De Bostaquet, as a subaltern in De Moliens’ Company of Schomberg’s Regiment of Horse, and with the rank of captain in the army, marched from London on the 28th August. He arrived in Ireland after the taking of Carrickfergus. Having weathered out that fatal autumn, he made application at Lisburn for leave of absence to visit his family. The Duke of Schomberg was obliged to answer in the negative, condescendingly adding, “You made such efforts to be in my regiment, and now you desire to quit it; do you wish to leave me here by myself? Wait for King James’s leave, and we will go to England together.” On Christmas eve he was attacked with a fever which raged for weeks; this circumstance obtained for him his furlough. The Marquis de Ruvigny had secured that he should retire on full pay; but he determined to serve in the campaign of 1690, when it was announced that King William was to join the army. Having served with distinction he returned to London, and having been taken to their Majesties’ levee by the Duke of Schomberg and the Marquis De Ruvigny, he re-entered his Greenwich home on the 28th November. His family were in mourning for his mother, who died in France in October (1690), aged eighty-four, rejoicing to hear that her son had been preserved in the battle of the Boyne; she had hoped to the last to join him in England. Ruvigny had again arranged for his retirement, but Schomberg’s Regiment having been given to the noble Marquis, the devoted captain resolved once more to postpone his adieux; however, he remained with his family during the campaign of 1691. In the spring of 1692 he went to Dublin in the suite of the Marquis, now styled Viscount Galway, and Commander-in-chief of the Forces in Ireland. The excursion occupied three months. “This journey,” he writes, “although paid there and back by my Lord Galway, has cost me a good deal of money, without any gain but the honour of following his lordship; this has not saved me from the envy of some people at whom I laugh.”
In the autumn, Lord Galway preparing to serve in the descent upon France under the Duke of Leinster, De Bostaquet volunteered to accompany him, and could hardly be dissuaded, expecting that the expedition would accomplish something great. Lord Galway assured him that nothing would come of it, and urged him to take his family to Ireland before the coming winter. This advice was taken; and again our refugees were in motion, leaving London on the 12th August 1692, and proceeding (via Coventry) to Chester. On the coast of Cheshire they found the wind against them; they had to wait for a month, all but two days, at the village of Neston, so that it was not till the middle of September that they found themselves in Dublin. In Bray Street in that capital they still were at the date of the conclusion of De Bostaquet’s manuscript, 3d April 1693, Lord Galway having arrived to command the forces, and to superintend the Protestant colonisation.
Our refugee family’s final resting-place was Portarlington. There the veteran captain obtained a lease of ground, built his house and garden-wall, brought up his younger children, served as an elder in the French Church, and enjoyed his pension of 6s. 1d. per diem,[1] till his death in 1709, at the age of seventy-seven. The following is the registration of his burial in the Register of St Paul’s, Portarlington:—
“Sepulture du lundi, 15 Aoust 1709. Le dimanche, 14e dernier à 3 heur du matin, Est mort en la foi du Seigneur et dans l’esperance de la glorieuse resurrection Isaac Dumond, escuyer, Sieur Du Bostaquet, Capitaine à la pension de S.M.B., dont l’âme étant allée à Dieu, son corps a été enterré cejourd’hui dans le cemetière de ce lieu par Mr De Bonneval, ministre de cette Eglise.”
Before leaving France, he had sold La Fontelaye to his first wife’s brother, Messire Jeremie de la Rive, Seigneur de Lamberville. Dumont’s eldest son, Isaac, being the nephew of the buyer, became his heir, and from him descended the French family, which became extinct in 1847 at the death (in his eighty-third year) of Colonel Isaac Antoine Auguste Dumont, Marquis de Lamberville, great-great-grandson of the refugee.
The refugee’s surviving children were two daughters: (1.) Judith Julie was married to Auguste de la Blachière, seigneur de la Coutière; their son Isaac Philip de Coutières was born 19th Sept. 1701, and in 1735 he was a captain in the 24th Regiment (Wentworth’s). She was left a widow, and re-married with Monsieur De
- ↑ The pension was originally 5s., as appears from a letter to Mr Blathwayt from the Karl of Galway, dated Dublin, 12th Feb. 1700: “Mr Buyer informs me that he had the honour of conversing with you on the case of Mr. Bostaquet, retired on a pension of 5s. a day, which pension he has resolved to exchange for an ensign’s half-pay for his son, who, having been born at Greenwich, may aspire to a commission in the line in due time. The old gentleman is a strong friend of mine, and the boy is my godson; so that if this arrangement can be made it will give me much pleasure. He was at Greenwich with our family, and was a captain in my regiment. He is at present settled at Portarlington. I cannot help taking an interest in him, though in a few days I shall have nothing in my power. If you think, Sir, that it would be easier to divide the 5s. between hu> son ami daughter, I could adjust the list accordingly.” — MS., Brit. Mus.
