Frances Stevenson

Image:Frances Stevenson 1916.jpg

Frances Lloyd George, Countess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (née Stevenson; 7 October 1888 – 5 December 1972) was the mistress, personal secretary, confidante and second wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

Early life

Frances Louise Stevenson was born in London. She was the daughter of a Lowland Scottish father and a mother of mixed French and Italian extraction. She was educated at Clapham High School, where in the fifth form she had made friends with Mair, Lloyd George's oldest daughter, and then at Royal Holloway College where she studied Classics.{{cite book|last=Grigg|first=John|authorlink=John Grigg|title=Lloyd George: The People's Champion 1902-1911|year=1991|publisher=Methuen|location=London|isbn=0413647609|page=339|chapter=Ambulance Man}}

Governess

In July 1911, Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, hired Stevenson as a governess for his youngest daughter Megan. Lloyd George and Stevenson were soon attracted to each other. Although Stevenson, who wanted a conventional marriage and many children, hesitated about becoming the mistress of a married man, she agreed to become Lloyd George's personal secretary on his terms, which included a sexual relationship, in 1913.{{cite book|last=Toye|first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Toye|title=Lloyd George & Churchill: Rivals for Greatness|year=2007|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|isbn=9781405048965|pages=100–102|chapter=Alliance Under Strain}}

She was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours{{London Gazette |issue=30460 |date=7 January 1918 |page=372 |supp=y}} and accompanied Lloyd George to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The delegates were under the impression she was still just his secretary.Ruth Longford, Frances, Countess Lloyd-George: More than a mistress, Gracewing, Leominster, 1996, p 54. In 1921 she wrote a series of articles about the delegates to the conference for The Sunday Times, which were collected and published by Cassells as Makers of the New World under the pseudonym "One Who Knows Them".{{cite book|last=Longford|first=Ruth|title=Frances, Countess Lloyd George: More than a Mistress|year=1996|publisher=Gracewing|location=Leominster|isbn=0852443242|pages=58, 69|chapter=4: The Peace}} Stevenson chose the location and supervised the construction of Lloyd George's house Bron-y-de in Churt, Surrey.{{cite book|last=Owen|first=Frank|authorlink=Frank Owen (politician)|title=Tempestuous Journey: Lloyd George, His Life and Times|year=1954|publisher=Hutchinson|location=London|page=696|chapter=The Barren Years}}{{cite book|last=Hague|first=Ffion|authorlink = Ffion Hague|title=The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George's Life|year=2008|publisher=Harper Press|location=London|isbn=9780007219490|page=413|chapter=Alone into the Wilderness}} She also arranged and collated Lloyd George's extensive archive of personal and political papers so that he could write his War Memoirs.

Child of disputed paternity

After having had two abortions,{{cite book|last=Hague|first=Ffion|authorlink = Ffion Hague|title=The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George's Life|year=2008|publisher=Harper Press|location=London|isbn=9780007219490|page=454|chapter=New Loves}} Stevenson gave birth to a daughter, Jennifer, in 1929. Stevenson had been having an affair with Thomas Tweed, a novelist and Liberal Party official. Stevenson encouraged Lloyd George to believe the child was his, but it is more likely that her father was Tweed.{{cite book|last=Hague|first=Ffion|authorlink = Ffion Hague|title=The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George's Life|year=2008|publisher=Harper Press|location=London|isbn=9780007219490|page=461|chapter=New Loves}}

Marriage

Two years after Lloyd George's wife Margaret died, Stevenson married Lloyd George on 23 October 1943 despite the disapproval of Lloyd George's children from his first marriage.Frances Lloyd George, The Years that are Past, 42-3, 52-3. In 1942, Lloyd George and Frances had bought Tŷ Newydd in his home village of Llanystumdwy near Criccieth and initiated a major renovation by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis. In 1944 the couple moved into Tŷ Newydd.{{cite web|url=http://www.tynewydd.wales/the-house/david-lloyd-george/|title=David Lloyd George|website=Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre|access-date=15 June 2016}} Less than 18 months after their marriage, Lloyd George died on 26 March 1945, with Frances and his daughter Megan at his bedside.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/961784fa-ec00-368b-ae06-e84a76c88803|title=David Lloyd George remembered|date=17 January 2013|website=Wales|language=en-GB|access-date=11 February 2018}}

Dowager Countess

As Dowager Countess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, she lived at Churt for the rest of her life, devoting her time to her family, charitable activities, perpetuating the memory of Lloyd George and writing. Her memoir The Years That Are Past was published in 1967, and her diary of her life with Lloyd George was published in 1971.

References

External links

[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/paris-1919-vers/frances-stevenson-diary/ Frances Stevenson Diary - 1919 Paris Peace Conference - UK Parliament Living Heritage]
[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/paris-1919-vers/congres-paix-id/ Frances Stevenson ID Card - 1919 Paris Peace Conference - UK Parliament Living Heritage]
[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/paris-1919-vers/fra-ste-pho/ Photo of Frances Stevenson on the UK Parliament website]
[https://www.library.wales/davidlloydgeorge/ David Lloyd George Exhibition, National Library of Wales]
[https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_FLS Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Frances Stevenson (1888-1972)]

Category:1888 births

Category:1972 deaths

Category:20th-century English diarists

Category:20th-century English women writers

Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London

Lloyd George of Dwyfor

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:David Lloyd George

Category:People from Clapham

Category:Secretaries

Category:Spouses of British politicians

Category:British women diarists