Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry

Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (née Vane-Tempest; 17 January 1800 – 20 January 1865) was an Anglo-Irish heiress and noblewoman. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet, and married Charles Stewart, 1st Baron Stewart. She became a marchioness in 1822 when Charles succeeded his half-brother as Marquess of Londonderry.

Life Frances Anne was the only child of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet, and his wife Anne MacDonnell, 2nd Countess of Antrim.

In 1819 she married and became the second wife of Charles William Stewart, 1st Baron Stewart, who dutifully changed his name and became Charles William Vane. In 1822 she became a marchioness when her husband succeeded his half-brother Lord Castlereagh to become the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. With her husband, she developed an extensive coal mining operation that included coal mines, a railway, and docks at Seaham.

She sought to promote the political career of her eldest son, George Vane-Tempest, and was a patron of Benjamin Disraeli.

She built Garron Tower north of Carnlough, County Antrim, as a summer residence for herself.

When her husband died in 1854, she commissioned an equestrian statue showing him as a hussar, which was unveiled in 1861 and still stands on the market place in Durham, England. The sculptor was Raffaelle Monti.

Through her daughter, Lady Frances Vane, wife of John Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, she is the great-grandmother of Winston Churchill.

Issue

George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry (1821–1884) Lady Frances Anne Vane (1822–1899); married John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane (1823–1874), godchild of Alexander I of Russia; married Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington. Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest (1825–1864), politician; became insane, and had to be medically restrained. Lady Adelaide Emelina Caroline Vane (c. 1830–1882); disgraced the family by eloping with her brother's tutor, Rev. Frederick Henry Law. Lord Ernest McDonnell Vane-Tempest (1836–1885), fell in with a press-gang and had to be bought a commission in the army, from which he was subsequently cashiered. The Marchioness of Londonderry in 1831 at the coronation of King William IV. Portrait of the Marchioness of Londonderry by Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet

Frederick William Robert Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry (1805–1872), was her stepson.

Ancestry