Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Rev. William Fonnereau

2911836Protestant Exiles from France — Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Rev. William FonnereauDavid Carnegie Andrew Agnew

Rev. William Fonnereau. — This gentleman, whose name I have already recorded as proprietor of Christ Church Park, near Ipswich, was born in 1732, and educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of LL.B. in 1753. A society was formed in 1772 at the Feathers’ Tavern, London, by many clergymen to petition parliament for the removal of all subscriptions to human formularies of religious faith, and one of the signatories was William Fonnereau, LL.B., of Christ Church, Ipswich. In 1773 he was presented by the Lord Chancellor (Apsley) to the Rectory of Great Munden in Hertfordshire. He died in 1817. One of those flowery old-world panegyrics, which I feel pleasure in reprinting, was published in Nichols’ “Literary Anecdotes”:—

“As a companion Mr. Fonnereau’s manners were peculiarly mild and easy, bland and unaffected, and his was that infantine gaiety of heart which the poet happily styles, The sunshine of the breast, and which long endeared his memory to the circle of his intimate acquaintance. In his general intercourse with others his address was free and open, affable and facetious, and of so attractive a nature were his colloquial powers, that to the gay and the grave, the young and the old, he was a most delightful and enjoying companion. Throughout a long life his conduct was manly and simple, and his sentiments liberal and enlarged; and it may be truly said that he presented a genuine picture of a gentleman of the old English school. An innate love of freedom and independence, and a thorough indignation of corruption and venality, whether in rank or in power, were his peculiar characteristics; and from the open avowal of these, even in the worst and most dangerous times, he never shrank, but on all occasions dared to think and act for himself, as became a free and independent man. From mean and narrow bigotry he was utterly exempt; and for the exercise of private judgment in matters of religion, and in the investigation of truths that point to eternity, he was a most firm and decided advocate.

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“His remains were interred in the family vault in the Church of St. Margaret, Ipswich; and on the north side of the chancel a mural tablet, commemorative of his virtues, is erected to his memory:—

In his family vault east of this monument is deposited
the remains of the
Rev. William Fonnereau, of Christ Church in this parish.
Enjoying a constant flow of cheerfulness and good humour,
with a body and mind actively engaged in manly and rational pursuits,
and never allowing himself to view the crosses and disappointments
of life through a discouraging medium,
he calmly passed through the last trying and awful scene,
February 28th, 1817, in the 85th year of his age,
in a full confidence of the mercies of God
towards his frail and degenerate creatures.
Ps. xxxvii., v. 38. Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right: for that shall bring a man peace at the last.”[1]

  1. This is the version in the English Prayer-book psalter, translated from the Latin Vulgate.]