K is for Knightrider Street

In 1718 my 6th great grandfather Philip de Crespigny (1704 – 1765) was apprenticed to a proctor (lawyer) at the Arches Court of Canterbury named Charles Garrett. Philip’s widowed mother Magdalene Champion de Crespigny paid £126 ‘premium’ for this arrangement.

Philip’s older brother William had been appointed to a lawyer, a member of the Inner Temple, one of the Inns of Court. Philip was entering a different area of law to William. Had he not died an early death (in 1721) before he qualified, William would have gained the right to practice in the regular courts of England governed by Common Law, that is, law based on precedent and derived from judicial decisions of courts and similar tribunals.

The Demolition of Doctor’s Commons from the Illustrated London News 4 May 1867 page 440 retrieved through FindMyPast

The Arches Court, which Philip entered, was an ecclesiastical court that specialised in the legal practice of Civil Law based on the Roman tradition. This legal system originated in Europe, and was set within the framework of Roman law, with its core principles codified into a referable system serving as the foundation of its jurisprudence.

The intellectual framework of Common law systems, by contrast, is derived from judge-made decisional law, which gives precedential authority to prior court decisions.

Besides its jurisdiction over members of the clergy in the Province of Canterbury, governing all the southern part of England, the Court of Arches had authority over legal matters concerning inheritance and marriage, notably the probate of wills and questions of divorce. Oddly enough, practitioners were also authorised to deal with cases of admiralty law. Given that these commonly involved international affairs, admiralty law was based on Roman law rather than English Common Law. The separate jurisdiction developed in medieval times and continued into the nineteenth century.

Doctors’ Commons (also called the College of Civilians), was a society of lawyers founded in 1511 practising Civil Law in London. It had its main buildings, with a large library and rooms where its members lived and worked, in Knightrider Street. Court proceedings of the civil law courts were held in Doctors’ Commons. The society used St Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf as its church. Doctors’ Commons was dissolved following the Court of Probate Act, 1857.

The 1857 Act abolished separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction over wills and testaments, and a Matrimonial Causes Act created a new court to deal with divorce. Both these areas were now opened to practitioners of the Common Law, and members of the College lost their special authority. In 1859 an Act established the High Court of Admiralty too, and the remnant ecclesiastical matters handled by the Court of Arches were also abolished a few years later. The purpose of the College thus came to an end, and the buildings of Doctors Commons were demolished in 1865.

St Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf. The church was rebuilt after the Great Fire by Christopher Wren’s Company. It was one of only four City churches to escape the bombs of the Blitz. Photograph by George Rex, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Proctors or procurators of the Court of Arches were analogous to solicitors, and entry to their ranks was based upon a seven-year term of service as an articled clerk. Since there were only thirty-four Proctors, and each was allowed just one such apprentice at a time, Philip was fortunate to have obtained a vacancy; there may have been family assistance [Mum ponied up 126 quid!]. Apprentices were required to have a good classical education, best provided by a grammar school, so someone in the family, probably his uncle Pierre Champion de Crespigny, had worked to prepare the young man for the opportunity.

Philip Crespigny (1704-1765), Procurator-General of the Arches Court of Canterbury Portrait at Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire, attributed to Jean-Baptiste van Loo

Philip had a very successful career, culminating in his appointment as Procurator-General of the Court of Arches.

In 1731 he married Anne Fonnereau at St Paul’s Cathedral, not far from his offices at Doctor’s Commons. Their daughter Jane was baptised in 1733 at St Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf. Five of Jane’s siblings – Claude, Susan, Anne, Philip, and another Anne – were also baptised there.

Doctors Commons [circled] between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames. The church of St Benet’s Paul’s Wharf[e] is marked in blue. Detail from John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, 1720

Sources

• Philip de Crespigny, indenture year 1718 : index record from FindMyPast record set Britain, country apprentices 1710-1808
• De Crespigny, Rafe Champions from Normandy : an essay on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family 1350-1800 AD. Lilli Pilli, New South Wales Richard Rafe Champion de Crespigny, 2017. Pages 147-9, 153. Can be viewed at Champions from Normandy 
• O’Day, Rosemary The professions in early modern England, 1450-1800 : servants of the commonweal. Longman, Harlow, 2000. Pages 156-157

Related posts

• C is for Camberwell
• I is for Inns of Court
• 52 ancestors: Whitehall June 15 1727

Further reading

• “Court of Arches Project 2.” A Monument of Fame, Lambeth Palace Library, 3 Mar. 2017, lambethpalacelibrary.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/court-of-arches-project-2-privateers-bigamy-and-cross-dressing/.

  • Human frailty was daily laid bare in the Court proceedings. Two cases brought in 1699 and 1700 by Godfrey Lee, a proctor in the Court of Arches, against his wife Mary and her lover Charles Garrett,  a fellow proctor, brought to light reports of ‘a frolique’ involving cross-dressing and the singing of ‘obscene and smutty songs’ in the garden of Lee’s house at Streatham. Perhaps Doctors’ Commons was inured to such tales; the careers of Lee and Garrett were unaffected and both rose to be senior proctors in the Court.

I is for Inns of Court

In 1713 my 7th great-uncle William Champion Crespigny (1698 – 1721) was apprenticed to Edward Mills, gentleman, of the Inner Temple. William’s father Thomas, who died in 1712, had been a soldier, but William was following in the profession of his uncle Pierre Champion Crespigny (1652 – 1739). William’s younger brother Philip (1704 – 1765) was also apprenticed to a lawyer in 1718.

The Inner Temple is one of the four London Inns of Court, professional associations which trained barristers. The others are Middle Temple, Lincolns Inn, and Gray’s Inn.

Each of the four Inns of Court has three ordinary grades of membership: students, barristers, and masters of the bench or “benchers”. The benchers constitute the governing body for each Inn, with the right to appoint new members from among their barrister members.

In the 14th century the Inner Temple began training lawyers. Many of this Inn’s buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire of London. Some of what remained was damaged in two more fires in 1677 and 1678.

William Champion Crespigny does not seem to have been admitted to the Inner Temple. His name is not recorded in the admissions register. He died in 1721.

There are two Edward Mills listed on the list of admissions in the seventeenth century. The master of William Champion Crespigny was probably Edward Mills, admitted 26 October 1673 and called to the bar on 12 February 1682. Mill’s occupation is given as ‘gentleman’ and his address City of London. Being ‘Called to the Bar’ was the formal ceremony by which student members were promoted to the status of barrister.

Members of the Inns of Court were in theory men who wished to become barristers. But besides these, many joined an Inn without going on to be called to the Bar. Before the twentieth century this second group was relatively numerous. Attending one of the Inns of Court was a way to make good social contacts, not necessarily to qualify as a barrister.

The admissions registers of the Inns have been digitised. I have looked for members of my family associated with them.

I have been unable to find anyone of the Champion de Crespigny family being admitted to the Inner Temple.

The admissions register of Middle Temple, however, shows Herbert J. W.S.C. de Crespigny admitted on 23 April 1822 and William O.R.C. de Crespigny admitted on 6 November 1807. Herbert Joseph Champion de Crespigny (1805 – 1881) and William Other Robert Champion de Crespigny (1789 – 1816) were my 2nd cousins 5 times removed. They were sons of William, the second baronet. William Other Robert was much lamented when he died very young, much like his great grand uncle William, who died at the age of twenty-three.

Another Middle Temple relative was Edward Mainwaring (1635 – 1703), one of my eighth great grandfathers, who was admitted to Middle Temple on 24 November 1652. The register of admissions states: EDWARD MAINWARING, son and heir of Edward M., of Whitmore, Staffs., esq. Edward, then 17 years old, was a student at Christ’s College Cambridge. There are other Mainwarings on the register of admissions to Inner Temple but none of them seem to be of the Whitmore Mainwaring line.

At Lincoln’s Inn, Claude Crespigny, gen., eldest son of Philip Champion C., of Doctors Commons, London, Esq. was admitted on 23 October 1750 aged fifteen. Claude Crespigny (1734 – 1818), my 6th great uncle, was Receiver-General of the Droits of Admiralty. He later became the first baronet. Claude Crespigny was educated at Eton, and became a Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. When he died in 1818 it was at his house at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Another of my Lincoln’s Inn relatives was George Crespigny (17), “2 s. Charles Fox Champion C., of Tally-Uyn Ho., co. Brecon, gent.”, admitted to Lincoln’s Inn on 4 November 1833. George Blicke Champion de Crespigny (1815 – 1893), my fourth great uncle, did not go on to follow the legal profession but joined the army ending up as Lieutenant Colonel and Paymaster.

I have found no de Crespigny family connection with Gray’s Inn. There is no one of that surname on the Register of Admissions 1521 – 1889. There is one distantly related Mainwaring, however: Philip Mainwaring (1589 – 1661), who was admitted to Gray’s Inn on 14 March 1609. Philip was my second cousin 12 times removed. He became a member of Parliament and Principal Secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Strafford.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, with Sir Philip Mainwaring c.1639–40 by Anthony Van Dyck in the collection of the Tate, image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

Sketch plan of the Inns of Court from The Inns of Court Author: Cecil Headlam Illustrator: Gordon Home first published 1909 and reissued as an ebook by Project Gutenberg

Legal London, A Map showing the Inns of Court and places frequented by the Learned in Law, 1931 retrieved from the British Library

Sources

• William Champion Crespigny, indenture year 1713 : index record from FindMyPast record set Britain, country apprentices 1710-1808
• Inns of Court Admissions Databases
  • Inner Temple :
    • Inner Temple Archives records https://www.innertemple.org.uk/who-we-are/history/the-archives/
    • Inderwick, Frederick A. A Calendar of the Inner Temple Records. London: Published by order of the Masters of the Bench, 1896. Retrieved from archive.org.
    • The Inner Temple Admissions database http://www.innertemplearchives.org.uk/index.asp
  • Middle Temple :
    • Links to digitised records including the Registers of Admissions https://www.middletemple.org.uk/library-and-archive/archive-information-and-contacts/register-of-admissions
  • Lincoln’s Inn :
    • Researching past members including links to published admission registers https://www.lincolnsinn.org.uk/library-archives/researching-past-members/
  • Gray’s Inn :
    • • The register of admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1521-1889 by Foster, Joseph, 1844-1905 published 1899, page 121, retrieved from archive.org

Further reading

• Russell, Judy G. “The Temples of England.” The Legal Genealogist, 15 May 2017, www.legalgenealogist.com/2017/05/15/the-temples-of-england/.

Temperance Crew nee Bray (abt 1580 – 1619)

My 11th great grandmother was Temperance Crew nee Bray (abt 1580 – 1619). She was the wife of Sir Thomas Crew (1564 – 1634), a lawyer and politician. His entry in the History of Parliament online mentions his marriage to her, noting that she was the daughter of Reynold Bray of Steane and a kinswoman of the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, Gilbert Talbot (1552 – 1616). Temperance, her father who died in 1583, and her and Thomas’s son John, are also mentioned in her husband’s entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Temperance was the fourth of five daughters of Sir Reginald (or Reynold) Bray (c. 1550 – 1583) and his wife Anne Bray nee Vaux (c. 1550 – 1619). She was baptised on 6 November 1580 at Hinton in the Hedges, Northamptonshire.

Reginald Bray died in October 1583 and was buried at Hinton in the Hedges on 18 October 1583. Reginald was aged about 44.

An inquisition post mortem was held (Esc. 26 Eliz. n. 119.) This was a local enquiry into the lands of a deceased person, held to discover what income and rights were due to the crown. Information from this inquisition was used to produce a family tree by George Baker in his 1822 book History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (page 685).

Reginald had one son, William, who died in his father’s lifetime aged about 7. Reginald had five daughters who were his coheirs:

• Mary, aged 14 in 1583 thus born about 1569. On 16 August 1586 at Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire,  she married Sir William Sandys (c 1562 – 1641) of Fladbury, Worcestershire. She appears to have died by 1597 about which time  Sir William Sandys married secondly to Margaret Culpepper. She appears not to have had children.
• Anne, aged 10 in 1583 thus born about 1573; she was later the wife of John Sotherton (1562 – 1631), a judge and later a Baron of the Exchequer. John Sotherton married two more times and had two sons and a number of daughters – it is not certain if Anne was the mother of these children. Anne had died by 1602.
• Alice, aged 6 in 1583 thus born about 1577. In 1592 she married Nicholas Eveleigh, a lawyer. Nicholas Eveleigh died aged 56 in 1618 when the Chagford Stannary Courthouse collapsed killing him, two of his clerks and seven others, also leaving a further 17 injured. She secondly married Elize (Ellis) Hele, a lawyer and philanthropist who died in 1635. The trust from his will was used to found a number of schools including Pympton Grammar School. Alice died on 20 June 1635, it would seem she had no children. She and her second husband are buried at Exeter Cathedral but there is a monument to both of her husbands at Bovey Tracey Church.
• Temperance, aged 3 in 1583 (see below)
• Margery, age 2 in 1583 thus born about 1581. She married Francis Ingoldsby of Boughton and they had a son John.

The chancel of Bovey Tracey Church, Devon looking eastward. On the left (north) side , the monument with effigy of Nicholas Eveleigh (d.1618); on the south side the monument with effigy of Elize Hele (d.1635), who married Eveleigh’s widow Alice Bray. Photograph by Wikimedia commons user Lobsterthermidor [CC BY-SA 3.0], retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

Effigy in Bovey Tracey Church, Devon, of Nicholas Eveleigh (d.1618) of Parke in the parish of Bovey Tracey. Photograph from Wikimedia Commons by user Lobsterthermidor [CC BY-SA 3.0]

Monument to Elize Hele in Bovey Tracy Church, Devon. Below his effigy are the kneeling effigies of his two wives, facing each other in prayer, behind the left one kneels his young son. Photograph from Wikimedia Commons by user Lobsterthermidor [CC BY-SA 3.0]

In 1596 Temperance married Thomas Crew (1665 – 1634). Temperance was a kinswoman of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury (1552 – 1616). Thomas Crew was in the service of the Earl. Thomas had been educated at Shrewsbury School and the Inns of Court.

Thomas Crew was first elected to Parliament in 1604 representing Lichfield.

Temperance and Thomas had nine children:

• John Crew (1598 – 1679)
  • My 10th great grandfather. Married Jemima Waldegrave and had six sons and two daughters. Was a Member of Parliament and was mentioned in the diaries of  Samuel Pepys.
• Anne Crew (1599 – ?)
  • married Sir Edward Stephens, a Member of Parliament. They had three sons and a daughter
• Thomas Crew (abt 1602 – after 1682)
  • Attended Queen’s College, Oxford: matriculated 1618, BA 1622, MA 1625.
• Nathaniel Crew (abt 1606 – 1692)
  • Attended Lincoln College, Oxford, matriculated 1623. Admitted Gray’s Inn January 1622.
• Patience Crew (abt 1608 – 1642)
  • Patience married Sir John Curzon (1598 – 1686), a Member of Parliament. They had seven children. Patience and John are buried at Kedleston, Derbyshire.

Memorial to Sir John Curzon, All Saints’ Church, South Transept, Kedleston Photograph from Geograph.org.uk

• Temperance Crew (abt 1609 – 1634)
  • Temperance married John Browne (c 1608 – 1691) and died without having children. She is memorialised at Steane. In June 1660 Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he went to visit Mrs Browne. The 2000 edition published by University of California Press has annotated  that Mrs Browne was Elizabeth, second wife of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments: his first wife (d. 1634) was Temperance Crew, aunt of Montagu’s wife.
• Silence Crew (abt 1611 – 1651)
  • Silence married Sir Robert Parkhurst (1603 – 1651) of Pyrford, Surrey, Member of Parliament. They had one son.
• Salathiel Crew (1612 – 1686)
  • Attended Lincoln College, Oxford, matriculated 25 November 1631. Was a soldier. In 1641 there was a Certificate of residence showing Salathiel Crew (or the variant surname: Crewe) to be liable for taxation in Northamptonshire, and not in the half-hundred of Newport, Buckinghamshire, the previous area of tax liability. Salathiell Crew was appointed sherif of Rutland in 1652. Salathiel Crew was buried at Hinton in the Hedges. His will mentions his brother Thomas and two granddaughters, Isabella and Elizabeth. I have found no record of Salathiel’s marriage, children or military career other than the mention of militis in Oxford University Alumni.
• Prudence Crew (1615 – 1641)
  • Prudence Crewe died unmarried in 1641. She left a will probated 10 June 1641.

Temperance Crewe died in 1619.

Sir Thomas rebuilt the chapel of St Peter at Steane in memory of his wife who was buried there and an altar Tomb bears her figure and that of Sir Thomas dressed in his Sergeants robes.On a tablet is this inscription:

“Temperans Crewe, the wife of Thomas Crewe, esq. And one of the daughters and coheirs of Reginald Bray, esq. By his wife Anne, his wife, daughter of Thomas Lord Vaux, died in the year of our Lord 25 October, 1619, in the year 38 of her age, and now restith from her labours, and hir works follow hir:
A daughter of Abraham here doth lye
Returned to her dust
Whole life was hid in Christ with God
In whom was all her trust
Who wifely wrought while it was day
And in hir spirit did watch and pray
To heare God’s word attentive was her care
Hir humble hart was full of holy feare
Hir hande which had good blood in every vaine
Yet was not dayntye nor did disdayne
Salve to applye to Lazarus fore
And was inlarged to the poore
Lyke God’s Angells she honor’d those
That taught his word and did his will disclose
And persons vile her hart abhor’d
But reverenst such as fear’d the Lord
A true Temperans in deed and name
Now gone to heaven from whence she came
Who with her lott was well contented
Who lived desired and dyed lamented.
Premissa non amissa, discessa non mortua
Conjux casta, parens foelix, matrona pudica,
Sara vivo, mundo Martha, Maria deo.”
[Having never lost, went out without having died, = Not lost, but gone before
A chaste wife, a happy parent, a modest lady,
A living Sara, a worldly Martha, Maria of god.]

Photographs of the chapel and the monument can be seen by clicking the links below:

• The outside of the chapel
• Photograph of the monument

Thomas Crew served as speaker of the House of Commons from 1623 – 1625. Thomas Crew was knighted in 1623.

To the end of his life Sir Thomas Crew continued to practice law.

Portrait of Sir Thomas Crewe, Speaker 1623 – 1625. Given by his descendant Ralph Cartwright, Esq. 1805. In the collection of the UK Parliament (catalogue number WOA 2702) Crew displeased James 1 by upholding the liberties of Parliament as ‘matters of inheritance, not of grace’ but later said by the King to be the ‘ablest Speaker known for years’.

Crewe died on 1 Feb. 1634, aged 68, and was buried with his wife under the  marble effigy in the chapel he had built at Steane. His funeral sermon praised the quickness of his wit, the firmness of his memory, and the readiness of his expression. He was said to be one who ‘set the stamp of religion on all his courses, in his whole conversation’, ‘a man exceeding conscionable’, ‘a marvellous great encourager of honest, laborious, religious ministers’, ‘the poor man’s lawyer’, and ‘a great lover of his country’.

Sources

• Archive.org
  • Family tree of Reginald Bray retrieved from Baker, George. “History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton.” 1822, page 685 retrieved electronically through Archive.org archive.org/stream/HistoryAndAntiquitiesOfTheCountyOfNorthamptonBakerVol1/History%20and%20Antiquities%20of%20the%20County%20of%20Northampton%20-%20Baker%20Vol%201#page/n687/mode/2up.
  • Ingalsbe, Frederick W. “Ingoldsby Genealogy, Ingoldsby, Ingalsbe, Ingelsby and Englesby, from the 13th Century to 1904 ” Archive.org, archive.org/details/ingoldsbygenealo00inga/page/8.
  • Philipot, John. “The Visitation of the County of Buckingham Made in 1634 by John Philipot, Esq. .” Archive.org, College of Arms, 1909, archive.org/details/visitationofcoun58phil/page/76.
• History of Parliament online
  • CREWE, Thomas (1566-1634), of Gray’s Inn, London and Steane, Northants.; later of Serjeants’ Inn, Fleet Street, London.
  • other links in text
• British History online : ‘House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 12 November 1652’, in Journal of the House of Commons: Volume 7, 1651-1660 (London, 1802), pp. 214-215. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/commons-jrnl/vol7/pp214-215
• Google books
  • William Cotton (1859). Some account of the ancient borough town of Plympton St. Maurice, or Plympton Earl. With memoirs of the Reynolds family. John Russell Smith. pp. 28–29.
  • George Lipscomb (1847). The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham. J. & W. Robins. p. 169.
  • Samuel Pepys (30 July 2000). The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. 1: 1660. University of California Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-520-22579-4.
  • The Gentleman’s Magazine (London, England). F. Jefferies. 1790. p. 420. (Monument at Stean in honour of Temperance Crew nee Bray)
  • England; John Britton (1810). The beauties of England and Wales; or, Delineations… of each county, by J. Britton and E. W. Brayley [and others]. 18 vols. [in 21]. pp. 83–5.
• National Archives (UK)
  • Chancery: Inquisitions post mortem: Bray, Reginald: Northampt.  Esc. 26 Eliz. n. 119. Reference C 142/204/119
  • Certificate of residence showing Salathiel Crew (or the variant surname: Crewe) to be liable for taxation in Northamptonshire, and not in the half-hundred of Newport, Buckinghamshire, the previous area of tax liability.  Reference E 115/112/113
• ancestry.com
  • England, Select marriages ,1538 – 1973
  • Wills probated in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
  • Dictionary of National Biography (UK)
• Wikipedia: links in text

Macavity wasn’t there!

Today, 5 November, is the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, an abortive attempt to assassinate King James I of England and blow up the Houses of Parliament. Some of my forebears were English politicians of the time. I’ve been trying to find out if any were involved or implicated or put in danger.

Edward Mainwaring (1577 – 1647), one of my 10th great grandfathers, was elected to Parliament on 30 September 1601 for the borough of Newcastle Under Lyme. However, he was not re-elected in the next election, on 28 February 1604, so at the time of the plot in November 1605, he would not have been present in Parliament.

 

Edward Mainwaring, portrait from opposite page 63 of The Mainwarings of Whitmore and Biddulph in the County of Stafford. An account of the family, and its connections by marriage and descent; with special reference to the Manor of Whitmore. J.G. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, about 1935

 

Edward Mainwaring matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford,  on 8 November 1594. He entered Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court in 1595. In his history of the Mainwarings of Whitmore, Gordon Mainwaring says:

At this time there was considerable litigation concerning manorial dues, and lords of manors began to realise that a knowledge of law was essential in the management of their estates. Among the papers at Whitmore is an interesting correspondence between this Edward and his father concerning the refusal of Sir John Bowyer of Knipersly to recognise their right to a heriot [a tribute paid by the estate of a
deceased tenant].

In 1601 Edward Mainwaring married Sara Stone. In 1604 his father died and he succeeded to the Whitmore estate. Perhaps he decided to forgo a parliamentary career to concentrate on running the estate.

Edward Mainwaring was elected again to Parliament in 1625. There is a suggestion that the person elected was not Edward Mainwaring (1577 – 1647) but  his son, also named Edward (1603 – 1674).

Sources

• The Mainwarings of Whitmore and Biddulph in the County of Stafford. An account of the family, and its connections by marriage and descent; with special reference to the Manor of Whitmore. J.G. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, about 1935
• History of Parliament online:
  • Edward Mainwaring 1577 – 1647
  • Edward Mainwaring c. 1602 – 1674
  • Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme 1558 – 1603
  • Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme 1604 – 1629

D is for drama in Dunolly

Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816-1880), a surveyor who came to Australia in 1839, was my great great great grandfather. He lived for fourteen years in South Australia and Western Australia before coming to Victoria in 1853.

Chauncy kept diaries and in 1873, based on these, he published the Memoirs of Mrs Chauncy, a brief life of his second wife, Susan Augusta née Mitchell (1828-1867). Chauncy’s account of his time in Dunolly (below) is taken from his Memoirs.

In 1853 Chauncy was appointed as Surveyor-in-Chief for the McIvor district. He and his family moved to Heathcote. While there he surveyed the town of Heathcote and selected and surveyed Echuca.

In 1860 he was put in charge of the Dunolly Survey District and moved to Dunolly.In 1861 Chauncy

… bought a substantial stone house, unfinished, which had been built for an inn, and was in a municipal street. [Chauncy’s emphasis]

My dear Susie, with her characteristic energy, began at once, without waiting for it to be finished, to remove into it; but while we were getting in the furniture it was “jumped” by a pettyfogging lawyer, who sent up a well-known character, known as “Fighting Jack,” to take possession of it.

On the gold-fields, where the population is wandering, houses used often to be erected on Crown lands without sufficient authority, and in such cases the person actually in possession could not well be ejected, especially if he held a miner’s right to legalise his tenure.

This limb of the law, being a daring and unscrupulous man, made it part of his business to take possession of every place to which he thought no one could show a better title than himself. The fact of my having purchased the house gave me no title to the ground on which it stood, and I would not resort to the subterfuge of taking out a miner’s right or a business license, not being a miner or a store-keeper, and it was quite possible that “Fighting Jack” held a miner’s right, and so had a better title to the ground than I had.

However, I sent for two constables, and gave the man in charge. Next morning he was brought before the Police Court, when I adduced proofs that I had bought and paid for the house, but it being a question of title, the court was not competent to deal with the case, and dismissed it ; which was in fact all that I required, for I remained in undisturbed possession until I so narrowed the street as to exclude the house, and then purchased the land on which it stood from the Crown.

The position is beautiful and commanding. I subsequently erected four more rooms of brick and stone, stable, outhouses, brick tank, &c., and made an ornamental garden and vinery. The recollection of the happy time we spent in this place moves me as I write. It used to be her delight to stroll through the garden and admire the flowers and other plants ; and then, how cleverly and wisely she managed the house, and for the welfare of the children. In the evening, when they were in bed, it used to be her delight to sit and converse with me at the fireside. The six years at Dunolly were among the happiest of my life.

There is no account of this legal dispute in the digitised newspapers available through Trove.

Chauncy was an amateur photographer and took a photograph of his cottage in 1865. Members of his family can be seen on the verandah.

The Chauncy cottage in Dunolly photographed by Philip Chauncy in 1865. Image from http://members.westnet.com.au/likelyprospects/dunolly_buildings.htm . The original image is said to be held by the Dunolly Museum of the Goldfields Historical & Arts Society Inc.

I have visited Dunolly and the cottage several times. The cottage is located at 8 Havelock Street. Below are some photographs I have taken of it.

The Chauncy cottage in 2007

the view from the Chauncy cottage in 2007

When I visited in 2012 the cottage was unoccupied and for sale. I had a look around the back.

On the ground and from a map showing Havelock Street  it is not easy to see how Chauncy narrowed the road to exclude the cottage.

Further reading

• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976. pages 50-51. 
• Entry for Philip Chauncy in Design & Art Australia online database https://www.daao.org.au/bio/philip-lamothe-snell-chauncy/biography/

Concerning the Chauncy house at Heathcote

• “Heritage Listing Bestowed.” Bendigo Advertiser.13 July 2010. <http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/709709/heritage-listing-bestowed/>. 
• Victorian Heritage Database Report on the former survey office at Heathcote

52 ancestors: Whitehall June 15 1727

I thought I would look at the earliest record in the London Gazette of someone named de Crespigny. I assumed it would be the record of a military appointment.

Philip Crespigny (1704-1765) Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Van Loo – Date unknown … Owner/Location: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17041765-49144

I was surprised to find that this de Crespigny was my sixth great grandfather, Philip Crespigny (1704-1765), who had been present at the proclamation of King George II (1683-1760) on 14 June 1727.¹

King George II by Charles Jervas painted about 1727. Photograph retrieved from Wikipedia.

I realised I knew very little about my sixth great grandfather.

Philip was the fifth of six children of Thomas Champion Crespigny (1664-1712) and Magdalen née Granger (1664-1730).

Thomas, who had been born in France, came as a boy to England as a Huguenot refugee. He served in the English military. From 1689 he was a cornet in Lord Cardross‘ Scottish Regiment of Dragoons, a Lieutenant of Colonel Richard Cunningham’s Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1695, and Captain Lieutenant of the Marquis of Lothian‘s Regiment of Dragoons at Jedburgh in 1703.² This regiment later became the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars.

Thomas married Magdalen, daughter of Israel Granger of Alencon in 1695 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London.³ Magdalen had also been born in France and her family were also Huguenot refugees.⁴

They had six children:⁵

• William (1698-1721)
• Marie (1699-1700)
• Jeanne (1700-1773), who married Gilbert Allix (1694-1767)
• Claude (1701-1703)
• Philip (1704-1765)
• Claude (1706-1782)

Thomas died on 17 July 1712. He was buried at St Marylebone, London.  His will, dated 1704, left all his goods to his wife Magdalen.⁶

The surviving children at the time of Thomas’s death were aged 14, 12, 8 and 6.

I wonder who helped Magdalen bring up her children? Was the family helped by her Granger relatives or by Magdalen’s de Crespigny in-laws?

Magdalen’s mother, Marie Granger, was a widow when she made her will in 1711.⁷ Magdalen’s father, Israel Granger, had died in 1700.⁸ Marie Granger left her estate between Magdalen and the children of another daughter, Marthe. Marthe had married Florand Dauteuil in 1699, at the Savoy Church in the Strand. Marthe had died before 1711 when her mother made her will. Mary Granger’s will was proved in 1713. It appears that Magdalen had no adult relatives on the Granger side of her family to support her.

Thomas’s older brother Pierre (1662-1739) was a lawyer. In her will, Magdalen leaves Pierre 200 pounds.⁹ In his will Pierre makes Philip and Claude his executors and leaves them one hundred pounds each.¹⁰ Pierre was the godfather of Claude, Magdalen and Thomas’s youngest son. Pierre did not marry and had no children. I think it very likely that Pierre helped Magdalen to raise her children.

Although we do not have the details, it would seem that the education of Claude and Philip enabled them to be successful: Claude as secretary of the South Sea Company, a major British trading company; Philip as a lawyer, who eventually became a proctor to the Lord Admiral, in addition to holding several directorships.

Philip and Claude had very successful careers despite the untimely death of their father and the fact that both their parents were Huguenot refugees.

……….

Notes
<sup>1. The London Gazette Publication date: 13 June 1727 Issue: 6590 Page: 1 retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/6590/page/1 ↩
2. from page 22 of Huguenot and Scots Links, 1575-1775 Author David Dobson Publisher Genealogical Publishing Com, 2010 ISBN 0806352841, 9780806352848 Length 92 pages retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sN1nOOPKqKsC&pg=PA22 3 February 2012 ↩
3. Name: Magdalen Granger Marriage Date: Feb 1695 Parish: St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street County: Surrey Borough: City of London Spouse: Thomas Champion Record Type: Marriage Register Type: Parish Register from London Metropolitan Archives, St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, Composite register: baptisms, 1664 – 1717, marriages, 1664 – 1712 and burials, 1664 – 1717, P69/MRY10/A/002/MS010221 retrieved from ancestry.com.au↩
4. de la Pinsonnais, Amaury. “La Famille Granger.” Histoire Et Généalogie. Amaury de la Pinsonnais, 13 June 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. http://pinsonnais.free.fr/genea/?id=granger&page=2. ↩
5. de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy : being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988. page 9. ↩
6. Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills (PCC): Thomas Champion De Crespigny Date of Probate July 1712 Date of Will 24th June 1704 Reference PROB11/527 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
7. PCC: Mary Granger Place of Abode St James Westminster, London Date of Probate March 1713 Date of Will 18th February 1711 Reference PROB11/532 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
8. London, England, Wills and Probate. Israel Granger, Middlesex, Probate date 1700. London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, Clerkenwell, London, England; Reference Number: AM/PW/1700/031 ↩
9. PCC: Magdalen Champion de Crespigny Profession Widow Date of Probate 9th October 1730 Date of Will 19th February 1730 Reference PROB11/640 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
10. PCC: Peter Champion de Crespigny Place of Abode St James Westminster, Middlesex Date of Probate 1st August 1740 Date of Will 10th August 1736 Reference PROB11/704 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩</sup>

A pirate in the family tree

Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653) was an English seaman who spent some of his career as a pirate on the Barbary coast. He was afterwards pardoned and knighted by King James.

My son, who is studying history, came across the pirate Henry Mainwaring and asked if we were related to him.  I replied that I did not think so, but I decided to check for a relationship.  Henry Mainwaring, I discovered, is my third cousin eleven times removed, a relative indeed, though not a close one.

The common ancestor of me and the pirate is Sir John Mainwaring (1470-1515) my 13 times great grandfather.  Sir John had gone to the French wars in the train of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was knighted at Tournai in 1513. ( Metcalfe, Walter Charles, ed., Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath et., IV Henry VI to 1660, London (1885) page 50 ) Sir John Mainwaring was Henry Mainwaring’s great great grandfather.

Henry Mainwaring was the second son of Sir George Mainwaring and Ann More.  Henry studied at Oxford University. In 1604, about seventeen years old, he was admitted to the Inner Temple as a lawyer.

It is not clear how Henry became a seaman, but in 1610, at the age of about twenty-three, he was commissioned by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, to capture the pirate Peter Easton, who had been raiding Newfoundland.  Mainwaring was unsuccessful.  He was then given a letter of marque, becoming a privateer against Spanish shipping in the West Indies.  En route there he decided instead to attack Spanish shipping from the coast of Morocco.

Mainwaring was based at La Marmora, present day Mehdya, on the Morocco coast near Rabat, for four years from 1612. He had a fleet of thirty captured Spanish ships.  He claimed that he never attacked English ships.  The French and Spanish governments complained about Mainwaring to the English government and King James I sent an envoy with an offer of a free pardon if he promised to give up piracy. He was pardoned in 1616 and all those who served under him were granted an amnesty.

Later, Mainwaring became a hunter of pirates. He wrote a book on piracy, Discourse of Pirates, which he dedicated to the King.  He was knighted on 20 March 1618 and became one of King James’s courtiers and a friend of the King.

In 1620 he was appointed Lieutenant of Dover Castle and Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dover. Around this time Mainwaring wrote the Seaman’s Dictionary. It was not published until 1644 but manuscript copies were distributed before then. It is considered the first authoritative treatise in seamanship.

Mainwaring offended Lord Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was dismissed from his post at Dover Castle. Mainwaring sought the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. At that time Buckingham was Lord High Admiral and it has been asserted that Buckingham and his masters made a serious attempt to reform the naval administration, and that in this Mainwaring played a considerable part. However Buckingham was assassinated in 1628 and Mainwaring lost his patron.

Mainwaring was not wealthy, and after Buckingham’s death, he attempted to improve his fortunes by marrying a rich widow.  She rejected him and in 1630 he eloped with a twenty-three year old heiress.  His father-in-law refused to provide a dowry until Mainwaring had made a settlement. Mainwaring’s wife died in 1633 and their only daughter died about 1640. Mainwaring was outlawed for debt in 1641. In 1651 an assessment of his worth in considering his debt stated that his entire property consisted of ‘a horse and wearing apparel to the value of £8’.

Mainwaring had joined the navy as a captain in 1636.  He was a Vice-Admiral by 1639.

During the English Civil War (1642-1651), Mainwaring joined the King at Oxford. Later he served with Royalist fleet.  He was with the sixteen-year-old Prince Charles, later King Charles II, at Jersey in 1646.

Mainwaring died in 1653, leaving no will.  He was buried at St Giles, Camberwell.  No gravestone, if there was one, has survived.

References and further reading

E. Hunt, “MAINWARING, SIR HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mainwaring_henry_1E.html.

Mainwaring, G. E. (ed.). 1920. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. London: The Council of the Navy Records Society. https://archive.org/details/henrymainwaring02manwuoft

Pringle, Patrick Jolly Roger : the story of the great age of piracy. Dover Publications, 2012. pages 43-45 retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WqXDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43

Thrush Andrew “MAINWARING, Sir Henry (1586/7-1653), of Dover Castle, Kent; later of Camberwell, Surr.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/mainwaring-sir-henry-15867-1653>

“SIR HENRY MAINWARING.*.” The Spectator Archive. The Spectator, 19 Feb. 1921. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-february-1921/19/sir-henry-mainwaring>.

(Library Assistant), Nabila. “The Seaman’s Dictionary: ‘This Book Shall Make a Man Understand'” Royal Museums Greenwich. National Maritime Museum, 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/collections/by-type/archive-and-library/item-of-the-month/previous/the-seaman%27s-dictionary>

PEN PICTURES OF THE PAST. IN PIRATE DAYS. (1914, July 9). Cobram Courier (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 6. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129536151

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803)

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) was my fifth great grandfather (5*great).

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738–1803), MP by John Opie; Oil on canvas, 47 x 36 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall. Image retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17381803-mp-49154

Philip was the fifth of seven children of Philip (1704-1765) and his wife Anne née Fonnereau.  He was born on 1 April at his father’s house at Doctors Commons in London. He was christened on 11 April at St Benets, Pauls Wharf. Philip senior was Marshall of the Court of Admiralty and Secretary of the French Hospital.

Extract from 18th century plan of Plan of Baynards Castle Ward & Faringdon Ward Within retrieved from http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/baynards.htm

In 1741 the family moved to Denmark Hill, Camberwell where Philip senior had taken a lease of a house and sixteen acres.

Philip’s older brother Claude (1734 – 1818) was educated at Eton and it is likely that Philip was also. (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )

In 1759 at the age of twenty-one, Philip became an advocate at Doctors’ Commons and was King’s Proctor from 1768  to 1784.  (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )  

A proctor was a legal practitioner in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. A King’s Proctor acted in all causes concerning the King. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proctor) Doctors’ Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil law in London. The proctors, who were also associated with Doctors’ Commons, were like present-day common law solicitors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons)

Marriages and children

Philip married four times. On 24 November 1762 Philip married Sarah Cocksedge in Norfolk. They married by licence; this licence was issued on 11 November.  Sarah and Philip had four children:

• Thomas (1763 1799)
• Philip (1765 – 1851)
• Jane (1766 – 1785)
• Anne (1768 – 1844)

Sarah died in April 1768 and was buried at St Marylebone on 13 April 1768. (‘Marylebone’, The Environs of London: volume 3: County of Middlesex (1795), pp. 242-279. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45438 Date accessed: 27 January 2014.)

Sarah was the daughter of Thomas Henry and Lydia Cocksedge. In 1764 title of Tottington manor passed to Philip as husband of Sarah.(Deeds of messuage held by Norfolk Record Office http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=153-wls&cid=23-19#23-19) Philip probably sold his Norfolk holdings in 1772 as recorded in a private act of Parliament: Philip Champion Crespigny’s estate: sale of hereditaments in Weeting (Norfolk) and purchase and settling others. (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/cy/changes/chron-tables/private/17)

Philip’s second marriage was to Betsy Hodges in about 1771.  Betsy was the widow of George Borradale whom she had married in 1765 (Parish Records Collection – marriage 1765 Hodges Borradale) Philip and Betsy had one son, Charles (1772 – 1774) who was christened 1 June 1772 in St Giles, Camberwell, and buried 21 October 1774 in the Church of St Albans. Betsy died in 1772, probably not long after giving birth to her son.  She was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May 1772.

Betsy Hodges (d.1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny by George Romney(circle of) Oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/betsy-hodges-d-1772-second-wife-of-philip-champion-de-cres49163

Philip’s third marriage was to Clarissa, daughter of James Brook of Rathbone Place. They married on 1 July 1774 at St Marylebone by licence with the consent of her father. She was a minor, of the parish of St Marylebone. Philip was recorded as an Esquire of Walton upon Thames, County of Surry, widower. He signed his name PC Crespigny. The witnesses were James Brooke and Hester Brooke.

The Gentleman’s Magazine London, England July, 1774 retrieved from http://theoldentimes.com/crespignybrooke74uk.html

 Clarissa and Philip had four children:

• Clarissa (about 1775 – 1836) who married Edward Toker
• Maria (1776 – 1858) who married John Horsley
• Harry (1777 – ?) baptised 14 August 1777 at Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey and presumably died young
• Fanny (1779 – 1865)

Clarissa and her children were painted in 1780 by George Romney.  Romney’s diary notes that the painting was oval and he charged fifty pounds.  In 1780 Horace Walpole apparently noted George Romney’s “rise to fashion”. (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2002/george-romney/biography.php)

Clarissa Champion de Crespigny and her children by George Romney. The painting was last sold in 1986 from a private seller to a private buyer through the London dealers Leger Galleries.  This image is from a reproduction of the painting and came from Alex Kidson, Research Fellow of the Romney Society.

Clarissa died in 1782 and was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May. She was about twenty-seven years old. A short biographical piece about her father refers to her as an amiable and accomplished lady who died in the prime of her life.

Smith, Thomas. (2013). A Topographical and Historical Account of the Parish of St. Mary-Le-Bone, Comprising a Copious Description of Its Public Buildings, Antiquities, Schools, Charitable Endowments, Sources of Public Amusement, &c. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1833)retrieved from http://www.forgottenbooks.org/books/A_Topographical_and_Historical_Account_of_the_Parish_of_St_1000735867 The same obituary appeared elsewhere, for example in the Hampshire Chronicle of 2 November 1807.

Philip’s fourth marriage was in 1783 to Dorothy Scott (1765 – 1837), daughter of Richard Scott of Betton Strange Hall near Shrewsbury. (London Magazine vol 52 pg 103 1783)

Jonathan Scott (1754 – 1829), one of Dorothy’s brothers,  was an early translator of what was then called ‘The Arabian Nights Entertainment’, better known now as ‘The 1001 Nights’. (http://shrewsburylocalhistory.org.uk/scott.htm)

Dorothy and Philip had four children

• George (1783 – 1813) killed in Spain
• Eliza (1784 – 1831) who married the first Lord Vivian having eloped to Gretna Green (Ancestry.com. Gretna Green, Scotland, Marriage Registers, 1794-1895 [database on-line].)
•  Charles Fox (1785 – 1875) my fourth great grandfather
• Dorothea (1800 – 1800) born and died in Bath (I am not sure where I have the information for this child, I am unable to find any records associated with her and it seems surprising that she was born so many years after her siblings, though her mother did have a child after 1804 following her second marriage).

After Philip’s death Dorothy married again to Sir John Keane (1757 – 1829) and had a son, George Michael Keane.

Dorothy’s portrait was painted by George Romney in 1790 with Romney’s diary noting “1790 Wed 17 March Mrs Chrspaney at 1/2 pt 2”. He charge forty-two pounds for the oil on canvas. Dorothy’s great grandson George Harrison Champion de Crespigny (1863 – 1945) sold the painting through Christies on 27 April 1901 for ₤5,880-00. (“HIGH PRICES FOR PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS.” Otago Witness 3 July 1901: 75. Papers Past — Otago Witness. National Library of New Zealand. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19010703.2.234.1>) The painting is now in the John Howard McFadden Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html)

Portrait of Mrs. Champion de Crespigny [née Dorothy Scott] from http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html

 Parliamentary career

In 1774 Crespigny was returned on the Fonnereau interest at Sudbury after a contest, but lost his seat on petition. (Drummond, Mary M. “CRESPIGNY, Philip Champion (d.1803), of Burwood, Nr. Cobham, Surr.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803>.)

Philip’s mother was  the daughter of Claude Fonnereau, a wealthy merchant. Her brother,and thus Philip’s uncle,  Thomas Fonnereau (1699 – 1779) was returned for Sudbury in 1741 and sat for that consituency until 1768. Several of those years were in conjunction with Thomas Walpole who was a business connection. Thomas later sat for Aldeburgh from 1773 until his death in 1779. (Namier, Sir Lewis. “FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779>.) (Thomas Fonnereau. (2013, December 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:03, January 28, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Fonnereau&oldid=587412088)

In 1780 Philip was returned unopposed at Aldeburgh on the Fonnereau interest, and at Sudbury after a contest. He held both seats until 1781 when he lost Sudbury on petition, and continued to sit for Aldeburgh until 1790.

Only one speech is recorded from Philip when he spoke in 1781 against the bill for excluding contractors from the House of Commons.

Extract from the debate in the House of Commons (Debrett, ii. 296.) retrieved from Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. The Parliamentary Register: Or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons. Vol. 2. page 296.: J. Debrett, 1781. Google Books. 2007. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1-kMAAAAYAAJ>.

The exclusion of contractors from the House of Commons was first introduced in 1779 and was part of political reform receiving an impetus from the American Revolution. The bill finally passed at the end of 1782 and it placed on the exclusion list anybody who had a contract with the treasury, the navy, the victualling office, the master-general, or the board of ordinance, …  Before this reform, “the fact that a man had a contract with the Government laid him under the necessity of receiving orders from the Treasury as to his political conduct.”  George III was said to turn all government expenditures to political account and “maintained a corps of subservient members in the House of Commons”. Vast sums were disbursed to contractors for the navy and army between 1770 and 1782 which some asserted were an abuse of the contract process and designed to buy political support. (Porritt, Edward. The Unreformed House of Commons. : Cambridge UP, 1963. Google Books. CUP Archive. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <books.google.com.au/books?id=57c8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA219>. pages 219-220)

 Philip supported the administration of Lord North who was prime-minister from 1770-1782 and who later served in a coalition, the Fox-North coalition, with Charles James Fox in 1783. Philip named his youngest son, Charles James Fox Champion de crespigny,  after Charles James Fox.

Houses

Philip died in his house at 5 Portland Place, Bath.  The house is one of ten symmetrical terrace houses built in 1786 by John Eveleigh. Number 5 is the largest house in the terrace and was built for P. C. Crespigny. 

Portland Place, Bath image from Google street view http://goo.gl/maps/seYvj. Number 5 is the house centred on the triangular pediment.  It has five windows across and a central front door. Its neighbours’ front doors are aligned either to the left or the right. To the front of the house is a ramp which was provided for easier access by sedan chairs.

The house together with number 4 was converted into a school from 1875 until 1994. In 1994 both houses were converted to flats. The house, together with its neighbours, is Grade II heritage listed.  (“List Entry: 1-10, PORTLAND PLACE.” National Heritage Protection Plan. English Heritage, 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1394403>.)

Philip de Crespigny leased Hintleham Hall near Ipswich in Suffolk. His children George, Eliza, and Charles were born there between 1783 and 1785. In 1785 his daughter Jane died at Hintlesham Hall. At that time Hintlesham Hall was owned by Richard Lloyd, a political lawyer who became Solicitor-General.(http://www.hintleshamhall.co.uk/history.html)

In 1794 Philip de Crespigny bought Talyllyn  House and the Manor of Llangasty Talyllyn in Breconshire together with 2000 acres for £1600. In the advertisement for the sale the house was described as “a good old stone built and slated Mansion House… to which the present Proprietor meant to have added a regular Building” While owned by the de Crespignys, the house and outbuildings were extensively remodelled.  From 1810 the estate was leased as a farm. It was sold in 1838 by Philip’s son Charles Fox de Crespigny. Philip and his son Charles both served as High Sheriff of Brecknockshire or Breconshire, Philip in 1796 and Charles in 1812. The house was destroyed in the nineteenth century. (“History of the Farm.” Tŷ-Mawr. Tŷ-Mawr Lime Ltd, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.lime.org.uk/history-of-the-farm/>.)

Tal-y-llyn: St. Mary’s church and the hamlet at the end of the lake, photograph about 1885. Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal-y-llyn,_Gwynedd

Other land purchases by Philip include Creeting All Saints in Surrey bought from the Bridgeman family. (http://forebears.co.uk/england/suffolk/creeting-st-olave)

Freemason

Philip was a Freemason. In 1781 he was Grand Steward for Somerset House Lodge. (http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/prestonian_lectures_volume_3.htm)