Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 26 - Susan, Duchess of Roxburghe
Chapter XXVI.
MODERN STATESMEN AND PERSONS OF HIGH POSITION DESCENDED FROM THE REFUGEES.
Susan, Duchess of Roxburghe. — The family of D’Albiac is said to have been a family of Albi, the capital city of the region of the Albigenses in the South of France. This city, situated on the river Tarn, was destroyed in the Popish crusade against the primitive Christians, and the D’Albiacs fled to Nismes in the thirteenth century. At the Revocation, the D’Albiacs of Nismes were almost exterminated by the fury of the Roman Catholics; the father, mother, four sons, and three daughters were murdered. Two sons were saved, one of whom abjured Protestantism to retain the family estate. The other sent his two sons to England, concealing them in hampers. They arrived safely, and founded two families who wrote their name “Dalbiac.” One family was represented by two Directors of the French Hospital, Simon Dalbiac, elected 9th April 1755, and another Simon, 4th October 1758. The head of the other family was James Dalbiac, who married (about 1720) Miss Delaporte, and died in 1749. He had three daughters, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. John Lagier Lamotte, and Mrs. Wilks. His eldest son, James, married in 1746 a daughter of Peter de Visme, by Madeleine Beaufils, his wife, and had a son, James (born 1750, died 1824), who had no son. The next male representatives were therefore the sons of Charles (born 1726, died 1808), son of James, the refugee in the friendly hamper. His first wife, also a De Visme, presented him with two daughters, Lucy (Mrs. Luard) and Susan. By his second wife, whose maiden name was Le Bas, he had a daughter Harriet (Lady Pitcairn) and two sons, James Charles, and George; the latter is represented by three sons, George, Henry, and William. The elder son of Charles Dalbiac, Lieutenant-General Sir James Charles Dalbiac, K.C.H., President of the Bristol Court Martials 1832, and M.P. for Ripon, died in December 1847. He married Susan, daughter of Colonel Daeten of Kenningford Hall and Tillingham Castle, Lincolnshire, and left an only child, Susan Stephana. She was married in 1836 to the sixth Duke of Roxburghe, who died in 1879. Her Grace’s children are the present Duke of Roxburghe, Lord Charles John Innes Ker, and Lady Susan Harriet Grant Suttie; another daughter, Lady Charlotte Isabella Russell, died in 1881. The Duchess of Roxburghe has held the distinguished posts of Lady-in-Waiting and Mistress of the Robes to the Queen. Her Majesty paid a visit to the Duke and Duchess at Floors Castle, their magnificent seat near Kelso. I quote a paragraph from a narrative by the correspondent of the Scotsman:—
“Leaving the Castle by the very elegant private doorway, and walking on the lawn, which commences at the very door, Her Majesty could not fail to be struck with the scene which opens to the view. The wonderful advantage taken of the natural amenities of the situation of Floors Castle, standing as it does on the slopes leading gracefully and gently down to the Tweed, must strike any one standing a few yards before the south front of the Castle. Sir Charles Dalbiac, the father of Her Grace the Duchess of Roxburghe, never was more successful in the disposition of pleasure-grounds- at any of the places where his peculiar taste and ability were exercised than he was here. The approaches and slopes at Floors will be a lasting monument to his memory.”