Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/408

 . — The family of Cassan of Sheffield House, near Maryborough, Ireland, claims descent from a French Protestant, Etienne Cassan, native of Montpellier (born 1659). This pious ancestor became a refugee in Holland in 1685, and served there as a military officer, and came to England with William III. He served in the Irish campaigns, and married in 1692 Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Joseph Sheffield, Esq. of Navestock, Essex, and Cappoly, Queen’s County. His only son, Matthew Cassan (born 1693), is styled “of Cappoly or Sheffield,” because he rebuilt the mansion of Cappoly, and named it Sheffield, after his mother’s family. This Mr. Cassan was twice married; by his first wife he had Stephen, his heir, and Richard Sheffield Cassan (born 1729), barrister-at-law; by his second wife he had Rev. Joseph Cassan, of Stradbally, who died in 1830, aged eighty-eight, and Captain John Cassan, who died in 1805. The above-named Stephen of Sheffield House died 26th April 1773, aged forty-eight, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Matthew (born 1754, died 1837). Stephen’s second son, named Stephen, a barrister-at-law (born 1757, died 1794), had an only son, Rev. Stephen Hyde Cassan, M.A., F.S.A., Vicar of Bruton and of Wyke, Somerset, who died in 1841. Matthew’s successor was Stephen Sheffield Cassan (born 1777), father of Matthew Sheffield Cassan, Esq. of Sheffield House (born 1813), whose sons and collateral heirs will not let the family die.  . The English family of Chamier is descended in the male line from Rev. John Des Champs (born in 1709), whose parents were Huguenot refugees in Mecklenburg, his father being the Pasteur Jean Des Champs, Sieur de Bourniquel, and his mother Lucrece de Maffee, daughter of a gentleman of Dauphine. Having emigrated to England in 1747, he became a minister of the London French Church in the Savoy in 1749, named Judith Chamier in 1758, and died in 1767; he was also the non-resident incumbent of Pilleston, in Dorsetshire. In the female line, the present Chamiers are descended from Daniel Chamier, Esq., brother of John Chamier, secretary to the Archbishop (Wake) of Canterbury, and of Robert Chamier (an officer severely wounded at Dettingen), sons of the Rev. Daniel Chamier. Daniel Chamier, Esq., who had been private secretary at Paris to the Earl of Stair, died a London merchant in 1741, aged forty-five. By his wife, Susan de la Mejanelle, he had one daughter, Judith, Mrs. Des Champs (born 1721, died 1801), who had the honour of keeping alive her father’s name and family, and one surviving son, Anthony, who had the merit to endow them with a good position in English society. After the death of the latter the following appeared in the Gazette:— “St. James’s, 21st Oct. 1780. — The king has been pleased to grant unto John Des Champs, of the city of London, and his heirs-male, pursuant to the will of his uncle, Anthony Chamier, late of Epsom, in the county of Surrey, Esq., deceased, his royal licence and authority to take and use the surname of Chamier only, and to bear the arms of Chamier.” This John was John-Ezekiel Des Champs (born 30th May 1754); in 1772, by his own persistent choice, and through his uncle’s interest, he entered the Madras Civil Service, and though his succession to his uncle obliged him to visit England in 1780, yet he returned to his post in that distant empire to which his descendants have been equally devoted, and in which they have earned distinction. There he married in 1785 Georgina Grace, daughter of Admiral Sir William Burnaby, Bart. John Chamier, Esq. (as he must now be called), was secretary to the Madras Government in the days of Macartney and Clive, and thereafter spent a quarter of a century (i.e., from 1805 to 1831) in literary leisure in London. Of his sons, the name of Chamier was represented in the literary arena by Captain Frederic Chamier, R.N., a successful historical writer and author of nautical romances. The eldest, Henry Chamier, Esq., the head of his family, was born 7th April 1795; his son, Charles Frederick Chamier (also of Madras) was born 13th April 1825; and his grandson, Henry Chamier, was born 17th April 1851. Henry Chamier, senior, was Chief Secretary, thereafter Member of Council, and at length Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Madras; he retired with a very high reputation, and died at Windsor in 1867. Charles Frederic was of the Madras Civil Service, Civil and Sessions Judge of Salen, he died in India on 21st April 1869, aged forty-four, justly eulogised as “the best type of the Anglo-Indian official,” and, like the old refugees, a great horticulturist.  . The English families of this surname descend from Theophilus Daubuz, Esq., fifth son of the Rev. Charles Daubuz (see chap, xvi.), who was born