Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 10 - Section VIII
VIII. Despard.
Philip D’Espard fled to England from the St. Bartholomew Massacre. He succeeded in bringing property with him, and attracted the attention and confidence of Queen Elizabeth, who sent him to Ireland as a Royal Commissioner. He acquired large ironworks in Queen’s County, and large tracts of land there and in the County of Kilkenny. The peasantry long applied to the district the name, Despard’s Country. He was the ancestor of Colonel William Despard, an officer of Engineers in King William III.’s reign, whose son was Member for Thomastown in the Irish House of Commons in 1715, and afterwards sat for County Kilkenny. Another descendant, Philip Despard (born in 1680), married, in 1708, one of the five co-heiresses of Colonel Elias Green; her portion was Killaghy Castle in Tipperary, with 1500 acres of land, which remained with the Despards until within the last quarter of a century. In April 1779 Captain Edward Marcus Despard, of the English army, described as a “native of Ireland and well-connected in that country,” distinguished himself along with Nelson. I quote from the Pictorial History of England (Reign of George III., Book III., Chapter 1): “Nelson, who had just been made Post-Captain, was sent to take Fort San Juan, upon the river of the same name which flows from Lake Nicaragua to the Atlantic, being assisted by a few land troops and some Mosquito Indians. He ascended the then almost unknown river, and, after indescribable toil and suffering, reached on the 9th of April a small island on which there was a fort that commanded the bed of the river, and served as an outwork to the town. This fort Nelson resolved to board. Putting himself at the head of a few sailors, he leaped upon the beach. Captain Despard followed him, gallantly supported him, and, together they stormed the battery. Two days afterwards the two heroes came in sight of the Castle of San Juan, which they compelled to surrender on the 24th of April. Nelson was accustomed to count this as one of the most perilous expeditions in which he had ever been engaged; of 1800 men, counting Indians and all, only 380 returned.” Captain Despard rose to the rank of Colonel, but believing himself entitled to higher promotion, he formed that connection with revolutionary clubs which terminated so fatally in 1803. At his trial (says the same historian) “Sergeant Best argued that Colonel Despard, a gentleman, a veteran officer, could not have embarked with such men in such wild schemes, unless he had been bereft of his reason. He dwelt upon his former high character and past services . . . . . The first witness for the defence was the gallant Nelson, who, in energetic language, bore honourable testimony to the character of Despard; they had, he said, been on the Spanish Main together in 1779, they had been together in the enemies' trenches, they had slept in the same tent; assuredly he was then a loyal man and a brave officer. General Sir Alured Clarke and Sir Evan Nepean declared that they had always considered his loyalty as undoubted as his bravery, and that he had returned from service with the highest testimonials to his character.”
The following is Lord Nelson’s evidence on 7th February 1803, at the trial at the Session-House, Newington, Surrey, before Lord Chief Justice the Right Hon. Lord Ellenborough and a bench of judges:—
The Right Honourable Lord Nelson was sworn and examined by Mr. Gurney.
“Q, How long has your Lordship known Colonel Despard?"
“A. It is twenty-three years since I saw him. I became acquainted with him in the year 1779 at Jamaica. He was at that time Lieutenant in what were called the Liverpool Blues. From his abilities as an engineer I know he was expected to be appointed. . . .”
[Lord Ellenborough here said, “I am sorry to interrupt your Lordship; but we cannot hear, what I daresay your Lordship would give with great effect, the history of this gentleman’s military life; but you will state what has been his general character.”]
“A. We went on the Spanish Main together; we slept many nights together in our clothes upon the ground; we have measured the height of the enemies’ wall together. In all that period of time no man could have shown more zealous attachment to his Sovereign and his country than Colonel Despard did. I formed the highest opinion of him at that time as a man and an officer, seeing him so willing in the service of his Sovereign. Having lost sight of him for the last twenty years, if I had been asked my opinion of him, I should certainly have said — If he is alive he is certainly one of the brightest ornaments of the British Army.”
Among the Irish proprietors in last century I find the name of William Despard, Esq., of Coulrane and Curtown (Queen’s County) at Killaghy Castle (County Tipperary); he had a large family, of whom the fifth son, John, was Adjutant-General in the war with America, and rose to high rank. This Lieut-General John Despard married Harriet-Anne, daughter of Thomas Hesketh, Esq., and sister of Sir Thomas Dalrymple Hesketh, third Baronet of Rufford Hall, and had an only child, Harriet Dorothea, who was married in 1816, to Vice-Admiral Henry Francis Greville, C.B. (a kinsman of the Earl of Warwick); she died in 1856, leaving five daughters and a son, Major Henry Lambert Fulke Greville. The Despard family is creditably represented among the clergy.