Frances Gibson Shepheard Ingram

Portrait of the Viscountess Ingram, after Joshua Reynolds

Frances Gibson Shepheard Ingram (1734-1807), Viscountes Ingram, was a wealthy heiress and landowner who was instrumental in the design of the landscape at Temple Newsam, Leeds. Lady Ingram was the illegitimate daughter of the rich Tory merchant, Samuel Shepheard; her mother was called Gibson.[1] Samuel left £40,000 in his will to Frances stating that she must not marry a peer, an Irishman or a Scotsman.[1][2] She married Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin in 1758 after several years of legal dispute.[1] At their seat in Yorkshire, Temple Newsam, Lady Ingram insisted that Capability Brown redesign the parkland.[1] She was an active gardener, supervising the planting in the grounds.[1] For instance, surviving correspondence shows she helped her husband mark out where shrubs were to be planted along her gravel walk.[1]

Lady Ingram collected works of art, including Italian classical landscapes.[1] She was painted as a shepherdess by Benjamin Wilson, reflecting her interest in pastoral landscape.[1] She was also painted by Joshua Reynolds in a pensive mood, leaning on a book, a copy of which is at Temple Newsam.[3]

When Lord Ingram died in 1778, he left the Temple Newsam estate as well as eighty burgages in Horsham, Sussex to Lady Ingram.[4] A resolute Tory, Lady Ingram used the burgages to dominate local politics by appointing members to the constituency and telling them how to vote; as well as controlling the local land court.[4] She was challenged by the Whig 11th Duke of Norfolk who began buying up burgages; but Lady Ingram used her local knowledge and her tenacity to triumph over the Duke in a House of Commons hearing that ruled in her favour over the election of 1790.[4] In 1796, she remodelled the south wing at Temple Newsam; and in 1806 the Prince of Wales visited her there giving her some Chinese wallpaper.[5]

References

1. Ward, Steve (2017). Tales from the Big House: Temple Newsam. Pen & Sword. pp. 56–61.
2. "Extract from the Registry..." The Universal Magazine. 5: 167–68. 1749 – via Google Books.
3. "Frances, Viscountess Irwin (1734–1807), née Frances Gibson Shepheard". Art UK. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
4. Lewis, Judith (2003). Sacred to Female Patriotism: Gender, Class, and Politics in Late Georgian Britain. Taylor & Francis. pp. 26–28.
5. Temple Newsam House. The Libraries & Arts Committee of the Leeds Arts Corporation. 1951. pp. 32, 56–57.