Frances Jocelyn, Viscountess Jocelyn Cowper was born in 1820, the youngest daughter of Emily Lamb, Countess Cowper, a daughter of Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne. Her paternity was officially attributed to Lady Cowper's husband, the 5th Earl Cowper. However, the historian K.D. Reynolds and others have argued that Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston was actually the father of Lady Frances and her brother William. Once widowed, her mother married Palmerston, though Lady Frances did not care for him. He became Prime Minister in 1859. In 1838, Lady Frances served as a maid of honour at the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and she also
Viscount Palmerston Viscount Palmerston married the Honourable Emily Lamb, sister of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne and widow of Peter Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper. Emily's second son from her first marriage, the Honourable William Cowper, inherited parts of his stepfather's estates, including Broadlands near Romsey in Hampshire, and assumed the additional surname of Temple. In 1880 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mount Temple, a revival of the junior title held by the Viscounts Palmerston. He was childless and the peerage became extinct on his death in 1888. However, it was revived once again in 1932 in favour of his great-nephew,