Background
Born in New York City, she was a daughter of Franklin H. Work (1819–1911), a well-known stockbroker and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and his wife, Ellen Wood (1831–1877).
Born in New York City, she was a daughter of Franklin H. Work (1819–1911), a well-known stockbroker and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and his wife, Ellen Wood (1831–1877).
She was a great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her great-great-grandchildren include the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, and the American actor Oliver Platt. On September 22, 1880, at Christ Church, New York City, Frances Work married the Honorary James Boothby Burke Roche, who would later become the 3rd Baron Fermoy.
Edmund later became the 4th Baron Fermoy, and was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Frances divorced Roche for desertion in 1891, before he had succeeded to the barony. Her lawyer was Thomas F. Bayard, former United States Secretary of State.
On August 4, 1905, the Honorary Mistress Burke Roche married Aurel de Batonyi, a Hungarian-born riding instructor and society horseman.
When he immigrated to the United States on the White Star liner Majestic in 1891, Batonyi had claimed he was a count.
lieutenant was also suggested that his real name was Arthur Cohn. She died in the city of her birth at the age of 89.