Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/419

 

He adopted his nephew, Peter, a younger son of David of Marlay, as his heir, ancestor of the La Touches of Bellevue. The last-mentioned David was succeeded by his eldest son, David; he sold Marlay to his brother, who was named John David (born 1772, died 1838), and was the founder of the present La Touches of Marlay. The La Touches of Harristown have descended in an unbroken line from John of Harristown. John’s elder son, Robert of Harristown, M.P. for county Kildare, married in 1810, Lady Emily Le Poer Trench, daughter of the first Earl of Clancarty, and died in 1844; his daughter, Gertrude, was married in 1841 to Stanley, son of John M‘Clintock and Lady Elizabeth Le Poer Trench, sister of Lady Emily La Touche.

We must now return to James, the refugee’s second son. The business which he inherited prospered under him; he was the author of “Observations on the Embargo lately laid on the Exports of Beef, Pork, and Butter from Ireland.” By an arrangement with his elder brother, he adopted the double surname of “Digges La Touche;” he married in 1735 Elizabeth, daughter of David Chaigneau, Esq., and secondly, in 1743, Matilda Thwaites; he had five sons, two of whom were William Digges La Touche of Sans-Souci, and Peter Digges La Touche of Belfield. William was the British Resident at Bussora on the Persian Gulf, and he is thus memorialized in “Major Taylor’s Journey from England to India in 1789,” vol. ii., p. 302:— “No man ever deserved better at the hands of the Arabs, or was more highly respected and esteemed among them, than Mr. La Touche. His wonderful humanity and boundless generosity to the unhappy captives of Zebur had gained him their warmest affection. When Bussora was besieged by the Persians he sheltered within his own walls, and under the English flag, the principal people with their wives and families. And when the miserable inhabitants of Zebur, according to the custom of the Persians to persons taken in war, became the slaves of their opponents, he ransomed them without distinction at his own expense.” He was born in 1746 and died in 1803 suddenly, at his town house in St. Stephen’s Green. His son was James (born 1788, died 1827), a man worthy of the admirable Memoir, entitled, “Biographic Sketches of the late James Digges La Touche, Esq., banker, Dublin, Honorary Secretary to the Sunday School Society for Ireland during seventeen years from its commencement — by William Urwick, D.D.” To that book I am much indebted.  . — The family of La Trobe early joined the Protestant Reformers of France; it ranked among the noblesse of Languedoc, and was settled in the neighbourhood of Montauban. They joined the loyal army against the League in the reign of Henri III., and adhered steadfastly to Henri IV. One of the family earned distinction by his defence of the fortress of Verlhac near Montauban. In the reign of Louis XIV. the head of the family was Henri de La Trobe, Comte Boneval, whose wife’s maiden name was Adelaide Montmorencie. Their son, Jean Henri Boneval de La Trobe, became a refugee in Holland in 1685, and came to England with the Prince of Orange. This noble refugee is the ancestor of families in England, Holland, and America. His son, James La Trobe, married Miss Thornton, and had a son, Benjamin, born in Dublin in 1728. This was the Rev. Benjamin La Trobe, who was educated at the University of Glasgow, and formed an Independent Congregation in Dublin. In course of time he joined the Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Church, and became minister of the Brethren’s Church at Fulneck in Yorkshire. Mr. La Trobe next removed to London as superintendent of the Brethren’s congregations in England, and there he died on 29th November 1786. The Moravian Missions, so justly admired, were under his chief management; in this charge he was succeeded by his son, Rev. Christian Ignatius La Trobe, who also was succeeded by his son.

The Rev. Benjamin La Trobe had married Anna Margaret, daughter of Colonel