Frances Alsop Frances Alsop Frances Alsop ("née" Daly; 1 September 1782 – 2 June 1821) was the illegitimate child of Richard Daly (1758–1813), manager of the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, and the actress Dorothea Jordan "née" Bland (1761–1816). Frances was born and raised in England, where her mother – adopting the stage name 'Mrs Jordan' – had continued her stage career, which by 1786 led her to be part of London's Drury Lane theatre company. By 1790 Dorothea Jordan was the mistress of the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV of England). Frances's story begins in earnest in 1803 at her
Maria Fitzherbert an executor and minor beneficiary of Fitzherbert's will. There is no evidence that either of these women were the natural children of Maria Fitzherbert – indeed the reference to 'the affection any mother could do' (with stress on mother) could indicate she only saw herself as a mother-figure to them, and no more. The will makes no reference to any sons, though this observation must be seen in its historic context; of the ten illegitimate children of Dorothea Jordan, Irish actress and mistress of 20 years to the Duke of Clarence, care for the five boys was initially assumed by