Frances Talbot, Countess of Morley

Frances Talbot was the daughter of a surgeon, Thomas Talbot of Wymondham. Her brother, Thomas Sugden Talbot, was a clergyman. This branch of the Talbot family was a junior branch of the Talbots of Salesbury and Bashall, and had acquired their estate of Gonville Hall during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. == Marriage ==

Talbot married John Parker, then Baron Boringdon, in August 1809. It was his second marriage, the first one having ended in scandal. His first wife, a daughter of the Earl of Westmorland, divorced him and married Arthur Paget as a result of her husband's many infidelities. == Literary interests ==

, c.1852 Talbot was an early admirer of the work of Jane Austen, though it is not clear how they came to be acquainted; it is possible that they were introduced through Austen's brother, Henry Thomas Austen. and she received a personal copy of Emma from Austen. Talbot was mistakenly identified as a possible author of both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility; strangely enough, her husband's first wife was also sometimes put forth as a possible author of the latter novel. She lithographed the plates for Portraits of the Spruggins Family, another work to which she was mistakenly attributed authorship. == Death ==

Talbot died at Saltram on 6 December 1857 and was buried in the family vault at Plympton St Mary. == References ==