Career

On 10 July 1634 she became the second wife of Edward Hyde, who was later created Baron Hyde (in 1660) and Earl of Clarendon (in 1661). He was Lord Chancellor of England 1658–1667. They had six children:

Lady Anne (1637–1671), married King James II/VII. Honorary

Henry, later 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1638–1709)

Honorary

Laurence, later 1st Earl of Rochester (1641–1711)

Honorary Edward (died young)

Honorary

James (died young)

Lady Frances, married Thomas Keightley, Irish revenue commissioner and privy councillor. In his will of 1666, he refers to Frances as "my dearly beloved wife who hath accompanied and assisted me in all my distress with greater resignation and courage and in all respects deserved much more from me than I can repay to her."

Another tribute to her character came from the diplomat Henry Coventry, who was then engaged in the peace negotiations at Breda, and wrote that the news of Frances"s serious illness made him "very unfit for the business".

On hearing of her death he wrote to Clarendon, "I do from the bottom of my heart condole with you."

She is portrayed in a sympathetic light in The Piccadilly Plot, the seventh of the Thomas Chaloner mystery novels by Susanna Gregory.