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Category Archives: Fonnereau

South from Suffolk to Sussex

13 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by Anne Young in CdeC baronets, Fonnereau, UK trip 2019

≈ 3 Comments

On 22 May we drove from our B&B at Troston in Suffolk to our next stay, a small rented house in Lewes, Sussex. We went via Ipswich and Maldon, crossing the Thames at Dartford. The weather continued glorious: sunny and warm but not hot, with clear skies and a pleasant breeze.

Ipswich, once an important seaport on the River Orwell, was the home of some of my Fonnereau forebears. In 1734 my 7th great grandfather, Claude Fonnereau (1677 – 1740) purchased and moved with his family to Christchurch Mansion, an imposing three-storey edifice with a large park, just a few streets from the centre of the town.

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Christchurch Mansion

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Christchurch Park

Since 1885 the Mansion has been a public museum. We were given an excellent tour, our guide, friendly and knowledgeable, doing all he could to make the Fonnereau relatives from Down Under welcome. In her diary my daughter wrote:

“In Ipswich we visited the Christchurch Mansion. This mansion was owned by the Fonnereaus who married the de Crespignys. Mummy was delighted by this mansion and went on a long tour and took lots of photos of portraits. The rest of us humoured her and were very patient.”

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Claude Fonnereau (1677-1740) my 7th great grandfather

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One of the paintings above the doors on the landing. These may be the daughters of Claude Fonnereau one of whom was my 6th great grandmother Anne Champion de Crespigny née Fonnereau (1704 – 1782) – perhaps this is her portrait.

 

We also visited St Margaret’s Church nearby. Hanging in the nave and chancel were nine hatchments, four of them in memory of members of the Fonnereau family. (A hatchment is a large coat of arms, usually painted on a wood and canvas frame and placed over the door of a deceased person’s house shortly after their death.)

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hatchments for Rev. Dr. Claudius Fonnereau died 1785 and Rev. Charles William Fonnereau died 1840

20190522 Ipswich St Margaret's 122548_IMG_5481

Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich

From Ipswich we drove on to Great Totham, in Essex near Maldon. Champion Lodge, nearby, was once the home of Sir Claude de Crespigny (1847 – 1935), the fourth baronet, my fourth cousin three times removed. It is now a nursing home, not open to the public. We had lunch on the sunny terrace of a village pub.

Totham Lodge Care Home
Totham Lodge Care Home
gates of the former Champion Lodge
gates of the former Champion Lodge
pub at Great Totham
pub at Great Totham
a really excellent sandwich
a really excellent sandwich

There had been a family mausoleum at Champion Lodge but when the estate was sold in the 1940s the mausoleum was destroyed, with the remains of those buried there reinterred at St Andrew’s Hatfield Peverel, near Maldon.

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Maldon

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St Andrew’s Hatfield Peverel with Champion de Crespigny graves

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Surprisingly, the various church inscriptions at St Andrew’s make no mention of the Champion de Crespignys. It appears that the family worshipped at St Peter’s Church Great Totham, where they had a private pew. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit St Peter’s, where there are many de Crespigny monuments and memorials. I do not know why the family graves were moved to Hatfield Peverel, not Great Totham.

Continuing south, we crossed the Thames at Dartford. The Dartford Crossing bridge – the crossing also has two tunnels – soars 200 feet over the river. Sorry; the great views going over were poorly captured by the photographer.

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the highway south

Late in the afternoon we reached Lewes (pronounced ‘Lewers’), a very pretty town about ten miles inland from Brighton. Our house there was clean and comfortable but it was difficult to get to, approachable only by a series of one-way narrow lanes, known in Sussex as ‘twittens‘. The word has a Germanic root meaning ‘alley’; Greg thought it might be something to do with scratches on the paintwork of a hired German car. Ours was a Mercedes; we squeaked through with a just a single layer of black paint to spare.

20190526_093801

Navigating the twitten in Lewes

2019 UK map 20190522

Related posts

  • Z is for Zacharie
  • C is for Compiègne on 1 September 1914

B is for beacon

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2019, Cornwall, Fonnereau

≈ 14 Comments

Not counting the Channel Islands, Lizard Point, Cornwall, is the  most southerly point of the British Isles. Land’s End, the most westerly point of Cornwall and England is 40 miles to the south-west.

I was surprised to find that in the eighteenth century my Fonnereau forebears had owned Lizard Point and my that 7th great uncle Thomas Fonnereau (1699 – 1779) had built the lighthouse there.

Thomas Fonnereau was the brother of my 6th great grandmother Anne Champion de Crespigny nee Fonnereau (1704 – 1782). They were the children of Huguenot refugees, Claude Fonnereau (1677 – 1740) and Elizabeth Fonnereau nee Bureau (1670 – 1735). Both Claude and Elizabeth were born in La Rochelle and came to England as children; they married in London in 1698. Claude Fonnereau was a Hamburg merchant who made his fortune in the linen trade. He left large landed estates to Thomas, and considerable monetary legacies to him and the other children.

Fonnereau was a member of Parliament for the constituency of Sudbury, Suffolk, from 1741 to 1768 and for Aldeburgh, Suffolk, from 1773 to 1779. He had inherited the estate of Christchurch, Ipswich, Suffolk from his father.

A lighthouse was first built on Lizard Point in 1619. Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack obtained a patent from James I and built it the same year. Local people objected : “The inabytants neer by,” wrote Killigrew, “think they suffer by this erection. They affirme I take away God’s grace from them. Their English meaning is that now they shall receve no more benefitt by shipwreck, for this will prevent yt. They have been so long used to repe profitt by the calamyties of the ruin of shipping that they clayme it heredytarye, and heavely complayne on me.” Trinity House, which at that time was enabled to set up sea marks but did not have a monopoly on maintaining lighthouses, is said to have strenuously opposed the lighthouse, alleging it was both useless and objectionable. Trinity House’s concerns apparently included that “the light will be a Pilot to a forrayne enymie to carrye them to a place of safe landynge”. It may also be relevant that Killegrew had been accused of piracy.

The light was maintained by Sir John for a number of years with the assistance of some voluntary contributions. It appears his patent was not entered in the rolls and in 1623 the patent was questioned in the Star Chamber and probably failed. By 1631 the light had gone.

There were several petitions to erect lights on the Lizard in the 1660s. One, in 1664 by Sir John Coryton, was to erect lighthouses at the Isle of Wight, Portland Road, Rame Head, and the Lizard Point. Sir John was to “receive 6d. Per ton on all strangers’ vessels anchoring between the Isle of Wight and Mounts Bay.” His petition, as with many others, did not succeed.

Thomas Fonnereau was successful in being granted a patent to build a lighthouse at the Lizard. The patent is dated 22 May 1751 and the light was first shown on 22 August 1752.

Fonnereau erected the lighthouse and paid an annual lease. In return he received dues from shipping that benefitted from the lighthouse. The patent gave permission for the building of the lighthouse, set the lease and authorised the collection and remittance of dues. In this period, the erection of a lighthouse was purely a business proposition, not a generous gesture of disinterested help to passing vessels.

In his 1838 Parochial History of Cornwall Gilbert Davies wrote of Thomas Fonnereau: “Mr Fonnereau came into Cornwall as an adventurer chiefly for the purpose of constructing Lighthouses on the Lizard Point, under one of the improvident grants which were frequently made in those times.”

Fonnereau’s initial lease was for 61 years but Trinity House took over responsibility for the lighthouse in 1771.

To distinguish it from the Scilly light which had one tower  and later the Guernsey lighthouses which had three towers, the Lizard light had two towers These are 61 feet high, with bases 168 feet above sea level. In 1870 the lights could be seen at a distance of 21 miles.

Lizard Light House 1772 - 1827 by T Rowlandson

Lizard Light House 1772 – 1827 by Thomas Rowlandson. Watercolour in the collection of the British Museum retrieved from watercolourworld.org

 

Until 1813, the Lizard lights were coal fired. An overlooker from a vantage point between the two towers would supervise the brightness of the fires. His contribution was to remind the bellows workers of their duties by sounding a cow horn if the fires dimmed.

In 1813 oil replaced coal, and in 1878 coal in turn was replaced by electricity. Around 1902 the lights were reduced to one powerful revolving electric beam, said to be the strongest in the world, which was visible for twenty-three miles. It showed once in every three seconds. It is aided in foggy weather by foghorns, said to have a very dismal call. The Lizard lighthouse was automated in 1998 and now displays a flashing white light visible for 26 miles.

Sources

  • Namier, Sir Lewis. “FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff.” History of Parliament Online, The History of Parliament Trust , www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  • Davies, Gilbert. “The Parochial History of Cornwall, Founded on the
    Manuscript Histories of Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin; with Additions and
    Various Appendices : Gilbert, Davies, 1767-1839 : first published 1838.”
    digitised by Archive.org, retrieved from
    archive.org/details/parochialhistory02gilbuoft/page/358.
  • Fox, Howard. The Lizard Lighthouse “Journal of the Royal Institution of
    Cornwall,” 6, pt 14, (1879) pp 319-336 digitised by Archive.org,
    retrieved from archive.org/details/journal01soregoog/page/n400.
  • Page, William. “The Victoria History of the County of Cornwall.: first
    published 1906” pp 497 – 499, digitised by Archive.org, retrieved from
    archive.org/details/victoriahistoryo00pageuoft/page/n601.
  • Adams, W.H. Davenport. “Lighthouses and Lightships; a Descriptive and
    Historical Account of Their Mode of Construction and Organization: first
    published 1870” pp 197 – 199 digitised by Archive.org,
    archive.org/details/lighthouseslight00adamrich/page/n201.
  • Harper, Charles G. “THE CORNISH COAST (SOUTH) And the Isles of Scilly:
    first published 1910.” Project Gutenberg Ebook, Project Gutenberg, 2014,
    www.gutenberg.org/files/47763/47763-h/47763-h.htm.
  • Ray Jones (20 August 2013). LIGHTHOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 210–. ISBN 978-1-4930-0170-5. Retrieved through Google books.
  • Cathryn J. Pearce (2010). Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860: Reality and Popular Myth. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-1-84383-555-4. Retrieved through Google books.
  • D. Alan Stevenson (5 March 2013). The World’s Lighthouses: From Ancient Times to 1820. Courier Corporation. pp. 1782–. ISBN 978-0-486-15708-5. Retrieved through Google books .
  • “Lizard Lighthouse.” Trinity House, 2016,
    www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/lizard-lighthouse.
  • Bertrand, Elodie. “The Coasean Analysis of Lighthouse Financing: Myths
    and Realities.” Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 30, no. 3, 2006,
    pp. 389–402. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23601678.

Z is for Zacharie

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2018, Fonnereau, France, Huguenot, London

≈ 11 Comments

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.

British (English) School; Possibly Zacharie Fonnereau (b.1636)

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

Denner, Balthasar, 1685-1749; Possibly Marguerite Fonnereau as an Elderly Lady

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.

Siege_of_La_Rochelle_1881_Henri_Motte

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.

British (English) School; Claude Fonnereau (1677-1740)

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.

 

Fonnereau watch

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

I is for Ipswich: Hintlesham Hall and the Crespigny family

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2017, Champion de Crespigny, Fonnereau, Parliament, Suffolk

≈ Leave a comment

From about 1783 to 1790 Philip Crespigny (1738-1803) , my fifth great grandfather lived at Hintlesham Hall near Ipswich, Suffolk.

 

Hintlesham Hall in 2007. Photograph by Bob Jones retrieved from geograph.org.uk

The Hall is now a hotel. The following is extracted from a brief history of the building given on the hotel’s website.

Hintlesham Hall started as a small moated manor house, it was rebuilt and extended. Major construction which gave the Hall the looks it has today were a rebuilding from 1724, by the then owner, Richard Powys (1707-1743), with money he had made from the South Sea Bubble.

He raised the ceiling in Salon and Parlour cutting off access between the North and South wings so built on the Orangery and Long Gallery. He covered the original Elizabethan red brick frontage with the Georgian façade but left the original walls clear at the rear of the Hall. He moved the 1686 oak staircase to the end of the orangery and put in vertical sash windows throughout. He built the Stable block (now [a] Courtyard accommodation wing) and constructed the arch with cobbled driveway for a carriage and four to enter. Richard Powys died in 1743 nearly £4k in debt.

In 1747 Powys’ widow sold to Richard Lloyd (1696-1761), a successful political lawyer who became Solicitor General. It was while the Lloyd family owned the Hall that Philip Crespigny leased it.

Three of Philip’s children were born at the Hall:

  • George in 1783
  • Eliza in 1784
  • Charles in 1785
In 1785, Philip’s daughter Jane died at the Hall aged 19.
Philip Crespigny’s parliamentary career was linked to the area around Ipswich.
from Google maps showing Hintlesham Hall, Ipswich, Sudbury and Aldeburgh (click to enlarge)

Philip’s mother, Ann, was the daughter of Claude Fonnereau, a wealthy merchant. In 1734 Claude Fonnereau had bought  Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich.

Ann’s brother, and thus Philip’s uncle, Thomas Fonnereau (1699 – 1779) was returned for Sudbury in 1741 and sat for that constituency 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.

In 1774 Crespigny was returned on the Fonnereau interest at Sudbury after a contest, but lost his seat on petition.

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. He continued to sit for Aldeburgh until 1790.

My parents visited Hintlesham Hall in 2004.

My mother at the front of Hintlesham Hall

rabbits on the lawn from my parents’ window in the east wing
Sources
  • 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. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803>.
  • Namier, Sir Lewis. “FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779>.)
  • Wikipedia: Thomas Fonnereau
  • Hintlesham Hall website
  • For an explanation of Parliamentary interest see The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790: The Constituencies
Related posts
  • Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803)

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803)

18 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Anne Young in Bath, Champion de Crespigny, Fonnereau, freemason, lawyer, Parliament, sheriff, Wales

≈ 12 Comments

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)

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