middle age; one stunned acquaintance remarked in 1805: "How altered she is, from a very pretty, round-faced girl, which I remember her, with an elegant little figure, and beautiful teeth, she is now a little hump-back wizened woman, with black teeth, and yet she is not much above forty." Lady Camden died on July 7, 1829.
