David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Must it be that your own subjects who have never violated the fidelity which they owe to you, and which the religion that they follow prescribes to them, that they alone shall be deprived of your royal bounty? ”

“ In the name of God, Sire, we entreat your Majesty to reflect that perhaps in the last hours of life the frightful miseries of such a large number of your subjects, into which some spurious devotees have engaged your Majesty to precipitate them, will come before your eyes to disturb the repose of your soul. ”

“ The other Raboteau heroine of the flight from La Rochelle was married to Pierre Barré, afterwards Alderman Peter Barré of Dublin, whose ancestors were, like the Raboteaux, most devoted anciens in the Protestant Church of Pont-Gibaud. This surname is memorable and historical through the vigorous and varied talents of their son, the Right Honourable Isaac Barré, a member of the British Parliament, commonly called Colonel Barré. ”

“ In 1790 he married his second wife, Alice, relict of John Chaigneau, Esq.; her only son, Peter Chaigneau, thus joined Mr. Tardy’s sons, and he and they, being brought up together, continued through life to regard each other as brothers. The eldest son of the refugee was Francis Tardy, Esq. (born 1773, died 1836) , unmarried; he was a scholar and a gentleman, an ornament to society, a conspicuous loyalist, and also an advocate for the removal of the political disabilities of Roman Catholics. ”

“ The engrossing attention to foreign war, which was often required from the heads of government in Paris, was usually favourable to the Huguenot worshippers. When the king was negotiating peace with the Grand Alliance in 1697, it was thought opportune to draw up a Requete, or Memorial, praying for religious toleration. Monsieur Mathieu Du Bedat, late an advocate in the parliament of Paris, undertook to draft the Memorial, and the original draft which is still preserved, was brought to Ireland by his descendants. ”

“ John Charles Raboteau married Miss Thornton, daughter of an Irish clergyman, Rector of Tully; he died, aged eighty, and is represented by descendants in the female line. His daughter Rebecca was married at Carlow to Samuel D’Arcy, and had a son, John Charles D’Arcy (born 1775) , who died young, and a surviving son, Lieutenant Isaac Raboteau D’Arcy of the 60th Rifles, who wore the Peninsular medal; also a daughter, Abigail, wife of James Smythe of Carlow. ”

“ Matthieu Du Bedat, whose family was originally of Agen, in the province of Guienne, died in France, but his son, or grandson, Jean, born at Lacepede, in Guienne, was sent to Ireland to a “Friends’” School at Ballitore, in County Kildare, taught by Abraham Shackleton. His education being completed, Mr. John Du Bedat established himself in Dublin, and founded a sugar-refining factory — the first in Ireland. There he married, and his daughter Anne is on record, who was married in 1771 to Elias Tardy, Esq. ”

“ He makes the whole turn upon my grandfather being a Protestant. This I have alleged, though without any positive proof, to be the case. May I beg of you to take some lawyer’s opinion at Paris simply upon this case as I state it:— Barré dies in France about twenty-five years ago, leaving two sons, Peter and John. Peter went over to Ireland about the year 1720 or 22, young and unmarried, but afterwards married and settled there. John, being upon the spot at the time of his father’s death, divided the property very nearly as he thought proper. John dies in September 1760 intestate and childless ”

“ It is interesting to observe how the refugees have intertwined among the old families of their adopted country. The Tardy family furnishes an illustration. James Tardy, Esq., the refugee’s son who founded a family, married, in 1813, Mary Anne, daughter of James Johnston, Esq., by Jane Lucretia Fisher, his wife, a lady descended from the Lord Primate, Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, by the Lady Lucretia Hyde (daughter of the first Earl of Clarendon, sister of Anne, the first consort of James II., and aunt of Queen Anne) . ”

“ John was generally thought to be a Protestant, though his heirs contrived to have him buried as a Catholic.” The alliance between Monsieur Barré and Mademoiselle Raboteau probably took place about 1725, their son, Isaac, being born in 1726, as appears from the entry in the books of Trinity College, Dublin, on the matriculation of the latter:— “1740, Novembris 19o Isaac Barré pens: filius Petri mercator: annum agens 14, natus Dublinii, educatus sub Dno Loyd, tutor Ds Pelissier.” Barré, senior, became a prosperous merchant, and in 1758 was an Alderman of Dublin ”

“ We return to Stephen Chaigneau and his lovely wife, née Raboteau, whose portrait is at Benown; they had two sons, Peter and Daniel. The younger son was married, but left no recorded descendants. Peter married in 1729 Marie Malet, a descendant of an exiled fugitive from the St. Bartholomew massacre; they had many children, but the third son was the only founder of a family. John Chaigneau, Esq., merchant and freeman of Dublin, had that distinction; he married in 1775 Alicia, daughter of Charles Napper, Esq., and died in 1779; his widow re-married in 1790 with Elias Tardy, Esq. ”

“ Au Nom De Dieu, Sire, Nous supplions V.M. de faire Reflexion, que peut Estre aux dernieres heures de Sa Vie Les mizeres affreuzes d’ un Sy grand Nombre de Ses Subjetz dans Lesquelles de faux devots on Engage Vostre Majesté De Les precipiter, Viendront a Ses yeux pour troubler Le repos de Son ame. ”

“ The refugee’s second son, Stephen, founded the Chaigneau family, which still subsists; but let us dispose here of the descendants of his brothers. Isaac married Helena King, and had a son David (probably Rev. David Chaigneau of Carlow — see chapter xx.; Article, Daillon) . John married in 1707 Margaret, daughter of Colonel Martyn; his surviving sons were Colonel William Chaigneau, Army-Agent in Dublin, and John Chaigneau, Esq, Treasurer of the Ordnance. The latter married in 1745 Susannah Smith, and had a son and daughter, namely, Rev. ”

“ The eldest son of the venerable clergyman was Thomas Phipps, Esq., who married his cousin, Rebecca, daughter of Hugh Rose, Esq., and whose son, Henry Hugh Thomas Rose Phipps, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn, is the nearest male-heir of Esther Raboteau. The Rev. Barre Phipps’ second son, Captain Henry Barre Phipps (who has had four sons) , and Commander William Hugh Phipps, R.N., are brothers of the late Thomas Phipps, Esq. Marie Raboteau, had three sons, William, John Charles, and Robert (Senior Fellow, T.C.D.) ; she had four daughters, of whom Anne, wife of Thomas Holmes, Esq. ”

“ Que Nous Ne Sojons pas Les Seuls Sire a qui Vostre throsne Et Vostre bonté Soient Inaccessibles, Nous Vous demandons, de Viure paisiblemant Comme de Subjetz Soumis Et fidelles a V.M. auecq La Liberté de Seruir Dieu Selon Nostre Conscience, permettés, Sire permettés a Un grand nombre de Vos Subjetz que La religion a Constraint de Sortir de Vos Estatz, d’y retourner pour y finir Leurs Jours Soubs vostre authorite royale affin d’inuoquer dieu avecq nous Comme nous Lauons fait Cy deuant. ”