Protestant Exiles from France/Book Second - Chapter 4 - Section III
III. Colonel Ruvigny De Cosne.
Pierre Tallemant, banker in Paris, was by his second wife the father of Marie, Marquise De Ruvigny. But he had a daughter by Elizabeth Bidault, his first wife, who was named Elizabeth, and was married to Francois Le Venier, Sieur de La Grossetiere. In honour of this brother-in-law, the Marquis De Ruvigny named his third son Francois. This child (according to Haag) was presented for baptism by Francois Le Venier and Marie Tallemant, 6th Feb. 1656, and died before the Revocation. The Ruvigny and Le Venier families thus appear to have been intimate. Aimee Le Venier de la Grossetière, probably a niece of the Marchioness, was married to Pierre De Cosne, a refugee gentleman in Southampton, a native of La Beauce, Province of Orleans.[1]
The family of Cosne, originally from Dauphiny, had been settled in La Beauce since the fifteenth century. The first on record is Pasquier de Cosne, Seigneur de Houssay et de Chavernay. He left two sons, of whom Charles (the younger) founded the branch of Cosne-Houssay. The elder son, Jean, was the head of the Cosne-Chavernay branch, and his great-grandson, Jacques, Sieur de Chavernay, was gentleman of the bedchamber to Henri IV. Jacques’ representative was his son Daniel de Cosne, Sieur de Chavernay, whose first marriage was solemnised in 1636, and whose second wife was Susanne Des Radretz; by the latter he had seventeen children.
The name of Pierre is found in both branches of the house of Cosne, but most frequently in the Chavernay branch. Captain De Cosne Chavernay came over with William of Orange, and commanded a company of gentlemen volunteers; he was Lieutenant-Colonel of Belcastel’s regiment at the taking of Athlone in 1691. I have no proof that Pierre De Cosne was a brother of that officer; but there is room for the two in the family of seventeen already mentioned. And if anything can be inferred from the probability of relations choosing the same town as a residence, it may be in point to note that Madame Lucrece Chavernay lived in Southampton (as appears from Lord Galway’s will). When Lord Galway settled in Hampshire, he renewed his intimacy with the Le Venier family, as represented by Madame De Cosne. He and Lady Russell were frequently sponsors to Monsieur De Cosne’s children, from 1708 to 1717, either personally or by proxy.
On the 8th September 1717, the infant Ruvigny De Cosne was registered, amidst evident enthusiasm, in the Register of Baptisms of Maison Dieu, Southampton, the parents being overjoyed at being permitted, or requested, by the veteran earl to give their son the illustrious name of Ruvigny. In this entry “Monsieur Pierre De Cosne, gentilhomme de La Beauce” becomes “Messire Pierre De Cosne, Chevalier de la Province d’Orleans.”
On 8th January 1718, a refugee lady died at Southampton, who may be called a kinswoman both of Lord Galway and of the De Cosnes; this lady was Madame de Beraut de la Maugére (née Louise de Challange), who had twice been left a widow, her first husband having been Messire Simeon Le Venier, chevalier, Seigneur de la Grossetière.
Madame De Cosne died on 26th July 1720, less than six weeks before Lord Galway, her son, Ruvigny, being only three years of age.
The Earl of Galway, dying in September 1720, left “To Monsieur Peter De Cosne of Southampton, £500 — to his eldest son, Charles, £1000 — to his daughter, Henrietta, £1500 — and to his youngest son, Ruvigny, £2000.” [Charles’ and Henrietta’s legacies passed to their father on their respective deaths, the former in 1729 and the latter in 1726.]
Ruvigny De Cosne, having means to purchase a commission in the army, seems to have listened readily to the martial suggestions of the refugee officers and their descendants in Southampton, especially of the Du Roures. I have not ascertained the date of his entering the British service, and do not meet with him again until he was twenty-six years of age, namely, in 1743. At the Battle of Dettingen, he fought as an ensign in Colonel Scipio Duroure’s regiment. After the victory he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant; in recording this, the Gentleman’s Magazine called him Rovigny Decon. He exchanged into the Coldstream Guards, and at an unknown date (certainly not many years after) he was lieutenant in the Guards, with the rank of Captain in the army. On 30th September 1748, as a “son and only child,” he performed the melancholy duty of proving the will of his deceased father. In March 1749, his Colonel, William Anne, Earl of Albemarle, was appointed Ambassador to the Court of France, with Mr. Joseph Yorke as Secretary to the Embassy. The latter appointment becoming vacant, the Ambassador remembered, as an officer of his regiment, his young friend, Captain de Cosne. The sons of French refugee gentlemen were of remarkably polished manners, and also spoke the French language with ease. These circumstances led to their being frequently selected as attaches to foreign legations; and such considerations probably had their influence in the case before us. Accordingly, we find the following entry in the Gazette:— “1751 , September 17. The king was pleased to appoint Ruvigny de Cosne, Esq., to be Secretary to His Majesty’s Extraordinary Embassy to the Most Christian King.”
Lord Albemarle died suddenly in his carriage, when taking a drive in Paris, on the 22d December 1754. De Cosne had the honour of conveying the French king’s present to the new Earl, namely, the king’s picture set in diamonds — a present intended to show his personal esteem for the deceased ambassador. In 1755 the Peace between Great Britain and France ended in an open rupture, so that France recalled her ambassador, and England sent no successor to Lord Albemarle. The Court of Madrid remained neutral, and De Cosne was transferred to that embassy. We infer this incident in his biography from the following announcement in the last year of George II.:— “1760, April 22. His Majesty was pleased to appoint Ralph Woodford, Esq., to be Secretary to the Extraordinary Embassy to the Catholic King [Charles III. of Spain] in the room of Ruvigny De Cosne, Esq."
Lieutenant-Colonel De Cosne (for he had become a Captain in the Guards and Lieutenant-Colonel in the army, on the 14th November 1755) rejoined his regiment on his return home. He was included in the brevet of 9th February 1762, and thus became a full colonel in his forty-fifth year: in the following year he retired on half-pay. Colonel Ruvigny De Cosne became a Director of the French Hospital on 3d April 1754. The date of his death appears to have been 1775 (the fifty-eighth year of his age). His will, dated 1st March 1766, was proved by Jedidah Hervart, the surviving residuary legatee, on 19th July 1775. His memory was affectionately preserved by the grandchildren of Baron d’Hervart, Jedidah (just named) desiring in her will that she might be buried in Millbrook Church “in the same manner as my dear relation Ruvigny De Cosne;” and her brother William leaving directions for his interment in St. Michael’s Church, Southampton, “near my dear friend, Ruvigny De Cosne.”
- ↑ It is a probable conjecture that she was his second wife; for there was a Peter De Cosne, probably the offspring of a previous marriage. This Peter De Cosne married, 1st, Louisa Aimee de la Maugère, and 2ndly, Ann Boirousseau. He administered to the estate of his first wife on 3rd September 1720, and to his second wife’s estate on 22nd August 1744.