Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 25 - Thomas George Fonnereau

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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Thomas George Fonnereau (born 1789, died 1850), was a gentleman of fine literary culture, in whose conversation the best literati and connoisseurs greatly delighted. Some of his thoughts on matters of fact, of taste, and of politics, he gave to the public anonymously, and under a fictitious description of the author, in under the title of “The Diary of a Dutiful Son, by H.E.O. mdcccxlix.”^[1] [H.E.O. are the second letters of his name.] He represents himself as a merchant’s son, frequenting the dinner-parties of the learned and the influential. The merchant extorts from the youth a promise to make notes of the profitable table-talk, in order that the time expended at table, viewed commercially, may not be lost. The son pretends to have compiled the diary, which he produces entirely out of a sense of filial duty; but upon receiving paternal commendations, he confesses, “I invented the whole myself.” This avowal is true; but as the author was a posthumous son, the very preamble is only a jeu d’ esprit. The book which is written with combined vigour and grace consists of 104 miscellaneous sections; it was highly praised by Lockhart. Mr. Fonnereau’s fortune was made by his ancestors in the linen trade; he had some very beautiful table linen with the Fonnereau arms, a present from Saxony — from correspondents in the trade. He was descended from the same refugee ancestor as the family of Fonnereau of Christ’s Church Park; and he had a portrait of the noble refugee. This, with other heirlooms, came into the possession of his residuary legatee, Nathaniel Hibbert.

From memoranda among Mr. T. G. Fonnereau’s papers it appears that he represented Zachary-Philip Fonnereau, the fourth son of the senior Claude. The following is the descent:—

Thomas, of Christ Church, M.P., b. 27 Oct. 1699, d. 1779.

Claude, b. 14 Ap. 1701, succeeded to Christ Church.

Abel, b. 10 Ap. 1703, d. 1753.

Zachary-Philip, M.P., b. 31 Jan. 1706, n.s., d. 15 Aug. 1778.

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Margaret Martyn.[2]

Peter, b. 5 Mar. 1710, n.s., d. 1743.

Sisters. Elizabeth Frances — Mrs. Benezet. Anne — Mrs. de Crespigny. Marianne — Mrs. John Martyn. Elizabeth — Mrs. Danteville Lebur.

Philip, M.P., b. 17 June 1739, d. 17 Feb. 1797.

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Mary Parker.

Martyn, M.P., b. 19 Mar. 1741, n.s., d. 18 May 1817.

Charlotte, b. 1742, d. 1806.

Fanny, Mrs. Stainforth, b. 1744, d. 1827.

Thomas, b. 21 Jan. 1746, n.s., d. 26 Dec. 1788.

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Harriet, daughter of John Hanson, of Reading, Esq.

Cary, b. 1748, d. 1819.

Abel, b. 30 Oct. 1753. d. 11 May, 1833.

Margaret, b. 1757, wife of Rev. Henry Clutton.

[For other children who died in infancy, see Historical Introduction.]

Elizabeth Margaret, b. 3 Jan. 1765, m. 31 Aug. 1784, d. 23 Jan. 1841, heiress of Mundon.

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George Hibbert, F.R.S., b. 1757.

Philip, b. 1770.

Isabella, b. 1766, d. 1788.

Mary Ann, b. 17 Feb. 1768, m. 30 Ap. 1790, d. 1 June 1844, widow of George Woodford Thellusson.

John Zachary, b. 29 Dec. 1787, m. 11 May 1822, d. 22 Sept. 1822, at Douay.

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Caroline dau. of Robert Sewell, of Jamaica and Gerard’s Cross.

Thomas George, posthumous son, b. at Reading Aug. 1789, d. at Haydon Hill, Bushey, 13 Nov. 1850, unmarried.[3]

1. The first edition was for private circulation (see the Quarterly Review for March 1S50). The author left a corrected copy for publication, which did not appear till 1864. (London, John Murray.)
2. The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. viii., has this announcement:— “Married, 13th April 1738, Mr. Fonnereau, fourth son of the late Mr. F., to Miss Martin, of Paternoster Row, £6000.” Her father is called in a pedigree, George Martyn of Odington.
3. I am very much indebted to a large fragment of a pedigree in Cussans’ “History of Hertfordshire.”