All the other epitaphs and registrations are in English, such as:—
Here lyeth ye body of Lewis de la Porte de Crauant, French Gent., deceased ye 5th day of February 1709, in ye 54th yeare of his age.
The following memoranda are suggested by the register:—
Peter Delaporte, Esq., bought the mansion and park of Esher in or about 1718; he became a Director of the South Sea Company, and surrendered all his property by order of Parliament; he was found to be worth £17,151, 5s. 6d., and the House of Commons virtually acquitted him of fraud by returning to him £10,000.
In 1755, July 17th, Miss Jeanne Susanne de Rodon Trollett was married at Wandsworth to Lawrence Desborough; the lady’s noble names suggest the nobility of Anthony Trollet, Esq., who was buried there in 1751, aged 70.
Elizabeth, ye wife of Mr. Molinier, was buried in 1736; and Benjamin, infant son of Mr. Benjamin Caron, of St. James, Westminster, in 1737.
Chapter XIV.
THE THREE LIGONIERS.
The ancient family of Ligonnier belonged to Castres, in Languedoc. An elder at the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France, which met at Charenton on 26th December 1644, was “Anthony Ligonniere, Councillor and Secretary to the King, elder in the church of Castres.”[1] At the epoch of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes the family was represented by Louis de Ligonnier, Sieur de Monteuquet. His eldest son, Abel, became the head of the family, and was alive in France in 1769.
Three younger sons became Protestant refugees in England at different dates; not, however, in 1685, as at that time they were not far advanced in boyhood. They adopted the spelling, “Ligonier.” The first who came to England was John (of whom afterwards). Antoine came over in 1698, served in several of Marlborough’s campaigns; he is mentioned as a Major in Harrison’s regiment (the 15th). In 1732 the Historical Register mentions Colonel Anthony Ligonier’s regiment of horse in Ireland. According to Haag, he died unmarried in 1767, and of him I have no more to say. The other two Ligoniers are Francis and Edward, father and son. [A Reverend Abel Ligonier was naturalised on the 15th April 1693. I have his signature on the title-page of a copy of the Colloquies of Erasmus.]
I. Colonel Francis Ligonier.
Francois Auguste de Ligonnier came to England in 1710, and received a cornet’s commision in the 2nd Dragoons. He passed through the various steps of promotion “with that honour, courage, and magnanimity which are so distinguishingly the characteristics of his family,” till we find him Lieutenant-Colonel of the 8th Light Dragoons at the battle of Dettingen. At the head of his regiment he did wonders, and was wounded in the thigh. He was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 48th Foot on the 25th of April 1745; probably there was no vacant cavalry regiment at that date. The death of the lamented Colonel Gardiner at Prestonpans, on the 21st of September, created a vacancy in the 13th Light Dragoons. That regiment was given to Colonel Ligonier on the 1st of October, the king observing, “I will give them a colonel that will make them fight.” The 48th was not handed over to another colonel till April 6th, 1746, so that on the 17th January there fought at the battle of Falkirk both Ligonier’s foot and Ligonier’s dragoons.
General Hawley directed the battle without sufficient consideration, and ordered a charge of cavalry at an improper time, and on unfavourable ground. Colonel Ligonier, who had the command of all the cavalry, had no choice but to attempt to obey an impracticable order, with a violent storm of wind and rain blowing full in the face of the troops. Lord Cobham’s dragoons, which were part of the brigade of cavalry under our colonel’s command, behaved well, and so did his own infantry regiment, which was in Brigadier Cholmondeley’s brigade. Except in these and
- ↑ The spelling is Quick’s in his Synodicon. Two other deputies from the same Province were “Peter Oilier,” pastor of the Church of Montauban, and “John Darassus,” Councillor for the King in the Presidential Court of Montauban, and “elder of the said church.” Ollier’s name appears in 1637.
