Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fonblanque, John Samuel Martin de Grenier
FONBLANQUE, JOHN SAMUEL MARTIN DE GRENIER (1787–1865), legal writer, eldest son of John de Grenier Fonblanque [q. v.], was born in Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London, in March 1787. He was educated at the Charterhouse and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was one of the founders of the Union Debating Society. He also kept his terms at Lincoln's Inn. At college he burst a blood-vessel and was advised change for his health, whereupon, having obtained a commission in the 21st fusiliers, he served with the regiment in Cadiz and Gibraltar, and in Italy under Lord W. Bentinck, by whom he was appointed deputy judge advocate-general. He took an active part in the war between Great Britain and the United States, was present at the taking of Washington, the battle of Baltimore, and the disastrous attempt on New Orleans, where he was captured by the enemy. After the battle of Waterloo he served in France with the army of occupation, and returning to England in 1816 he was called to the bar, and appointed by Lord Eldon in the following year a commissioner of bankruptcy. On the institution of the bankruptcy court by 1 & 2 William IV, c. 56, he was appointed one of the original commissioners. Fonblanque died at Brighton 3 Nov. 1865. He wrote (jointly with Dr. J. A. Paris) ‘Medical Jurisprudence,’ 3 vols. 1823—for this work the first award of the Swiney prize was made to the authors—and ‘Observations on the Bill now before Parliament for the Consolidation and Amendment of the Laws relating to Bankrupts,’ &c. 1824. He also was one of the founders of ‘The Jurist, or Quarterly Journal of Jurisprudence and Legislation,’ vols. i–iv. 1827–33.
[Gent. Mag. December 1865, p. 801; County Courts Chronicle and Bankruptcy Gazette, 1 Feb. 1866, p. 44; Brit. Mus. Cat.]