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]