Frances Calderón de la Barca (1804–1882)

Frances "Fanny" Erskine Inglis was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of 10 children of a lawyer, and was well-educated. After her father's death, she emigrated with other family members to the USA, settling in Boston and then in New York City. In 1838, she married Don Ángel Calderón de la Barca y Belgrano, a Spanish nobleman and diplomat 15 years her senior. She accompanied him on his posting to Mexico City as the first ambassador Spain to the Republic of Mexico following its independence. Her experiences there included two revolutions, some long journeys on horseback and by carriage, and many social events. Her book Life in Mexico (1843) is based on long letters she wrote to family and friends back home during the years 1839 to 1841. She also wrote the novel Gertrude: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century (1830) and The Attaché in Madrid or Sketches of the Court of Isabella II (1856). After Mexico, the couple lived in Washington, D.C. and then in Spain, where her husband served as
a senator in the Cortes.
She tutored the daughter of Queen Isabella II. In 1876, she was created Marquesa de Calderón de la Barca in her own right by King Alfonso XII.