Lady Frances (Finch) Courtenay

British, 1721 - 1761

BiographyLady Frances Finch was born on February 4, 1721, the fourth daughter among six children of Mary (Fisher) and Heneage Finch, 2nd Earl of Aylesford, of Packington Hall, Warwickshire. On April 2, 1741, at the Chapel in Duke Street, Westminster, she married Sir William Courtenay (1710-1762), 3rd Bart., of Powderham Castle, Devon. His father, Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet, was the first important patron of Thomas Hudson, a native of Devon who returned there every summer after establishing his London practice. Between 1728 and 1735 Sir William commissioned portraits, marine paintings, and other works from Hudson, and Lady Frances and her husband continued this patronage. Around 1746 they commissioned Hudson to paint a full-length of Lady Frances and two small heads of William (1742-1788) and Mary (1745-1784), the eldest of their five children. Around the same time, Hudson painted Lady Frances's father (c.1744, unlocated), her sisters, Mary, Viscountess Andover (1746, Ranger's House, Blackheath) and Lady Betty Finch (Powderham Castle). In about 1755 Hudson painted a half-length portrait of Lady Frances, and the following year he completed an immense group portrait of her family (Powderham Castle). Just five years later, on December 19, 1761, Lady Frances died at Bath at the age of forty. Her widower was created 1st Viscount Courtenay of Powderham on May 6, 1762, but died in London ten days later. Like his wife, he was buried at Powderham Castle.

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