Joyce or Jocosa Frankland was a celebrated philanthropist. The daughter of a London goldsmith from Essex, she married twice and became widowed twice before losing her only son in a riding accident. An acquaintance of Alexander Nowell, it is thought that he was the one to persuade her to leave her fortune to benefit young scholars at university. Frankland owned a substantial amount of property and went on to endow several scholarships at both Oxford and Cambridge. It was through her that Brasenose came to own estates in Kensington, Suffolk, Berkshire, and Kent and as such the College also inherited a small collection of her personal papers.
Several portraits of Joyce Frankland are held in various collections around the UK. This includes three, which are held by Brasenose.
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