Frances Horner

Frances Jane Horner (née Graham; 1854/55 – 1 March 1940) was an English hostess, member of the Souls social group, and a patron of the arts. She was depicted several times by Edward Burne-Jones, and commissioned works by Edwin Lutyens, Eric Gill, and William Nicholson.

She was the sixth child and fourth daughter of William Graham (1817–1885) and Jane Catherine (née Loundes; 1819/20–1899). Her father became the head of the family business which imported dry goods from India and Graham's port from Portugal. He served as the Liberal MP for Glasgow from 1865 to 1874.

Both of her older brothers died young in 1872: Rutherford of diphtheria aged 23 and William of an accidental morphine overdose aged 17. Her younger sister Agnes married Herbert Jekyll, a younger brother of the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.

She was educated at home by governesses, at Langley Hall near Manchester and later at 54 Lowndes Square in London. Her father's background in "trade" limited her opportunities in London society, but according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, she was one of the first young unmarried women in London to entertain her own guests.

Through her father's patronage of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, she became known to the artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. Although married, Burne-Jones became besotted with Frances, and painted her likeness in several works. In 1869, when Frances was 15, he drew her as "The Lady of the Window" in the Vita Nuova. She was included in The Golden Stairs in 1880, carrying cymbals at the bottom of the stairs. She has been described as the one of the most important women his life, after his wife, his daughter and his mistress Maria Zambaco.

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