Frances Cowper | |
|---|---|
| Viscountess Jocelyn | |
 Lithograph of Viscountess Jocelyn, c. 1849 | |
| Full name | Lady Frances Elizabeth Cowper |
| Born | 9 February 1820[1] London, England |
| Died | 26 March 1880 (aged 60) Cannes, France |
| Husband | |
| Issue | Edith Gore, Viscountess Sudley Robert Jocelyn, 4th Earl of Roden |
| Father | Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper |
| Mother | Emily Lamb, Countess Cowper |
Frances Elizabeth Jocelyn, Viscountess Jocelyn, VA (née Cowper; 9 February 1820 – 26 March 1880) was a British courtier and amateur photographer. She was born as the youngest daughter of Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper and his wife Emily Lamb. However, some have speculated that she and her brother William were fathered by Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, whom Lady Cowper married in 1839, after Cowper's death. Before her marriage, Lady Frances served as one of the trainbearers at the coronation of Queen Victoria, and she also served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of the queen to Prince Albert in 1840.
Lady Frances married Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn, the son and heir of the 3rd Earl of Roden, in 1841, and became a Lady of the Bedchamber to the queen later that year. Lord Jocelyn died in 1854, devastating his wife. Lady Jocelyn later turned to photography, focusing on domesticity, a subject that was common for women photographers in the Victorian era. The Encyclopaedia of Nineteenth-century Photography has written that her photographic collages – collections of cut-up images re-inserted onto painted backdrops – and use of watercolours "subverted the realistic nature of photography".[2]
- ^ Courthope, William (1837). Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. J.G. & F. Rivington. p. 100. Retrieved 18 July 2024.