Z is for Zacharie

One of my eighth great grandfathers, born on 10 February 1636 at La Rochelle, was a Huguenot linen merchant named Zacharie Fonnereau (also known as ‘Zacharia or ‘Zachary’ Fonnereau).

In 1674 he married Marguerite Chateigner, and in 1677 they had a son, Claude.

Possibly Zacharie Fonnereau (b.1636) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection Retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/possibly-zacharie-fonnereau-b-1636-11563

Possibly Marguerite Fonnereau as an Elderly Lady by Balthasar Denner (1685–1749) (circle of) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/possibly-marguerite-fonnereau-as-an-elderly-lady-11562

La Rochelle is a seaport on the French Atlantic coast. From 1568, La Rochelle became a centre for the Huguenots, and the city declared itself an independent Reformed Republic on the model of Geneva. La Rochelle suffered religious wars and rebellions including the Siege of La Rochelle in 1627-8 (which resulted in a victory for King Louis XIII and the Catholics), the expulsion of 300 Protestant families in November 1661, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV who claimed to be entitled to do so because there were no more Huguenots in his kingdom and their special privileges were no longer needed.

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle, by Henri Motte, 1881

 

In 1689 Claude, 12 years old, was sent to England. In 1693 he received his certificate of denization (granting permanent resident status and the right to own land) and was naturalised in 1698.

In 1698 Claude Fonnereau married Elizabeth Bureau (1670-1735), who was also from La Rochelle. Claude and Elizabeth had eight children, among them Anne Fonnereau (1704-1782), who married Phillip Champion de Crespigny (1704-1765). Anne Fonnereau was my sixth great grandmother.

Claude Fonnereau (1677-1740) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/claude-fonnereau-16771740-11776

 

Claude’s mother Marguerite Fonnereau née Chateigner died in England on 1 October 1720 and is buried in St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London.

I do not know when Zacharie died. There is no record of the death of Zacharie in England. It may be that the record has not survived or that he never emigrated there. There is also no record of his denization nor can I find a record of him in an English Huguenot church. It would be useful to have témoignages credentials, for example, which were certificates of sound doctrine and good behaviour from his previous congregation presented by a person moving to a new church.

While I have been able to find records which refer to Claude Fonnereau as the son of Zacharie, I have not been able to find records of Zacharie’s parents. I have found family trees which suggest that Zacharie was the son of a Zacharie. The earlier Zacharie may have been a notable watchmaker but at present I feel unable on the evidence to claim Zacharie Fonnereau watchmaker of La Rochelle as my direct forebear.

 

A pre-balance spring gilt-metal and rock crystal crucifix watch signed by Fonnereau a la Rochelle in 1650 and sold by Sothebys at auction on 11 May 2008 for CHF133,000 ($Au177,688).

 

Sotheby’s gives a biography of Zaccharie Fonnereau the watchmaker: “Originally from Geneva, he was apprenticed in Lyon in 1618 and then became Compagnon in 1622. As a master watchmaker in 1641, he settled in La Rochelle.”

The watch auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2008 was displayed in an exhibition of watchmaking in Geneva in 2011-2012.

a watch made by the watchmaker Zacharie Fonnereau will also be displayed. Circumventing the ban on crosses decreed by the goldsmiths’ guild in 1566, he created, like other Genevan masterwatchmakers, this cross-shaped timepiece. Dating from 1620 and worn around the neck at the time, the watch is more a piece of jewellery than a precision instrument. The valuable case is carved from rock crystal.

Sources

• Agnew, David C. A. Protestant Exiles from France, Chiefly in the Reign of Louis XIV; or, The Huguenot Refugees and Their Descendants in Great Britain and Ireland. vol. 2, pages 399-400 Edinburgh, 1886, archive.org/stream/protestantexiles02agne_0#page/398/mode/2up
• 1693 denization records from http://genealogy-quest.com/1693-english-denization-records/
• Shaw, William Arthur, editor. Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland. 1 1603-1700, page 252, Huguenot Society, 1911, archive.org/stream/lettersofdenizat01shaw#page/252/mode/2up/.
• Sotheby’s press release: GENEVA, MAY 11th, 2008 – The first evening sale of Important Watches to take place at Sotheby’s in Geneva
• “Catalogue Entry for Fonnereau Watch.” Important Watches, Sotheby’s, 2008, www.sothebys.com/it/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/important-watches-ge0801/lot.81.html.
• “Watchmaking in Geneva: Treasures of Gold and Enamel at the Muse D’art Et D’histoire.” Edited by Ignacio Villarreal, Artdaily, Artdaily.org, 2011, artdaily.com/news/52756/Watchmaking-in-Geneva–Treasures-of-gold-and-enamel-at-the-Mus-e-d-art-et-d-histoire#.WuYQVC9L060.

Related posts

• F is for fleeing from France–  the emigration of the Huguenot Champion de Crespigny family from France
• 52 ancestors: Whitehall June 15 1727 concerning Philip Crespigny (1704-1765) who married Anne, grand daughter of Zacharia Fonnereau
• Champions from Normandy see pages 150-151 concerning the Fonnereau family

W is for William

Today 25th April in Australia it is is Anzac Day, set aside to honour the men and women who served in the Australian and New Zealand armies in World War I and II and other conflicts, especially in remembrance of those who were killed and never saw their country again.

My husband’s first cousin twice removed was William Stanley Plowright (1893-1917). He was born in 1893 in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, the seventh of the eleven children of William John Plowright (1859-1914), a policeman, and Harriet Jane Plowright nee Hosking (1861-1946).

William enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 and fought at Gallipoli, where he was wounded. He was killed in the Battle of Lagnicourt in March 1917. William’s body was not found and he has no grave. The only local memorial of his death is his name listed on the war memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. This memorial was erected ‘to commemorate all Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium during the First World War, to their dead, and especially to name those of the dead whose graves are not known’. I wrote about him in two previous A to Z series:

• 2014 – V is for Villers-Bretonneux
• 2015 – L is for Lagnicourt

I have also written about a friend of his, ‘comrade of the late William Stanley Plowright’, named Johnna Bell, remembered by William’s family.

 

Australian War memorial photograph image id C00470. Photographer Ernest Charles Barnes, April 1917. Description: Two unidentified soldiers stand amid the shattered buildings in the French village of Lagnicourt, which was captured by the Australians in late March 1917 as the Germans withdrew towards the Hindenburg Line. The Germans heavily shelled the village as they retreated.

 

William is one of many in our family who died serving their country. This short list is of only our closest relatives:

World War 1

• John Percy Young 1896 – 1918
  • died 9 November 1918 in England from the effects of a mustard gas attack in France and buried Brookwood Cemetery
• Leslie Leister 1894 – 1916
  • died 20 July 1916 at Fromelles, France
• Milo Massey Cudmore 1888 – 1916
  • died 27 March 1916 at St Eloi, France and remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
• Philip Champion_de_Crespigny 1879 – 1918
  • died 14 July 1918 at Musallabah Hill, Jordan Valley, Palestine and is buried at Jerusalem War cemetery
• Selwyn Goldstein  1873 – 1917
  • died 8 June 1917 at Loos, Belgium and buried Poperinghe New Military Cemetery
• Vyvyan Westbury Hughes 1888 – 1916
  • died of illness on 28 April 1916 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is remembered on the war memorial at Beaufort.
• Walter Fish 1878 – 1915
  • died 13 July 1915 at Gallipoli and buried Shrapnel Valley Cemetery
• William Alfred Fish  1890 – 1917
  • died 9 October 1917 at Passchendaele, near the town of Ypres in West Flanders and buried Oxford Road Cemetery
• William Stanley Plowright 1893 – 1917
  • died 26 March 1917at Lagnicourt, France and is remembered at Villers BretonneuxMemorial
• (and we remember also his mate Johnna Bell 1893-1918)

World War 2

• Frank Robert Sewell 1905 – 1943
  • died 22 February 1943 in Queensland of illness and wounds having served in New Guinea

• James Morphett Henderson 1915 – 1942
  • died 11 June 1942 off West Africa killed in a flying battle

Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Photograph by Gerard4170 and published on pixabay.com.

T is for Theresa

One of my fourth great aunts was Theresa Susannah Eunice Snell Poole formerly Walker née Chauncy (1807-1876).

Theresa Walker in 1846 painted by her sister Martha Berkeley. Oil on metal. In the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Theresa was the oldest daughter of William Snell Chauncy née Brown (1781-1845) and Rose Theresa Chauncy née Lamothe (1748-1818).

Her brother, Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816-1880), wrote a memoir of his sister, Memoir of the late Mrs. G.H. Poole by her brother, first published in 1877.  In 1976 it was reprinted, with a memoir of his wife, as Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Much of my information about Theresa comes from these memoirs and I quote from them below.

Philip Chauncy modelled in wax by his sister Theresa in about 1860. The model is in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Her father [William Chauncy] was sent from England to be educated by his relative, the Rev. Hugh Stowell, Rector of Balaugh, in the Isle of Man, and used as a child, to play with her mother [Rose Lamothe] when she was ten years old. In after years an attachment sprang up between them, and he frequently visited the island, where they were married in 1804 – the year in which the Bible Society was founded, and in which Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.

In the course of time her father and mother went to reside at Keynsham, near Bath, and on the 19th February, 1807, was born the subject of this memoir, whom they named Theresa Susannah Eunice.

I believe her mother lost one or two of her first children in early infancy, so that Theresa was the only one living at her birth. On the 18th August, 1813, Martha, now Mrs Berkeley, was born. I [Philip Chauncy] first saw the light on 21st June, 1816, and our mother died after childbirth in 1818. Our father married again in 1819, and had five children by this marriage.

In November, 1820, we went to France, where we resided, chiefly in the south, for four years and nine months. We lived at Angoulême [between Poitiers and Bordeaux] for two-and-a-half years, and while there I became ill, and well do I remember how lovingly my dear sister attended to me.

Theresa’s education was conducted chiefly at home by our father. She was but a brief period at school, for he considered it injurious to the faith and morals of his children to send them to school in France. At Angoulême, M. Labouchér was her music master, but whether for want of taste or perseverence, she never continued the practice of music. She soon became proficient in the French language, and at Mont D’Or [near Lyons] took lessons in Italian.

The memoir goes on with other incidents including hearing the Reverend Caesar Malan [Henri Abraham César Malan (1787–1864), Swiss Calvinist minister] preach at Geneva and losing Theresa’s little Italian greyhound. Theresa was sent on a visit to her grandfather at Wingfield, “where she tendered us good service by watching and partially defeating the intrigues of another branch of the family who were using every exertion to obtain an undue share of property from my grandfather in his old age. I [Philip] think Theresa must have been at Wingfield for several years”.

In the 1830s Theresa lived in London.

While in London she and Martha became members of Mr Edward Irving’s [(1792-1834), charismatic preacher and prophet] church at 13 Newman-street, Oxford-street, and there, too, they studied the fine arts under good masters – painting, drawing, and modelling; in these, especially the last, she was decidedly clever.

In 1836 Theresa and Martha, who had very recently married Captain Charles Berkley (1801-1856), emigrated in the “John Renwick“ to the new colony of South Australia, arriving in February 1837, just weeks after its proclamation.

Unfortunately there was “an incompatibility of temper and disposition between the two sisters that rendered their further residence together undesirable”, so that in 1837, Theresa left Adelaide to visit some friends in Tasmania.

On 17 May 1838 at Launceston, Tasmania, Theresa married John Walker (1796-1855), a retired naval officer. They moved to Adelaide, where Walker carried on business as a general merchant and shipping agent. The suburb of Walkerville is named after him.

John Walker painted in 1846 by his sister-in-law Martha Berkeley. The painting is now hanging in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Kertamaroo, a Native of South Australia, modelled by Theresa Walker in about 1840. This is possibly one of the two models of Aborigines exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1841.

Havering about 1839 pastel on paper by Theresa Walker. Havering was a farm established by the Walkers on the banks of the upper Torrens, Adelaide.

A wax portrait by Theresa Walker in the Town of Walkerville Civic Collection is of the artist herself, made in 1840. From the Town of Walkerville Collections Policy 2014-2018 : This wax portrait of Theresa Walker is described as neo-classical in style and regarded as one of her finest works. While the association of the Walkers with the settlement of Walkerville was short lived, (as the unfortunate Captain Walker ended up bankrupt and in prison in 1841) nearly a hundred years later in May 1948, the great-nephew of Theresa Walker, Sir Trent de Crespigny, gifted these valuable and rare artworks to the Town of Walkerville. Sir Trent de Crespigny [my great grandfather] stated that these gifts were in recognition of Theresa Walker’s historical connection to the township. These works are of national significance because of their historical association with Australia’s first female colonial sculptor and because they are of great aesthetic merit and provide a rare and unique representation of the people themselves.

Philip emigrated to South Australia in 1839. When he arrived he found the Walkers were doing very well and entertaining in style. Unfortunately, in 1841 John Walker became insolvent, having “failed for a large amount”. He was imprisoned.

In 1846 John and Theresa Walker moved to near Sydney, New South Wales, and then to Tasmania where John Walker became Port officer at Hobart and later, Harbour Master at Launceston. John Walker died in 1855 aged 58.

Theresa had for some time fallen in with the religious tenets of Mr. George Herbert Poole (1806-1869), who was the founder of “The New Church” [Swedenborgian] in Adelaide. He [Poole] had returned from Mauritius, where he had been a professor in the Royal College, to Sydney in January 1850, had left Melbourne for England in 1852, and returned to Launceston in 1856, where they [George Poole and Theresa] were married.

The Pooles first had a farm in Tasmania bought, her brother notes, “with Theresa’s money”. About two years later they sold the farm and moved to Victoria where George Poole tried gold mining. In 1861 the Pooles joined a vineyard enterprise near Barnawartha on the Murray near Albury with, among others,  Theresa’s half brother William Chauncy (1820-1878) who was then at Wodonga. George Poole “was supposed to be a thorough vigneron, as well as a connoisseur of the best methods of tobacco growing.” He was appointed local manager. For a number of years all went well but the scheme collapsed in 1864.

While at Barnawartha Theresa collected some of the first drawings of the Aboriginal artist Tommy McRae (1835-1901) who was also known as Tommy Barnes.

Drawing by Tommy Barnes / an aboriginal of the Upper Murray / in 1862. Given to P. Chauncy / by Mrs G.H. Poole. This drawing showing Dancers with weapons; Hunting and fishing; European house and couple has been woven into a tapestry woven in 2001 for the Centenary of Federation and now in the collection of Museum Victoria.

.

Lithograph of Ocean Perch (Helicolenus percoides) hand coloured by Theresa Poole for The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria. From Museum Victoria. in 1861 Theresa was commissioned to hand colour 1000 copies of this plate.

My great great grandmother Annie Chauncy (1857-1883), daughter of Philip, modelled in wax by her aunt Theresa. The cast wax model is in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. They believe the model was made about 1860. Annie would have only been 3. I think it possible the model was made in 1864 when Theresa stayed with the family and Annie was 7.

 

George Poole returned to Mauritius in November 1864 and Theresa followed him in April 1865. They lived there for about four years. While in Mauritius Theresa made wax models of eighty species of fruits. These were displayed at the Paris exhibition of 1867 and she was awarded a silver medal, even though some had been damaged in transit.

In late 1866 the Pooles both became ill with fever in an epidemic. They moved to India and, after a brief return to Mauritius,  in February 1868 moved back to Adelaide. George Poole gained a job as a teacher of a school at Navan near Riverton, South Australia about 100 kilometres north of Adelaide. In 1869 he became ill and died. This left Theresa almost penniless.

In 1870 she stayed for a while with William in Wodonga and then came to live with Philip and help with his children, his wife Susan having died in 1867. She lived with Philip for four years. In 1874 she visited friends in the Western District of Victoria, there taking up the position of Lady Superintendent at the Alexandra College in Hamilton. Later, ill with breast cancer, she went to Melbourne to live. In April 1875 she underwent an operation to remove her breast.

On 17 April 1876, Easter Monday, Theresa died at her house in East Melbourne.  Her brother Philip was with her when she passed away.

She was buried at St Kilda cemetery. Philip arranged for her to be interred, in accordance with her wishes, in  a wicker ‘mortuary cradle’ rather than the conventional coffin.

Theresa had written about mortuary cradles to the Melbourne Herald in September 1875 and apparently had ordered her own.

MORTUARY CRADLES. (1875, September 23). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244179646 [Note from Greg: The reference to ‘a Mr Home’ in the “Herald” quote is an allusion to the spiritualist medium D.D. Home, who had frequently demonstrated his power to defy gravity. He could levitate at will, or so it was said, and would hover in the air to write on the ceiling. He once flew out a third-floor window, returning through the window of the next room.]

A Novel Coffin. (1875, September 20). The Herald (Melbourne), p. 3. Retrieved rom http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244179533 This was Theresa’s coffin as she referred to the article in her letter of 22 September. In his memoir Philip says he used the coffin for her burial.

 

Sir Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), an English surgeon and etcher, was a proponent of earth-to-earth burial. In 1875 he wrote a number of letters to The Times and held an exhibition of wicker coffins in London.

A sketch from The Graphic 17 June 1875 illustrating wicker coffins on show at the London House of the Duke of Sutherland from http://victoriancalendar.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/june-17-1875-coffins-of-wicker.html

Theresa Walker is thought to be Australia’s first female sculptor. She was the first resident Australian artist to be shown in the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Sources and further reading

• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.
• Hylton, Jane, Berkeley, Martha, 1813-1899, Walker, Theresa, 1807-1876, Art Gallery of South Australia. Board and South Australia. Women’s Suffrage Centenary Steering Committee Colonial sisters : Martha Berkeley & Theresa Walker, South Australia’s first professional artists. Art Gallery Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1994.
• Transcribed journal of Theresa Chauncy of the first three months of her time in the Colony of South Australia digitised by the State Library of South Australia https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/D+7604/1(L)
• INSOLVENCY COURT. (1841, August 10). Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 – 1844), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71615117 also related articles:
  • • INSOLVENT DEBTORS’ COURT. (1841, August 24). Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 – 1844), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71615200
    • Advertising (1845, September 6). Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 – 1904), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158920785
    • Correspondence. (1845, July 1). South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 – 1851), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71601992
    • THE HAVERING PROPERTY, THE LAWYERS, AND THE SUPREME COURT. (1845, July 29). South Australian, p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71602239
• Roughley, Julianne, et al. “Design and Art Australia Online.” Theresa Walker :: Biography at :: at Design and Art Australia Online, Design & Art Australia Online, 1995, www.daao.org.au/bio/theresa-walker/biography/.
• National Portrait Gallery: Theresa Walker
• The Town of Walkerville Collections Policy 2014-2018

Related posts

• Martha Berkeley : The first dinner given to the Aborigines 1838 (Adelaide), Theresa’s sister
• S is for Suky, Theresa’s maternal grandmother
• 1854 : The Chauncy family at Heathcote, Philip Chauncy
• Remembering Susan Augusta Chauncy née Mitchell (1828-1867), Philip Chauncy’s wife

P is for Penelope

Last year I wrote about how the children of my sixth great grandparents Constantine Phipps (1746-1797 and Elizabeth Phipps nee Tierney (1749-1832) were stranded in France during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.

Constantine and Elizabeth Phipps had fourteen children:

• Mary Ann Phipps 1772–1779
• Frances Phipps 1773–
• Elizabeth Phipps 1774–1836
• Penelope Phipps 1775–1814
• Constantine Phipps 1776–1794
• James Phipps 1777–1795
• Pownoll Phipps 1780–1858
• Lucy Elton Phipps 1781–
• Anna Maria Phipps 1782–
• Weston Phipps 1785–
• Maria Jane Phipps 1786–1822
• John Lyon Phipps 1788–1819
• Charlotte Phipps 1790–
• Elvira Phipps 1791–1875

My sixth great aunt Penelope Phipps (1775-1814) was the oldest of the eight children left behind. She was 17 1/2 when her parents travelled away from their home at Caen, France temporarily. The next oldest child was Pownoll aged 12. The Phipps parents took with them their two oldest living daughters Frances and Elizabeth, who was about to be married, their second son James, and one small daughter, either Lucy or Anna. Penelope’s brother Constantine had obtained a post with the Honourable East India Company and had left for Madras.

So from November 1792 Penelope needed to care for:

1. Pownoll Phipps aged 12
2. Lucy Elton aged 11 or Anna Maria aged 10 (not sure which accompanied her parents to England)
3. Weston aged 7
4. Maria Jane aged 6
5. John Lyon aged 4
6. Charlotte aged 2
7. Elvira Jane aged 1

Nine emigrés are executed by guillotine, 1793

The children were watched over by family friends, in particular two bankers surnamed de la Fosse who loaned money. In June 1793 private property in France – including Caen, of course – began to be seized by Commissioners of the Convention. The house leased by the Phipps was threatened. The children were to be evicted and imprisoned. People in the town protested on their behalf and the children were allowed to remain under confinement with a sentry to guard the house and the stables given over to the military. Through this the Phipps children luckily gained some shelter from the violence of the Terror.

 

It was only in May 1795 that the children were allowed out of the grounds of their house. Pownoll had previously been granted some freedom and had helped to gather food as well as exploring Caen at the time.

The children knew neighbours who were arrested and executed by the guillotine, including the de Beaurepaire family. Pownoll later married their adopted daughter, Henriette de Beaurepaire, who survived although she was arrested and imprisoned in Paris.

About the same time as Pownoll became engaged to Henriette de Beaurepaire, Penelope became engaged to James Chatry de la Fosse, nephew of the bankers who supported the Phipps family.

In 1797 five of the younger children were affected by smallpox and Penelope nursed them through it.

In 1798 the Phipps family were set at liberty and the children returned to England. Their father had died while they had been in France.

Their mother, Eliza Phipps, disapproved of the engagements of Penelope and Pownoll. James Chatry de la Fosse and Henriette de Beaurepaire were Roman Catholics and French and the English generally disapproved of  such marriages.

Pownoll was found a cadetship in the Bengal army and sent abroad.

In 1799 Henriette de Beaurepaire followed Pownoll to England. Some members of the Phipps family, seeking to prevent the marriage of Pownoll and Henriette, arranged to have Henriette arrested as a spy. Penelope found out about the plot and came to the rescue of Henriette.

In 1802 Penelope travelled to Calcutta with Henriette and met her brother Pownoll there. Permission to travel to India and avoiding her family finding out required an elaborate plan. Instead of waiting for her fiancee Jacques to come to England, Penelope chose to help her brother and Henriette. She wrote to Jacques breaking off her engagement.

Pownoll married Henriette on 10 August 1802 in Calcutta.

In October 1806 Penelope, aged 31,  married Daniel Johnson (1765-1835) at Allahabad. Daniel was from Great Torrington, Devon and was a surgeon with the Honourable East India Company 1805-1809. Daniel was later the author of “Sketches Field Sports as followed by the Natives of India” (1822) .

Penelope’s nephew, Reverend Pownoll William Phipps (1835-1903) said in his book (page 79) that she was never happy after her marriage and died broken-hearted.

In February 1814 Penelope died aged 38. She was buried at Great Torrington, Devon on 27 February 1814. There appear to have been no children although Daniel had a daughter Jane born about 1799.

Sources

• Phipps, Pownoll William. The life of Colonel Pownoll Phipps K.C., H.E.I.C.S. with Family Records. London: Bentley, 1894. pp. 5, 12, 230–231. Viewable through archive.org.
• Marriage notice: The Asiatic annual register or a view of the history of Hindustan and of the politics, commerce and literature of Asia. 1806. p. 5.

Related Post

• C is for caught in Caen during the Reign of Terror

Champions from Normandy

Announcing the publication of Champions from Normandy: An essay on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family 1350-1800 AD by Rafe de Crespigny.

The Champion de Crespigny family of Normandy were Huguenot refugees who settled in England following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This is the story of a long-lived but essentially minor family in France, just within the fringes of the gentry, whose lineage can be traced in the male line back to the mid-fourteenth century, who prospered from their Huguenot connection but acquired their greatest good fortune when they were forced into exile in England.

Champions from Normandy 2017 :PDF version available for download

Cover of the PDF version of Champions from Normandy

ISBN

• 9780648191704 (hardback) Deposit copy held by the National Library of Australia
• 9780648191728 (paperback)
• 9780648191711 (ebook) Can be downloaded through this link: Champions from Normandy 2017

Libraries Australia ID 61026835

C is for caught in Caen during the Reign of Terror

There is a family story that one of my de Crespigny forebears was in Paris during the Reign of Terror but I and other family historians been unable to find any evidence of this other than my fourth great grand uncle Philip de Crespigny (1765-1851) who was detained in France 1803-1811, but that was later.

However, I do have family who were caught in France during the Reign of Terror. In 1793, my 6th great grandfather Constantine Phipps (1746-1797), who had been living in France, returned to England leaving eight of his fourteen children in Caen. (Phipps was the grandfather of Eliza Julia Trent (1797-1855) who married Charles Fox de Crespigny (1785-1875).)

Constantine Phipps married Elizabeth Tierney on 13 May 1771. Early in 1788 the Phipps family, including ten surviving children of eleven born to date, moved to Caen, Normandy, where Mrs Phipps’s sister lived. According to his grandson Constantine Phipps was determined to live in France for the sake of his children’s education. He is said to have trusted that a permanent peace between France and England had been secured by the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American War of Independence. Three more children were born at Caen.

In 1792, the Phipps were visited by a nephew, John Trent (1770-1796), who became engaged to Elizabeth, the third and second oldest surviving daughter. It was thought that the marriage should take place in their own country. In November 1792 Constantine and his wife left for England with their two oldest surviving daughters, their second son and a little girl. They left behind Penelope and seven other children. Penelope was then 17 years old.

Three months later, in January 1793, war was declared between England and France. The Phipps in England were unable to return to France and the children were unable to leave. The Phipps children were not reunited with their mother until October 1798. Their father, Constantine Phipps, had died in June 1797.

 

The castle at Caen from Wikimedia Commons, image by User Urban

Sources

• Phipps, Pownoll William. The life of Colonel Pownoll Phipps K.C., H.E.I.C.S. with Family Records. London: Bentley, 1894. pp. 5, 12, 230–231. Viewable through archive.org.

Related Posts

• Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution

F is for fleeing from France

Claude Champion Crespigny (1620-1695) and his wife Marie née de Vierville (1628-1708), my eighth great grandparents, were Huguenots, French Calvinists. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the family fled France leaving virtually all their property behind.

Claudius Champion de Crespigny (1620–1695) in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628–1708), Wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

In the 1670s Claude Champion Crespigny had income from two estates: Crépigny, 40 kilometres south of Bayeux near Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, the other at Vierville, 20 kilometers north-west of Bayeux, near what is now known as Omaha Beach, one site of the landings by American Allied forces on D-Day.

Claude and Marie had eight children:

• Pierre 1652–1739
• Margaret 1654–1741
• Mary 1655–1736
• Suzanne-Reně 1656–1727
• Renee 1661–1744
• Thomas 1664–1712
• Gabriel 1666–1722
• Jeanne 1668–1749

The oldest son, Pierre, a lawyer, became involved in a dispute on behalf of the congregation at Trévières, nine kilometers south of Viervillesur-Mer, and west of Bayeaux. As part of the harassment of Huguenots, it had been decided that one of the two churches at either Trévières or Bayeux was in excess of the provisions of the Edict of Nantes, which formally granted Huguenots a degree of religious tolerance. One was to be disestablished. The congregation at Trévières claimed to have been established before the one at Bayeux; Bayeux, however, was a much larger community. The case was initiated in 1673 and resolved only in 1681, in favour of the congregation at Trévières. The legal battle would have been costly; perhaps it was an incidental part of the royal policy in fostering such disputes to make it inconvenient and expensive to be a Huguenot.

From 1681 the persecution of the Huguenots entered a new phase. Louis XIV instituted a policy of “Dragonnades” meant to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or returning to Catholicism. The policy, in part, instructed officers in charge of travelling troops to select Huguenot households to billet them and to order the soldiers to behave as badly as they could. Soldiers damaged the houses, ruined furniture and personal possessions, attacked the men and abused the women. One could escape this persecution only by conversion or by fleeing France.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 he claimed to be entitled to do so because there were no more Huguenots in his kingdom and their special privileges were no longer needed.

It is estimated that 40-50,000 Huguenots fled France to England. Others fled to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Ireland and America. It was illegal for Protestants to leave France, and disguise and smuggling were necessary to get across the borders, which were guarded.

There is no record of the de Crespigny family’s emigration or flight apart from a tale of two children being concealed in baskets, but that story seems to have no basis.

Témoignages were documents from a previous congregation endorsing a holder as a member of the Reformed Religion so that they could be received into a new congregation.The document gives an indication of when the family arrived and from where.The de Crespigny family presented their témoignages credentials at various times. Claude, his wife and four children: Pierre, Suzanne, Renee and Jeanne, registered their témoignages on 30 June 1687 at the Savoy Church in the West End of London. The two elder daughters Marguerite/ Margaret and Marie/Mary were already married and travelled separately.

Thomas and Gabriel had travelled to England earlier aged 12; Thomas arrived in London in 1676 and  Gabriel arrived in London in 1678. The two boys were probably sent to England for their education: although Protestant schools were guaranteed under the Edict of Nantes there were moves to forbid certain subjects from being taught in those schools.

Marie had a sister Judith who married Antoine de Pierrepont. It seems likely that the Pierrepont family who migrated successfully to London helped the de Crespigny family.

Claude and Marie died in London and are buried at Marylebone. Their gravestone indicates that they were refugees from France.

Claude died on 10 April 1695. His eldest son Pierre, then 42, held a position of respect among the French Protestant community in London; he never married. Thomas and Gabriel were both army officers in the English army on service in the Netherlands. Thomas was a Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Cunningham’s Regiment of Scots Dragoons and Gabriel was a Lieutenant in the First Foot Guards.

In the first years of the eighteenth century Marie and her daughter Renee were listed as gentlefolk in receipt of pensions from the Queen’s Bounty for French Protestants. In 1708, the year Marie died, they were living at 37 Wardour Street, and the amount of the pension was £18.

Further reading

• de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy : being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988. 
• Nash, Robert and Huguenot Society of Australia The hidden thread : Huguenot families in Australia. The Huguenot Society of Australia, Newtown, N.S.W, 2009.
• Ball, Elaine R.  A History of the Huguenot Family of Champion De Crespigny : A Consideration of Their Life as Huguenot Gentry in France and the Manner of Their Integration into British Society following Their Exile. London: [Privately Distributed Typescript], 1973. [Original is with the Huguenot Society of great Britain and Ireland]
• The manor at Vierville left by the de Crespignys: http://vierville.free.fr/644-Crespigny.htm
• Tonkin, Boyd. “Refugee Week: The Huguenots Count among the Most Successful of Britain’s Immigrants.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 19 June 2015. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/refugee-week-the-huguenots-count-among-the-most-successful-of-britains-immigrants-10330066.html>. 

Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution

 

I came across a mention of a Philip de Crespigny being a prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1889 book Englishmen in the French Revolution:

Philip Champion de Crespigny, brother of the first baronet—he was married at the Danish Embassy, Paris, in 1809, his bride having apparently gone over to share his detention—escaped from St. Germain in May 1811. He lived to be eighty-six, dying in 1851. ( From Alger, John Goldworth & Robarts – University of Toronto (1889). Englishmen in the French Revolution. London S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/295. (2011, April 1). In Wikisource, . Retrieved 23:10, August 31, 2013, from http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Englishmen_in_the_French_Revolution.djvu/295&oldid=2641334 )

 

The first baronet was Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734 – 1818). His siblings, the children of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1701 – 1765) and his wife Anne nee Fonnereau (1704 – 1782), were:

• Susan (1735 – 1766)
• Anne (1736 – 1738)
• Philip (1738 – 1803), my fifth great grandfather
• Anne (1739 – ?)
• Jane (1742 – 1829)
• a child of whom I do not know the name, born 1733 and presumably died young

 

Philip, the brother of the first baronet, had died in 1803, so who was the Philip who was imprisoned? My family tree currently has ten Philip Champion de Crespignys though many of these are quite obviously not the man referred to in this book. My fourth great grand uncle Philip (1765 – 1851), son of Philip the brother of the first baronet seems to be the right man.

 

Philip married Emilia Wade on 21 October 1809. She died in 1832.

Family history notes compiled by Stephen de Crespigny state:

Philip was in France when Napoleon’s detenu order was signed in May 1803 and was held at the fortress town of Verdun for some years , then moved to St Germain from where he escaped in May 1811. But during the time he married Emelia Wade in Paris in November 1809, a lady with a considerable fortune. (photocopy of handwritten notes on the family history compiled by Stephen de Crespigny and in possession of my father)

The Treaty of Amiens had been signed on 25 March 1802 and meant peace between the French Republic and the United Kingdom.  The peace lasted only until 18 May 1803 when Britain declared war on France.  Issues leading to the recommencement of hostilities seemed to include the British not withdrawing from Malta in accordance with the treaty terms. The Wikipedia article on the recommencement of war between France and Britain states:

On 17 May 1803, before the official declaration of war and without any warning, the Royal Navy captured all the French and Dutch merchant ships stationed in Britain or sailing around, seizing more than 2 million pounds of commodities. In response to this provocation, on 22 May (2 Prairial, year XI), the First Consul [Napoleon Bonaparte] ordered the arrest of all British males between the ages of 18 and 60 in France and Italy, trapping many travelling civilians. This act was denounced as illegal by all the major powers. Bonaparte claimed in the French press that the British prisoners he had taken amounted to 10,000, but French documents compiled in Paris a few months later show that the numbers were 1,181. It was not until the abdication of Bonaparte in 1814 that the last of these imprisoned British civilians were allowed to return home.(Treaty of Amiens. (2013, August 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:15, September 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Treaty_of_Amiens&oldid=570571270)

In 1851 Philip was recorded on the census as living at Harefield House in Middlesex with his half brother, my fourth great grandfather, Charles Fox. Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny was twenty years younger than his brother. Philip was described as a lunatic, by which I assume he was suffering from old age dementia.

 

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1697; Folio: 376; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193605. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Stephen’s notes tell us a little more of Philip:

It was said of him that he was a gay fellow with a happy talent for drawing. He lived for many years in Harefield House, near Uxbridge, where he kept a dozen or more servants. Towards the end of his life he became a little senile, and his half brother Charles Fox looked after his estate for [him (remainder of note missing)] (photocopy of handwritten notes referred to above)

Philip died on 22 May 1851, only a few months after the census was taken. He died without issue.

Harefield House was used as a military hospital by the Australian Army in World War I.

ID number P02402.005 Photographer John H Avery & Co Description Harefield, England. c. 1915-06. Exterior of `Harefield House’ the former stately home taken over by the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (1AAH) in 1915-03. On the right is the corner of one of the first wards and hidden from view behind the shrubbery is the bay window of the first operating theatre (formerly the sitting room). (Original housed in AWM Archive Store) (Donor R. Brown). Retrieved from http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02402.005  1 September 2013

 

 

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 – 1883)

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny was born at St Malo, France, on 5 May 1851, the son of Philip Champion Crespigny and his wife Charlotte Frances née Dana. He was christened on 28 May at the Anglican Chapel, Saint-Servan-sur-Mer, which is two miles from St Malo.  He was the third child of the couple; his older sister Ada was born in 1848 and his brother Philip was born in 1850.

Not long after his birth his parents emigrated to Australia from England with their two older children. They left Constantine in England in the care of his grandparents and aunt. The Champion Crespigny family embarked from Plymouth on the Cambodia on 3 December 1851 when Constantine was not yet 7 months old. They must have determined he was too small and not strong enough to make the journey.

The family stayed in touch by letters and copies of some of this correspondence survives. For example:

undated but before July 1856

My dearest little Ada and Loup Loup:
     A thousand thanks for your nice little letter which delighted me.  Little Conny could not read them but Charlie learnt them by heart and repeated them to the little darling. I hope Ada has received the little books I sent her by this time and that you have both had a ride in Papa’s new carriage. Grandpapa will send you some seeds for your garden by the Great Britain Steam Ship and I hope you will have as much pleasure in growing your mustard and cress as Charlie has. Conny and Charlie are always talking of you and longing to have you both as playfellows. Do send me word what I can send you my little darlings to amuse you. I am very glad the boots fitted so well. Goodbye to you both. Conny and Charlie send you many kisses and I am ever your Affte. Gd. Mama.
     Gd. Papa and Aunt send you many loves and kisses.

The letter is from Eliza Julia Champion Crespigny  née Trent (1797 – 1856), wife of Charles James Fox Crespigny (1785 – 1875), and mother to Philip senior. Loup Loup was a nick name for Philip junior and means wolf. Charlie is the cousin of Constantine, Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny (1848 – 1907), the son of Philip’s older brother Charles John Champion Crespigny (1814 – 1880). The aunt was Philip’s sister, Eliza Constantia Frances Champion Crespigny (1817 – 1898). It was Constantia who spent much time caring for young Con.

from letter of 9 January 1858 from Charles James Champion Crespigny at Cheltenham to his son Philip

… The care she [Philip’s sister Constantia] takes in your dear Con and the delight she has in him is not to be described. It will be a great loss and pain to us to part with him when the time comes that he must go to school. He says positively that he will not go till he is eight and gets on so well with us that it will be time enough. I much wish to live long enough to see him grow up and started in the world but this is hardly to be expected.

When old enough and if we think it will be best to send him to the College here – 600 boys! but it is very good and terms very moderate, within sixty pounds a year – if a boy is at a boarding house, the last forty and twelve or fourteen to the college and about twelve per annum to hire the presentation or pay about one hundred in purchase of a presentation which is always saleable when you want it no longer. I have offered to pay for Charlie’s if Charlie will send him there and I think Charles has made up his mind to do so. I much wish the two dear boys to be brought up together. They are exceedingly fond of each other. Conny is of course exceedingly fond of Constantia but he will say that he likes me but “except you know my Papa and Mama and my brothers and sisters, I like them best of all.” He is often talking of you all and asking various questions about you. He has excellent qualities and gets on well in everything. He never will be idle a moment but must read or write or draw, but it would be needless to speak of him as I am sure Constantia has told you all about him. He is delighted now with Charles with us for his holidays. …

I must give you Conny’s last remark to Constantia just reported: He said: “Grand P was sent to school at 5 years old because he was not loved. Now I am so much loved you will not bear to part with me at 8. You will not know how to let me go to school.” The fact is I was so hideous they could not bear the sight of me and till 5 I was left always with servants in the country.

 From about 1858 there was a photograph of Con taken with his grandfather. The original is in my father’s possession.

From: Constantine Pulteney Trent ChC

To: Philip Robert [his father]

[London]

April 9 1859

My dear Papa

I beg you will write to me next time. I am sorry Mama had rheumatism when you wrote. Charlie has got the measles. I have seen a panorama * of Delhi with the Massacre of Cawnpore! My Aunt did not go as she could not stand that, so I went with Payne.
I am too busy pasting in my scrap-book to finish this myself. Charlie and I had no more pictures to paste, but Grd.papa went out and brought us home 4 dozen old “Punch’s”. I send my love to all and remain

Your affecte

Con

What fearfully hot weather you have had! I am very glad you are en permanence at Amherst. We have your letters up to Feby.12.¹

In 1861 Con was living with his grandfather, aunt and three servants (cook, parlour maid and house maid) at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.

 Contemporary photos of a Royal Parade house currently for sale given an indication of their home:²

Letter 4

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [Aunt Constantia]

To: Ada ChC [age 14]

[Cheltenham ?]

May 19th, 1862

My dearest Ada

I was delighted to receive your very nice note and to read such a cheering and pleasant account of you all and I am sure it must fill you with joy to see your dearest Papa’s health so wonderfully improved. I hope both he and your dearest Mama continue well. It was also a great comfort to me to find you were all getting the better of that dreadful whooping cough. Your dear brother Con is not looking well just now and I shall be glad when we can go to the sea or somewhere for a change next month and when you receive this I hope we shall be not here. Perhaps we shall go to Malvern as that is much nearer than the sea-side and the mountain scenery is very beautiful. Con would enjoy it I think even more than the sea.

A young friend of ours at College here has asked Con to take a long walk with him on Saturday and he is looking forward to it with great joy! The young Collegian is much older than Con who is rather proud of being patronised by him but I don’t much like Con going out in the scorching sun and shall persuade them to put off their walk to the evening.

I have nothing more to tell you, my dearest Ada, except to beg you to write to me as often as you can and to tell me all about each one of the family at Daisy Hill. [Daisy Hill was the name of the goldfield by Amherst.] With fondest love to all

Ever yr Affte Aunt E C F Crespigny

On 14 July 1869 Con joined the 69th (The South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot as an Ensign.  He is listed in the 1870 Hart’s Army list.³

 In 1871 Con was still with his grandfather and aunt at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.  There were still 3 servants, one of whom, Susan Tolman had been in the household ten years ago. Con was an ensign with the 69th Regiment.

A clipping from the journal [The Bro]ad Arrow of 13 May 1871, in my father’s possession, notes the promotion, by purchase, of Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny from Ensign to Lieutenant in the 69th Foot. According to Stephen de Crespigny, Con had served with the 69th Foot against the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1869. The London Gazette of 14 November 1871 page 4664 announces that

Lieut. Constantine Trent Pultenay Champion Crespigny from 69th Foot to be Lieut from Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny who retires from 41st Foot. 

Less than a year later the London Gazette of 18 October 1872 page 4939 notes the retirement of Lieutenant Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny of the 41st Foot, “receiving the value of his commission” dated 19 October 1872. From Letter 10 below, it appears he suffered from tuberculosis.

 Con’s grandfather died 4 March 1875.  Con joined his parents and siblings in Australia.  He arrived in Melbourne on 16 November 1875 on the iron clipper ship Melbourne which departed London on 17 August.  It was the maiden voyage of the ship and a report of the ship and the voyage appeared in The Argus of 17 November 1875 on page 4.

Letter 10

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [sister of Philip Robert]
To: Rosalie Helen Beggs [her niece]⁴

Priory Street

Cheltenham

12th May, 1876

My dear Rose

I have not written to you since your marriage but I very often think of you all and especially of you and your dear Frank, and believe you are all very dear to me for yr loved parents’ sake tho’ so far away and unknown. Con being amongst you seems to bring you all even nearer to my heart than ever, and you, the youngest of all my nieces, yet the first to marry, you of whom your dear Mother has so often written in deep sorrow and anxiety when you have been laid upon a bed of sickness, – you can hardly imagine the tender interest I take in you, or how earnestly I wish and how fervently I pray that your married life may be blessed with true happiness, for dear Con assures me your husband is one of the best fellows he ever met and sure to make you happy! And the satisfaction and comfort yr parents feel in seeing their darling married to one they have so long known and esteemed must, I think, render yr happiness as perfect as it is possible to be in this world.

Con had been enjoying himself immensely in your house when he last wrote to me. It was such a pleasure to him to see his little sister in her dignified matronly character! Poor Con! ‘Twas a sad fate for him to lose his profession and to be an idle man at 25. But the love of parents, brothers and sisters which you have all so freely and fondly bestowed upon your newly imported brother, has brightened his life, hitherto so sadly clouded, and if only his hopes of employment are realised, I trust his life may yet be a happy and useful one.

I feel so grateful to everyone of those who have been so kind to Con and I know how kind and hospitable your father-in-law has been and how he has enjoyed himself at Eurambeen (I don’t know if I spell the name right!). I suppose Con rides with you sometimes when you are together. Mount him on a good horse and he is at the summit of felicity! He has told me of the rides he has enjoyed. He must be dreadfully missed in your old home, particularly, I should think, by Vi, as she is nearest yr age. I hope she enjoyed the ball at Woolaston to which she was enabled to go by yr dear Frank’s kindness.

Try and find time now and then to write to yr old Aunt, my dear Rose, and with much love to you both

Believe me always

Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch. Crespigny

In June 1877 Con was appointed truant officer for the Education Department: From The Argus of Friday 15 June 1877 page 4:

Mr. T. C. Crespigny has been appointed truant officer for the St. Kilda district.

 From The Argus of Saturday 16 June 1877 page 7:  

Mr. Crespigny’s appointment as truant officer, announced in Friday’s Argus, includes the district of Prahran as well as St Kilda.

In July 1877 Con wrote a letter to the paper concerning an attack on his dog, a terrier, in Albert Park.  He was living in Gurner Street, St Kilda. The letter was published by The Argus on 7 July 1877 page 8.

Map showing Gurner Street and Albert Park retrieved from Google maps 7 April 2013

In 1879 there was an assault case in which Constantine seems to have been involved.  Waiting on newspaper report digitisation to be completed. Will update this post then:

FRIDAY, MARCH 14. 

The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian (Vic. : 1866 – 1888) Saturday 15 March 1879 p 3 Article

LrConstainines ” Crespigny summoned Mathias Lyons for assault. The evidence. showed that the plaintiff and walking near the South Beach last Sunday

The Sydney Morning Herald of 10 August 1880 reported the arrival of the Wotonga at Sydney on 9 August having sailed from Melbourne.  Passengers included CP Crespigny and P C Crespigny.  This may well have been father and son, C P being Constantine Pulteney, or possibly Con was accompanied by his older brother Philip.  This appears just to have been a visit to Sydney.  CP Crespigny left Melbourne on board the Sobraon  in February 1881.

From The Argus of 14 February 1881, Shipping Intelligence on page 4:

Letter 11

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

29 Kingsholm Road

Gloucester

4th Aug, 1881

My dear Rose

Con wishes me to tell you how glad he was to get your letters and how much he regrets his inability to answer them. He has been very weak and ill ever since his return. A few weeks ago there was some slight improvement. The intense heat we had seemed not only to benefit his lungs but to relieve his fever. Certainly he ceased during those extremely hot days to suffer from daily attacks of fever, tho’ in some ways the intense heat tried him severely. But with a sudden change in the weather and fall of temperature his fever returned with increased severity. One of the lungs got worse and had to be treated with repeated blisters. It is now better but the daily attacks of fever are terrible, lasting sometimes 8 hours during which he suffers acute headaches, shortness of breath, cough and nausea. He seems sometimes ready to die, so very ill is he.

Under these circumstances I am sure you will see how difficult it is for him to write even a few lines to his Mother and I am always trying to impress upon him that he ought not to tax his strength by writing, and that if he must write, it should be onlyto his Mother and let that be considered enough for the family. I feel sure you will forgive him for deferring to write to you till he is better, altho’ it is a very great pleasure to him to hear from you. I hope this will find you and your husband pretty well. I was sorry to hear that he had not been well. With fond love from Con and much from me

Ever Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con is only able to take a short drive for little more than half an hour on his best days when he feels his best.

Letter 12

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

Tuesday, 6th March [1883]

My dearest Rose

Just one line to enclose 2nd half £5 notes. I hope you recvd first half all safe in last mail.⁵ My heart aches for yr poor Mother who would now, as I believe be receiving my letter of 25 January, telling her how near death her darling was – tho’ I scarcely knew that he must be taken from me the very next day. I miss him more and more and long to go to him.

God bless you and your husband, dearest Rose.

Your affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con’s death was announced in The Argus of 24 March 1883:

Constantine is buried at St Peter’s, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire with his grandparents. His grave states:

“Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion_Crespigny. Late of HM 69th Regt. Born 5th May 1851. Died 26th January 1883. Youngest son of Philip Robert Champion Crespigny of St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia”⁶

The verse under Constantine’s inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

On 5 March 1882 Constantine’s nephew, the second son of Philip, was born at Queenscliff, Victoria and named Constantine Trent.

---

Footnotes

Letters, copy held by my father Rafe de Crespigny:

The originals of these letters were in the possession of my grandfather Sir Constantine Trent ChC/CdeC. After his death in 1952, his second wife Mary Birks nee Jolley, Lady de Crespigny, had them copy-typed by Ms W M Walsh, and distributed the copies among members of the family. I obtained a set through my father Richard Geoffrey CdeC, Constantine Trent’s elder son. It seems probable that most of the letters were collected by Ada Champion Crespigny (1848-1927), eldest daughter of Philip Robert ChC (1817-1889), for many of them are addressed to her.

^{1. Constantine ChC, born in May 1851, was now just under 8 years old.
The asterisk has a note by the transcriber: from here adult writing by Charles James Fox ChC.
The siege of Cawnpore [modern Kanpur] concluded on 24 June 1857 with the slaughter of the British defenders as they sought to leave under promise of safe conduct. Panoramas were common forms of exhibition at this time. The spectators entered a large room and the event was displayed, normally in two dimensions, on the surrounding walls, aided by special lighting.
In February 1859 Philip Robert was appointed from Justice of the Peace to Police Magistrate at Amherst in the county of Talbot, some 5 kilometres northwest of that town. Philip Robert had formerly held general posts as Assistant Commissioner for Crown Lands, Magistrate in the Colony of Victoria and Warden of the Goldfields.↩}

^{2. images retrieved from Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/66hZh retrieved 7 April 2013 and from http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/21093258 7 bedroom property for sale £1,800,000 Royal Parade, Cheltenham GL50↩}

^{3. from page 215 of The Army List Author Colonel H. G. Hart Published 1870 Original from Oxford University Digitized 15 Oct 2007 retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=C_ANAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA215 3 February 2012 ↩}

^{4. Constantia, born in 1825, was now 51 years old. Rose, born in October 1858, was now 17 years old. She had married Francis Beggs of Beaufort on 3 February 1876. ↩}

^{5. One means of sending money with some security by post was to cut bank-notes in two. Each note was printed with a number in two places. Half a note, with only one number, was valueless, but when the two halves were put together they could be credited with a bank. ↩}

^{6. Tombstone inscriptions from http://www.stpeters-leckhampton.org.uk/ retrieved 7 April 2013.
The full tombstone transcription is:}

M11 Chest-tomb, on base, inward sloping sides, worn, once painted. Sc: LEWIS.Sc.

South: IN MEMORY OF

CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY,
BORN AT HINTLESHAM HALL NEAR IPSWICH 30TH AUGUST 1785, 
DIED AT CHELTENHAM 4TH MARCH 1875. 
IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE OF BEING RAISED WITH THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST
TO EVERLASTING LIFE. 
ALSO OF CONSTANTINE TRENT PULTENEY CHAMPION CRESPIGNY.
LATE OF H.M. 69th REGT BORN 5TH MAY 1851. DIED 26TH JANUARY 18–.
YOUNGEST SON OF PHILIP ROBERT CHAMPION CRESPIGNY
OF ST KILDA, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
– – – – – – LL YE THAT LABOUR AND – – – HEAVY LADEN – – – WILL OF – – –
North: IN MEMORY OF / 
ELIZA JULIA, THE BELOVED WIFE OF 
CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY ESQUIRE,
WHO DIED THE 17TH DAY OF JULY 1855, AGED 59 YEARS.
PURE AND INNOCENT OF MIND, KIND AND BENEVOLENT, “HER WAYS WERE WAYS OF
PLEASANTNESS, AND ALL HER PATHS WERE PEACE.” PROVERBS. III.17.
UNTO YOU THAT HAVE MY NAME SHALL THE SUN(sic) OF RIGHTOUSNESS ARISE
WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS. MALACHI IV 2
I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE I WILL REDEEM THEM
FROM DEATH. HOSEA XIII.I.
– -EL- – – – NOT SHARE OUR SORROW, S——– THE -OT-E— BLESSED
– – – – – – – A FUTURE LIFE – – – – – – – – – -SAVED – – – – – .

 The verse under Constantine’s inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The verse for his grandfather is derived from the Book of Common Prayer but is not a direct quote. ↩

Divorce of John James and Charlotte Frances née Dana

John James (1808 – 1855), a solicitor from Newnham Gloucestershire, married Charlotte Frances Dana (1820 – 1904) on 14 May 1839 at St Peters church, Worfield near Albrighton Shropshire.

They had two children, Charlotte Constance (1840 – 1935) and John Henry (1841 – 1842).

In November 1847 Charlotte left her husband and daughter and eloped to France from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight with Philip Champion Crespigny. They lived in France under different names including Mr and Mrs Rae and D’Estair. They moved from Havre to Rouen to Paris and then to near St Malo.¹ Their daughter Ada Isadora was born at Paris on 15 May 1848 and christened at the English Protestant Chapel, Saint-Servan-Sur-Mer. Saint Servan is two miles from St Malo. Their son Philip was born 4 January 1850 at St Malo and christened on 14 January. A second son Constantine Pulteney Trent was born on 5 May 1851 at St Malo and christened on 28 May.²

In the mean time John James had engaged a solicitor to pursue his wife and Philip. The solicitor

“stated he had used every effort to induce Mr. Crespigny to put in an appearance to an action for crim. con., but without effect. Indeed, whenever he had reason to think that that gentleman might be in England he had sued out a writ. He had sued out at least seven or eight writs, but in no one instance had an appearance been entered.”¹

In February 1849 the divorce went before the Arches court. The court thought the facts were fully established beyond all doubt, and pronounced for the divorce.³

In March 1849 John James brought a bill for divorce before the House of Lords. Among the lords present were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham, Lord Campbell, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Stradbroke, the Earl of Mountcashel, Lord Stanley, the Earl of Suffolk, and Lord Ellenborough.¹

The marriage of Charlotte Frances Dana to Philip Champion Crespigny was formalised on 18 July 1849 at the British Embassy in Paris, France. The couple had been living at Fleurtuil in Brittany, a village near St Malo, and Philip C. Crespigny, rentier [i.e. “of independent means”], accompanied by his Dame [lady: probably not wife, which would be Femme] and their child [described as an Enfant, which would indicate a male child, but evidently Ada, who had been born on 15 May 1848] were granted a passport for travel to Paris by the local British Vice-Consul at St. Malo on 30 May 1849.⁴

Divorce for reasons of adultery was first made available in England in 1857. Parliamentary divorce was invented about 1700. Divorce by a private act of Parliament was abolished in 1857. Before 1857 three different legal systems applied: canon law, equity law and common law requiring different lawyers and judges and operating in three separate courts. Before 1857 only Parliament could grant a full legal severance of a marriage allowing both spouses to marry again.⁵

The Court of Arches was an ecclesiastical court located at Doctors’ Commons in London.

The law provided for a husband to make a claim against a wife’s lover for damages because of her adultery – an action known as ‘criminal conversation’, or ‘crim. con.’. In later years this action reinforced the claims for a Parliamentary divorce. The original object of the crim. con. action had been to punish the seducers of married women and to compensate the latter’s cuckolded husbands. By 1800, the great majority of actions were collusive, and their true function was to provide a legal smoke screen under which both husband and wife could obtain an undefended Parliamentary divorce and remarry.⁶ Philip Crespigny’s refusal to be party to the crim. con. court case was unusual and threatened to derail the divorce action.⁷

Only the very rich could afford a Parliamentary divorce, the costs running into thousands of pounds.⁸ It is estimated that £5,000 in 1847 would be worth about half a million dollars today.⁹ In the ten years 1841 to 1850 only 43 Parliamentary divorce petitions were brought in England, about 4 a year. There were 85 matrimonial cases in the Court of Arches in that decade.¹⁰

In 1852, John James also remarried to Arabella Veronica Dighton. They had a daughter Vera Maria James. John James died in 1855.

Charlotte Constance James would never have seen her mother again. She married in 1859 to Francis Gamble Blood. They had a son, John Neptune Blood. Charlotte Constance divorced Francis Blood in 1870; it was a wife’s petition.¹¹ Charlotte Constance Blood died in 1935. Her son died in 1942 without issue having never married.

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<sup>1. The Times, 21 March 1849, page 7 (images of the newspaper articles are below) ↩
2. Notes on the family history prepared by my father Rafe de Crespigny August 2001: The record of baptism for Isidora Ada Charlotte, on 4 July 1848, gives her parents with Christian names Philip and Charlotte, but surname as D’Estrée. It seems that this must refer to the first child of Philip Champion Crespigny and Charlotte Frances nee Dana, born before their marriage, but there appears no explanation for the surname. Eighteen months later, on 14 January 1850 Philip Champion and Charlotte Frances had their infant son baptised as Philip Champion, with the surname given as Crespigny. In each case, the address of the father was given as St Malo, and the quality or profession as “Gentleman”. Both ceremonies were carried out by the same Chaplain John Penleaye; one would imagine the British community in the region of St Malo would have been small enough for someone to have noticed the variations. ↩
3. London Daily News, 19 February 1849, pages 6-7, “Arches Court – Saturday” ↩
4. Notes on the family history prepared by my father Rafe de Crespigny August 2001. He also notes that no place called Fleurtuil appears on the Michelin Map of France, nor is there any record of such a place on the Internet; on the other hand, this is true also of the sub-village Crépigny. The writing of the name, however, is a little uncertain: the initial could be an H, or possibly a P, and there is a Pleurtuit in the vicinity of St Malo, some distance up the Rance, about four kilometres from its western bank. ↩
5. Stone, Lawrence. (1990). Road to divorce : England 1530-1987. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press; pages 6, 20, 46 ↩
6. Stone pages 17, 26 ↩
7. The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 30, 1849; Opprobriums of Law ↩
8. Stone pages 354 – 357 ↩
9. Computing ‘Real Value’ Over Time With a Conversion Between U.K. Pounds and U.S. Dollars, 1830 to Present from http://www.measuringworth.com/exchange/ calculated 1 April 2013 ↩
10. Stone pages 424, 432 ↩
11. Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle etc (Portsmouth, England), Wednesday, June 22, 1870 ↩</sup>

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London Daily News, 19 February 1849, pages 6-7, “Arches Court – Saturday”

The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 30, 1849; Opprobriums of Law

The Times, 21 March 1849, page 7

Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle etc (Portsmouth, England), Wednesday, June 22, 1870