Name Frances Work Role Socialite | Siblings Lucy Bond Work | |
 | ||
Parents Franklin H. Work, Ellen Wood Died January 26, 1947 (aged 89) New York City, New York, U.S. Similar Cynthia Roche, Frances Shand Kydd, Oliver Platt | ||
Frances Ellen Work (October 27, 1857 – January 26, 1947) was an American heiress and socialite. She was a great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her great-great-grandchildren include the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, and the American actor Oliver Platt.
Contents
What Meghan Markle and Frances Work Have in Common
Early life
Born in New York City, she was a daughter of Franklin H. Work (1819–1911), a well-known stockbroker and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and his wife, Ellen Wood (1831–1877). Her sister Lucy Work (1861–1934) was married to Peter Cooper Hewitt.
She was a prominent figure in the New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, social sets, and was friends with Mrs Reginald Vanderbilt.
Personal life
On September 22, 1880, at Christ Church, New York City, Frances Work married the Hon. James Boothby Burke Roche (1852–1920), who would later become the 3rd Baron Fermoy in 1920. They had four children: two daughters, and twin sons:
Frances divorced Roche for desertion in 1891, before he had succeeded to the barony. Her lawyer was Thomas F. Bayard, former United States Secretary of State.
On August 4, 1905, the Hon. Mrs. Burke Roche married Aurel de Batonyi, a Hungarian-born riding instructor and society horseman. When he immigrated to the United States on the White Star liner Majestic in 1891, Batonyi had claimed he was a count. It was also suggested that his real name was Arthur Cohn. Frances sued de Batonyi for divorce two years after their marriage, allegedly because her father threatened to disinherit her if she continued to live with her husband.
She died in the city of her birth at the age of 89.
Descendants
She was a great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her great-great-grandchildren include the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, and the American actor Oliver Platt.