Egerton (née Stanley), Frances (1583-05-01 - 1636-03-11)

Frances Egerton (née Stanley) was born in May 1583. In c. 1601, Lady Stanley married her stepbrother John Egerton (1579-1649). After the death of her father-in-law, Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, in 1617, John Egerton became First Earl of Bridgewater, while her title became Countess of Bridgewater. The Countess was a keen collector of books and a patron of the arts. She died on 11 March 1636 and was buried at Ashridge, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire. For the Countess of Bridgewater's book collection, see Heidi Brayman Hackel, Reading Material in Early Modern England: Print, Gender, and Literacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).