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
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne residence, Petworth, Lamb was a visitor until the Earl's death; he was called to his bedside when he was dying. Lamb nevertheless stated that Egremont being his father was 'all a lie'. He was educated at Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Glasgow. Against the background of the Napoleonic Wars, Lamb served at home as captain (1803) and major (1804) in the Hertfordshire Volunteer Infantry. He succeeded his elder brother as heir to his father's title in 1805, and married Lady Caroline Ponsonby, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat. The following year, he was elected to the British House of Commons