After the untimely death of her only daughter at the end of the seventeenth century, Frances, Lady Norton edited a memorial volume of the daughter's pious meditations, mostly transcribed from her extensive reading as a glorified common-place book. She later produced two volumes of her own of the same type, though their proportion of originally-authored content is higher. She also published a book of poems embroidered on chair cushions.
Milestones
22 May 1644 Frances Freke, later FLN, was born at
Oxford, the third of five daughters to survive their infancy out of a family of ten children.
After April 1699 Frances, Lady Norton, published a beautifully-produced volume in memory of her deceased daughter,
Grace, Lady Gethin, its compiler:
Misery's Virtues Whetstone. Reliquiae Gethinianae.
1714 Frances, Lady Norton, published her final, least-known work:
A Miscellany of Poems, Compos'd, and Work'd with a Needle, on the Backs and Seats &c. of Several Chairs and Stools; the only copy known to survive is in
Bristol Central Library.
Early 1731 Frances, Lady Norton, died in her late eighties.
