Frances Gibson Shepheard Ingram

Frances Gibson Shepheard Ingram (1734-1807), Viscountess 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. Samuel left £40,000 in his will to Frances stating that she must not marry a peer, an Irishman or a Scotsman. She married Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin in 1758 after several years of legal dispute. Together they had five daughters, but no son. At their seat in Yorkshire, Temple Newsam, Lady Ingram insisted that Capability Brown redesign the parkland. She was an active gardener, supervising the planting in the grounds. For instance, surviving correspondence shows she helped her husband mark out where shrubs were to be planted along her gravel walk.

Born

1734

Died

1807, November 20, 1807