Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 21
Chapter XXI.
THE ROMILLY GROUP OF FAMILIES.
The head of the English family of Romilly came to England in 1701. In the old Church-Book of the French Protestant Church of La Quarré, in London, there is an entry dated 14th December 1701, “Reconnoisance de Estienne Romilly de Montpellier.” The great Sir Samuel Romilly left a narrative of his ancestor’s refugee life, which is printed in his Memoirs, and of which the following paragraph is an abridgement:— “I have not the means of speaking of many of my ancestors. The first of them that I ever heard of, is my great-grandfather. He had a pretty good estate at Montpellier, in the South of France, where he resided. He was a Protestant, but living under the religious tyranny of Louis XIV., and in a part of France where persecution raged with the greatest fury, he found it prudent to dissemble his faith, and it was only in the privacy of his own family that he ventured to worship God in the way which he judged would find favour in His sight. His only son, Stephen Romilly (born 1684), my grandfather, he educated in his own religious principles, and so deeply did the young man imbibe them, that when he was about seventeen years of age he made a journey to Geneva for the sole purpose of receiving the sacrament. At Geneva he met the celebrated Saurin, who happened to be on a visit there. The reputation of that extraordinary man was then at the highest. He was revered as an apostle; and his eloquence and his authority could not fail to make a forcible impression on a young mind deeply tinctured with that religious fervour which persecution generally inspires. The result of a few conversations was a fixed determination in my grandfather to abandon for ever his native country, his connections, his friends, his affectionate parents, and the inheritance which awaited him, and to trust to his own industry for a subsistence amidst strangers, and in a foreign land, but in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. Instead of returning to Montpellier, he set out for London; and it was not till he had landed in England that he apprized his father of the irrevocable resolution that he had formed. He at first met with much more prosperity than he could have expected. His father remitted him money, and after a few years he set up with a tolerable capital at Hoxton, in the neighbourhood of London, in the business of a wax-bleacher. He soon afterwards married Judith de Monsallier, the daughter of another French refugee, and he became the father of a very numerous family. His generosity, his piety, his affection for his wife, his tenderness towards his children, and their reciprocal fondness and veneration for him, are topics on which I have often heard my father and my aunts enlarge with the most lively emotion. His generosity led him into expenses which the profits of his business alone would have ill enabled him to support, but he had a resource in the remittances which he was seldom long without receiving from his father. This resource, however, at last failed. His father died. A distant relation (the next heir), who was a Roman Catholic, took possession of the estate, and my grandfather was reduced to a very scanty income for the subsistence of his large family. Difficulties soon multiplied upon him; bankruptcy and poverty were the consequences. His gentle spirit sank under these calamities, and he died (1733) at the age of forty-nine, of a broken heart.”
His father-in-law, Francis de Monsallier, had four children: Judith, Mrs. Romilly; Lucy, Mrs. Page; Anne Marie Picart, Mrs. De Laferty; and Elizabeth, Mrs. Fludyer. Mr. Romilly himself left four sons: Joseph, Stephen, Isaac, and Peter. Joseph died of grief on account of his father’s death. Stephen was a partner in business with Sir Samuel Fludyer and Sir Thomas Fludyer — so was Isaac. The latter was of scientific tastes; his epitaph in the parish church of St. Pride’s, Fleet Street, tells his story:—
Near this place are deposited the remains of
Mr. Isaac Romilly, F.R.S., obiit 18 Dec. 1759, aetat. 49
(whose affable and humane temper of mind,
joined to his goodness of heart, justly endeared him to all his friends, as did his great ingenuity
and labour in forming his extensive and valuable collection of natural curiosities to the
esteem of the learned),
in the same grave with the remains of Mary, his beloved wife,
whose sudden and unexpected death on 11th Dec. 1759. in the 48th year of her age,
greatly contributed to shorten the thread of his life
for they were an example of conjugal affection.
Isaac’s younger daughter was married to Nathaniel Thomas, B.A. Oxon., the first editor of the St. James’s Chronicle (instituted in 1761), and afterwards proprietor of that newspaper, whose son, Nathaniel Thomas, Secretary to the Embassy to the Court of Delhi, died in India.
The refugee’s fourth son, Peter, a jeweller, was Sir Samuel Romilly’s father. In 1762 the union of the two French churches of Berwick Street and Castle Street is attested by the signatures of Pierre Romily, Isaac Gosset, and Phin. Deseret. Mr. Peter Romilly married Margaret, only daughter of Aimé Garnault, senior, but all his children dying, he removed from London to “the village of Marylebone” where he became the father of three children: Thomas, who married a daughter of Isaac Romilly; Catherine (Mrs. Roget), and Samuel. The mother being a confirmed invalid, her relative, Mrs. Facquier, educated the children. Samuel was born in 1757; in 1798 he married Anne, daughter of Francis Garbett, Esq.; he was knighted in 1806, on becoming his Majesty’s Solicitor-General, and died in 1818 (see chapter xxv.). Sir Samuel left one daughter and six sons; the daughter was Sophie, wife of the Right Hon. Thomas Francis Kennedy of Dunure, and mother of Francis Thomas Romilly Kennedy, Esq. Of the sons, the eldest was William (born 1798, died 1855), the second was Lord Romilly (see chapter xxvi.), the third was Edward Romilly, Esq. (born 1804, died 1877), late Chairman of the Board of Audit, who married Sophia, daughter of Alexander Marcet, M.D.; the fourth was Henry Romilly, Esq. (born 1805, died 1884); the fifth is Charles Romilly, Esq., who married Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Russell, and has had six sons; the youngest, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederic Romilly (born 1810), married Lady Elizabeth Amelia Jane Elliot, and has three sons. The armorial bearings are old French, descriptive of the name, ROC. MIL. LYS.; out of a base of rocks, nine (or an indefinite number of) lilies spring. During the French Revolutionary War, an officer took from the Chateau de Romilly, in Brittany, an oil painting, a portrait of a Catherine de Romilly; he sent it to England for presentation to Sir Samuel Romilly; the features of the face bore a family likeness to ladies of the English branch.
In enumerating the families of the Romilly group, we must first mention Philip Delahaize, of Tottenham High Cross, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., who died in 1769. We perhaps ought to have called the group the Alavoine group; for its roots were Daniel Alavoine (born 1662, died 1729), and Mary Magdalene, his wife, who died in 1741. They were the parents of Marie Alavoine, whom I am about to mention.
Under the heading La Haize, the Messieurs Haag have an article on a Jean de la Haize, appended to which there is this sentence:— “A Norman family of the same name also professed Protestantism; they passed to England at the Revocation.” We find the marriage in the Register of the Artillerie French Church in London, of Le Sieur Moyse Delahaize, to Marie Alavoine, on 26th October 1715; he was the father of Philip Delahaize, Esq., whose will diffused so much happiness, and laid the foundation of so much prosperity. Mrs. Delahaize’s sister, Marguerite Alavoine, was the wife of Ayme Garnault, senior, and her daughter, Margaret Garnault, became Mrs. Romilly. [Judith Alavoine was married in 1719 in Artillerie French Church to Jaques Godin, of Spital Square. Samuel Alavoine, who died in 1746, had a daughter, Ester Deheulle, and another daughter, Mary (died 1767, aged seventy-two), wife of John Terron (died 1776, aged ninety-one). Mr. Abraham Deheulle, who died in 1763, was the father of Esther (died 1782), wife of Richard Dalton, Esq.]
Mr. Delahaize died in 1769, when Samuel Romilly was aged twelve; he was a gentleman of great wealth and benevolence, and by his judicious bequests to his circle of relations he set a number of refugee families upon their feet in a nation in which their ancestors had retired to voluntary poverty, “preferring conscience to affluence.” “He left,” says Sir S., “to me and to my brother £2000 a-piece; to my sister, £3000; to my father, my mother, and Mrs. Facquiere [called in the Will ‘Miss Margaret Farquier,’ Aimé being spelt Amy, and Ouvry, Ouvery] legacies of about the same amount, with remainder to my brother, my sister, and myself, and to each of us a share of the residue of his fortune equally with the rest of his legatees. The whole property bequeathed to us amounted together to about £14,000 or £15,000. Blessed be his memory for it! But for this legacy . . . I should have engaged in business; I should probably have failed of success in it,” &c. The other families benefitted by the Will were, like the Romillies, connected with the Garnault family. A learned correspondent has presented to me a copy of the Will.
In the name of God, Amen. — I, Philip Delahaize, of Tottenham High Cross, in the county of Middlesex, Esquire, being of sound and disposing mind, memory, and understanding, praised be Almighty God for the same, do make and declare this to be my last will and testament, in manner following — that is to say — I will that I may be decently interred, as my relations have hitherto been, in my family vault at Tottenham High Cross aforesaid, and do direct that, as soon as may be after my decease, the present Ledger-Stone over such vault be removed, and in the room thereof a new one be put there, with the same inscriptions thereon as on the present one, together with the names and deaths of such other persons of my family as have been since buried there, and my own name and time of my death, and otherwise as is usual so to do. Item, I give and devise unto Mr Peter Romilly, Mr. Walter Dench, and Mr. Fenwick Lyddal, and their heirs, executors, and administrators, all and every of my freehold and other my real, and all also my leasehold messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatsoever and wheresoever, with their and every of their rights, members, and appurtenances, and all other my personal estate whatsoever, in trust nevertheless, to and for such uses, intents, and purposes as hereinafter mentioned — that is to say — in trust within eighteen calendar months after my decease, or sooner if convenient so to do, absolutely to sell and dispose of all such freehold and other real and leasehold estates for the best price or prices that can or may be had or gotten for the same, and to convey and assign the same respectively to, and to the use and behoof of, such person or persons who shall so purchase the same, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, and assignees, according to my right and interest therein, and to receive the respective consideration moneys to be paid therefor, and all and every part of such moneys, as also the rents and profits of such freehold, real, and leasehold estates till such sales can or may be had and compleated. And all my other personal estate and effects whatsoever I give and dispose of as follows — that is to say — In the first place, I order that all my just debts and funeral expenses be fully paid. Item, I direct that the sum of two thousand pounds of lawful money of Great Britain be laid out in Government Securities, and the interest or dividends thereof paid to Mr. Aimé Garnault of Bull’s Cross, in the parish of Enfield, in the county of Middlesex, during his life, and at his decease the principal to be divided among his three daughters, Francisca, now married to Mr. Peter Ouvry, and Ann Garnault and Sarah Garnault, or such of them as shall be then living; but if they shall then be all dead, I give the same to the executors or administrators of the survivor of them. Item, I give unto Mrs. Sarah Garnault, wife of the said Aimé Garnault, a diamond mourning ring of fifty guineas value. Item, I give unto the said Francisca Ouvry the sum of £2000, and unto the said Ann Garnault the sum of £2000, and unto the said Sarah Garnault, the daughter, the sum of £3000. Item, I give unto Mrs. Mary Garnault, widow of Daniel Garnault, for her life the dividends to arise from the sum of £2000, which I direct to be invested in Government Securities, and at her decease I give the principal thereof to and among all such her children by the said Daniel Garnault as shall be living at the time of her death, equally to be divided among them, except that her eldest son shall have no share thereof. Item, I give unto Samuel Garnault, one of the sons of the said Mary Garnault, the sum of £2000; to Joseph Garnault, one other of her sons, the sum of £2000; and to Mary Detull [Deheulle], one of her daughters, the sum of £1000; and to Elizabeth Vautier, one other of her daughters, the sum of £2000; and to Aimée Garnault, the other daughter of the said Mary Garnault, the sum of £2000. Item, I do direct that the sum of £2000 be laid out in Government Securities, and that the dividends thereof be paid to and for the use of the said Peter Romilly and Margaret his wife, for their lives and the life of the survivor of them, and at the decease of the survivor I give the principal thereof among such of their children as shall then be living, equally to be divided among them; but if they shall all be then dead, then I give the same to the executors or administrators of the survivor. Item, I give unto Thomas Romilly, one of the children of the said Peter Romilly, the sum of £2000; to Samuel Romilly, one other of his children, the sum of £2000; and to Catherine Romilly, daughter of the said Peter Romilly, the sum of £3000. Item, I do give unto the said Peter Romilly the further sum of £Jiooo. Item, I do direct that the sum of £3000 be invested in Government Securities, and that the dividends or interest thereof be paid to Miss Margaret Farquier for her life, and after her death to the said Peter Romilly and his said wife during their lives and the life of the survivor of them, and after the death of such survivor the money to arise from the sale thereof to be paid to and among such of the children of said Peter Romilly and his said wife as shall then be living, equally to be divided among them; but if they shall all be then dead, then the same to go to the executors or administrators of the survivor of them. Item, I do direct that the further sum of £7000 be laid out in Government Securities, and the dividends thereof be paid to Mrs. Susanna Cooke, daughter of my late uncle Mr. Charles Delahaize, deceased, and now the wife of Mr. Cooke, for her life, and the same to be for her sole and separate use, exclusive of her present or any after-taken husband, and for whose debts and engagements the same shall not be liable, and her receipts alone to be only discharge therefor; and from and after her death I give such the dividends thereof to her said husband for his life; and from and after the decease of the survivor of them I do direct that such dividends be paid to Ann Cooke their daughter for her life; and from and after her decease that the moneys arising by the sale thereof be paid to and for the use and benefit of such of the children of her the said Ann Cooke, if any [she?] shall have, in such shares and proportions as she shall, by her last will and testament in writing, or by any other writing to be by her signed in her lifetime in the presence of two or more witnesses, direct or appoint the same, notwithstanding her then coverture in case she shall then be married, and in default of such direction or appointment, then to the use and behoof of all the children of her the said Ann Cooke which she shall leave living at the time of her death, equally to be divided among them; and if she shall have no such children then living, then the same to go and belong to the next of [kin?] of her the said Ann Cooke. Item, I do direct that the further sum of £5000 be laid out in Government Securities, and the dividends thereof be paid to the said Ann Cooke for her life, and that she may dispose of the moneys to arise by the sale thereof after her death among such her children aforesaid, or in default of her so disposing thereof the same to go equally to and among all such her children which she shall leave living at her death, or, if no such children, the same to go to her then next of kin, in the very same manner as I have directed of and concerning the said other moneys given to her as aforesaid upon the death of the survivor of her said father and mother. Item, I do direct that all such moneys as I have ordered to be laid out in Government Securities as aforesaid (except those for the benefits of the said Susanna Cooke, and her husband and daughter, which I direct to be invested for their benefits within three calendar months next after my death) are to be invested within six calendar months next after my death. And all the other of the above-mentioned Legacys I do order to be paid within twelve calendar months next after my death, save as to such of those legatees who shall be under the age of twenty-one years, their said legacies to be paid to them respectively on their attaining that age.
Item, I give to Mr. Peter Alavoine a Diamond mourning ring of the value of 50 guineas. Also, I bequeath unto the respective Governors or Trustees of the several Hospitals in or near London, called St. Thomas’s Hospital, Bartholomew Hospital, and the London Infirmary, £100 for each Hospital to be respectively applied for the respective benefits of the Sick, Lame, and Wounded there, as usual in such cases. And I give to the Governors of the Magdalen Hospital £100 for the use of such Hospital. Item, I give unto the Governors or Trustees of St. Luke’s Hospital for Incurable Lunatics £100 for the benefit of such lunatics in such hospital. Item, I give to the Elders and Deacons of the French Church in Threadneedle Street, London, £100 for the use of the poor, and the like sum of £100 to the Elders and Deacons of the French Church in Artillery Lane, London, for the use of the poor. Item, I give unto the Trustees of the Free Grammar School at Tottenham High Cross aforesaid, £100 for the benefit of such school, and unto the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Parish of Tottenham aforesaid, £100 for the benefit of the poor of that parish, as the minister and churchwardens and overseers of such parish shall think proper. Item, I give unto the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish of Saint Michael Bassishaw, London, £100 for the use of the poor of that parish. Item, I give to the governors or trustees, or by whatever other name or names they are described, of the French Hospital near St. Luke’s Church in Old Street, the like sum of £100, for the benefit of persons taken into such hospital; and which legacies, given to such hospitals, churches, parishes, and school, shall be paid within one calendar month next after my death.
Item, I give unto the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and other the Directors of the Bank of England, each a gold mourning ring of the value of one guinea; and unto each of the proprietors of the New River Company who usually sit at and make a Board, one gold mourning ring of one guinea value. Item, I give unto Mrs. Catherine Charon, the wife of Mr. Charon, and heretofore Catherine Levillaine, the sum of £200. Item, I give unto Miss Ann Stone and Miss Mary Stone the sum of £1500 a-piece, to be paid within 3 calendar months next after my death. Item, I give to the said Mr. Walter Dench the sum of £5000, to Mr. Fenwick Lyddall the sum of £1000, to Mr. Nasdale, a weaver, who married the daughter of Rachel Delahaize, the sum of £200; to Mr. John Beard, carpenter, the sum of £200; to Mr. William Case, nephew of the said Walter Dench, £500; to Mr. John Andrew Baumback, and to Mr. Henry Metcalfe, each £100, all of which last-mentioned legacies to be paid within 6 calendar months next after my death. Item, I give unto the said Walter Dench my share of the lease of the house in Basinghall Street, London, wherein he and I now dwell, and the fixtures and other things belonging thereto or therein, and such of the household goods and furniture as belongs to me; but my upright harpsichord in such house I give to Miss Ann Garnault, daughter of the said Mr. Aimé Garnault. Item, I give unto the said Susanna Cooke, to buy herself and husband, and her said daughter Ann, mourning with, the sum of £100, to be paid her immediately after my death, one-third part thereof to be laid out for the said Ann. Item, I give unto Mr. Sampson Carver 50 guineas; to Mrs. Alavoine, her two daughters, each a diamond ring of the value of 10 guinea; to Mrs. Godin, Mrs. Wapshare, wife of Mr. William Wapshare of Salisbury, Mrs. Mary Langton, wife of Mr. David Langton, William Willis, Esquire, banker, and Captain Andrew Riddle, each a diamond mourning ring of 20 guineas value; to the eldest son of the said David Garnault, deceased, a diamond mourning ring of the value of 50 guinea; to James Townsend, Esquire, of Tottenham, a diamond mourning ring of 20 guineas value; and Mr. Jonathan Coulson, a diamond mourning ring of the value of 10 guineas; to Dr. Clarke of Tottenham, my physician, Mr. Cad (i.e., Cadwallader) Coker, Mr. Page of Tottenham; and Mr. Henry Fletcher, Mr. Peter Deschamp. Mr. John Deschamp, Mr. John Rhodolph Bartenschleigh, Mr. John Gresley, senior, Mr. John Gresley, younger, and his wife, who live at Bristol; Mr. William Laforce, Mr. Peter Laforce, and Mr. John Hanbury of Bucklcrsbury, London; Mr. William Stone of Salisbury, and his wife and three daughters, Mr. William Wapshare and his son Charles, and Mr. Henry Dench, each a gold ring of one guinea value. Item, I give a gold ring of one guinea value to each of the above-named legatees who have not rings given to them, and to the two ministers of Tottenham I give each the like mourning ring of one guinea value.
Item, I give unto my gardener, coachman, footman, and each of my women servants that shall be living with me at my death, either in London or at Tottenham, £10 a-piece, and also £5 to each of them for mourning, over and above all charges that may be due from me to them respectively at my death, such legacies to be paid immediately after my death. Item, I do will and direct that such person or persons who shall purchase all or any of my aforesaid estates, shall not be liable to see the application, or be answerable for the non-application, of all or any part of the purchase moneys to be paid by them or any of them therefor. And I do direct that all my said trustees’ and executors’ costs, charges, and expenses relating to or anywise concerning the trusts hereby reposed in them, or any of them, shall be fully paid out of the said trust estates, and that the one of them shall not be answerable for the other of them, or for the acts, deeds, receipts, payments, neglects, or defaults, the one of them of the other of them, but each of them only for his own acts, deeds, receipts, payments, neglects, and defaults. Item, I do hereby authorize my said executors, or the survivors or survivor of them his or their executors or administrators, to compound or agree, settle or adjust, all or any claims or demands which shall or may be made on them in respect of me or my estate (if any there shall be), in such manner as he or they may think most proper, and to pay all necessary sums of money for the compounding or satisfying the same out of my estate aforesaid. And I do empower my said trustees, for the two first years next after my decease, or so long thereof as my said estates shall remain unsold, to pay any sum of money out of my estate not exceeding the yearly sum of £50, for managing and taking care of my estates, and receiving the rents thereof, and keeping the books relating thereto. And I do hereby declare, that in case all my estates and effects, by reason of the fall of Government securities or otherwise, shall fall short or deficient in paying and satisfying the aforesaid legacies, then I do direct that each my said legatees whose legacies amount to two hundred pounds or upwards, do abate out of their legacies in proportion to such deficiency. Item, as to all the rest residue and remainder of the moneys to arise by sale of or from all or any part of my real and personal estates, I give and bequeath the same and every part to the said Mr. Aimé Garnault, and to his aforesaid three daughters, and to the aforesaid Samuel Garnault and Joseph Garnault, and the aforesaid three daughters of the said Mary Garnault, and to the aforesaid Peter Romilly and his said two sons and daughter, and to the aforesaid Margaret Farquier, and to the aforesaid Susanna Cooke and her daughter Ann Cooke, and to the said Walter Dench and Fenwick Lyddal, equally to be divided amongst them, which I expressly direct to be done within two years next after my death; but my executors shall not be paid any part thereof, unless they prove this my will, and take upon themselves the execution thereof; but the share or shares of such executors so refusing shall go and belong to the other and others of my said residuary legatees, equally among them, share and share alike. And I do hereby constitute and appoint the said Peter Romilly, Walter Dench, and Fenwick Lyddal joint executors of this my Will, and revoke all former wills by me at any time heretofore made. In witness whereof I, the said testator, Philip Delahaize, to this my last Will and Testament, contained in this and the four preceding sheets of paper, set my hand and seal, namely, my seal at the top of the first of the said sheets, where all the said sheets are fastened together, and my hand at the bottom of each of the said preceding sheeets, and my hand and seal to this last sheet, this 2nd day of November, the 10th year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, 1769.
Philip Delahaize.
Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said testator, Philip Delahaize, as and for his last Will and Testament, in our presence, who in his presence, and at his request, and in the presence of each other, subscribed our names witnesses thereto; the words fifty guineas in the first sheet, the words give unto the said Peter Romilly the further sum of £1000. Item, I do for her life in the second sheet, the word out in the third, and the words a diamond mourning ring of the value of 20 guineas in the fourth sheet being first interlined, and the word each in such fourth sheet first struck out, and the word such in the first sheet, and the word arise in the second sheet, and the words or names Mr. William John in the fourth sheet being first wrote on erasures.
John Archer, Richard Nelson, William Bannister.
Before I signed the within Will I read the same and which is according to my direction, as witness my hand this 2 November 1769.
Philip Delahaize.
Proved at London, 29 November 1769, by Peter Romilly, Walter Dench, and Fenwick Lyddal, the executors named in the will.
Aimé Garnault, senior, a refugee of good family, from Picardy, had two brothers, John, and Michael of Enfield (died 1745). Aimé’s children (those with whom we are concerned) were:—
| Aimé Garnault, jun., of Bull’s Cross, Enfield, married Sarah Arnold, |
Daniel Garnault married Mary Sleet, |
Margaret Garnault, wife of Peter Romilly, | |||||
| Francisca, wife of Peter Ouvry. | Elizabeth wife of Isaac Vautier. |
Thomas. | (Sir) Samuel. | ||||
Thomas Romilly had six sons and three daughters; his fifth son, Rev. Joseph Romilly, late Registrar of Cambridge University, was accustomed, when he rode past the late Mr. Delahaize’s house at Tottenham High Cross, to take off his hat out of respect to the memory of the bountiful and judicious benefactor of his kindred.
James Ouvri, or Ouvry,[1] was naturalized 24th March 1685; he settled at Spitalfields, and prospered; he was admitted a member of the Weavers' Company in 1711, as was his son in 1738. Peter Ouvry, only son of John, married Francisca Garnault, daughter of Aimé Garnault, jun., and niece of Mrs. P. Romilly; he was Treasurer of the New River Company; his eldest son was Peter Aimé Ouvry, Esq., who married Sarah Amelia Delamain; his heir is the Rev. Peter Thomas Ouvry, M.A., Vicar of Wing and Rector of Grove, in Buckinghamshire, whose eldest son is Arthur Garnault Ouvry. The brothers of the Rev. P.T. Ouvry are Colonel Henry Aimé Ouvry, C.B., the late Frederic Ouvry, Esq., President of the Society of Antiquaries, and the late Rev. John North Ouvry North, M.A. The daughters are the late Francisca Ingram Ouvry, and Sarah Mary, widow of Francis Sibson, Esq., M.D., F.R.S. Miss Ouvry was the author of three historical tales, founded on Huguenot annals. The first two are a pair, viz., “Arnold Delahaize, or the Huguenot Pastor” (1863); and “Henri de Rohan, or the Huguenot Refugee” (1865); the former is dedicated “To my nieces and nephews, and also to the other youthful descendants of The Huguenot Refugees, who, though scattered throughout the nations, are all united by the common possession of a glorious heritage, which will prove to them an eternal nobility, if they claim and act up to their birthright.” The third tale, which was published in 1873, is entitled, “Hubert Montreuil, or the Huguenot and the Dragoon.” To the tale is prefixed this inscription:— “To the memory of Louis de Marolles and Isaac Le Fevre, true comrades in the noble band of French martyrs who died for their faith in the reign of Louis XIV., this book is dedicated, as a chaplet twined by unskilled but reverent hands, and laid on their nameless graves.”
The Vautier refugee embraced poverty in England rather than apostasy in France, and brought no pedigree papers with him. But he is the fountain of the tradition in England that he sprang from the French noblesse, and the French genealogical writers have a tradition that a cadet of the family, being a Huguenot, fled to England. The Vautiers in old France were a noble and influential family, Princes of Yvetot and Comtes Du Bellay, from whom descended, in the reign of Henri IV., Gilles Vautier, ecuyer, Sieur De la Granderie; he was the grandfather of Gilles, Sieur Des Essards, and his son, Jean Jacques Vautier, has been conjectured to be the father of Daniel Vautier, the refugee. Daniel, with his wife, Margaret, and a daughter, Rachel, was naturalized on 21st March 1688 (see List xv.), I would call the attention of the representatives of the family to the naturalization, on 5th March 1691, of Margaret and Mary Des Essarts, and John Des Essarts (see List xix.). The refugee, Daniel, was relieved at the French Hospital, of which Daniel Vautier, said to be his son, became a Director. There were two brothers, Daniel (the Director), and Louis. Isaac and Daniel, two sons of Daniel (the former married in 1739 Marianne Dalbiac) left no descendants, but the line was continued by Louis, whose eldest surviving son was Isaac. This was the Isaac Vautier (born 1735, died 1767), who married Elizabeth Garnault, daughter of Daniel, granddaughter of Aime Garnault, sen., and his son was Lieutenant Daniel Vautier, R.N. (born 1760, died 1813), whose death was announced thus:— “Died at Stilton, Daniel Vautier, Esq., R.N., cousin to Sir Samuel Romilly.” His surviving daughter, Harriet, was married to Samuel Golding, Esq., and his surviving son, Daniel Vautier, Esq. (born 1795, died 1831), married Susannah, daughter of J. Golding, Esq. Two of his sons are heads of families, namely, Rev. Richard Vautier, M.A., Rector of St. Mabyn and Canon of Truro (born 1821), and Joseph Garnault Vautier, Esq. (born 1824).
The only sister of Sir Samuel Romilly was Catherine, wife of Rev. John Roget, a native of Geneva; but we claim her distinguished son as a descendant of French refugees, namely, Peter Mark Roget, M.D., F.R.S., F.S.A. (born 1778, died 1869). Though ninety years of age, Dr. Roget was preparing a twentieth edition of his “Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases” at the time of his death; he was the author of one of the Bridgewater Treatises.
- ↑ The surname Ouvry occurs in the registers under the various spellings of Oufrey, Oufry, Ovré, Ouvres, Overy. On 5th June 1708, the Duke of Marlborough writes to the Earl of Pembroke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in favour of Major Ovray, who, having served the crown for thirty-six years, was about to retire from the army, in order to settle in Ireland, and “always behaved himself, as his officers inform me, with honour and reputation.” The purport of the Duke’s request to the Earl is, “Bestow upon him some mark of your favour and goodness. Enable him to support himself and his family with comfort, aud in a manner some way suitable to the character he has borne.”