Talbot, Frances (c.1649–1731), duchess of Tyrconnell , was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Richard Jennings (Jenyns) (d. 1668) of Holywell House, Sandridge, Hertfordshire, England, MP for St Albans, and his wife Frances Thornhurst. Her sister was Sarah Churchill, duchess of Marlborough. Renowned for her beauty and vivacity, Frances was a lady-in-waiting to the duchess of York at court in 1664. That year, she first met Richard Talbot (qv), who proposed to her. However, when she refused to abandon a friendship with Goditha Price, a girl he felt had an unsuitable reputation, she broke off the engagement. In spring 1666 she married George Hamilton (qv), with whom she lived in Paris and had three daughters. She was widowed in 1676; on 7 July 1676 Charles II granted the new widow the titles of Baroness Hamilton of Rosse and countess of Bantry for life. In 1677 she visited England to sort out finances, but was somewhat estranged from her family as she was now a Roman catholic. She remained living in Paris, and in 1680 renewed her acquaintance there with Talbot, also widowed; they married in 1681. As countess of Tyrconnell she was in attendance on the queen during the coronation in Westminster abbey on 23 April 1685.
Although Talbot was sworn-in as lord deputy of Ireland in February 1687, Frances did not join him in Ireland until autumn 1688. Legend recounts her retort to a retreating King James (qv) after the battle of the Boyne (1 July 1690); when he reached Dublin castle, he met Frances and complained to her that the Irish had run away. She replied: ‘But your majesty has run still faster’ (Petrie, 209). Soon after the defeat at the Boyne, she went to France, followed in September 1690 by her husband. He returned to Ireland in January 1691 as Jacobite lord lieutenant and continued the fight, but died of apoplexy on 14 August 1691. On his death Frances petitioned Queen Mary II in London (William III (qv) was on the Continent) to regain Irish properties given to her by Talbot on their marriage, which had been technically forfeited in 1689 when he was arraigned in his absence for treason by the Williamite authorities. She was finally successful in 1703 in Queen Anne's reign, when her claim to the estate of Cabragh was recognised. She subsequently lived in Delft and Brussels, and in 1708 returned to Dublin, where she resided at Paradise Row, Arbour Hill. She dedicated much of her money, despite her reputation for parsimony, to the establishment (1715) of the Poor Clares’ convent in North King St., Dublin. She remained at her house in Dublin until her death, aged 82, and was buried in St Patrick's cathedral on 9 March 1731.