Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Archdeacon Fleury
Archdeacon Fleury’s great-grandfather was Louis Fleury, Pasteur of Tours, who, with Esther his wife, one son, and two daughters, Esther and Mary, fled to England in 1683. The pasteur and his family were naturalized in England, 27th April 1687. (See List xiii.) The son, Philip Amauret Fleury (born 1671), a graduate of Leydcn, was ordained to preach the Gospel to the French in Ireland. Antoine Fleury, grandson of the old refugee, was also a graduate of Leydcn, where he was ordained 4th September 1728, but eventually settled in Ireland, and married one of the noble family of Rochebrune; in 1761 he became Vicar Choral of Lismore. His son, George Lewis Fleury, born in 1740, Prebendary of Kilgobinet and Archdeacon of Waterford, earned the designation of “the good old archdeacon;” Bishop Chenevix appointed him to the Archdeaconry in 1773, the post having been vacant for 106 years.
The following notes concerning him are from Dr. Sirr’s Life of the Archbishop of Tuam of the nineteenth century:—
The experienced Archdeacon of Waterford, Rev. G. L. Fleury, was more than fifty years in office, a keen observer of every transaction in the diocese, an uncompromising censor of every dereliction of duty, a clergyman universally popular for his charitable actions, a friend of the friendless. His goodness and sound practical religion live in memory upon earth, while his enduring record is on high.
Bishop Power Trench had, when quite a young man, been admitted to the See of Waterford, and at first the clergy were disposed to animadvert on so many military men being guests at his palace. Archdeacon Fleury, “who would do and say what no other man would attempt,” being present at the bishop’s grand reception of his clergy, walked up to him and said, “I am most happy, my lord, to see that your lordship has recovered from your scarlet fever.” The bishop took the joke with the greatest good humour.
The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1825, vol. ii., has the following entry: — “Died in New Street, Waterford, aged eighty-five, the Rev. George Lewis Fleury, minister of St. Patrick’s, and for upwards of half-a-ccntury Archdeacon of Waterford.” His descendants were Rev. Richard Fleury, rector of Dunmore East; Rev. Charles Fleury, ordained by the Archbishop of Tuam, 21st January 1827; Mary, wife of Rev. R. Ryland, author of the History of Waterford; Elizabeth Mclesina, wife of Henry M‘Clintock, Esq., and mother of Captain Sir Francis Leopold M‘Clintock, who entered the Royal Navy in 1831, and was knighted in i860 for his exploits in the polar regions in the search for Sir John Franklin.
Three clergymen of the Fleury family now flourish in Ireland, one of whom is Rev. John Devereux Fleury, Librarian of Waterford Cathedral.