Frances Annesley (1907-1994), Lady Donaldson of Kingsbridge was a British writer and biographer.

Her father, Freddie Lonsdale

Frederick Lonsdale

Frederick Lonsdale was an English dramatist.-Personal life:Lonsdale was born Lionel Frederick Leonard in St Helier, Jersey, the son of Susan and John Henry Leonard, a tobacconist. He began as a private soldier and worked for the London and South Western Railway...

, was a playwright. She married John George Stuart Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge (known as Jack) in 1935. Her body of work included topics such as farming and biographies on writers Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...

 and P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...

.

Works

• Freddy Lonsdale (1957) — Lady Donaldson's biography of her father, "praised for its balance of candor and affection"
• Child of the Twenties (1962)
• The Marconi Scandal (1962)
• Evelyn Waugh: Portrait of a Country Neighbour (1967) — Not a particularly comprehensive biography, but certainly an interesting perspective on Waugh's life.
• Edward VIII (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1974) — Won the Wolfson History Prize
  Wolfson History Prize
  The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public...
  
   in 1974, and was the basis for the six-part television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978).
• P. G. Wodehouse (1982)
• The Royal Opera House in the 20th Century (1988)
• A 20th-Century Life (1992)

Portraits of Lady Donaldson

The United Kingdom's National Portrait Gallery holds two portraits featuring Lady Donaldson as a sitter:

• Exhibit number P528: John George Stuart Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Kingsbridge and Frances Annesley (née Lonsdale), Lady Donaldson of Kingsbridge by Derry Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda
  Derry Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda
  Henry Dermot Ponsonby Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda is a British photographer known professionally as Derry Moore.He inherited the title of Earl of Drogheda from his father, Charles Moore, 11th Earl of Drogheda...
  
  . Painted in 1992; medium: colour print; measurements: 14 7/8 in. x 12 in. (379 mm x 305 mm).http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ap&npgno=P528
• Exhibit number x89083: Frances Annesley (née Lonsdale), Lady Donaldson of Kingsbridge by Elliott & Fry. Medium: vintage print (a photograph).http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ap&npgno=x89083