Biography of Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave 1821-1879
On 27 Mar 1815 [her future husband] George Harcourt (age 29) and Elizabeth Bingham were married. She the daughter of Richard Bingham 2nd Earl Lucan (age 50) and Elizabeth Belasyse Duchess Norfolk (age 45). He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 57) and Anne Leveson-Gower (age 54).
On 19 Aug 1815 [her future brother-in-law] Reverend Leveson-Vernon-Harcourt (age 27) and Caroline Mary Peachey were married. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 57) and Anne Leveson-Gower (age 54). She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland.
On 04 Jan 1821 Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave was born to John Braham Singer (age 47).
In 1829 [her future brother-in-law] Admiral Frederick Edward Vernon-Harcourt (age 38) and Marcia Tollemache were married. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 71) and Anne Leveson-Gower (age 68).
In 1835 John James Waldegrave 6th Earl Waldegrave (age 49) died. His son [her future husband] George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 18) succeeded 7th Earl Waldegrave, 8th Baron Waldegrave Chewton Somerset, 11th Baronet Waldegrave of Hever Castle.
On 20 Apr 1835 [her future brother-in-law] Henry Vernon-Harcourt (age 44) and Frances Harley were married. She the daughter of Edward Harley 5th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (age 62) and Jane Elizabeth Scott Countess of Oxford and Mortimer. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 77) and Anne Leveson-Gower.
On 20 Nov 1837 [her future brother-in-law] Francis Vernon-Harcourt (age 36) and Charlotte Jenkinson Countess Verulam were married. She the daughter of Charles Jenkinson 1st Earl Liverpool. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 80) and Anne Leveson-Gower.
On 25 May 1839 John James Waldegrave and Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 18) were married. She would, a year later, marry his legitimate half-brother George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 23); an example of Married to Two Siblings. He the illegitmate son of John James Waldegrave 6th Earl Waldegrave. He a great x 4 grandson of King James II of England Scotland and Ireland.
After 25 May 1839 [her former husband] John James Waldegrave died.
Adeline Horsey Recollections. Frances, Lady Waldegrave (age 18), was a very charming woman I knew in those far-off days. She was the eldest daughter of John Braham (age 66), the famous tenor, and she was married four times.
Her first husband was [her former husband] John James Waldegrave, of Navestock, Essex; and in 1840 she married [her future husband] George, seventh Earl of Waldegrave (age 23). In 1847 Lady Waldegrave (age 18) took as her third husband [her future husband] George Granville Harcourt (age 54), the eldest son of the Archbishop of York. The one love of her life, however, was [her future husband] Mr. Chichester Fortescue (age 16), and she married him as her fourth husband in 1871. Mr. Fortescue was afterwards Lord Carlingford, but the title became extinct in 1898.
When Lady Waldegrave was a young girl a gipsy told her that she would be married four times and leave her fourth husband a widower. The prediction came true, for she died in 1879, and Mr. Fortescue survived her.
On 28 Sep 1840 George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 24) and Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 19) were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire thereby avoiding the constraint of the 1835 Marriage Act. He being the legitimate younger brother of her first husband John James Waldegrave; an example of Married to Two Siblings. He the son of John James Waldegrave 6th Earl Waldegrave. He a great x 4 grandson of King James II of England Scotland and Ireland.
In 1841 [her husband] George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 24) was imprisoned for six months at Newgate Prison, London [Map] for having having drunkenly assaulted a police officer in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey [Map]. His wife Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 19) and servants joined him during his imprisonment.
Adeline Horsey Recollections. After 1842 Lady Waldegrave (age 20) resided at Strawberry Hill with her third husband, and she was very fond of the place and its associations with Horace Walpole.
The Strawberry Hill estate and the Walpole Collection had been sold in 1842, but Lady Waldegrave was always trying to obtain any objects from it which came into the sale-rooms from time to time, in order that she might restore them to their old home.
She was a very handsome Jewess, with a perfectly fascinating manner, and she was a great favourite in Society owing to her infinite tact, which made her say and do exactly the right thing at the right moment.
She possessed a keen sense of humour, and one evening when she was at the Dublin theatre with [her future husband] Mr. Chichester Fortescue (age 18) a wag in the gallery who recognised her called out, "Arrah, my Lady, and which of the four husbands did ye like the best?" Without a moment's hesitation Lady Waldegrave (age 20) stood up and, turning in the direction of the speaker, called out with delightful sang-froid, "Why, the Irish one, of course". Loud applause greeted this rejoinder, and she was very popular in Dublin afterwards.
On 28 Sep 1846 [her husband] George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 30) died. His uncle William Waldegrave 8th Earl Waldegrave (age 57) succeeded 8th Earl Waldegrave, 9th Baron Waldegrave Chewton Somerset, 12th Baronet Waldegrave of Hever Castle. His wife Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 25) inherited Strawberry Hill House.
On 30 Sep 1847 George Harcourt (age 62) and Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 26) were married. The difference in their ages was 35 years. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (age 89) and Anne Leveson-Gower.
On 26 Feb 1853 [her brother-in-law] Henry Vernon-Harcourt (age 62) died without issue.
On 17 Feb 1856 [her father] John Braham Singer (age 82) died.
On 08 Dec 1859 [her brother-in-law] Egerton Vernon-Harcourt (age 56) and Laura Emma Milner were married. He the son of Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt and Anne Leveson-Gower.
On 26 Jul 1860 [her brother-in-law] Reverend Leveson-Vernon-Harcourt (age 72) died without issue.
On 19 Dec 1861 [her husband] George Harcourt (age 76) died.
In 1863 Chichester Parkinson Fortescue 2nd Baron Clermont 1st Baron Carlingford (age 39) and Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 41) were married.
On 01 Apr 1871 [her former brother-in-law] William Vernon-Harcourt (age 81) died.
In 1879 Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 57) died.
On 30 Jan 1898 [her former husband] Chichester Parkinson Fortescue 2nd Baron Clermont 1st Baron Carlingford (age 75) died.
