Frankland, Agnes (1726–1783)
Frankland, Agnes (1726–1783)
American hero. Name variations: Lady Agnes Frankland, Lady Agnes Surriage Frankland, Dame Agnes Frankland; Agnes Surriage. Born Agnes Surriage in 1726, in Marblehead, Massachusetts; died April 23, 1783, in Chichester, England; dau. of Edward Surriage and Mary (Pierce) Surriage; m. Charles Henry (Sir Harry) Frankland (English baronet), c. 1755 (died 1768); m. John Drew (banker), Oct 25, 1781.
While working as tavern maid in Marblehead, MA, caught attention, and became ward, of Charles Frankland, customs collector at Boston port (1742); was reared and educated at a fashionable school in Boston; became Frankland's mistress and was shunned by society (c. 1746); after husband inherited baronetcy of Thirsk in North Riding of Yorkshire (1746), visited England with him but was not accepted by his family (1754); in aftermath of severe earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, frantically hunted for, and found, husband who had been buried by rubble (1755); married him and received acceptance from polite society (mid-1750s). Inspired Oliver Wendell Holmes' ballad, "Agnes," in Songs in Many Keys (1862), Edwin Lassetter Bynner's Agnes Surriage (1886), and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch's Lady-Good-for-Nothing: A Man's Portrait of a Woman (1910).