Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/396

 

As to the first baronet I insert the following paragraphs:—

Whitehall, September 3, 1816. — His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, taking into his royal consideration the distinguished conduct and services of the late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Bart., during a long period of constant active employment in situations of great trust, both military and civil, in the course of which his gallantry, zeal, and able conduct were particularly displayed at the conquest of the island of St. Lucie, in 1803, and of the island of Martinique in 1809; as also in successfully opposing, with a small garrison, the attack made in 1805, by a numerous French force, upon the island of Dominica, then under his government; and while Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the British Provinces in North America, in the defence of Canada against the repeated invasions perseveringly attempted by the American forces during the late war; and His Royal Highness being desirous of evincing in an especial manner the sense which His Royal Highness entertains of these services, by conferring upon his family a lasting memorial of His Majesty’s royal favour, hath been pleased, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, to ordain that the supporters following may be borne and used by Dame Catharine Anne Prevost, widow of the said late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, during her widowhood, viz., “On either side a grenadier of the 16th (or Bedfordshire) regiment of foot, each supporting a banner, that on the dexter side inscribed West Indies, and that on the sinister, Canada,” and that the said supporters, together with the motto ‘Servatum Cineri,’ may also be borne by Sir George Prevost, Bart., son and heir of the said late Lieutenant-General, and by his successors in the said dignity of a Baronet, provided the same be first duly exemplified according to the laws of arms, and recorded in the Heralds’ Office. And his Royal Highness hath been also pleased to command that the said concession and especial mark of the royal favour be registered in his Majesty’s College of Arms.”

“Sir George Prevost was the eldest son of Major-General Augustine Prevost, who served under General Wolfe, and was severely wounded on the plains of Abraham, and who afterwards so eminently distinguished himself in the first American war, by his defence of Savannah. The surviving brothers of Sir George are both in his Majesty’s service, the eldest a post-captain in the Royal Navy, and the other a colonel in the army. Sir George Prevost married, in the year 1789, Catharine, daughter of Major-General Phipps, who survives him, together with a son, a minor, who succeeds to the title, and two daughters.” — Gentleman’s Magazine, February 1816.

 

From the north of France noble refugees bearing the surname of Fourdrinier first settled in Holland. A descendant settled in London during last century, and obtained a good position as a papermaker and wholesale stationer. His son, Henry, born in Lombard Street, on 11th February 1766, was the inventor of the paper-making machine in conjunction with his brother. Although patentees, they were the victims of piratical appropriation perpetrated both in Russia and in England. From the former nation no compensation could be obtained, but the English Parliament, in May 1840, voted £7000 as compensation to Messrs. Fourdrinier. Their expenditure on the invention itself, and in the defence of their rights, had ruined their business as stationers, and had entailed upon them loss, instead of profit, as inventors. They had invented a paper-cutting machine also. The compensation was avowedly inadequate, and in November 1853 the paper trade took steps for providing for Henry Fourdrinier, the surviving patentee, and his two daughters, by annuities. Henry Fourdrinier died on 3rd September 1854, in his eighty-ninth year. On the completion of his eighty-sixth year, his daughter, Harriet had indited this tribute to his worth:— 