Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 9 - Section IX

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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IX. D’Ambrin, or Dambrine (now Dombrain).

In my Chapter I. I have traced up this surname to Ambrin (or Ambrines) in Flanders. The mistake of picturing its cradle in Embrun (then spelt Ambrun) led to the conjecture that the first refugee fled from the St. Bartholomew Massacre. But Rouen was a natural rendezvous for fugitives from Flanders. Flight from Embrun would have been in the direction of Switzerland or the Mediterranean. Rouen, it is said and may be believed, was a stage in the first refugee’s journey. But the idea that he had first made a pilgrimage through the whole length of France from south to north is plainly erroneous. We have to look further back than 1572. In the London census of 1 571 John Dambrum, who came over in 1564, is described as a Burgundian, and William Dambrune, who came in 1570, is said to have been “born in Pallensen.” We have no early vouchers of the propagation of the family in the metropolis. We find a Joseph Dambrin in London in 1683 as a witness to the baptism of Joseph Longuet. In 1675 there was a Jaques Dambrin, of London, whose son, Josué, married, in Canterbury in that year, Marie, daughter of Jean Vandebroucq, of Sandwich (the lady’s maiden surname is sometimes spelt Van de Brocke, or Van de Brouke); they seem to have taken up their abode in Canterbury, where their children were baptized — viz., Elizabeth, in 1682, Juditcq, in 1686, and Rachel, in 1689. In passing I may mention refugees of the name from Picardy. On 13th November 1684 Francois Dambrin, son of F. D’Ambrin, native of Verin in Picardy, married in Canterbury, Elizabeth, daughter of Adrien Duhamel, and there are recorded baptisms of three of his children, Isaac, in 1688, Jean, in 1689, and Elizabeth, in 1691.

The probability seems to be that our family of Dombrain springs from Lille, and appears in the Canterbury registers for the first time in 1625. At the end of the previous century we may locate Jean D’Ambrines at Lille. The refugee named in 1625 is his son, Jacques Dambrin. Two other Dambrins, namely, Nicolas and Pierre, are registered as natives of Lille, and may be decided to be brothers of Jacques and sons of Jean.

Jacques Dambrin married in Canterbury, in 1625, a widow, Madame Bauchart (née Pasques Descarpenteries), and having became a widower he married, in 1629, Marie, daughter of Venant de Labye. There are no children of his upon record — and none of his brother, Pierre, who married, in 1645, Madame De la Cueillery (née Marie Desmarets), a native of Norwich.

Nicolas Dambrine married in Canterbury, in 1631, Francoise, daughter of the late Jacques Desbouverie. He resided in Canterbury for about three years, and there two of his sons were baptized, Philippe (9th December 1631), and Jean (20th January 1633). After this he removed to London, and two more sons were baptized in the French Church in Threadneedle Street, Abraham (31st August 1634), and Isaac (8th May 1636). He appears to have been a widower, and to have re-married in London, in 1638, with Madame Marcschal (née Claire Faucon). It seems that a descendant of his (though from neglect of registration we cannot tell which) was the ancestor of the modern Dombrains. We have a conjectural succession thus:—

1. Jean Dambrines, of Lille, before 1600.

2. Nicolas Dambrine, one of his sons, who, as a refugee, married Francoise Desbouverie in 1631.

3. The sons of Nicolas — four whom we have already named (and other two who may have been his sons):—

(1) Philippe, he has no marriage or offspring on record.

(2) Jean, married Magdelaine De Visme, and had Marie, b. 1687; Elizabeth, b. 1689; Andre, b. 1691; Judith, b. 1693; Jeanne, b. 1694; Susanne, b. 1696; Daniel, b. 1698.

(3) Abraham, has no marriage or offspring on record.

(4) Isaac, married Ester Millon, and had Marie, b. 1687; Abraham, b. 1698; Sara, b. 1702.

(5) Samuel, married, first, Marie Lizy, by whom he had Samuel, b. 1682; and Rachel, b. 1687; secondly, Marie Six, by whom he had Anne, b. 1696.

(6) Francois, married Elizabeth Tramet, and had Abraham, b. 1686.

The refugees were exposed to many anxieties and struggles for subsistence, and this family subsided for a time among the working classes, as appears from a list of burials in Canterbury of persons named Dombrain, shown to me by a learned correspondent. At last their industry was rewarded by their reappearance as a family of note, under the chieftainship of Mr. Abraham Dombrain, who was the head of a prosperous posting establishment in Canterbury; he was born in 1762, and died in 1837, aged seventy-five. Mr. Dombrain married, first, on 7th January 1783, in St. Michael’s, Canterbury, Elizabeth Dyne (who died in 1789), and secondly, on 30th January 1793, in St. Mildred’s, Canterbury, Elizabeth Aldridge. Sir James Dombrain, Knight, was a son of the second marriage; he was baptized at St. Mildred’s, 5th January 1794. He entered the Royal Navy, and rose to the rank of Commander. In 1817 he became Deputy Comptroller-General of the Coastguard of the United Kingdom. On 19th December of this year he married Mary, daughter and heiress of Robert Furly, of St. Alphage, Canterbury, by Jane Seguin, his wife. In 18 19 he was promoted to the rank of Comptroller-General of the Coastguard, upon receiving a commission to organize the Coastguard service on the coast of Ireland. For thirty years he presided over the force which he had introduced and organized. He received the honour of knighthood from the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1844. Lady Dombrain died at the Hill, Monkstown, County Dublin, on 15th September 1864, aged sixty-seven. Sir James died in September 1871. His son, the Rev. Henry Honywood Dombrain, was incumbent of St. George’s, in Deal, and afterwards vicar of Westwell, Kent; he is the author of a very fair, simple, and thorough reply to Professor Maurice (author of “Theological Essays,” and “Doctrine of Sacrifice”), entitled, “The Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in type and fulfilment, viewed in connexion with recent statements on the subject,” London, 1858. Sir James’s grandson is the Rev. James Dombrain, rector of St. Benedict’s, Norwich.