Prince of Orange. David Montolieu, who was born in 1668, was in several actions in Flanders under King William III. In the reign of Queen Anne he was ordered to Piedmont, where he assisted in the intrepid and brilliant defence of Verrue against the French besiegers, by which the Duke of Savoy and Marshal Staremberg obtained such renown. Verrue fell on the 9th April 1705, “with great decency and with immortal honour to those brave men who had defended it almost six months;” so writes the Right Hon. Richard Hill (page 529). Next came the siege of Chivas, which little fortress held out till the 29th July, having been besieged for six weeks, when it surrendered “with great honour.” This expenditure of time saved Turin. I find the name of Monsieur de Saint-Hippolite, in print, associated with the Waldenses, whom the French had unsuccessfully solicited to be neutral. On the 20th June 1704, the French made a successful raid into the valleys of St. Martin and St. Germans. The inhabitants of the latter valley, however, rallied, Monsieur de Saint-Hippolite taking the command on the 30th June, and on the next day defeating the French at Angrogna, and expelling them from all the valleys except St. Martin, which capitulated. Altogether his valour and good conduct were conspicuous, and Monsieur Staremberg recommended him to the Emperor Joseph. The Emperor satisfied himself of the antiquity and nobility of the family of the Sieur de Saint-Hippolite, and gave him a patent of nobility as Baron of Saint-Hippolite, in the German Empire, dated at Vienna, 14th February 1706.
Two of his commissions from the Duke of Savoy (Vittorio Amedeo) lie before me. The first, dated at Turin, 3d May 1709, states that the “Sr. David Montolieu di St. Ippolite,” had been Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regiment of Meyrol, and Adjutant-General of the camp near his Royal Highness’ person, and was now promoted to the rank of Colonel. The second, dated at Nizza, 30th November 1713, signed by the same Prince as King of Sicily, commends the conduct of the Sigr. David Montolieu di St. Hippolite as Adjutant-General and Colonel of infantry during the late war, specifying his services at the sieges of Verrua, Civasso, and Torino, and concludes by promoting him to the rank of Generale di Battaglia. [I may here observe that his title is variously spelt; in English legal documents it is Saint-Hippolite; he himself, in military phonographic style, made one word of it, “Saintipolite.”]
Of the same year, though of earlier date, is Mr. Hill’s certificate, which (I believe) was never printed before:—
This is to certifye that in the year 1703 I was comanded by the Queen to carry into Piedmont as many french protestant officers as I could find in Hollande or in germany, because at that time the enemyes had seazed and made prisoners allmost all ye D. of Savoye’s troops.
In obedience to these comands I carried allmost a 100 good officers into the service of his R.H. upon the promises and assurances wch I gave them by her Majtys. expres comands, signifiyed to me by a Secretaire of State, that all ye services wch should be performed by them dureing ye war in Piedmont should be accounted for to them by ye Queen at ye time of a peace, as if they had been performed more imediately to her majesty in her own troops.
Amongst these officers Monsr. David de Montolieu de St. Hippolyte had ye honour and good fortune to distinguish himself very much, being made adjutant Generall at the first, by his dilligence and activity, by his courage and capacity, he acquired the esteem and confidence of his R.H. who employed and trusted him in a particular manner dureing ye famous seiges of Verrue, Chivas, and Turin in both which Monsr. de St. Hippolite acquired a great and a just reputation.
To the truth of this I have set my hand and seal at London 7bre 5th 1713.
Richd. Hill. (Seal.)
The gallant Baron spent the rest of his life in England, where (says the Scots Magazine) “he with tranquillity attained a great age under the shade of the laurels he gathered in his youth.” It was, however, at the age of forty-five that he left Piedmont, and came back among us, being recognised as a colonel in our army. He had, after the Peace of Ryswick, what is called “a pension,” probably a lieutenant-colonel’s half-pay, and which was continued, as appears from a letter to Mr. Hill from Mr. Edward Southwell, dated Dublin, 3d March 1704-5:—
“We drink his Royal Highness’s health every day; we extol his great and noble defence of Verrue, and wish him succours due to such zeal for the common cause. As to your friend, Monsieur St. Hippolyte, you may let him know that all his clearings of his pension are paid to Midsummer last, and, for particular favour, the two-thirds thereof for subsistence to the first of last month.”
His pension now rose to the amount of a colonel’s half-pay, £223, 11s. 3d. In 1714, within St. Martin’s Lane French Church, in the City of London, he married Mary, daughter of Anthony Molinier, and one son, Louis Charles (born 1719), and
