# Frances Horner
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{{Distinguish|Francis Horner}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frances Horner
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|JP}}
| birth_name = Frances Jane Graham
| image = Frances Jane Horner.jpg
| caption = Lady Horner in the 1900s, by [W. & D. Downey](/source/W._%26_D._Downey)
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1854|03|28}}
| birth_place = [Kensington](/source/Kensington), London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1940|03|01|1854|03|28}}
| death_place = [Mells](/source/Mells%2C_Somerset), [Somerset](/source/Somerset), England
| spouse = {{marriage|[Sir John Horner](/source/John_Francis_Fortescue_Horner)|1883|1927|end=d}}
| children = 4; including [Katharine](/source/Katharine_Asquith) and [Edward](/source/Edward_William_Horner)
| occupation = Hostess, socialite
| parents = [William Graham](/source/William_Graham_(Glasgow_MP))
Jane Catherine Loundes
}}
'''Frances Jane Horner, Lady Horner''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|JP}} (''née'' '''Graham'''; 28 March 1854[''1939 England and Wales Register''] – 1 March 1940) was a British hostess, member of [the Souls](/source/the_Souls) social group, and a patron of the arts. She was depicted several times by [Edward Burne-Jones](/source/Edward_Burne-Jones), and commissioned works by [Edwin Lutyens](/source/Edwin_Lutyens), [Eric Gill](/source/Eric_Gill), and [William Nicholson](/source/William_Nicholson_(artist%2C_born_1872)). She was the impetus for [Norah Lindsay](/source/Norah_Lindsay) beginning a paid career as a garden designer as her garden at Mells Manor was designed by Lindsay.
==Early life==
She was the sixth child and fourth daughter of [William Graham](/source/William_Graham_(Glasgow_MP)) (1817–1885) and Jane Catherine (''née'' Lowndes; 1819/20–1899). Her father became the head of the family business which imported dry goods from India and [Graham's](/source/Graham's) [port](/source/Port_wine) from Portugal. He served as the [Liberal](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) MP for [Glasgow](/source/Glasgow_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) from 1865 to 1874.
Both of her older brothers died young in 1872: Rutherford of [diphtheria](/source/diphtheria) aged 23 and William of an accidental [morphine overdose](/source/morphine_overdose) aged 17. Her younger sister [Agnes](/source/Agnes_Jekyll) married Herbert Jekyll, a younger brother of the garden designer [Gertrude Jekyll](/source/Gertrude_Jekyll).
She was educated at home by governesses, at [Langley Hall](/source/Langley_Hall%2C_Cheshire) near Manchester and later at 54 [Lowndes Square](/source/Lowndes_Square) in London. Her father's background in "trade" limited her opportunities in London society, but according to the ''[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)'', she was one of the first young unmarried women in London to entertain her own guests.
Through her father's patronage of the [Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood](/source/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood), she became known to the artists [Dante Gabriel Rossetti](/source/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti) and [Edward Burne-Jones](/source/Edward_Burne-Jones). Although married, Burne-Jones became besotted with Frances, and painted her likeness in several works. In 1869, when Frances was 15, he drew her as "The Lady of the Window" in the [Vita Nuova](/source/Vita_Nuova). She was included in ''[The Golden Stairs](/source/The_Golden_Stairs)'' in 1880, carrying cymbals at the bottom of the stairs. She has been described as one of the most important women in his life, after his wife, his daughter and his mistress [Maria Zambaco](/source/Maria_Zambaco).
==Family==
In 1883, she married the barrister [John Francis Fortescue Horner](/source/John_Francis_Fortescue_Horner) (1842–1927). His family owned [Mells Manor](/source/Mells_Manor) and [Mells Park](/source/Mells_Park) near [Frome](/source/Frome) in Somerset. Her husband served as a [Justice of the Peace](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace), a [Deputy Lieutenant](/source/Deputy_Lieutenant), and became the latest in a long line of Horners to serve as [High Sheriff of Somerset](/source/High_Sheriff_of_Somerset) in 1885. With [Stafford Howard](/source/Stafford_Howard), he was a [Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues](/source/Commissioners_of_Woods%2C_Forests_and_Land_Revenues) from 1895 to 1907, charged with the management of [Crown lands](/source/Crown_Estate). She became Lady Horner when her husband became a [Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order](/source/Knight_Commander_of_the_Royal_Victorian_Order) (KCVO) in 1907.
They had four children:
* Cicely Margaret Horner (1883–1972); in 1908, she married [George Lambton](/source/George_Lambton), fifth son of [George Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham](/source/George_Lambton%2C_2nd_Earl_of_Durham); their children included [Ann Lambton](/source/Ann_Lambton)
* [Katharine Frances Horner](/source/Katharine_Asquith) (9 September 1885 – 9 July 1976); in 1907, she married the barrister [Raymond Asquith](/source/Raymond_Asquith) (1878–1916), the son of the politician [H. H. Asquith](/source/H._H._Asquith) who became British Prime Minister in 1908; Raymond Asquith was killed in the [Battle of Flers–Courcelette](/source/Battle_of_Flers%E2%80%93Courcelette) in the First World War; their son Julian succeeded his grandfather as [2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith](/source/Julian_Asquith%2C_2nd_Earl_of_Oxford_and_Asquith)[{{Cite web |url=http://www.janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FDUFC%2012 |title=Janus: The Papers of Alfred Duff Cooper (1st Viscount Norwich) |access-date=2017-10-18 |archive-date=2013-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031012439/http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FDUFC%2012 |url-status=dead }}]
* [Edward William Horner](/source/Edward_Horner) (3 May 1888 – 21 November 1917); he was killed at [Noyelles](/source/Noyelles-sur-Escaut) during the [Battle of Cambrai](/source/Battle_of_Cambrai_(1917)) in the First World War; he was a member of [The Coterie](/source/The_Coterie) with his brother-in-law Raymond Asquith.[[http://www.apollo-magazine.com/email/april-2006/75996/dulce-et-decorum.thtml "Dulce et Decorum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208000715/http://www.apollo-magazine.com/email/april-2006/75996/dulce-et-decorum.thtml |date=2012-02-08 }}, ''Apollo Magazine'', 7 August 2007, gives Edward's death as "killed at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917". He was buried in France, but his memorial at Mells was designed by his mother's friend [Edwin Lutyens](/source/Edwin_Lutyens).]
* Mark George Horner (1891–1908); died of [scarlet fever](/source/scarlet_fever) aged 16.
In 1900 Frances Horner, her husband and young family left Mells Park for the nearby and more manageable Manor House. The house at Mells Park was destroyed by a catastrophic fire in October 1917. Lutyens designed the replacement for the banker and politician [Reginald McKenna](/source/Reginald_McKenna) and his wife Pamela (''née'' Jekyll). Pamela was her niece, the daughter of Herbert Jekyll and her sister Agnes.
==Patronage ==
Horner became a hostess at [Mells](/source/Mells%2C_Somerset), entertaining their circle of artists and intellectuals, [the Souls](/source/the_Souls), which included [Edwin Lutyens](/source/Edwin_Lutyens), [H. H. Asquith](/source/H._H._Asquith) and [R. B. Haldane](/source/R._B._Haldane). [Lady Paget](/source/Walburga%2C_Lady_Paget) called her the "High Priestess" of the Souls.
She continued her father's role as friend and patron of Burne-Jones. She undertook elaborate embroidery work: an example designed by Burne-Jones, {{lang|fr|L'Amor che mouve il Sole e Faltre Stelle}} ("The love that moves the sun and other stars", a quotation from [Dante](/source/Dante)'s ''[Divine Comedy](/source/Divine_Comedy)'', ''[Paradiso](/source/Paradiso)'', Canto XXXIII, line 145) hangs in [St Andrew's Church, Mells](/source/St_Andrew's_Church%2C_Mells). She also commissioned for the church a stained glass window by [William Nicholson](/source/William_Nicholson_(artist%2C_born_1872)), commemorating her husband Sir John Horner; and a large [memorial to her elder son, Edward](/source/equestrian_statue_of_Edward_Horner), installed in 1920, comprising a bronze equestrian statue by [Alfred Munnings](/source/Alfred_Munnings) on a plinth by Lutyens, with lettering by [Eric Gill](/source/Eric_Gill).
The village of Mells contains other works commissioned by Horner, including two shelters designed by Lutyens in memory of her son Mark Horner, both with lettering by Gill. The [Mells War Memorial](/source/Mells_War_Memorial), also by Lutyens, was unveiled in 1921.
==Later life==
She served as a [Justice of the Peace](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace), and she was appointed as an [Officer of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1919. She continued to live in Mells after her husband's death in 1927, living with her widowed daughter Katharine Asquith. She published memoirs, ''Time Remembered'', in 1933. In 1939, she was living at Mells with her widowed daughter [Katharine Asquith](/source/Katharine_Asquith) and grandchildren, [Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith](/source/Julian_Asquith%2C_2nd_Earl_of_Oxford_and_Asquith) and Lady Helen Asquith, as well as the writer [Evelyn Waugh](/source/Evelyn_Waugh) and his wife, Laura.