11th November 1768, died at Penang in 1805; General Sir Thomas Gage Montresor, K.C.H., Colonel of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, born at New York, 4th March 1774, died at Dover, 26th April 1853; he had served in Flanders, Egypt, and India, was Major-General in 1813, and General in 1841. The family seems to be numerously represented both by descendants of Sir Henry and by those of his brother, the younger general, whose eldest surviving son is Admiral Frederick Byng Montresor.
Dejean. — In 1737 Major Dejean was a subscriber for five copies of Laval’s “History of the French Protestant Church.” He stood in the French Chapel Royal of London, on 15th November 1739, as sponsor to Louis Duval; he was then registered as Major Louis Dejan of the second troop of grenadiers. On the 2nd July 1740 he was made a Director of the French Hospital; he was at that date Lieutenant-Colonel Louis (or Lewis) Dejean of the 1st or Grenadier Guards. In March 1744 several Swiss, in and about London and Westminster, offered to form a regiment to serve his Majesty in case of invasion. Their offer was at once accepted, and their uniform, “grey turned up with red,” was ordered. In April they were mustered to the number of 200, under the command of Colonel Dejean. The regiment of Switzers was summoned on 6th September 1745 to attend their Colonel, who, however, on 15th April 1746, obtained the Colonelcy of the 37th Foot, vacant by the death of Sir Robert Munro at the Battle of Falkirk. He became Colonel of the 14th Light Dragoons, on November 27, 1752, and was promoted to the rank of Major-General, 29th January 1756, and of Lieutenant-General, 29th March 1759. On April 7, 1757, he had been transferred to the Carabineers, or 3rd Regiment of Horse, after styled the 6th Dragoon Guards. Lieutenant-General Dejean died in Dublin, 29th September 1764.
De Veille. — Thomas, son of Rev. Dr. Hans de Veille (“a man of great parts, extensive learning, and of a good family in Lorraine,” afterwards a refugee clergyman in London, and Librarian at Lambeth by the favour of Tillotson), was born in St. Paul’s Churchyard in 1684. Thomas De Veille was apprenticed to a mercer in London about 1700. In course of time his master became bankrupt, and Thomas enlisted in the army as a private, and went with his regiment to Portugal. His facility for acquiring languages, and his zeal and acuteness, recommended him to General Henri de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, who first made him his secretary (his signature in this capacity, Tho. De Veille, is before me), and then gave him a troop of dragoons. When Captain De Veille, on the reduction of his regiment, retired on half-pay, he had to increase his income by his business talents, and became celebrated as a London Justice, the services of which office were then paid by fees. Justice De Veille, for his great courage and management in suppressing the riots of 1735, received the honour of knighthood. In 1738 he was made Inspector-General of exports and imports in the Custom House, with £1000 a year, which he has taken great pains to deserve (says the cotemporary Historical Register). Sir Thomas, who was also Colonel of the Westminster Militia, died in 1746, aged sixty-two. He had, by two wives, twenty-five children, most of whom died young; he was four times married. His eldest son, the Rev. Hans de Veille, predeceased him. His only surviving son, Thomas, was an officer in the army.
De Bernière. — The Baron Guillaume de Bernière proved his nobility in 1644, and his pedigree is preserved in the Archives Royales in Paris (Rue Richelieue). A Lucas de Bernières is mentioned in 1288. In 1444 two Messieurs de Bernières (whose family was then regarded as très ancienne et noble) distinguished themselves in the army of Louis XI. One of them (according to Philip de Confines) saved the king’s life, in the circumstances of which Sir Walter Scott, by a poetical license, makes Quentin Durward the hero. From the above-mentioned Baron Guillaume descended the gallant Huguenot refugee, Jean Antoine de Bernière. He came over to Ireland. He is reputed by the present French representatives of the family to have been the chief of his name. For conscience sake he left the estate of Bernières near Caen; he is called in the Crommelin Pedigree, “gentilhomme d’aupres d’Alencon.” The refugee served under the Earl of Galway at the battle of Almanza; he was wounded and lost a hand; his life was also in danger, but by means of an ancient ring which he wore, and which had been the gift of a French king to one of his ancestors, he was recognised by a tenant on the Bernières lands and received quarter. On his return to Ireland he married Madeleine Crommelin, only daughter of the great Crommelin. His grandson was Captain De Bernière of the 30th Regiment, who died from exhaustion after the siege of Senegal in 1762, leaving an only son and heir, Henry Abraham Crommelin de Bernière, who rose to be a Major-General in the British army.
Major-General de Bernière, was bom in 1762, and joined the 10th regiment in
