A Colonial American Romance

The True Saga of an American Beauty Who Captured a Baron’s Heart

A destitute young lady is swept off her feet by a swashbuckling Baron…the stuff that fairytales and Hollywood movies are made of. But this timeless tale of Lady Frankland (Agnes Surriage) and Sir Harry Frankland is made up of more than fairydust and CinemaScope.

The narrative-style book Sir Harry & Lady Frankland of Boston, by Ms. Phyllis, retraces the trials and victories of the hero and heroine’s timeline.

In 1742, with only the wages of her father’s fisherman’s earnings, Agnes Surriage supplemented her growing family’s needs by working as a chambermaid at the Fountain Inn in Marblehead, Massachusetts. At the same time, in Boston, at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, government officials were toasting the newly arrived, dashing, twenty-six-year-old Frankland as he eloquently accepted his Customs Collectorship post.

Shortly after, he set out on His Majesty’s Service to oversee the fortification of Fort Sewall in Marblehead. He alighted at the Fountain Inn seeking lodging and was surprised to be greeted by the loveliest barefoot girl answering to the name of Agnes. Her dark ringlet curls streaming along her face and her deep-set olive eyes pierced his soul from his very first glance!

At Frankland’s expense, he, the Reverend Holyoke, and Agnes’s parents devised an acceptable plan to bring Agnes to Boston. Under supervision, she was to be taught and nurtured in the ways of ladyhood, a task in which the colonial governor’s wife, Frances Shirley, assisted. The Pygmalion-style love story continued as they faced the challenges posed by society, shunning the differences between the aristocracy and commoners.

In Frankland’s incomparable style, he created a more than charming lifestyle for them to share together. He purchased 480 acres and built a magnificent twenty-six-room mansion in Hopkinton, about thirty miles west of Boston, removed from the busy tongues that were pervasive in colonial society and which echoed across the pond to cosmopolitan London!

A call of duty regarding family matters in England sets the plot in motion as Frankland arranges to take Agnes on a grand tour of the European continent… with the inclusion of an attempt to introduce her to his family. It did not meet with favor.

They ultimately settled in Lisbon, Portugal, for a season, where he chooses that they should reside on the eminence of the Seven Hills among other wealthy Englishmen. Officials were soon well acquainted with Frankland’s Saxon name! A twist of fate arises resulting in Agnes, at last, earning the title of Lady Frankland.

When they return to Boston, the once shunned fisherman’s daughter hosted some of the finest tea parties in their new mansion on Garden Court Street, located in what is now known as The North End.