ministry of the justly celebrated Rev. William Cunningham, D.D., and left the church along with that great divine and all his brother-elders (one only excepted) in the month of May 1843.[1] Mr. Dassauville latterly resided at Comely Bank, and died there on 17th October 1851. He had two sons and two daughters. The elder son was William Alston Dassauville, M.D., who was in the army, having entered the Ordnance Medical Department as assistant-surgeon on 14th June 1836, and promoted to be surgeon on 25th July 1849 (he was alive in 1854 and on full pay). The younger son was Peter Alston Dassauvile, teller in the Edinburgh Royal Bank, who died at Portobello on 23rd May 1880. The daughters were (1) Mrs. Dumbreck, who had two daughters; (2) Margaret Alston Dassauville, alive in 1880. Edward Alston Dassauville, alive in 1880, was (I think) a son of the above-named M.D.
Note as to Scotland.
Scotland has not been inserted in the heading of this chapter, because (with the exception of the Paper-mill in Cathcart parish) Edinburgh is the only place where we can positively allocate refugees. In the various parochial registers some names of probable Huguenot refugees occur, and I have noted them in my Historical Introduction. Two or three are from the Stirling register. William Drummond, of Rockdale, Stirling, and the Harvey family of that town, including Sir George Harvey, the great painter, President of the Royal Scottish Academy, claimed to be descended in the female line from the Huguenot family of Geffray, which in course of years had became Jeffrey. Aberdeenshire in that old time can be searched for refugees by the help of the Poll of 1696 (printed by the Spalding Club). The refugee family of Divorty disclaim descent from the old Scotch family of that name. Their surname was probably Dobertin, which was soon corrupted into Doverty. In the Poll-Book of the parish of Tarves, Divertie and Doverty are given as distinct names; and as late as 1790 I meet with Mr. William Dovertie, Session Clerk of Brechin. The Huguenot family is now represented by Rev. George Divorty, M.A. I was acquainted with the late Mr. Archibald Courage, bookseller in Aberdeen, and he assured me that his ancestors were Huguenot refugees; this surname is of frequent occurrence in the Poll-Book of 1696. We can only query as to the nationality of James Depamare, or Depamaer, then a merchant in Aberdeen. (What are we to make of James Frenchee, in the parish of Coull?)
Morren is a Huguenot surname which was met with in London as early as 1571. A Huguenot family of that name took refuge in Holland in 1685, and came to this country in or about 1689. A prominent representative was Rev. Nathaniel Morren, M.A., author of “Biblical Theology,” “Annals of the General Assembly from 1739 to 1766,” 2 vols., &c, born in Aberdeen on 3rd February 1798, died, the senior minister of Brechin, 28th March 1847.
Chapter XXX.
THE FRENCH PROTESTANT HOSPITAL OF LONDON.
Monsieur Jacques de Gastigny was a Huguenot military refugee in Holland, and Master of the Buck Hounds to the Prince of Orange. He attended the king in his campaigns, and took part in the battle of the Boyne. In that campaign, Dumont de Bostaquet, desiring a favour from the king, entrusted his petition to “Monsieur de Gatigny, son Grand Veneur.” He appears in the Patent Rolls as James Gastigny, Esq., receiving an English pension of £500 per annum, dating from 27th Feb. 1700. He died in 1708. He is worthy of all honour as the founder of the French Hospital of London. A perusal of his Will shews how much the Hospital scheme owes to the many wise councillors who followed up his idea. The following is the Will:—
- ↑ On Sabbath, 28th May 1843, it was formally announced to the kirk-session that Rev. Dr. William Cunningham had seceded from the Established Church of Scotland, and that “Messrs. Dassauville, Hutchison, Rose, Blackadder, Lothian, Muir, and Crawford, elders, have also left the Church along with the minister.”
