Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Bishop Saurin

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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Bishop Saurin was a descendant of Jean Saurin, Sieur de la Blaquier, mestre-de-camp to the Duke de Rohan’s army in 1622, who was the brother of Saurin, the Huguenot envoy to our Charles I. in 1628, and father of Jean Saurin, advocate in Nismes. The latter (by Hippolyte Tournier, his wife) had three sons, Jacques, the pulpit orator (the Saurin par excellence); Captain Saurin,^[1] refugee in England; and Rev. Louis Saurin, minister of the London French Church in the Savoy. Louis removed to Ireland, and being highly recommended by the Bishop of London (Gibson), was, in 1727. made Chantor of Christ’s Church, Dublin, and at the date of his death 1749) was Dean of St. Patrick’s, Ardagh.^[2] In 1714, in London, in the Savoy, he married Henriette Cornel da la Bretonniere, a refugee from Normandy; their son was Rev. James Saurin, Vicar of Belfast, and their grandson, James, was Rector of St. Anne’s, Belfast. The Rector’s fourth son, James (born 18th December 1759), was in 1812 Dean of Cork; 1813, Archdeacon of Dublin; 1817, Dean of Derry; and 1819, Bishop of Dromore. Bishop Saurin died 19th April 1842, in his eighty-third year, having a great reputation as an efficient clergyman, a public-spirited Prelate, and a truly Catholic Christian. He had thirteen children, but only four have come under my observation — viz., Sarah (died in 1870), wife of Rev. William Henry Wynne, Rector of Moira; Emily, wife of Rev. Edward Richards, Chancellor of Dromore; James, appointed in 1832 Archdeacon of Dromore; and Mark Anthony Saurin, Esq. (born 1815), High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1867, and Lord of the Manor of Orielton, youngest son of the Bishop, by Elizabeth, daughter of William Lyster, Esq. Mr. Saurin of Orielton died on 25th March 1885, having founded a family in Wales.

1. Etienne Saurin, lieutenant of dragoons, died in Dublin in 1741; his sole executrix was his widow, née Marguerite Brocas, who proved the Will on 9th April; it was written in French and translated by Dean Gabriel Maturin. The testator’s signature was witnessed by Daniel de Bernâtre and Pierre Labillière.
2. The Will of Lewis Saurin, Dean of Ardagh, was proved in Dublin on 11th October 1749; the sole executrix was his widow, née Priscilla Gray. His children were Jacques, Helene, and Marianne.