posedto the society to grant two acres of land in perpetuity, rent free during his life, and after his death at such rent as the society shall think advisable; he hath also proposed to build the school-house and offices for a sum of £300, on which he will engage to spend the sum of £500, but believes they will cost him nearer £600.” The society accepted these proposals. This society had subscribers in England, for instance, Peter Du Cane, Esq., 1771-2, £5, 5s.; Mr Abraham Ogier, do., £1, 1s.; Sir Timothy Waldo, knight, do., £5, 5s. Among the members in Ireland, in 1773, William Despard, Esq., is named. Mr. Trench married Catherine, daughter of Francis Sadleir, Esq. of Sopwell Hall, and died in 1797, having had seven sons and five daughters. The eldest son was Frederic Trench, Esq. of Woodlawn, born in 1757; the second son was Francis Trench, Esq. of Sopwell Hall, born in 1758, who married Mary Mason; the fourth son was William Trench, Esq. of Cangort Park, King’s County (born 1769, died 1849), father of Rev. Frederick Fitzwilliam Trench (born 1799, and of Henry, of Cangort Park (born 1807, died 1881), who married in 1836 Georgiana Amelia Mary, daughter of the first Lord Bloomfield.
Frederic Trench, of Woodlawn, Esq., was member for Portarlington in the Parliament of Ireland, and, on 29th December 1801, was created Baron Ashtown in the peerage of Ireland, the patent being in favour of himself and his late father’s heirs-male. Lord Ashtown died, without issue, on 1st May 1840, aged eighty-three, and the representation of his noble house devolved upon the family of his brother, Francis, who had died in 1829. The eldest son of the latter, namely, Frederic Mason Trench (born in 1804), thus became the second Lord Ashtown. He had married in 1831 Henrietta, daughter of Thomas Phillips Cosby, Esq., and was the father of the (1) Hon. Frederick Sidney Charles Trench (born in 1839), who married in 1867 Lady Anne Le Poer Trench, daughter of the third Earl of Clancarty; (2) of Hon. Cosby Godolphin Trench of Sopwell Hall (born in 1844), who married Maria, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Musgrave, Baronet; and (3) of the Hon. Harriette Mary Trench, who married in 1883 the Hon. Frederick Le Poer Trench, second son of the third Earl of Clancarty, but died in 1844. The second Lord Ashtown died on 12th September 1810, but had been predeceased by his eldest son, who had died on 2d March 1879, leaving heirs. Frederick Oliver Trench, third Lord Ashtown (born 2d February 1868), is thus a grandson of the second Lord.
V. Janssen, Baronets.[1]
As related in my chapter I., Theodore Janssen de Heez, a son of the martyred Baron de Heez, fled from Brussels in 1585, and took refuge in France. He became a naturalized French subject and a Huguenot worshipper, and settled in Angoulesme. His son, Abraham Janssen, of Angoulesme, was the husband of Her.riette Manigault. Their son, Theodore Janssen, was born in 1654. Sharing in the troubles of the Huguenots, he removed to England in 1680, and was naturalized by Royal Letters Patent at Westminster, on 2nd July 1684 (see my vol. ii., Historical Introduction, list ix.). He became an eminent merchant, and was knighted by King William III., at Kensington, on 1st May 1696. Having successfully taken part in the commercial arrangements of the Utrecht Treaty, he was created a Baronet by King George I., on 11th March 1715 (n.s.).
Sir Theodore Janssen was a public-spirited man and also attentive to business, so that he amassed a large fortune. He purchased the Manor of Wimbledon. Having invested money in South Sea Stock, he was made a Director of the Company, an honour which cost him dear. His reverses of fortune, however, did not shorten his life. His manor was sold to the Duchess of Marlborough for £15,000. His property was seized and sequestrated by the House of Commons, as were the properties of all the directors, in order to pay the Company’s creditors; at the same time a sum of money was returned to each as a grant or allowance. In the list he appears as follows:—
| Person. | Estate. | Allowance. |
| Sir Theodore Janssen. | £243, 244, 3s. 11d. | £50,000. |
This was a higher rate of allowance than was granted to any other on the list (except in the cases of two or three small estates), his private character and public services were generally acknowledged. He died at Wimbledon on 23rd September 1748, aged ninety-four. The Gentleman’s Magazine says, “He left France several years before the persecution of the Protestants, and settling here as a merchant, improved a fortune of £20,000, given him by his father, to above £300,000, which he possessed till the year 1720, when (so far from being in any secret) he lost above
- ↑ I am much indebted to Nichols’ “Literary Anecdotes,” and to Henry Wagner, F.S.A.
