Charlotte Frances Frederica Spencer, Countess Spencer, was a British philanthropist. Born in the London residence of her maternal grandfather, the 1st Marquess of Bristol, she was the youngest daughter of Frederick Charles William Seymour and his second wife Lady Augusta Hervey. In 1858 Charlotte married John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer; they had no children.

John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, KG, KP, PC, known as Viscount Althorp from 1845 to 1857, was a British Liberal Party politician under, and close friend of, prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. He was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.