C is for caught in Caen during the Reign of Terror

There is a family story that one of my de Crespigny forebears was in Paris during the Reign of Terror but I and other family historians been unable to find any evidence of this other than my fourth great grand uncle Philip de Crespigny (1765-1851) who was detained in France 1803-1811, but that was later.

However, I do have family who were caught in France during the Reign of Terror. In 1793, my 6th great grandfather Constantine Phipps (1746-1797), who had been living in France, returned to England leaving eight of his fourteen children in Caen. (Phipps was the grandfather of Eliza Julia Trent (1797-1855) who married Charles Fox de Crespigny (1785-1875).)

Constantine Phipps married Elizabeth Tierney on 13 May 1771. Early in 1788 the Phipps family, including ten surviving children of eleven born to date, moved to Caen, Normandy, where Mrs Phipps's sister lived. According to his grandson Constantine Phipps was determined to live in France for the sake of his children's education. He is said to have trusted that a permanent peace between France and England had been secured by the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American War of Independence. Three more children were born at Caen.

In 1792, the Phipps were visited by a nephew, John Trent (1770-1796), who became engaged to Elizabeth, the third and second oldest surviving daughter. It was thought that the marriage should take place in their own country. In November 1792 Constantine and his wife left for England with their two oldest surviving daughters, their second son and a little girl. They left behind Penelope and seven other children. Penelope was then 17 years old.

Three months later, in January 1793, war was declared between England and France. The Phipps in England were unable to return to France and the children were unable to leave. The Phipps children were not reunited with their mother until October 1798. Their father, Constantine Phipps, had died in June 1797.

The castle at Caen from Wikimedia Commons, image by User Urban

Sources

• Phipps, Pownoll William. The life of Colonel Pownoll Phipps K.C., H.E.I.C.S. with Family Records. London: Bentley, 1894. pp. 5, 12, 230–231. Viewable through archive.org.

Related Posts

• Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution

F is for fleeing from France

Claude Champion Crespigny (1620-1695) and his wife Marie née de Vierville (1628-1708), my eighth great grandparents, were Huguenots, French Calvinists. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the family fled France leaving virtually all their property behind.

Claudius Champion de Crespigny (1620–1695) in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628–1708), Wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

In the 1670s Claude Champion Crespigny had income from two estates: Crépigny, 40 kilometres south of Bayeux near Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, the other at Vierville, 20 kilometers north-west of Bayeux, near what is now known as Omaha Beach, one site of the landings by American Allied forces on D-Day.

Claude and Marie had eight children:

• Pierre1652–1739 
• Margaret 1654–1741 
• Mary 1655–1736 
• Suzanne-Reně 1656–1736 
• Renee 1661–1744 
• Thomas 1664–1716 
• Gabriel 1666–1722 
• Jeanne 1668– 

The oldest son, Pierre, a lawyer, became involved in a dispute on behalf of the congregation at Trévières, nine kilometers south of Viervillesur-Mer, and west of Bayeaux. As part of the harassment of Huguenots, it had been decided that one of the two churches at either Trévières or Bayeux was in excess of the provisions of the Edict of Nantes, which formally granted Huguenots a degree of religious tolerance. One was to be disestablished. The congregation at Trévières claimed to have been established before the one at Bayeux; Bayeux, however, was a much larger community. The case was initiated in 1673 and resolved only in 1681, in favour of the congregation at Trévières. The legal battle would have been costly; perhaps it was an incidental part of the royal policy in fostering such disputes to make it inconvenient and expensive to be a Huguenot.

From 1681 the persecution of the Huguenots entered a new phase. Louis XIV instituted a policy of "Dragonnades" meant to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or returning to Catholicism. The policy, in part, instructed officers in charge of travelling troops to select Huguenot households to billet them and to order the soldiers to behave as badly as they could. Soldiers damaged the houses, ruined furniture and personal possessions, attacked the men and abused the women. One could escape this persecution only by conversion or by fleeing France.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 he claimed to be entitled to do so because there were no more Huguenots in his kingdom and their special privileges were no longer needed.

It is estimated that 40-50,000 Huguenots fled France to England. Others fled to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Ireland and America. It was illegal for Protestants to leave France, and disguise and smuggling were necessary to get across the borders, which were guarded.

There is no record of the de Crespigny family's emigration or flight apart from a tale of two children being concealed in baskets, but that story seems to have no basis.

Témoignages were documents from a previous congregation endorsing a holder as a member of the Reformed Religion so that they could be received into a new congregation.The document gives an indication of when the family arrived and from where.The de Crespigny family presented their témoignages credentials at various times. Claude, his wife and four children: Pierre, Suzanne, Renee and Jeanne, registered their témoignages on 30 June 1687 at the Savoy Church in the West End of London. The two elder daughters Marguerite/ Margaret and Marie/Mary were already married and travelled separately.

Thomas and Gabriel had travelled to England earlier aged 12; Thomas arrived in London in 1676 and  Gabriel arrived in London in 1678. The two boys were probably sent to England for their education: although Protestant schools were guaranteed under the Edict of Nantes there were moves to forbid certain subjects from being taught in those schools.

Marie had a sister Judith who married Antoine de Pierrepont. It seems likely that the Pierrepont family who migrated successfully to London helped the de Crespigny family.

Claude and Marie died in London and are buried at Marylebone. Their gravestone indicates that they were refugees from France.

Claude died on 10 April 1695. His eldest son Pierre, then 42, held a position of respect among the French Protestant community in London; he never married. Thomas and Gabriel were both army officers in the English army on service in the Netherlands. Thomas was a Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Cunningham's Regiment of Scots Dragoons and Gabriel was a Lieutenant in the First Foot Guards.

In the first years of the eighteenth century Marie and her daughter Renee were listed as gentlefolk in receipt of pensions from the Queen's Bounty for French Protestants. In 1708, the year Marie died, they were living at 37 Wardour Street, and the amount of the pension was £18.

Further reading

• de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy : being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988. 
• Nash, Robert and Huguenot Society of Australia The hidden thread : Huguenot families in Australia. The Huguenot Society of Australia, Newtown, N.S.W, 2009. 
• Ball, Elaine R.  A History of the Huguenot Family of Champion De Crespigny : A Consideration of Their Life as Huguenot Gentry in France and the Manner of Their Integration into British Society following Their Exile. London: [Privately Distributed Typescript], 1973. [Original is with the Huguenot Society of great Britain and Ireland]
• The manor at Vierville left by the de Crespignys: http://vierville.free.fr/644-Crespigny.htm
• Tonkin, Boyd. "Refugee Week: The Huguenots Count among the Most Successful of Britain's Immigrants." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 19 June 2015. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/refugee-week-the-huguenots-count-among-the-most-successful-of-britains-immigrants-10330066.html>. 

Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution

I came across a mention of a Philip de Crespigny being a prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1889 book Englishmen in the French Revolution:

Philip Champion de Crespigny, brother of the first baronet—he was married at the Danish Embassy, Paris, in 1809, his bride having apparently gone over to share his detention—escaped from St. Germain in May 1811. He lived to be eighty-six, dying in 1851. ( From Alger, John Goldworth & Robarts - University of Toronto (1889). Englishmen in the French Revolution. London S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/295. (2011, April 1). In Wikisource, . Retrieved 23:10, August 31, 2013, from http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Englishmen_in_the_French_Revolution.djvu/295&oldid=2641334 )

The first baronet was Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734 - 1818). His siblings, the children of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1701 - 1765) and his wife Anne nee Fonnereau (1704 - 1782), were:

• Susan (1735 - 1766)
• Anne (1736 - 1738)
• Philip (1738 - 1803), my fifth great grandfather
• Anne (1739 - ?)
• Jane (1742 - 1829)
• a child of whom I do not know the name, born 1733 and presumably died young

Philip, the brother of the first baronet, had died in 1803, so who was the Philip who was imprisoned? My family tree currently has ten Philip Champion de Crespignys though many of these are quite obviously not the man referred to in this book. My fourth great grand uncle Philip (1765 - 1851), son of Philip the brother of the first baronet seems to be the right man.

Philip married Emilia Wade on 21 October 1809. She died in 1832.

Family history notes compiled by Stephen de Crespigny state:

Philip was in France when Napoleon's detenu order was signed in May 1803 and was held at the fortress town of Verdun for some years , then moved to St Germain from where he escaped in May 1811. But during the time he married Emelia Wade in Paris in November 1809, a lady with a considerable fortune. (photocopy of handwritten notes on the family history compiled by Stephen de Crespigny and in possession of my father)

The Treaty of Amiens had been signed on 25 March 1802 and meant peace between the French Republic and the United Kingdom.  The peace lasted only until 18 May 1803 when Britain declared war on France.  Issues leading to the recommencement of hostilities seemed to include the British not withdrawing from Malta in accordance with the treaty terms. The Wikipedia article on the recommencement of war between France and Britain states:

On 17 May 1803, before the official declaration of war and without any warning, the Royal Navy captured all the French and Dutch merchant ships stationed in Britain or sailing around, seizing more than 2 million pounds of commodities. In response to this provocation, on 22 May (2 Prairial, year XI), the First Consul [Napoleon Bonaparte] ordered the arrest of all British males between the ages of 18 and 60 in France and Italy, trapping many travelling civilians. This act was denounced as illegal by all the major powers. Bonaparte claimed in the French press that the British prisoners he had taken amounted to 10,000, but French documents compiled in Paris a few months later show that the numbers were 1,181. It was not until the abdication of Bonaparte in 1814 that the last of these imprisoned British civilians were allowed to return home.(Treaty of Amiens. (2013, August 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:15, September 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Treaty_of_Amiens&oldid=570571270)

In 1851 Philip was recorded on the census as living at Harefield House in Middlesex with his half brother, my fourth great grandfather, Charles Fox. Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny was twenty years younger than his brother. Philip was described as a lunatic, by which I assume he was suffering from old age dementia.

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1697; Folio: 376; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193605. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Stephen's notes tell us a little more of Philip:

It was said of him that he was a gay fellow with a happy talent for drawing. He lived for many years in Harefield House, near Uxbridge, where he kept a dozen or more servants. Towards the end of his life he became a little senile, and his half brother Charles Fox looked after his estate for [him (remainder of note missing)] (photocopy of handwritten notes referred to above)

Philip died on 22 May 1851, only a few months after the census was taken. He died without issue.

Harefield House was used as a military hospital by the Australian Army in World War I.

ID number P02402.005 Photographer John H Avery & Co Description Harefield, England. c. 1915-06. Exterior of `Harefield House' the former stately home taken over by the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (1AAH) in 1915-03. On the right is the corner of one of the first wards and hidden from view behind the shrubbery is the bay window of the first operating theatre (formerly the sitting room). (Original housed in AWM Archive Store) (Donor R. Brown).
Retrieved from http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02402.005  1 September 2013

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 - 1883)

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny was born at St Malo, France, on 5 May 1851, the son of Philip Champion Crespigny and his wife Charlotte Frances née Dana. He was christened on 28 May at the Anglican Chapel, Saint-Servan-sur-Mer, which is two miles from St Malo.  He was the third child of the couple; his older sister Ada was born in 1848 and his brother Philip was born in 1850.

Not long after his birth his parents emigrated to Australia from England with their two older children. They left Constantine in England in the care of his grandparents and aunt. The Champion Crespigny family embarked from Plymouth on the Cambodia on 3 December 1851 when Constantine was not yet 7 months old. They must have determined he was too small and not strong enough to make the journey.

The family stayed in touch by letters and copies of some of this correspondence survives. For example:

undated but before July 1856

My dearest little Ada and Loup Loup:
     A thousand thanks for your nice little letter which delighted me.  Little Conny could not read them but Charlie learnt them by heart and repeated them to the little darling. I hope Ada has received the little books I sent her by this time and that you have both had a ride in Papa's new carriage. Grandpapa will send you some seeds for your garden by the Great Britain Steam Ship and I hope you will have as much pleasure in growing your mustard and cress as Charlie has. Conny and Charlie are always talking of you and longing to have you both as playfellows. Do send me word what I can send you my little darlings to amuse you. I am very glad the boots fitted so well. Goodbye to you both. Conny and Charlie send you many kisses and I am ever your Affte. Gd. Mama.
     Gd. Papa and Aunt send you many loves and kisses.

The letter is from Eliza Julia Champion Crespigny  née Trent (1797 - 1856), wife of Charles James Fox Crespigny (1785 - 1875), and mother to Philip senior. Loup Loup was a nick name for Philip junior and means wolf. Charlie is the cousin of Constantine, Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny (1848 - 1907), the son of Philip's older brother Charles John Champion Crespigny (1814 - 1880). The aunt was Philip's sister, Eliza Constantia Frances Champion Crespigny (1817 - 1898). It was Constantia who spent much time caring for young Con.

from letter of 9 January 1858 from Charles James Champion Crespigny at Cheltenham to his son Philip

... The care she [Philip's sister Constantia] takes in your dear Con and the delight she has in him is not to be described. It will be a great loss and pain to us to part with him when the time comes that he must go to school. He says positively that he will not go till he is eight and gets on so well with us that it will be time enough. I much wish to live long enough to see him grow up and started in the world but this is hardly to be expected.

When old enough and if we think it will be best to send him to the College here - 600 boys! but it is very good and terms very moderate, within sixty pounds a year - if a boy is at a boarding house, the last forty and twelve or fourteen to the college and about twelve per annum to hire the presentation or pay about one hundred in purchase of a presentation which is always saleable when you want it no longer. I have offered to pay for Charlie's if Charlie will send him there and I think Charles has made up his mind to do so. I much wish the two dear boys to be brought up together. They are exceedingly fond of each other. Conny is of course exceedingly fond of Constantia but he will say that he likes me but "except you know my Papa and Mama and my brothers and sisters, I like them best of all." He is often talking of you all and asking various questions about you. He has excellent qualities and gets on well in everything. He never will be idle a moment but must read or write or draw, but it would be needless to speak of him as I am sure Constantia has told you all about him. He is delighted now with Charles with us for his holidays. ...

I must give you Conny's last remark to Constantia just reported: He said: "Grand P was sent to school at 5 years old because he was not loved. Now I am so much loved you will not bear to part with me at 8. You will not know how to let me go to school." The fact is I was so hideous they could not bear the sight of me and till 5 I was left always with servants in the country.

 From about 1858 there was a photograph of Con taken with his grandfather. The original is in my father's possession.

From: Constantine Pulteney Trent ChC

To: Philip Robert [his father]

[London]

April 9 1859

My dear Papa

I beg you will write to me next time. I am sorry Mama had rheumatism when you wrote. Charlie has got the measles. I have seen a panorama * of Delhi with the Massacre of Cawnpore! My Aunt did not go as she could not stand that, so I went with Payne.
I am too busy pasting in my scrap-book to finish this myself. Charlie and I had no more pictures to paste, but Grd.papa went out and brought us home 4 dozen old "Punch's". I send my love to all and remain

Your affecte

Con

What fearfully hot weather you have had! I am very glad you are en permanence at Amherst. We have your letters up to Feby.12.¹

In 1861 Con was living with his grandfather, aunt and three servants (cook, parlour maid and house maid) at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.

 Contemporary photos of a Royal Parade house currently for sale given an indication of their home:²

Letter 4

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [Aunt Constantia]

To: Ada ChC [age 14]

[Cheltenham ?]

May 19th, 1862

My dearest Ada

I was delighted to receive your very nice note and to read such a cheering and pleasant account of you all and I am sure it must fill you with joy to see your dearest Papa's health so wonderfully improved. I hope both he and your dearest Mama continue well. It was also a great comfort to me to find you were all getting the better of that dreadful whooping cough. Your dear brother Con is not looking well just now and I shall be glad when we can go to the sea or somewhere for a change next month and when you receive this I hope we shall be not here. Perhaps we shall go to Malvern as that is much nearer than the sea-side and the mountain scenery is very beautiful. Con would enjoy it I think even more than the sea.

A young friend of ours at College here has asked Con to take a long walk with him on Saturday and he is looking forward to it with great joy! The young Collegian is much older than Con who is rather proud of being patronised by him but I don't much like Con going out in the scorching sun and shall persuade them to put off their walk to the evening.

I have nothing more to tell you, my dearest Ada, except to beg you to write to me as often as you can and to tell me all about each one of the family at Daisy Hill. [Daisy Hill was the name of the goldfield by Amherst.] With fondest love to all

Ever yr Affte Aunt E C F Crespigny

On 14 July 1869 Con joined the 69th (The South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot as an Ensign.  He is listed in the 1870 Hart's Army list.³

 In 1871 Con was still with his grandfather and aunt at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.  There were still 3 servants, one of whom, Susan Tolman had been in the household ten years ago. Con was an ensign with the 69th Regiment.

A clipping from the journal [The Bro]ad Arrow of 13 May 1871, in my father's possession, notes the promotion, by purchase, of Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny from Ensign to Lieutenant in the 69th Foot. According to Stephen de Crespigny, Con had served with the 69th Foot against the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1869. The London Gazette of 14 November 1871 page 4664 announces that

Lieut. Constantine Trent Pultenay Champion Crespigny from 69th Foot to be Lieut from Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny who retires from 41st Foot. 

Less than a year later the London Gazette of 18 October 1872 page 4939 notes the retirement of Lieutenant Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny of the 41st Foot, "receiving the value of his commission" dated 19 October 1872. From Letter 10 below, it appears he suffered from tuberculosis.

 Con's grandfather died 4 March 1875.  Con joined his parents and siblings in Australia.  He arrived in Melbourne on 16 November 1875 on the iron clipper ship Melbourne which departed London on 17 August.  It was the maiden voyage of the ship and a report of the ship and the voyage appeared in The Argus of 17 November 1875 on page 4.

Letter 10

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [sister of Philip Robert]
To: Rosalie Helen Beggs [her niece]⁴

Priory Street

Cheltenham

12th May, 1876

My dear Rose

I have not written to you since your marriage but I very often think of you all and especially of you and your dear Frank, and believe you are all very dear to me for yr loved parents' sake tho' so far away and unknown. Con being amongst you seems to bring you all even nearer to my heart than ever, and you, the youngest of all my nieces, yet the first to marry, you of whom your dear Mother has so often written in deep sorrow and anxiety when you have been laid upon a bed of sickness, - you can hardly imagine the tender interest I take in you, or how earnestly I wish and how fervently I pray that your married life may be blessed with true happiness, for dear Con assures me your husband is one of the best fellows he ever met and sure to make you happy! And the satisfaction and comfort yr parents feel in seeing their darling married to one they have so long known and esteemed must, I think, render yr happiness as perfect as it is possible to be in this world.

Con had been enjoying himself immensely in your house when he last wrote to me. It was such a pleasure to him to see his little sister in her dignified matronly character! Poor Con! 'Twas a sad fate for him to lose his profession and to be an idle man at 25. But the love of parents, brothers and sisters which you have all so freely and fondly bestowed upon your newly imported brother, has brightened his life, hitherto so sadly clouded, and if only his hopes of employment are realised, I trust his life may yet be a happy and useful one.

I feel so grateful to everyone of those who have been so kind to Con and I know how kind and hospitable your father-in-law has been and how he has enjoyed himself at Eurambeen (I don't know if I spell the name right!). I suppose Con rides with you sometimes when you are together. Mount him on a good horse and he is at the summit of felicity! He has told me of the rides he has enjoyed. He must be dreadfully missed in your old home, particularly, I should think, by Vi, as she is nearest yr age. I hope she enjoyed the ball at Woolaston to which she was enabled to go by yr dear Frank's kindness.

Try and find time now and then to write to yr old Aunt, my dear Rose, and with much love to you both

Believe me always

Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch. Crespigny

In June 1877 Con was appointed truant officer for the Education Department: From The Argus of Friday 15 June 1877 page 4:

Mr. T. C. Crespigny has been appointed truant officer for the St. Kilda district.

 From The Argus of Saturday 16 June 1877 page 7:  

Mr. Crespigny's appointment as truant officer, announced in Friday's Argus, includes the district of Prahran as well as St Kilda.

In July 1877 Con wrote a letter to the paper concerning an attack on his dog, a terrier, in Albert Park.  He was living in Gurner Street, St Kilda. The letter was published by The Argus on 7 July 1877 page 8.

Map showing Gurner Street and Albert Park retrieved from Google maps 7 April 2013

In 1879 there was an assault case in which Constantine seems to have been involved.  Waiting on newspaper report digitisation to be completed. Will update this post then:

FRIDAY, MARCH 14. 

The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian (Vic. : 1866 - 1888) Saturday 15 March 1879 p 3 Article

LrConstainines " Crespigny summoned Mathias Lyons for assault. The evidence. showed that the plaintiff and walking near the South Beach last Sunday

The Sydney Morning Herald of 10 August 1880 reported the arrival of the Wotonga at Sydney on 9 August having sailed from Melbourne.  Passengers included CP Crespigny and P C Crespigny.  This may well have been father and son, C P being Constantine Pulteney, or possibly Con was accompanied by his older brother Philip.  This appears just to have been a visit to Sydney.  CP Crespigny left Melbourne on board the Sobraon  in February 1881.

From The Argus of 14 February 1881, Shipping Intelligence on page 4:

Letter 11

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

29 Kingsholm Road

Gloucester

4th Aug, 1881

My dear Rose

Con wishes me to tell you how glad he was to get your letters and how much he regrets his inability to answer them. He has been very weak and ill ever since his return. A few weeks ago there was some slight improvement. The intense heat we had seemed not only to benefit his lungs but to relieve his fever. Certainly he ceased during those extremely hot days to suffer from daily attacks of fever, tho' in some ways the intense heat tried him severely. But with a sudden change in the weather and fall of temperature his fever returned with increased severity. One of the lungs got worse and had to be treated with repeated blisters. It is now better but the daily attacks of fever are terrible, lasting sometimes 8 hours during which he suffers acute headaches, shortness of breath, cough and nausea. He seems sometimes ready to die, so very ill is he.

Under these circumstances I am sure you will see how difficult it is for him to write even a few lines to his Mother and I am always trying to impress upon him that he ought not to tax his strength by writing, and that if he must write, it should be only to his Mother and let that be considered enough for the family. I feel sure you will forgive him for deferring to write to you till he is better, altho' it is a very great pleasure to him to hear from you. I hope this will find you and your husband pretty well. I was sorry to hear that he had not been well. With fond love from Con and much from me

Ever Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con is only able to take a short drive for little more than half an hour on his best days when he feels his best.

Letter 12

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

Tuesday, 6th March [1883]

My dearest Rose

Just one line to enclose 2nd half £5 notes. I hope you recvd first half all safe in last mail.⁵ My heart aches for yr poor Mother who would now, as I believe be receiving my letter of 25 January, telling her how near death her darling was - tho' I scarcely knew that he must be taken from me the very next day. I miss him more and more and long to go to him.

God bless you and your husband, dearest Rose.

Your affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con's death was announced in The Argus of 24 March 1883:

Constantine is buried at St Peter's, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire with his grandparents. His grave states:

"Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion_Crespigny. Late of HM 69th Regt. Born 5th May 1851. Died 26th January 1883. Youngest son of Philip Robert Champion Crespigny of St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia"⁶

The verse under Constantine's inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

On 5 March 1882 Constantine's nephew, the second son of Philip, was born at Queenscliff, Victoria and named Constantine Trent.

---

Footnotes

Letters, copy held by my father Rafe de Crespigny:

The originals of these letters were in the possession of my grandfather Sir Constantine Trent ChC/CdeC. After his death in 1952, his second wife Mary Birks nee Jolley, Lady de Crespigny, had them copy-typed by Ms W M Walsh, and distributed the copies among members of the family. I obtained a set through my father Richard Geoffrey CdeC, Constantine Trent's elder son. It seems probable that most of the letters were collected by Ada Champion Crespigny (1848-1927), eldest daughter of Philip Robert ChC (1817-1889), for many of them are addressed to her.

<sup>1. Constantine ChC, born in May 1851, was now just under 8 years old.
The asterisk has a note by the transcriber: from here adult writing by Charles James Fox ChC.
The siege of Cawnpore [modern Kanpur] concluded on 24 June 1857 with the slaughter of the British defenders as they sought to leave under promise of safe conduct. Panoramas were common forms of exhibition at this time. The spectators entered a large room and the event was displayed, normally in two dimensions, on the surrounding walls, aided by special lighting.
In February 1859 Philip Robert was appointed from Justice of the Peace to Police Magistrate at Amherst in the county of Talbot, some 5 kilometres northwest of that town. Philip Robert had formerly held general posts as Assistant Commissioner for Crown Lands, Magistrate in the Colony of Victoria and Warden of the Goldfields.↩

2. images retrieved from Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/66hZh retrieved 7 April 2013 and from http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/21093258 7 bedroom property for sale £1,800,000 Royal Parade, Cheltenham GL50↩

3. from page 215 of The Army List Author Colonel H. G. Hart Published 1870 Original from Oxford University Digitized 15 Oct 2007 retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=C_ANAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA215 3 February 2012 ↩

4. Constantia, born in 1825, was now 51 years old. Rose, born in October 1858, was now 17 years old. She had married Francis Beggs of Beaufort on 3 February 1876. ↩

5. One means of sending money with some security by post was to cut bank-notes in two. Each note was printed with a number in two places. Half a note, with only one number, was valueless, but when the two halves were put together they could be credited with a bank. ↩

6. Tombstone inscriptions from http://www.stpeters-leckhampton.org.uk/ retrieved 7 April 2013.
The full tombstone transcription is:</sup>

M11 Chest-tomb, on base, inward sloping sides, worn, once painted. Sc: LEWIS.Sc.

South: IN MEMORY OF

CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY,
BORN AT HINTLESHAM HALL NEAR IPSWICH 30TH AUGUST 1785, 
DIED AT CHELTENHAM 4TH MARCH 1875. 
IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE OF BEING RAISED WITH THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST
TO EVERLASTING LIFE. 
ALSO OF CONSTANTINE TRENT PULTENEY CHAMPION CRESPIGNY.
LATE OF H.M. 69th REGT BORN 5TH MAY 1851. DIED 26TH JANUARY 18--.
YOUNGEST SON OF PHILIP ROBERT CHAMPION CRESPIGNY
OF ST KILDA, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
- - - - - - LL YE THAT LABOUR AND - - - HEAVY LADEN - - - WILL OF - - -
North: IN MEMORY OF / 
ELIZA JULIA, THE BELOVED WIFE OF 
CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY ESQUIRE,
WHO DIED THE 17TH DAY OF JULY 1855, AGED 59 YEARS.
PURE AND INNOCENT OF MIND, KIND AND BENEVOLENT, "HER WAYS WERE WAYS OF
PLEASANTNESS, AND ALL HER PATHS WERE PEACE." PROVERBS. III.17.
UNTO YOU THAT HAVE MY NAME SHALL THE SUN(sic) OF RIGHTOUSNESS ARISE
WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS. MALACHI IV 2
I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE I WILL REDEEM THEM
FROM DEATH. HOSEA XIII.I.
- -EL- - - - NOT SHARE OUR SORROW, S-------- THE -OT-E--- BLESSED
- - - - - - - A FUTURE LIFE - - - - - - - - - -SAVED - - - - - .

 The verse under Constantine's inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The verse for his grandfather is derived from the Book of Common Prayer but is not a direct quote. ↩

Divorce of John James and Charlotte Frances née Dana

John James (1808 - 1855), a solicitor from Newnham Gloucestershire, married Charlotte Frances Dana (1820 - 1904) on 14 May 1839 at St Peters church, Worfield near Albrighton Shropshire.

They had two children, Charlotte Constance (1840 - 1935) and John Henry (1841 - 1842).

In November 1847 Charlotte left her husband and daughter and eloped to France from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight with Philip Champion Crespigny. They lived in France under different names including Mr and Mrs Rae and D'Estair. They moved from Havre to Rouen to Paris and then to near St Malo.¹ Their daughter Ada Isadora was born at Paris on 15 May 1848 and christened at the English Protestant Chapel, Saint-Servan-Sur-Mer. Saint Servan is two miles from St Malo. Their son Philip was born 4 January 1850 at St Malo and christened on 14 January. A second son Constantine Pulteney Trent was born on 5 May 1851 at St Malo and christened on 28 May.²

In the mean time John James had engaged a solicitor to pursue his wife and Philip. The solicitor

"stated he had used every effort to induce Mr. Crespigny to put in an appearance to an action for crim. con., but without effect. Indeed, whenever he had reason to think that that gentleman might be in England he had sued out a writ. He had sued out at least seven or eight writs, but in no one instance had an appearance been entered."¹

In February 1849 the divorce went before the Arches court. The court thought the facts were fully established beyond all doubt, and pronounced for the divorce.³

In March 1849 John James brought a bill for divorce before the House of Lords. Among the lords present were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham, Lord Campbell, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Stradbroke, the Earl of Mountcashel, Lord Stanley, the Earl of Suffolk, and Lord Ellenborough.¹

The marriage of Charlotte Frances Dana to Philip Champion Crespigny was formalised on 18 July 1849 at the British Embassy in Paris, France. The couple had been living at Fleurtuil in Brittany, a village near St Malo, and Philip C. Crespigny, rentier [i.e. "of independent means"], accompanied by his Dame [lady: probably not wife, which would be Femme] and their child [described as an Enfant, which would indicate a male child, but evidently Ada, who had been born on 15 May 1848] were granted a passport for travel to Paris by the local British Vice-Consul at St. Malo on 30 May 1849.⁴

Divorce for reasons of adultery was first made available in England in 1857. Parliamentary divorce was invented about 1700. Divorce by a private act of Parliament was abolished in 1857. Before 1857 three different legal systems applied: canon law, equity law and common law requiring different lawyers and judges and operating in three separate courts. Before 1857 only Parliament could grant a full legal severance of a marriage allowing both spouses to marry again.⁵

The Court of Arches was an ecclesiastical court located at Doctors' Commons in London.

The law provided for a husband to make a claim against a wife's lover for damages because of her adultery - an action known as 'criminal conversation', or 'crim. con.'. In later years this action reinforced the claims for a Parliamentary divorce. The original object of the crim. con. action had been to punish the seducers of married women and to compensate the latter's cuckolded husbands. By 1800, the great majority of actions were collusive, and their true function was to provide a legal smoke screen under which both husband and wife could obtain an undefended Parliamentary divorce and remarry.⁶ Philip Crespigny's refusal to be party to the crim. con. court case was unusual and threatened to derail the divorce action.⁷

Only the very rich could afford a Parliamentary divorce, the costs running into thousands of pounds.⁸ It is estimated that £5,000 in 1847 would be worth about half a million dollars today.⁹ In the ten years 1841 to 1850 only 43 Parliamentary divorce petitions were brought in England, about 4 a year. There were 85 matrimonial cases in the Court of Arches in that decade.¹⁰

In 1852, John James also remarried to Arabella Veronica Dighton. They had a daughter Vera Maria James. John James died in 1855.

Charlotte Constance James would never have seen her mother again. She married in 1859 to Francis Gamble Blood. They had a son, John Neptune Blood. Charlotte Constance divorced Francis Blood in 1870; it was a wife's petition.¹¹ Charlotte Constance Blood died in 1935. Her son died in 1942 without issue having never married.

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<sup>1. The Times, 21 March 1849, page 7 (images of the newspaper articles are below) ↩
2. Notes on the family history prepared by my father Rafe de Crespigny August 2001: The record of baptism for Isidora Ada Charlotte, on 4 July 1848, gives her parents with Christian names Philip and Charlotte, but surname as D'Estrée. It seems that this must refer to the first child of Philip Champion Crespigny and Charlotte Frances nee Dana, born before their marriage, but there appears no explanation for the surname. Eighteen months later, on 14 January 1850 Philip Champion and Charlotte Frances had their infant son baptised as Philip Champion, with the surname given as Crespigny. In each case, the address of the father was given as St Malo, and the quality or profession as "Gentleman". Both ceremonies were carried out by the same Chaplain John Penleaye; one would imagine the British community in the region of St Malo would have been small enough for someone to have noticed the variations. ↩
3. London Daily News, 19 February 1849, pages 6-7, "Arches Court - Saturday" ↩
4. Notes on the family history prepared by my father Rafe de Crespigny August 2001. He also notes that no place called Fleurtuil appears on the Michelin Map of France, nor is there any record of such a place on the Internet; on the other hand, this is true also of the sub-village Crépigny. The writing of the name, however, is a little uncertain: the initial could be an H, or possibly a P, and there is a Pleurtuit in the vicinity of St Malo, some distance up the Rance, about four kilometres from its western bank. ↩
5. Stone, Lawrence. (1990). Road to divorce : England 1530-1987. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press; pages 6, 20, 46 ↩
6. Stone pages 17, 26 ↩
7. The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 30, 1849; Opprobriums of Law ↩
8. Stone pages 354 - 357 ↩
9. Computing 'Real Value' Over Time With a Conversion Between U.K. Pounds and U.S. Dollars, 1830 to Present from http://www.measuringworth.com/exchange/ calculated 1 April 2013 ↩
10. Stone pages 424, 432 ↩
11. Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle etc (Portsmouth, England), Wednesday, June 22, 1870 ↩</sup>

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London Daily News, 19 February 1849, pages 6-7, "Arches Court - Saturday"


The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 30, 1849; Opprobriums of Law


The Times, 21 March 1849, page 7


Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle etc (Portsmouth, England), Wednesday, June 22, 1870

Australian arrival of the Champion Crespigny family on the 'Cambodia' 31 March 1852

Philip Champion Crespigny and his wife Charlotte Frances née Dana together with two children, Ada and Philip, and a female servant arrived in Australia just over 161 years ago.¹ They came on the 'Cambodia' , a 914 ton ship which had sailed from Plymouth on 4 December 1851. The master was John Joseph Hammach and the surgeon superintendent was Frederick Wilson. She came with 313 emigrants and cargo.²





Florence Chuk gives an account of the voyage in her book The Somerset years : government-assisted emigrants from Somerset and Bristol who arrived in Port Phillip/​Victoria, 1839-1854.²

The Cambodia was built of oak in Sunderland in 1850. It was sheathed in metal to increase her speed. Despite this the voyage took 116 days from Plymouth to Port Henry as the winds were very light and adverse. It was very cold when they left Gravesend for Plymouth. At Plymouth they took on emigrants from the west country. The third mate absconded at Plymouth and there were only 16 crew to work the ship. There were four births and ten deaths on the voyage. Although the Cambodia was very clean and in good order on arrival, when the Immigration Board examined the surgeon's journal they concluded that the surgeon had not been competent to take on the role. Some stores had disappeared and the seaman appointed to hand out the rations had his gratuity withheld.²

Philip and Charlotte probably came to Australia on the recommendation of Charlotte's brothers who were in charge of the colony's native police force. Charlotte's first husband was pursuing a legal claim against Philip which made it impossible for them to stay in England.³

It appears that it wasn't until 18 November 1852 that Philip obtained a job with the government when he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Goldfields.⁴

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<sup>1. Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871 for the Cambodia arriving March 1852 retrieved from prov.vic.gov.au under the index name "Crespigney", further information at Book 5A page 201.↩
2. Chuk, Florence. (1987). The Somerset years : government-assisted emigrants from Somerset and Bristol who arrived in Port Phillip/Victoria, 1839-1854. Ballarat, Vic. : Pennard Hill Publications; pages 157 to 160.↩
3. The divorce case is a topic for another blog entry. However the legal issues are hinted at in an article discussing Charlotte's divorce case: OPPROBRIUMS OF LAW . The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 30, 1849.↩
4. Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 57, Wednesday, October 5th 1853, page 1459 retrieved from http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1853&class=general&page_num=1459 on 1 April 2013↩</sup>