with his elder brother he used to spend his school holidays at Canterbury. His college education was at Christ Church, Oxford. After taking his degree of B.A , he was elected a Fellow of All Souls’ College in the same University, on the plea that he was “founder’s kin” (the founder was Archbishop Chichele, of Canterbury, who died in 1443). The college, in one or more cases of old date, had acknowledged the descent, or kinship, of Right Hon. Sir Dudley Digges, Master of the Rolls, who died in 1638. So that the Lefroy descent may be stated thus:—
| Anne Digges (who died 1664), was | married to | Anthony Hammond, | ||
| Phoebe Hammond (who died 1713) | „ | Thomas Thompson, | ||
| Phoebe Thompson | „ | Thomas Lefroy, | ||
| the last couple being the grand-parents of Isaac Peter George Lefroy. | ||||
In 1777 the dignified Fellow became Rector of Compton in Surrey; in 1778, Chaplain to Amelia, Baroness Conyers. In December of 1778 he removed from his Fellowship into the state of matrimony, his wife being Anne, daughter of Edward Brydges, Esq., of Wootton, Kent, and sister of the accomplished Sir Egerton Brydges. About the same time he became Rector of Ash, and his family may thenceforth be regarded as a Hampshire family. In 1784 he succeeded to the property of his maiden aunt, Lucy, at Canterbury. After a quarter of a century of married life, Mrs. Lefroy died in December 1804, having fallen from her horse, and surviving only twelve hours in a state of insensibility. A pathetic and glowing eulogium upon her appeared at the time in the Gentleman’s Magazine. Mrs. Lefroy’s sister, Deborah Jemima Maxwell née Brydges (wife of Henry Maxwell, Esq., of Ewshott House, Hants), had died in a similarly dreadful manner on 31st March 1789, being accidentally burnt to death. Mr. Lefroy survived his wife only till 15th January 1806, when he died in his sixty-first year. Mr. Maxwell died on 22d July 1818, having bequeathed Ewshott House to his nephew, Rev. John Henry George Lefroy, who had in 1806 succeeded his father both as the rector and as the head of the English Lefroys. He seems to have resided in the rectory until his death in 1823, at the comparatively early age of forty-one. Of his younger brothers, Christopher Edward Lefroy, Esq., and Rev. Benjamin Lefroy, I shall have occasion to speak in another chapter. The second Lefroy-proprietor of Ewshott was Charles Edward Lefroy, Esq., the eldest surviving son of the deceased rector. During his possession of the estate and in the year 1829 the old house was pulled down, and the new and enlarged mansion was named after the manor of Itchell. Mr. C. E. Lefroy of Itchell Manor was born in 1810; he was educated at Winchester and at Christ-Church, Oxford, took his first degree in 1832 with honours, and proceeded to MA. in 1836. He was called to the Bar in June 1836, but indifferent health prevented him from practising his profession. He was a gentleman of distinguished benevolence, piety, and integrity. In 1840 the Right Hon. Charles Shaw Lefevre made him Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Commons, an office which he held for sixteen years; and after the Speaker’s elevation to the Viscountry of Eversley, he was made Taxing-Master to the House of Commons. He married in August 1845, Janet, eldest daughter of James Walker, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., Civil Engineer. In 1854, 800 acres of wild land in Mr. Lefroy’s property were required for the Board of Ordnance, and a compulsory sale was the consequence; a reasonable price, however, was to be agreed upon. Dr. Walker, his father-in-law, met the representatives of the Board, and the price £22,500 was agreed upon. Mr. Lefroy, regarding it as a matter of conscience, and also considering that he held a parliamentary office, feared that the price was extortionate, and requested a revaluation, and ultimately accepted £20,000 for the land, which is now a part of the domain of Aldershott. His wife died suddenly on 5th October 1858, and he resolved to build a church, sacred to her memory, at Fleet Railway Station, in his own property. His father-in-law joined in the project, and lived to see it opened on 15th April 1862; but at that date Mr. Lefroy had departed this life at the age of fifty-one, and in that church of Fleet there is this inscription:—
To Charles Edward Lefroy, Esq., born March 9, 1810, died April 17, 1861, founder of this church, who, in the midst of his work for God’s glory and the good of this parish, was taken to his rest.
The brothers of Mr. Lefroy are Rev. Anthony Cottrel Lefroy, M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford (born 1812), Incumbent of Crookham, Surrey, now Vicar of Longdon, near Tewkesbury; Lieut.-General Sir John Henry Lefroy, K.C.M.G., C.B., late Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery (born 1817), the historiographer of his family; and Henry Maxwell Lefroy, Esq. (born 1818), of Western Australia. Their eldest sister, Anne Lefroy, was married in August 1829 to John M‘Clintock, Esq., of
