D is for drama in Dunolly

Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816-1880), a surveyor who came to Australia in 1839, was my great great great grandfather. He lived for fourteen years in South Australia and Western Australia before coming to Victoria in 1853.

Chauncy kept diaries and in 1873, based on these, he published the Memoirs of Mrs Chauncy, a brief life of his second wife, Susan Augusta née Mitchell (1828-1867). Chauncy's account of his time in Dunolly (below) is taken from his Memoirs.

In 1853 Chauncy was appointed as Surveyor-in-Chief for the McIvor district. He and his family moved to Heathcote. While there he surveyed the town of Heathcote and selected and surveyed Echuca.

In 1860 he was put in charge of the Dunolly Survey District and moved to Dunolly.In 1861 Chauncy

... bought a substantial stone house, unfinished, which had been built for an inn, and was in a municipal street. [Chauncy's emphasis]

My dear Susie, with her characteristic energy, began at once, without waiting for it to be finished, to remove into it; but while we were getting in the furniture it was "jumped" by a pettyfogging lawyer, who sent up a well-known character, known as "Fighting Jack," to take possession of it.

On the gold-fields, where the population is wandering, houses used often to be erected on Crown lands without sufficient authority, and in such cases the person actually in possession could not well be ejected, especially if he held a miner's right to legalise his tenure.

This limb of the law, being a daring and unscrupulous man, made it part of his business to take possession of every place to which he thought no one could show a better title than himself. The fact of my having purchased the house gave me no title to the ground on which it stood, and I would not resort to the subterfuge of taking out a miner's right or a business license, not being a miner or a store-keeper, and it was quite possible that "Fighting Jack" held a miner's right, and so had a better title to the ground than I had.

However, I sent for two constables, and gave the man in charge. Next morning he was brought before the Police Court, when I adduced proofs that I had bought and paid for the house, but it being a question of title, the court was not competent to deal with the case, and dismissed it ; which was in fact all that I required, for I remained in undisturbed possession until I so narrowed the street as to exclude the house, and then purchased the land on which it stood from the Crown.

The position is beautiful and commanding. I subsequently erected four more rooms of brick and stone, stable, outhouses, brick tank, &c., and made an ornamental garden and vinery. The recollection of the happy time we spent in this place moves me as I write. It used to be her delight to stroll through the garden and admire the flowers and other plants ; and then, how cleverly and wisely she managed the house, and for the welfare of the children. In the evening, when they were in bed, it used to be her delight to sit and converse with me at the fireside. The six years at Dunolly were among the happiest of my life.

There is no account of this legal dispute in the digitised newspapers available through Trove.

Chauncy was an amateur photographer and took a photograph of his cottage in 1865. Members of his family can be seen on the verandah.

The Chauncy cottage in Dunolly photographed by Philip Chauncy in 1865. Image from http://members.westnet.com.au/likelyprospects/dunolly_buildings.htm . The original image is said to be held by the Dunolly Museum of the Goldfields Historical & Arts Society Inc.

I have visited Dunolly and the cottage several times. The cottage is located at 8 Havelock Street. Below are some photographs I have taken of it.

The Chauncy cottage in 2007

the view from the Chauncy cottage in 2007

When I visited in 2012 the cottage was unoccupied and for sale. I had a look around the back.

On the ground and from a map showing Havelock Street  it is not easy to see how Chauncy narrowed the road to exclude the cottage.

Further reading

• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976. pages 50-51. 
• Entry for Philip Chauncy in Design & Art Australia online database https://www.daao.org.au/bio/philip-lamothe-snell-chauncy/biography/

Concerning the Chauncy house at Heathcote

• "Heritage Listing Bestowed." Bendigo Advertiser.13 July 2010. <http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/709709/heritage-listing-bestowed/>. 
• Victorian Heritage Database Report on the former survey office at Heathcote

52 ancestors: Whitehall June 15 1727

I thought I would look at the earliest record in the London Gazette of someone named de Crespigny. I assumed it would be the record of a military appointment.

Philip Crespigny (1704-1765)
Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Van Loo - Date unknown ... Owner/Location: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17041765-49144

I was surprised to find that this de Crespigny was my sixth great grandfather, Philip Crespigny (1704-1765), who had been present at the proclamation of King George II (1683-1760) on 14 June 1727.¹

King George II by Charles Jervas painted about 1727. Photograph retrieved from Wikipedia.

I realised I knew very little about my sixth great grandfather.

Philip was the fifth of six children of Thomas Champion Crespigny (1664-1712) and Magdalen née Granger (1664-1730).

Thomas, who had been born in France, came as a boy to England as a Huguenot refugee. He served in the English military. From 1689 he was a cornet in Lord Cardross' Scottish Regiment of Dragoons, a Lieutenant of Colonel Richard Cunningham's Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1695, and Captain Lieutenant of the Marquis of Lothian's Regiment of Dragoons at Jedburgh in 1703.² This regiment later became the 7th Queen's Own Hussars.

Thomas married Magdalen, daughter of Israel Granger of Alencon in 1695 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London.³ Magdalen had also been born in France and her family were also Huguenot refugees.⁴

They had six children:⁵

• William (1698-1721)
• Marie (1699-1700)
• Jeanne (1700-1773), who married Gilbert Allix (1694-1767)
• Claude (1701-1703)
• Philip (1704-1765)
• Claude (1706-1782)

Thomas died on 17 July 1712. He was buried at St Marylebone, London.  His will, dated 1704, left all his goods to his wife Magdalen.⁶

The surviving children at the time of Thomas's death were aged 14, 12, 8 and 6.

I wonder who helped Magdalen bring up her children? Was the family helped by her Granger relatives or by Magdalen's de Crespigny in-laws?

Magdalen's mother, Marie Granger, was a widow when she made her will in 1711.⁷ Magdalen's father, Israel Granger, had died in 1700.⁸ Marie Granger left her estate between Magdalen and the children of another daughter, Marthe. Marthe had married Florand Dauteuil in 1699, at the Savoy Church in the Strand. Marthe had died before 1711 when her mother made her will. Mary Granger's will was proved in 1713. It appears that Magdalen had no adult relatives on the Granger side of her family to support her.

Thomas's older brother Pierre (1662-1739) was a lawyer. In her will, Magdalen leaves Pierre 200 pounds.⁹ In his will Pierre makes Philip and Claude his executors and leaves them one hundred pounds each.¹⁰ Pierre was the godfather of Claude, Magdalen and Thomas's youngest son. Pierre did not marry and had no children. I think it very likely that Pierre helped Magdalen to raise her children.

Although we do not have the details, it would seem that the education of Claude and Philip enabled them to be successful: Claude as secretary of the South Sea Company, a major British trading company; Philip as a lawyer, who eventually became a proctor to the Lord Admiral, in addition to holding several directorships.

Philip and Claude had very successful careers despite the untimely death of their father and the fact that both their parents were Huguenot refugees.

..........

Notes
<sup>1. The London Gazette Publication date: 13 June 1727 Issue: 6590 Page: 1 retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/6590/page/1 ↩
2. from page 22 of Huguenot and Scots Links, 1575-1775 Author David Dobson Publisher Genealogical Publishing Com, 2010 ISBN 0806352841, 9780806352848 Length 92 pages retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sN1nOOPKqKsC&pg=PA22 3 February 2012 ↩
3. Name: Magdalen Granger Marriage Date: Feb 1695 Parish: St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street County: Surrey Borough: City of London Spouse: Thomas Champion Record Type: Marriage Register Type: Parish Register from London Metropolitan Archives, St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, Composite register: baptisms, 1664 - 1717, marriages, 1664 - 1712 and burials, 1664 - 1717, P69/MRY10/A/002/MS010221 retrieved from ancestry.com.au↩
4. de la Pinsonnais, Amaury. "La Famille Granger." Histoire Et Généalogie. Amaury de la Pinsonnais, 13 June 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. http://pinsonnais.free.fr/genea/?id=granger&page=2. ↩
5. de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy : being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988. page 9. ↩
6. Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills (PCC): Thomas Champion De Crespigny Date of Probate July 1712 Date of Will 24th June 1704 Reference PROB11/527 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
7. PCC: Mary Granger Place of Abode St James Westminster, London Date of Probate March 1713 Date of Will 18th February 1711 Reference PROB11/532 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
8. London, England, Wills and Probate. Israel Granger, Middlesex, Probate date 1700. London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, Clerkenwell, London, England; Reference Number: AM/PW/1700/031 ↩
9. PCC: Magdalen Champion de Crespigny Profession Widow Date of Probate 9th October 1730 Date of Will 19th February 1730 Reference PROB11/640 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
10. PCC: Peter Champion de Crespigny Place of Abode St James Westminster, Middlesex Date of Probate 1st August 1740 Date of Will 10th August 1736 Reference PROB11/704 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩</sup>

A pirate in the family tree

Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653) was an English seaman who spent some of his career as a pirate on the Barbary coast. He was afterwards pardoned and knighted by King James.

My son, who is studying history, came across the pirate Henry Mainwaring and asked if we were related to him.  I replied that I did not think so, but I decided to check for a relationship.  Henry Mainwaring, I discovered, is my third cousin eleven times removed, a relative indeed, though not a close one.

The common ancestor of me and the pirate is Sir John Mainwaring (1470-1515) my 13 times great grandfather.  Sir John had gone to the French wars in the train of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was knighted at Tournai in 1513. ( Metcalfe, Walter Charles, ed., Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath et., IV Henry VI to 1660, London (1885) page 50 ) Sir John Mainwaring was Henry Mainwaring's great great grandfather.

Henry Mainwaring was the second son of Sir George Mainwaring and Ann More.  Henry studied at Oxford University. In 1604, about seventeen years old, he was admitted to the Inner Temple as a lawyer.

It is not clear how Henry became a seaman, but in 1610, at the age of about twenty-three, he was commissioned by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, to capture the pirate Peter Easton, who had been raiding Newfoundland.  Mainwaring was unsuccessful.  He was then given a letter of marque, becoming a privateer against Spanish shipping in the West Indies.  En route there he decided instead to attack Spanish shipping from the coast of Morocco.


View Larger Map

Mainwaring was based at La Marmora, present day Mehdya, on the Morocco coast near Rabat, for four years from 1612. He had a fleet of thirty captured Spanish ships.  He claimed that he never attacked English ships.  The French and Spanish governments complained about Mainwaring to the English government and King James I sent an envoy with an offer of a free pardon if he promised to give up piracy. He was pardoned in 1616 and all those who served under him were granted an amnesty.

Later, Mainwaring became a hunter of pirates. He wrote a book on piracy, Discourse of Pirates, which he dedicated to the King.  He was knighted on 20 March 1618 and became one of King James's courtiers and a friend of the King.

In 1620 he was appointed Lieutenant of Dover Castle and Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dover. Around this time Mainwaring wrote the Seaman’s Dictionary. It was not published until 1644 but manuscript copies were distributed before then. It is considered the first authoritative treatise in seamanship.

Mainwaring offended Lord Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was dismissed from his post at Dover Castle. Mainwaring sought the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. At that time Buckingham was Lord High Admiral and it has been asserted that Buckingham and his masters made a serious attempt to reform the naval administration, and that in this Mainwaring played a considerable part. However Buckingham was assassinated in 1628 and Mainwaring lost his patron.

Mainwaring was not wealthy, and after Buckingham's death, he attempted to improve his fortunes by marrying a rich widow.  She rejected him and in 1630 he eloped with a twenty-three year old heiress.  His father-in-law refused to provide a dowry until Mainwaring had made a settlement. Mainwaring's wife died in 1633 and their only daughter died about 1640. Mainwaring was outlawed for debt in 1641. In 1651 an assessment of his worth in considering his debt stated that his entire property consisted of ‘a horse and wearing apparel to the value of £8’.

Mainwaring had joined the navy as a captain in 1636.  He was a Vice-Admiral by 1639.


During the English Civil War (1642-1651), Mainwaring joined the King at Oxford. Later he served with Royalist fleet.  He was with the sixteen-year-old Prince Charles, later King Charles II, at Jersey in 1646.


Mainwaring died in 1653, leaving no will.  He was buried at St Giles, Camberwell.  No gravestone, if there was one, has survived.


References and further reading

E. Hunt, “MAINWARING, SIR HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mainwaring_henry_1E.html.

Mainwaring, G. E. (ed.). 1920. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. London: The Council of the Navy Records Society. https://archive.org/details/henrymainwaring02manwuoft

Pringle, Patrick Jolly Roger : the story of the great age of piracy. Dover Publications, 2012. pages 43-45 retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WqXDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43

Thrush Andrew "MAINWARING, Sir Henry (1586/7-1653), of Dover Castle, Kent; later of Camberwell, Surr." The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/mainwaring-sir-henry-15867-1653>

"SIR HENRY MAINWARING.*." The Spectator Archive. The Spectator, 19 Feb. 1921. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-february-1921/19/sir-henry-mainwaring>.

(Library Assistant), Nabila. "The Seaman's Dictionary: 'This Book Shall Make a Man Understand'" Royal Museums Greenwich. National Maritime Museum, 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/collections/by-type/archive-and-library/item-of-the-month/previous/the-seaman%27s-dictionary>

PEN PICTURES OF THE PAST. IN PIRATE DAYS. (1914, July 9). Cobram Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 6. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129536151 

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 - 1803)

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 - 1803) was my fifth great grandfather (5*great).

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738–1803), MP by John Opie; Oil on canvas, 47 x 36 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall. Image retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17381803-mp-49154

Philip was the fifth of seven children of Philip (1704-1765) and his wife Anne née Fonnereau.  He was born on 1 April at his father's house at Doctors Commons in London. He was christened on 11 April at St Benets, Pauls Wharf. Philip senior was Marshall of the Court of Admiralty and Secretary of the French Hospital.

Extract from 18th century plan of Plan of Baynards Castle Ward & Faringdon Ward Within retrieved from http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/baynards.htm

In 1741 the family moved to Denmark Hill, Camberwell where Philip senior had taken a lease of a house and sixteen acres.

Philip's older brother Claude (1734 - 1818) was educated at Eton and it is likely that Philip was also. (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )

In 1759 at the age of twenty-one, Philip became an advocate at Doctors' Commons and was King's Proctor from 1768  to 1784.  (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )  

A proctor was a legal practitioner in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. A King's Proctor acted in all causes concerning the King. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proctor) Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil law in London. The proctors, who were also associated with Doctors' Commons, were like present-day common law solicitors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons)

Marriages and children

Philip married four times. On 24 November 1762 Philip married Sarah Cocksedge in Norfolk. They married by licence; this licence was issued on 11 November.  Sarah and Philip had four children:

• Thomas (1763 1799)
• Philip (1765 - 1851)
• Jane (1766 - 1785)
• Anne (1768 - 1844)

Sarah died in April 1768 and was buried at St Marylebone on 13 April 1768. ('Marylebone', The Environs of London: volume 3: County of Middlesex (1795), pp. 242-279. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45438 Date accessed: 27 January 2014.)

Sarah was the daughter of Thomas Henry and Lydia Cocksedge. In 1764 title of Tottington manor passed to Philip as husband of Sarah.(Deeds of messuage held by Norfolk Record Office http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=153-wls&cid=23-19#23-19) Philip probably sold his Norfolk holdings in 1772 as recorded in a private act of Parliament: Philip Champion Crespigny's estate: sale of hereditaments in Weeting (Norfolk) and purchase and settling others. (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/cy/changes/chron-tables/private/17)

Philip's second marriage was to Betsy Hodges in about 1771.  Betsy was the widow of George Borradale whom she had married in 1765 (Parish Records Collection - marriage 1765 Hodges Borradale) Philip and Betsy had one son, Charles (1772 - 1774) who was christened 1 June 1772 in St Giles, Camberwell, and buried 21 October 1774 in the Church of St Albans. Betsy died in 1772, probably not long after giving birth to her son.  She was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May 1772.

Betsy Hodges (d.1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny by George Romney(circle of) Oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/betsy-hodges-d-1772-second-wife-of-philip-champion-de-cres49163

Philip's third marriage was to Clarissa, daughter of James Brook of Rathbone Place. They married on 1 July 1774 at St Marylebone by licence with the consent of her father. She was a minor, of the parish of St Marylebone. Philip was recorded as an Esquire of Walton upon Thames, County of Surry, widower. He signed his name PC Crespigny. The witnesses were James Brooke and Hester Brooke.

The Gentleman's Magazine London, England July, 1774 retrieved from http://theoldentimes.com/crespignybrooke74uk.html

 Clarissa and Philip had four children:

• Clarissa (about 1775 - 1836) who married Edward Toker
• Maria (1776 - 1858) who married John Horsley
• Harry (1777 - ?) baptised 14 August 1777 at Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey and presumably died young
• Fanny (1779 - 1865)

Clarissa and her children were painted in 1780 by George Romney.  Romney's diary notes that the painting was oval and he charged fifty pounds.  In 1780 Horace Walpole apparently noted George Romney's "rise to fashion". (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2002/george-romney/biography.php)

Clarissa Champion de Crespigny and her children by George Romney. The painting was last sold in 1986 from a private seller to a private buyer through the London dealers Leger Galleries.  This image is from a reproduction of the painting and came from Alex Kidson, Research Fellow of the Romney Society.

Clarissa died in 1782 and was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May. She was about twenty-seven years old. A short biographical piece about her father refers to her as an amiable and accomplished lady who died in the prime of her life.

Smith, Thomas. (2013). A Topographical and Historical Account of the Parish of St. Mary-Le-Bone, Comprising a Copious Description of Its Public Buildings, Antiquities, Schools, Charitable Endowments, Sources of Public Amusement, &c. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1833)retrieved from
http://www.forgottenbooks.org/books/A_Topographical_and_Historical_Account_of_the_Parish_of_St_1000735867 The same obituary appeared elsewhere, for example in the Hampshire Chronicle of 2 November 1807.

Philip's fourth marriage was in 1783 to Dorothy Scott (1765 - 1837), daughter of Richard Scott of Betton Strange Hall near Shrewsbury. (London Magazine vol 52 pg 103 1783)


Jonathan Scott (1754 - 1829), one of Dorothy's brothers,  was an early translator of what was then called ‘The Arabian Nights Entertainment’, better known now as ‘The 1001 Nights’. (http://shrewsburylocalhistory.org.uk/scott.htm)

Dorothy and Philip had four children

• George (1783 - 1813) killed in Spain
• Eliza (1784 - 1831) who married the first Lord Vivian having eloped to Gretna Green (Ancestry.com. Gretna Green, Scotland, Marriage Registers, 1794-1895 [database on-line].)
•  Charles Fox (1785 - 1875) my fourth great grandfather
• Dorothea (1800 - 1800) born and died in Bath (I am not sure where I have the information for this child, I am unable to find any records associated with her and it seems surprising that she was born so many years after her siblings, though her mother did have a child after 1804 following her second marriage).

After Philip's death Dorothy married again to Sir John Keane (1757 - 1829) and had a son, George Michael Keane.

Dorothy's portrait was painted by George Romney in 1790 with Romney's diary noting "1790 Wed 17 March Mrs Chrspaney at 1/2 pt 2". He charge forty-two pounds for the oil on canvas. Dorothy's great grandson George Harrison Champion de Crespigny (1863 - 1945) sold the painting through Christies on 27 April 1901 for ₤5,880-00. ("HIGH PRICES FOR PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS." Otago Witness 3 July 1901: 75. Papers Past — Otago Witness. National Library of New Zealand. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19010703.2.234.1>) The painting is now in the John Howard McFadden Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html)

Portrait of Mrs. Champion de Crespigny [née Dorothy Scott] from http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html

 Parliamentary career

In 1774 Crespigny was returned on the Fonnereau interest at Sudbury after a contest, but lost his seat on petition. (Drummond, Mary M. "CRESPIGNY, Philip Champion (d.1803), of Burwood, Nr. Cobham, Surr." The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803>.)

Philip's mother was  the daughter of Claude Fonnereau, a wealthy merchant. Her brother,and thus Philip's uncle,  Thomas Fonnereau (1699 - 1779) was returned for Sudbury in 1741 and sat for that consituency until 1768. Several of those years were in conjunction with Thomas Walpole who was a business connection. Thomas later sat for Aldeburgh from 1773 until his death in 1779. (Namier, Sir Lewis. "FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff." The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779>.) (Thomas Fonnereau. (2013, December 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:03, January 28, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Fonnereau&oldid=587412088)

In 1780 Philip was returned unopposed at Aldeburgh on the Fonnereau interest, and at Sudbury after a contest. He held both seats until 1781 when he lost Sudbury on petition, and continued to sit for Aldeburgh until 1790.

Only one speech is recorded from Philip when he spoke in 1781 against the bill for excluding contractors from the House of Commons.

Extract from the debate in the House of Commons (Debrett, ii. 296.) retrieved from Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. The Parliamentary Register: Or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons. Vol. 2. page 296.: J. Debrett, 1781. Google Books. 2007. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1-kMAAAAYAAJ>.

The exclusion of contractors from the House of Commons was first introduced in 1779 and was part of political reform receiving an impetus from the American Revolution. The bill finally passed at the end of 1782 and it placed on the exclusion list anybody who had a contract with the treasury, the navy, the victualling office, the master-general, or the board of ordinance, ...  Before this reform, "the fact that a man had a contract with the Government laid him under the necessity of receiving orders from the Treasury as to his political conduct."  George III was said to turn all government expenditures to political account and "maintained a corps of subservient members in the House of Commons". Vast sums were disbursed to contractors for the navy and army between 1770 and 1782 which some asserted were an abuse of the contract process and designed to buy political support. (Porritt, Edward. The Unreformed House of Commons. : Cambridge UP, 1963. Google Books. CUP Archive. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <books.google.com.au/books?id=57c8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA219>. pages 219-220)

 Philip supported the administration of Lord North who was prime-minister from 1770-1782 and who later served in a coalition, the Fox-North coalition, with Charles James Fox in 1783. Philip named his youngest son, Charles James Fox Champion de crespigny,  after Charles James Fox.

Houses

Philip died in his house at 5 Portland Place, Bath.  The house is one of ten symmetrical terrace houses built in 1786 by John Eveleigh. Number 5 is the largest house in the terrace and was built for P. C. Crespigny. 

Portland Place, Bath image from Google street view http://goo.gl/maps/seYvj. Number 5 is the house centred on the triangular pediment.  It has five windows across and a central front door. Its neighbours' front doors are aligned either to the left or the right. To the front of the house is a ramp which was provided for easier access by sedan chairs.

The house together with number 4 was converted into a school from 1875 until 1994. In 1994 both houses were converted to flats. The house, together with its neighbours, is Grade II heritage listed.  ("List Entry: 1-10, PORTLAND PLACE." National Heritage Protection Plan. English Heritage, 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1394403>.)

Philip de Crespigny leased Hintleham Hall near Ipswich in Suffolk. His children George, Eliza, and Charles were born there between 1783 and 1785. In 1785 his daughter Jane died at Hintlesham Hall. At that time Hintlesham Hall was owned by Richard Lloyd, a political lawyer who became Solicitor-General.(http://www.hintleshamhall.co.uk/history.html)

In 1794 Philip de Crespigny bought Talyllyn  House and the Manor of Llangasty Talyllyn in Breconshire together with 2000 acres for £1600. In the advertisement for the sale the house was described as “a good old stone built and slated Mansion House... to which the present Proprietor meant to have added a regular Building” While owned by the de Crespignys, the house and outbuildings were extensively remodelled.  From 1810 the estate was leased as a farm. It was sold in 1838 by Philip's son Charles Fox de Crespigny. Philip and his son Charles both served as High Sheriff of Brecknockshire or Breconshire, Philip in 1796 and Charles in 1812. The house was destroyed in the nineteenth century. ("History of the Farm." Tŷ-Mawr. Tŷ-Mawr Lime Ltd, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.lime.org.uk/history-of-the-farm/>.)

Tal-y-llyn: St. Mary's church and the hamlet at the end of the lake, photograph about 1885. Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal-y-llyn,_Gwynedd

Other land purchases by Philip include Creeting All Saints in Surrey bought from the Bridgeman family. (http://forebears.co.uk/england/suffolk/creeting-st-olave)

Freemason

Philip was a Freemason. In 1781 he was Grand Steward for Somerset House Lodge. (http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/prestonian_lectures_volume_3.htm)