# Jennifer Ross

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British magazine financier (1916–2003)

For American physicist, see [Jennifer L. Ross](/source/Jennifer_L._Ross). For the Australian filmmaker, see [Age of Rage: The Australian Punk Revolution](/source/Age_of_Rage%3A_The_Australian_Punk_Revolution).

Jennifer Ross Born Ann Jennifer Evelyn Elizabeth Fry (1916-03-16)16 March 1916 Died 10 December 2003(2003-12-10) (aged 87) Occupation Socialite

**Ann Jennifer Evelyn Elizabeth Ross** ([née](/source/Birth_name#Maiden_and_married_names) Fry; 16 March 1916 – 10 December 2003) was a British literary muse who for a time financed *[The London Magazine](/source/The_London_Magazine#1900–1930)*.

She was the only child of [Sir Geoffrey Fry, 1st Baronet](/source/Sir_Geoffrey_Fry%2C_1st_Baronet) and his wife Alathea Gardner.[1] She grew up at [Oare House](/source/Oare_House), [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire).[2] Her father was [private secretary](/source/Private_secretary) to two prime ministers, and descended from the [Quaker](/source/Quakers) [family of cocoa manufacturers](/source/J._S._Fry_%26_Sons).[1] Her mother was the daughter of [Lord Burghclere](/source/Herbert_Gardner%2C_1st_Baron_Burghclere). Alathea's sister was [Evelyn Gardner](/source/Evelyn_Gardner), who married the writer [Evelyn Waugh](/source/Evelyn_Waugh) and was known as one of the [Bright Young Things](/source/Bright_Young_Things) of [interwar London](/source/Interwar_period).

In 1942, already pregnant, Ann Fry married [Robert Heber-Percy](/source/Robert_Heber-Percy), who had for the past decade been the boyfriend of the composer [Lord Berners](/source/Lord_Berners), and was known as "the Mad Boy". For two years she formed a *[ménage à trois](/source/M%C3%A9nage_%C3%A0_trois)* with them at [Faringdon House](/source/Faringdon_House), Oxfordshire.[3]

They divorced in 1947. She loved and was loved by men such as [Cyril Connolly](/source/Cyril_Connolly), [Henry Green](/source/Henry_Green), and the filmmaker [Michael Luke](/source/Michael_Luke). She next married, in 1949, the poet [Alan Ross](/source/Alan_Ross), editor of *The London Magazine*, which she supported with her money and intellect. She championed [Jean Rhys](/source/Jean_Rhys)'s novel *[Wide Sargasso Sea](/source/Wide_Sargasso_Sea)* to [Francis Wyndham](/source/Francis_Wyndham_(writer)).[1]

Her friends included "[Sir] [John Betjeman](/source/John_Betjeman) ... [Anthony](/source/Anthony_Powell) and [Violet Powell](/source/Violet_Powell), [Heywood](/source/Heywood_Hill) and [Anne Hill](/source/Lady_Anne_Hill), [and] Prim Rollo, who married the actor [David Niven](/source/David_Niven)".[2]

She volunteered with the Prisoners' Wives Service, which [Cressida Connolly](/source/Cressida_Connolly) links to her relative [Elizabeth Fry](/source/Elizabeth_Fry), the great social reformer.[2]

Her daughter with Heber-Percy, Victoria Gala Heber-Percy, was born in 1947. She married the British composer, musician and inventor [Peter Zinovieff](/source/Peter_Zinovieff). Their children included the author [Sofka Zinovieff](/source/Sofka_Zinovieff), who in 2014 wrote a memoir about her grandparents and Lord Berners at Faringdon.[3]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-telegraph.co.uk_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-telegraph.co.uk_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-telegraph.co.uk_1-2) ["Jennifer Ross"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1452032/Jennifer-Ross.html). *telegraph.co.uk*. 19 January 2004. Retrieved 24 September 2017.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Independent_obituary_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Independent_obituary_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Independent_obituary_2-2) ["Jennifer Ross"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jennifer-ross-37657.html). *The Independent*. 19 December 2003. Retrieved 10 March 2018.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sz_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sz_3-1) Sofka Zinovieff. *The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me* (Jonathan Cape, 2014). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-22409-659-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-22409-659-1)

Authority control databases International VIAF National United States Israel Other Yale LUX

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