a very handsome man, — a compliment which a melancholy occasion gave an opportunity for recording. I allude to the Great Fire of London in 1666, of which Pepys has given such a graphic sketch. The diarist walked into the midst of the conflagration on “Lord’s day,” 2d September, with a message to the Lord Mayor from the King and the Duke of York. He writes:—
“Saw the fire rage every way, and nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it, but to remove their goods. . . . Met my Lord Mayor [Sir Thomas Bludworth] in Canning Street, like a man spent, with a handkercher about his neck. To the King’s message, he cried, like a fainting woman, ‘Lord, what can I do? — I am spent, people will not obey me; I have been pulling down houses, but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it;’ — that he needed no more soldiers, and that for himself he must go and refresh himself having been up all night [it was then nearly 12 noon]. So he left me and I him, and walked home[ward], seeing people almost distracted, and no manner of means used to quench the fire. . . . Here I saw Mr. Isaac Houblon, the handsome man, prettily dressed and dirty, at his house at Dovvgate, receiving some of his brothers’ things, whose houses were on fire, and, as he says, have been removed twice already, and he doubts (as it soon proved) that they must be in a little time removed from his house also, which was a sad consideration.”
Mr Isaac Houblon’s will was dated 14th February, and proved 27th March 1702. His widow died 26th August 1719.
The sixth son of the elder James was Abraham Houblon, born 1639, a Director of the Bank of England from its commencement in 1694, and elected the Deputy-Governor on 5th April 1701. In May 1702 he became one of the Commissioners of the Victualling Office. On 2d January 1672 (n.s.) he married, in Westminster Abbey, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Richard Hubert of Langley, grand-daughter of John King, formerly Bishop of London, and first cousin of Mrs. Isaac Houblon [see pedigree below]. She died in July 1703, aged 61. Abraham Houblon succeeded to, or acquired, his father-in-law’s mansion, as the announcement of his death styles him Abraham Houblon, Esq., of Langley, County Bucks. He died on 11th May 1722 in his 83d year. He was the father of Sir Richard, and of Anne, wife of Henry Temple, first Viscount Palmerston. The Political State of Great Britain contains the following notice:— “Died, 13 Oct. 1724, Sir Richard Houblon, who left the bulk of his estate to his sister Lady Palmerston, and to Mrs. Jacob Houblon.” [On 2d December 1723, “Samuel Houblon, Esq.” died suddenly; he was probably named after Samuel Pepys, and may have been a son of Sir James Houblon.]
| John King, Bishop of London from 1611 to 1621. | ||||||||||||
| Henry King, Bishop of Chichester. | = | Joan Smith of Guildford. |
Dorothy King | = | Sir Richard Hubert of Langley, | |||||||
| from 1641 to 1669 | Groom Porter to Kings Charles I. and II. | |||||||||||
| Elizabeth King | = | Isaac Houblon. | Dorothy Hubert | = | Abraham Houblon. | |||||||
| Sir Richard Houblon. | Anne, Viscountess Palmerston. | |||||||||||
Returning to Jacob, the fourth son of the elder James, we identify him as the Rev. Jacob Houblon, rector of Bobbingworth, who married, 17th July 1662, Elizabeth, only child of Rev. Thomas Wincup, D.D., of Ellesworth, and had three daughters — Anne, Elizabeth, and Hannah, and two sons, of whom Jacob died without issue. Charles, the survivor, married Mary Bale, and was father of Jacob Houblon, Esq., M.P. for Hartfordshire from 1741 to 1747, who married Mary, daughter of Sir John Hynde Cotton, Bart., grandfather of Jacob (who married Susannah, heiress of John Archer, Esq.) and great grandfather of John Archer Houblon, Esq., of Hallingbury and Welford, M.P. for Essex. The last-named gentleman died on 1st June 1832, and is represented by his eldest son and namesake, John Archer Houblon, Esq., of Hallingbury and Culverthorpe, and by his second son, Charles Eyre, Esq., of Welford (Berks). The latter has a son and heir, George Bramston Eyre, Esq.
III. Du Quesne (now Du Cane).
The English houses of Du Cane (or, rather, one family with many branches) spring from a good refugee named Du Quesne. His family includes a competent chronicler (Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane, K.C.B.), who has privately printed the result of his researches and collections. This is fortunate, for there were several refugees of the name, and there was a genealogist of last century who was so anxious to find a place
