The Late Jean Pierre d'Egville

Genealogie.com is a Notrefamille.com site which is similar in presentation and content to Ancestry - but it is French and has no English translation. I often type a name into the search facility just to see what it throws up. The normal price of a months unlimited access is 20 euros less a centime.
I have never actually entered the name d'Egville until this morning. I wasn't expecting much and what I saw wasn't much but it was intriguing. From the depths of their database the search engine fished out a record for Degville Jean Pierre, who died in Paris between 1800 and 1825.

Much of the Paris archives was burnt when the citizens were saved from the government of the Commune by the French army in May 1871. However, the actes have been reconstituted in a card index. There is now free online access to the archives and the link has been added to this page.

So, with the intelligence gleaned from Genealogie.com I tried to find the reference in the Archives de Paris. And to cut the hour I spent searching short, I didn't find it. I suppose I will grudgingly pay up 20 euros just to find out what there is on record at Genealogie.com. My bet is I will be paying 20 euros for a transcription error.

The index cards usually have very little information,
this example is the death of Joseph Anselme dit Baptiste in 1810.

M. d'Agueville's Cabinet

This 1760 New Tour of France, Geographical, Historical and Curious, Arranged by Different Routes, For the Use of Foreigners and the French was the Michelin Guide. I have downloaded the PDF and intend to use it as a reference work on my next visit.

Aix en Provence has been one of my favourite cities since I first visited in the mid-eighties. I was intrigued to find M. d'Agueville's home was considered a tourist attraction.

"There are several other attractions in Aix, either in churches or private homes, among others do not forget to see at M. Agueville's, Counsellor at the Parliament, a cabinet of pictures he has taken care to assemble."

The Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône are available online, but Aix was a major centre with several churches or institutions where births, marriages and deaths could have been registered.

La Loge de Juste

The late Malcolm Davies' The Grand Lodge of Adoption, La Loge de Juste, The Hague, 1751: A short lived experiment in mixed Freemasonry or a victim of elegant exploitation [1] is probably one of the most interesting papers that I've read in the last two years. It shines a beam into the world of Freemasonry and the Baptiste Anselme family which briefly illuminates the machinations of the eighteenth century theatre.

We know that many of the males in the first generation of the d'Egville family which were born in the United Kingdom were Freemasons. Although I've not yet found any references to Pierre Hervey d'Aigueville being a Mason his employer, David Garrick, certainly was a significant figure in Freemasonry.

A Peter Dagueville, dancing master, was was proposed for initiation into the British Union Lodge, Ipswich, on 4th November 1783. He is likely to have been the father of two infants named Peter Harvey Dagueville (1784-1786) (1787-1788) whom were both buried in Ipswich.

I'm tentatively identifying him as the Pierre Hervez d'Aigueville who married Margaret Benton in Portsea in 1774 and suggesting that he is Peter/Pierre d'Aigueville's first son - perhaps from an earlier marriage. He is probably named after his grandfather, as Fanny (Françoise), who is likely to be his first daughter by Sophia, is named after Françoise Gravillon who was her maternal grandmother. 

La Loge de Juste is the earliest mixed lodge for which records survive. Jean Baptiste Anselme and his wife Françoise Gravillon were both members along with other members of the French Theatre in the Hague.

Signatures: Including Baptiste Anselme and Gravillon Baptiste.

[1] Women's agency and rituals in mixed and female Masonic orders (2008) edited by Alexandre Heidle, Jan A.M. Snoek.

Discovered: A d'Agueville in Bruyères

I've found this record of 1719 marriage from Bruyères (Vosges) - I don't have a feeling for whether he is a connection. Claude doesn't seem to be a name that is fossilised within the family - unless any readers have tumbled over a Claude. The spelling is consistent with Pierre's signature.

An Easter Egg Hunt

According to Genealogie.com a Marie Françoise d'Aigueville was born in Saints (Seine et Marne) between 1700 and 1725.  The Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne are available online and yesterday I spent an hour or two fruitlessly poring over the spidery handwriting. It was less an Easter egg hunt and more c'est comme si l'on cherchait aiguille (or an Aigueville) dans une botte de foin.

Anyone wishing to win the Easter prize of a Cadbury's Creme Egg can visit the Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne and subject themselves to this frustrating trial.

Mlle Dagueville at the Eden Concert

When I read these bills from L'Écho des jeunes (April-May 1893) I first thought of the Eden Concert on the Boulevard de Sébastopol, Paris. Mlle Dagueville, though, was appearing at the Eden Concert in Angoulême. This is a pretty little city between Limoges and Cognac - it is also an area where I've found references to d'Aguevilles in the odd bins of the archives. I think it might be useful to try and discover whom this woman was.

Louis Rules Britannia Square

View Larger Map

Composing red top headlines over breakfast is more rewarding than reading most of the British press. This Google image of Saint Oswald's Lodge is something of an experiment so if you cannot see a photograph of a spaciously proportioned Regency building please let me know.

I don't know to what extent Louis interested himself in the architecture and construction of his houses in Britannia Square; his experience with a trowel may have been limited to the local lodge. Many of the d'Egvilles were Freemasons and I will be exploring this in greater detail because some wonderful resources are available to the researcher.

Louis was certainly one of the developers of this calm and relatively untouched area of Worcester. He is even mentioned in Worcester City Council's 2010 conservation document,

Key early developers of the plots were William Handy, Nicholas Willoughby, and Louis Harvey d’Egville. Handy acquired a large share of the Pound Farm, including the Second Pound Field (later to become Britannia Square to Back Lane North). Louis Harvey d’Egville acquired a plot from William Handy in 1818, almost certainly on the east side, and he also developed some of the houses on the south side. D’Egville borrowed money against ‘a capital messuage or mansion house with garden and pleasure ground and barns’ in 1823; this was St Oswald’s Lodge (no.53).

This document has no more information about Louis but is well worth reading because it conveys the importance of the Square to our national heritage.Even the oak tree in the front garden of Saint Oswald's is considered to be an important part of this landscape that must be conserved.

James, Joe, George and Pan

Joseph Grimaldi

In September 1805 the Theatre Royal Drury Lane opened for the season without a ballet master. James Byrne (1756-1845) had left at the close of the previous system and it was agreed that James Harvey d'Egville would succeed him.

The Honey Moon was advertised as the play for the second night, but in the absence of a ballet there was no one to arrange the dance in the piece. It was too late to change the bills but it seemed that the programme would have to be changed.

After a discussion with the stage manager, Wroughton, Joseph Grimaldi was offered an extra two pounds per week if he would arrange the dance and choregraph other pieces. Grimaldi was also given permission to hire dancers. This seems an ill considered by both Wroughton and Grimaldi as d'Egville would soon be joining the company.

Despite this there seems to have been no disagreement between Grimaldi and d'Egville after he had taken up his post. Grimaldi was cast in the role of Pan in d'Egvilles new ballet Terpsichore's Return. This was performed five times before Grimaldi walked away from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane forever.

On the 26 October, Grimaldi drew his salary and found that the additional two pounds was no longer to be paid although it seems the treasury still had the change to his contract made by the manager, Graham, on file.

There is an incisive footnote comment in a footnote to the incident in Grimaldi's memoirs.

The management of Drury Lane, in their desire of novelty, had engaged M. Joubert, and Mademoiselle Parisot, from the King's Theatre for the season. On October 24, it was underlined in the bill of the day, tliat she would appear for the first time, on that stage, on Monday, the 28th, in a new ballet, composed by M. D'Egville, entitled "Terpsichore's Return;" it was, however, "owing to the indisposition of a principal performer," deferred a few days—till November 1. In this ballet, Grimaldi had a great part, that of Pan, in which he fell in love with Terpsichore, who, after favouring his pretensions, jilted him; this allowed Joe full latitude of display, and the applause the ballet obtained had never been exceeded on the production of any drama or piece in that, or any other theatre. The ballet was performed the fifth tine, on Saturday, November 9, on which night Grimaldi quitted the theatre, and never afterwards was within its walls. "Terpsichore's Return" was performed a sixth time, on Monday, November 25, and Pan was personated by George D'Egville, a pantomimist, and brother to James D'Egville, the ballet-master. George D'Egville had performed with great eclat the part of Caliban, at the Haymarket, in a similar ballet, derived from Shakspeare's "Tempest," and as his engagement was possibly on the tapit for Drury Lane, (Pan apparently having been designed for him,) Joe fancying that two suns could not shine in the same sphere, broke the terms of his engagement, and left the course clear to his successor.

Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi 1853 With Notes and Additions, Revised by Charles Whitehead

As for George Harvey d'Egville, he took the opportunity to act the goat,

Nov. 1.— Terpsichore's Return—a ballet, composed by Mr. D'Egville, as an introduction for Mademoiselle Parisot, who certainly astonishes as an attitudinarian, but does not afford much delight as a dancer. To give something like incident to the dance, Pan is called in to make love to Terpsichore. The constitutional warmth of this Deity is well known, and, on the stage, his amours are generally rendered offensively coarse, by the grimace and gestures of the performer. The Goat, too, was disgusting. Such exhibitions reflect disgrace on the stage.

The Monthly Mirror for November 1805

Otherwise Terpsichore's Return seems to have been applauded so perhaps this criticism is not representative of the public or critical response to the performance.

Rose Parisot

James' Great Marlborough Street Home

In James Hervey d'Egville's October 1814 letter to François Joseph Talma he gives his address as 49 Great Marlborough Street. The house was demolished in 1953 by which time it had become number 54. A desciption of the house has survived.

According to the ratebooks the occupants of thehouse included: Lady Winchilsea, widow of Charles Finch, the fourth Earl, 1716; Lord Compton, 1717–24 (? James, Baron Compton,later the fifth Earl of Northampton); the Duchessof Northumberland, 1726–8 (the 'Countess' in 1726); General Compton, 1729–40; CharlesCompton, 1741–55 (? the father of the seventh Earl of Northampton); Sir Piercy Brett, 1768–1781; Lady Brett, 1782–8; Mr. and Mrs.William Siddons, the actress and her husband,1790–1804.

No. 54 was demolished in 1953. It was a large house with a plan divided by internal walls into four compartments (fig. 52). The front room,three windows wide, was west of the staircase hall,two windows wide and two storeys high. Behind the front room was a room of similar size but having two windows and a corner fireplace. The top-lit service stair was at the back of the mains taircase, leaving space for a small back room, or closet. The front was four storeys high, the attic being an addition, and five windows wide. The originally plain brick face had been dressed with cement to provide a horizontally jointed face to the ground storey, and moulded architraves to the first- and second-floor windows. The cornice below the attic was probably original and was aligned with that on the fronts of Nos. 51–52. The finest internal feature was the staircase, which before alteration rose in three flights, short, long,short, round an oblong well to a gallery landing on the first floor (Plate 142a, fig. 53). In its general details the balustrade resembled others in the street, including No. 12 on the north side, inhaving fluted Corinthian column newels, turned and twisted balusters, and carved bracket stepends. Here, however, the balustrade of the shortfirst flight was swept out in a bold quadrant curve,and the face of the landing gallery was treated asan entablature, having an enriched architrave and an ogee-profiled frieze carved with scrolled foliage and, beneath the central newel, a draped female head. (ref. 107)

From: 'Great Marlborough Street Area', Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963), pp. 250-267. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41476  Date accessed: 19 April 2011.

J.H. d'Egville Celebrates the Restoration of the Monarchy

From the introductory paragraphs of an article concerning a letter from James Hervey d'Egville to François Joseph Talma (1763-1826) one might infer that the author is not entirely impartial. The eulogy of Talma is in contrast to the vitriolic commentary on the motives and personality of James. It is almost possible to believe that Martial Teneo is being ironic in lionising Talma, particularly when he is mistaken in the title of the play La Partie de chasse de Henri IV (Charles Collé, 1766).

I have tried to be fair to James in translating the letter and to accurately represent his mistakes in writing French. I have probably missed a few but I've certainly read far worse French dating from this period. He certainly has far greater command of French than his father had of the English language. I have not yet discovered any description of how he spoke French, but the well documented problems encountered by native French speaking agents of the Special Operations Executive who were brought up in England imply that he is likely to have had a strong English accent. To English ears he probably sounded like a Frenchman.

The article demonstrates the extent of bias in secondary sources which are written with the objective of enhancing the reputation of the great and the good (or even the not so good). The biographies and collections of poems and letters by Byron are also examples of dialogue which emphasises greatness while denigrating others.

James certainly had democratic and republican sympathies. His trip to France to assist in performances celebrating the restoration certainly reveals him as an opportunist. However in 1814 James can have had no indication that despite the new constitution the Bourbon Restoration would lead to class warfare once more.

Talma

The "Little papers" of History

When the Colossus who had kept the European powers, and particularly England, in check, fell beneath the blows of fate, some implacable refugees, permanently in London, dreamt of exploiting the situation in their (own) manner. Napoleon (’s time) passed not for having taken lessons from Talma? In making the interpreter of Corneille come, in exploiting the genius of a man who had been the companion of the vanquished Emperor and the comrade of the former artillery Lieutenant, they could pass for defending French art, all in growing a healthy profit. Also, from the month of August 1814, when the poets got down to celebrating the return of the Bourbons, a certain d’Egville, well versed in English society, came to Paris to assist in the performance which celebrated the “triumph” of the royal family, but above all to put himself in touch with Talma. In the course of the performance of The Hunting Party Under Henri IV in which the “prince of tragedy” played the principal role formerly played so brilliantly by Fleury, the emigrant, using the circumstance to do business as an agent, found the means to make some propositions to the coveted artist.

Talma was then in full possession of his immense talent. Entirely clear of certain weaknesses inherent in his nervous temperament, he had arrived to silence his enemies and to carry a strongly mixed public in common admiration. Each remembered then that written to the great tragedian by Madame de Staël, the day after a performance of Hamlet, “It is not an actor that you are, it is a man who elevates human nature and gives us a new idea. You are in your career unique in the world; and none before you has attained this degree of perfection where art combines itself with inspiration, reflection; the instinct, the spirit with reason.”

Two months passed; Talma had not deigned to the approval of Louis XVIII and he enjoyed great esteem in the world of the court, next to Mademoiselle Georges, as history favourably shows. He had completely forgotten the propositions made by Monsieur d’Egville, when on 21 October he received an infinitely curious letter from him and shows the writer in the light a true “theatrical agent”. I reproduce it, in its original content, full of excessive compliments and of clever detours, without him removing any of the marks of rudimentary instruction and of an education distorted by politics and personal needs:

My dear Sir,

You recall a Discussion that we had in your dressing room at the Comédie française in the month of august last in relation to you to do to make a profitable journey to England [sp. Engleterre]? If this circumstance as well as the commitment I made to you to take care of this serious matter has not escaped your memory you will not find neither surprising nor indiscreet I think that influenced by a holy enthusiasm [ [no closing bracket, could be a printing error] for your sublime Talent my zeal to serve you is carried beyond our conventions, and consulting with the respect due to your reputation as much as your pecuniary interests  I tried [sp. +grammar] to reconcile the glory of the one with the benefit of another. So here is the fact. After consulting the most distinguished and most intelligent persons and always on all relating to the pleasures and the tastes of the english nobility, I am of opinion with these same people that the plan we agreed to give twelve nights of Plays by subscription only partly fills [sp.]  your intentions, your desires and your hopes, when on the other side this experience contributes only slightly to set in the Public Opinion this colossal reputation that you have made and which you must [sp.] carry everywhere where you take your steps.

It is therefore the intention and with the certainty to make your success certain and profitable that they thought it would be advantageous for you and enjoyable to the Public that you can with the help of Miss George, and some juniors give some performances of your best Tragedies during the months of January and February, and that in a Royal premises that can hold 2500to 3000 people! These representations will be followed by a Ballet d’action and dance, and by this means would form a complete show that we could justify [sp.] requesting  a large enough subscription.

Of course this Plan might not only take place by subscription, which stays more advantageous in that it would leave us the option of the Company we would like to admit.

When the arrangements here are what we think that will be agreed best:  that you will be responsible for training the company you would believe necessary  both for the number and in quality, and for all yourself and Miss George understand, you set a sum that you would be guaranteed. I will watch you only both for your benefit and for that of all concerned that you and Miss George being the essential points it would be detrimental to the profits of the contracting parties that you would take those with grand pretentions who exaggerate an exorbitant salary who would may be throw obstacles in your arrangements.

We announce a first contract for eight nights only because of performances each week or two if the subscribers insist, and if, as I doubt not, the thing succeeded according to your Hopes then we can propose a second subscription for four or six more nights. But nothing chanced and walk at a sure pace, it is necessary to base [sp.] your proposals on eight performances only, except to renew our commitments proportional for the additional performances.

The committee composed of Lords and Ladies of the highest nobility, will be responsible for all costs of the Premises, Decorations, Lighting, Ballet, orchestra, etc., etc.. Except your costumes, the only object which it is necessary you bring.

Having thus completed my Commission and my Commitment to you, it remains for me to solicit from you a prompt and decisive response and assure you the feelings with which I sbscribe.

Your most obedient servant,

D'Egville

49. Great Marlborough Street.

This letter reflects a great eye for profit in the author that he expected from his role as an intermediary, and Talma must not have been mistaken in the intentions of his correspondent. Also, in his same well known writing, he sets his account of the reverse of the letter and he asked 60,000 francs for two months, which may not seem excessive given that he must appear in London with Miss George, and ten others in the troop.

What happened there? The demands of his job detained the tragedian in Paris? The intermediary d’Egville found he's not included in the deal? I do not know. The truth is that Talma remained in Paris in January and February 1816. He then went to tour the département. "At Lille,” Adolphe Laugier said.  “His presence became the pretext for the most serious disorders. The day of the closing of its representations, a soldier, blinded by partisanship, threatened his life and especially his children, who were saved only by the active care of their mother (Ms. Vanhove). Mr. Hippolyte Bis witnessed the frightening threats made to his friend and the composure he showed in this circumstance, the unfortunate and inevitable result of political reactions. If Talma nearly was a victim of the clash of opinions, he had a very sensible compensation to his pride when he was at Arras. He played Hamlet: at the moment when he grabbed his knife and strikes Gertrude terrible cries came from a box. An officer who had twenty times contemplated death, could not bear the pantomime of Talma. An attack of nerves, the first he had his life made him lose consciousness for ten minutes. Returning to himself, he exclaimed, "Has he killed his mother?”

In Boulogne, where he played next, Talma went to England, not, he said, to earn money but to spend it. This happened as a result of low receipts, expenses and arrangements made with the theatre manager, the tragedian and his partner, Miss George did not realize in excess of 400 pounds, while the impresario kept for his part, 600 pounds, by the admission of English newspapers, quite a few ill disposed  to French artists, in spite of what d’Egville had announced Egville some months previously.

The English humourists exercised their malice on Talma’s. He was publicly ridiculed in a little piece called the Actor to all or the universal actor, at the time, even when an admirer wrote in Paris, "In vain some copyists seek to imitate you talent, but to do so successfully, he must have your beautiful head, expressive look, your voice with attractive abundance has charmed many ears; it will be necessary to moderate this address which is so familiar, he must be able to reproduce your beautiful poses, possess the art of transitions and that soul of fire. He should finally be you and have your genius. "

Some English nevertheless paid tribute to the talent of the artist and the heart of the man. They had not forgotten that in the year X, during a journey to Montpellier, Talma had erected a monument to Narcisse, the adopted daughter of the old Young, who, with his feeble hands, had dug a pit in the middle of the field , "to shield Beauty from the ravages of a fanatical people. This trait of greatness had in fact added to the glory of the tragedian, and prepared his triumph in the minds of the enemies of Napoleon.

When Talma died in 1826, everyone deplored his loss.  One of his contemporaries wrote then, "For ten years, Talma rose above himself: a gentle softness and a wonderful diversity of expression had replaced the hardness of his old monotonous voice, his familiarity was the noble simplicity of the master of the world, his sensitivity was expansive; he had learned to cry.

“At his entry on stage it was not Talma they saw it was Sylla, Regulus, Leonidas, Charles VI, it was history in action.

“Also the name Talma is now inscribe in indelible characters, alongside his celebrated predecessors: Baron, Dufresne, Lekain and Larive.”

The memory of Talma remained so alive that in 1827 (Friday, 19 October), when they exhumed the remains of the actor to place them in the vault which was built in Pere Lachaise, near the tomb of Delille, the crowd erupted and tore off a strip of black cloth which had originally covered the coffin, according to English usage. A fragment of cloth, collected by Mr. David, auctioneer of the tragedian’s estate, is contained in a file that is part of the estate of Baron Taylor

MARTIAL Teneo.

Le Monde Artiste 23 September 1906

Becoming Hervey

At the core of Holmesian deduction is the tenet, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". I'm not sure to what extent this can be applied by the family historian but in searching for Pierre d'Aigueville it might provide just the tail of clew.

The name Hervey is of such significance that it becomes an heirloom and is handed down from generation to generation within all branches of the family. Prothero's footnote offers an explanation of why the name is fossilised in parish registers from the late eighteenth century onwards. However, this is supported by no other evidence.

In discovering the significance of the name Hervey a great many questions about Pierre d'Aigueville will also be answered. This therefore becomes a valid research target in its own right.

It is almost possible to eliminate the name as a connection of Sophia Anselme. It certainly doesn't occur among the Gravillons and the Rats. It isn't obvious among the Anselmes  and doesn't occur among those that have so far been discovered.

Therefore we can be sure that if it is either a baptismal name or a surname then it originates within Pierre d'Agueville's family. It is helpful to consider some other artists from the French theatre who took the name Hervey and to discuss their motivations.

Madame Hervey was born at Boissy sous Saint Yon in 1778, and is therefore a contemporary of James Harvey d'Egville. At the age of 14 she was sent to become an apprentice in Paris and became stagestruck. She maybe didn't need too much persuasion to go to Marseille with an old actor where she launched her career in 1797.

Like Pierre d'Aigueville she performed at Lyon and Bordeaux before returning to the Vaudeville and the Comédie Française in Paris. She adopted the name Hervey as her mother's name was Hervet - her surname was Moreau de Comagni. The is a bit of a mouthful if one wants to be remembered and it would have been put into very small print when fitted into one of the tiny playbills that appear in the newspapers.
Hervé (1825-1892) started out life as Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger. His musical promise was early recognised and he was enrolled at the Conservatoire. By the age of 15 he was organist at the Bicêtre Hospital and was singing in provincial theatres. Hervé is credited with creating the genre of operetta; as conductor at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal he rapidly became established as a successful composer.

Today he is little remembered while the reputation of his rival, Jacques Offenbach, endures. Unlike Madame Hervey, Ronger did not choose his sobriquet himself; Ronger was offered the name by one of his pupils, the Marquis d'Hervé.

Obviously, Pierre d'Aigueville flourished before either of these two examples found fame. So if the name was taken as a homage to somebody in his background then we must look further back in time. If Hervey were not his true family name then it is unlikely to be that of his mother's family unless they were of some consequence. Names were frequently repeated among the members of the succeeding generation at this time - partly because many children did not survive until adulthood - but to name every child in the next generation after ones mother seems obsessional.

In 1643 Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673) joined the Béjart family in L’Illustre Théâtre and became co-manager with Madeleine Béjart. Even Madeleine's mother Marie was part of the company. Madeleine's sister, Geneviève, performed under her mother's maiden name - at least she was distinguishable from her siblings - and the name that she took was Hervé. Poquelin married one of the other sisters, Armande, although the marriage seems not to have been so blissful as the relationship he enjoyed with his muse Madeleine. Poquelin is also known by a sobriquet; Molière. If one were to fossilise a connection perhaps it might a connection such as this? Or it might just be that Pierre loved his mother.

Armande Béjart

Marie Hervé (1593-1670) was the daughter of Jacques Hervé, a mercier of Château Thierry (département de l'Aisne). The archives départementales are digitised and online - the link appears in the top right of this site.

Mad, bad and dangerous to know

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron

I have some thoughts of purchasing D'Egville's pupils; they would fill a glorious harem.

The Enigmatic Pierre d'Agueville

A commenter on a previous posting asked for more information about the ancestors of Pierre d’Aigueville. Pierre is on one hand a person about whom I know a great deal, but on the other hand is enigmatic.

For the family historian, Pierre has fallen through the gaps in the commercial websites so he is a barrier for extending our genealogy into the past. For the dance historian, he was unable to fully exploit the media of his day which might have created a more enduring legacy. As a significant ballet master and principal dancer we might have expected a biography but he has become a footnote in the histories of his contemporaries.

Pierre, although making his home in England, did not have a fluent command of his hosts’ language. The Folger Shakespeare Library has an autographed letter to the Drury Lane Theatre proprietor, Willoughby Lacy, dated 7 May 1776. Pierre had already been living and working in the United Kingdom for about 10 years.

Mr Dagville Compliment to Mr Lacy and wille be Glad to know if it is anny room in your house next Saison for me as a ballet master principal dancer and to act in the pantomime a principall charactere if it is Wanted – at the Sallery of 160 pounds for the Saison an a benefitte in aprile 20 as j use to have before. Mr Lacy will oblige Mr Dagville of an asWhere j am Sir your most obeidient Servante.

You will have notice that at this time he was signing his name ‘Dagville’. In other sources he is referred to as ‘Dagueville’, ‘Daigueville’, ‘Degueville’ and even ‘Dégueville’.

Benefit performances were a crucial portion of the remuneration package for performing artists at this time. However, it was not always favourable to the artists and they could be left out of pocket. This anecdote at Pierre d’Aigueville’s expense was published in MEMOIRS Of AN UNFORTUNATE SON OF THESPIS; BEING A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD CAPE EVERARD, COMEDIAN, TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF THE THEATRE-ROYAL, DRURY-LANE, LONDON, AND PUPIL OF THE LATE DAVID GARRICK, ESQ. WITH REFLECTIONS, REMARKS, AND ANECDOTES, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF (1818).

A similar matter happened to Signior Dagueville, the first season he came to Drury-Lane after his benefit: he went up to the office to settle the account of the same; at which time he could scarcely speak any English, and the treasurer did not understand a word of French ; when this curious broken dialogue took place :—" Well, Mr Dagueville, I am glad to see you, but I'm sorry you had so bad a benefit."— "Me tank you, sir, mais I canno help."—"Very true, sir—well, you'll excuse me, now to business; In the first place, here are the tickets you brought in, they amount exactly to L. 14; count them over at home, you'll find it right:—You may take them, if you please."—(He did so.) "Now, Sir, here is the cash that came into the house, which is just L.44." Dagueville was eagerly about to pocket this with the tickets, when the treasurer hastily clapping his hand on it, exclaimed, "No, no, sir, this is not yours, it belongs to the managers, and you are now, sir, L-22 deficient."—•' Vat you call defeshunt? Je n'entend pas, I no understand dat."—" Why, sir, the charges, the expence of the house is L.80; now, sir, you have only in tickets, L.14, and in cash, L.44, making together, L.58, so that, I'm sorry to say it, you are deficient, you lose by the night L.22." "Vat is lose? I no understand!" " Bless my soul, sir, I can't explain myself to you otherwise,—Youare L 22 minus."—" Vat is minus?" " Dear me, dear me !—I can only say, you have to account with me for your L.14 in tickets, and L.22, which together with L.44 taken here in cash, makes up exactly L.80 for the charges; you are L.22, therefore, out of pocket by the night, you lose that."—" Parbleu, dat is nonsense, dat is Irish; how can I lose by a benefice ?—out of pockete !—Vere is my benefice?" —In fine, after much awkward altercation, he found himself compelled to understand it, and went away as contentedly as he could.

There are at least an equal number of varitiatons of ‘Hervey’. This name is clearly significant as it has cascaded down the generations. However, the significance is not understood. Buried in a footnote in the 1902 edition of the poet Byron’s letters is a comment by the editor, Rowland E. Prothero. He briefly states that Hervey was the real name of the family. As he is aware of a print in Louis' possession Prothero may have sought Louis' collaboration but this can be no more than conjecture.

If this is not sufficiently confusing then according to the Archiv für Frankfurts Geschichte und Kunst, Volume 4  (1882), theballet master at the theatre of the Elector Palatine was one Pitrôt, whose real name was Pierre d'Aigueville. This deserves further expansion and I will discuss this in another posting.

What is known is that Pierre d'Aigueville was a dancer at Lyon in 1766, ballet master and principle dancer at Liège the following year. His composition Ballet turc was performed at Brussels on 9 May 1767.

A little history of Chalamont

Un peu d'histoire :

(Source : Préinventaire des richesses Touristiques et Archéologiques du canton de Chalamont réalisé en 1987)

Les anciennes appellations de Chalamont :
Calomons - Coelomons - De Calamonte - De Chalamonte
Castelamont - Chalemont -Chalamons

Chalamont est une des plus anciennes petites villes de la Dombes. On en trouve trace en l’an 850 au Concile de Pavie, mais c’est en l’an 907 que le chevalier seigneur Arthaud de Chalamont commence vraiment à lui écrire son histoire.
En 1212 Alard de Chalamont cède ses droits sur la ville à Guichard IV Duc de Beaujeu qui fait de Chalamont le chef-lieu d’une châtellenie de la Principauté de Dombes.
Puis Chalamont après des combats sanglants et fratricides devient possession de la maison de Savoie vers 1308, puis du Dauphin Viennois en 1326. La famille des seigneurs du nom de Chalamont disparait vers 1372 (Antoine ayant deux filles).

En 1400, Chalamont passe du Duc de Beaujeu à Louis II de Bourbon – premier prince souverain de la principauté de Dombes. Mais convoité par les grands seigneurs de l’époque, Chalamont est dévasté en 1408 par les Ducs de Savoie, puis en 1434 par les Bourguignons.
En 1523 Chalamont est rattaché à la Couronne de France sous François 1er après la trahison du connétable de Bourbon.
En 1560, Chalamont avec sa châtellenie revient dans la principauté de Dombes, le roi Charles IX l’ayant restituée aux Bourbons.

C’est en 1595 que le Marquis de Treffort au nom du Duc de Savoie attaqua la ville avec 2500 « bressans » ; celle-ci est ravagée, pillée, brûlée. Le château est détruit définitivement et la population massacrée.
L’ancien bourg entouré de fossés, de remparts, de hauts murs, abritant l’Eglise Notre-Dame et un hôpital n’existe plus. (Aujourd’hui subsistent seulement quelques rares vestiges des remparts sous la végétation de la colline que l’on nomme « le Signal » d’une d’altitude de 334 mètres, point culminant de la Dombes).

En 1601 au traité de Lyon sous le roi Henri IV, la Bresse savoyarde (qui comprenait alors toute la partie Ouest du département de l’Ain actuel ainsi que le Bugey et le Valromey) fut rattachée à la couronne de France par l’intermédiaire du Duc de Bourgogne.
Chalamont se reconstruit à partir de 1609 au pied de la colline qui portait le château détruit. Le quartier moyenâgeux rénové de « l’îlot des Halles » avec ses maisons à pans de bois est un témoignage de cette époque.
C’est en 1703 que le Duc du Maine (bâtard de Louis XIV et de la Montespan), prince de Dombes, recrée un hôpital à l’emplacement actuel, et en 1710 il fonde une école pour jeunes filles.

Puis Chalamont traverse la révolution relativement calmement.

En 1793, la Convention oblige la Commune à livrer les cloches de l’église pour les fondre et en faire des canons, et selon le citoyen Paquin chargé de cette réquisition pour « délivrer des oreilles fatiguées d’un son qui n’a de vertu et d’agrément que pour les sots ».

Après la construction de la 1ère école publique en 1881 près de l’hôpital, puis de la mairie-école en 1892 à son emplacement actuel, le centre du village prend peu à peu le visage que nous lui connaissons aujourd’hui.

A little history:

(Source : Préinventaire des richesses Touristiques et Archéologiques du canton de Chalamont réalisé en 1987)
The old names of Chalamont :
Calomons – Coelomons – De Calamonte – De Chalamonte
Castelamont – Chalemont – Chalamons

Chalamont is one of the oldest little towns of the Dombes. They have found it can be traced to the year 850 at the Council of Pavie, but it’s in the year 907 that the knight Lord Arthaud de Chalamont truly starts to write its history.

In 1212 Alard de Chalamont ceded his rights to the town to Guichard IV Duke of Beaujeu which made Chalamont the centre of a manor of the Principality of the Dombes.

After the bloody battles and fratricides Chalamont then became a possession of the house of Savoy around 1308, then of the Viennese Dauphin in 1326. The family of Lords of the name de Chalamont disappeared around 1372 (Antoine had two daughters).

In 1400, Chalamont passed from the Duke of Beaujeu to Louis II of Bourbon – the first sovereign prince of the Principality of the Dombes. But coveted by the grand lords of the epoch, Chalamont was devastated by the Dukes of Savoy in 1408, then in 1434 by the Bourguignons.

In 1523 Chalamont was brought under the jurisdiction of the Crown of France under François 1st after the treason of the Constable of Bourbon.

In 1560, Chalamont with its manor returned to the Principality of the Dombes, King Charles IX having restored it to the Bourbons.

It was in 1595 that the Marquis de Treffort attacked the town in the name of the Duke of Savoy with 2500 “Bressans” [men of the ancient region of Bresse]; these ravaged, pillaged, burnt. The castle was destroyed for good and the population massacred.

The old town, surrounded by ditches, ramparts and high walls, sheltered the Church of Notre-Dame and a hospital that no longer exists. (Today, only some rare vestiges of the rampart remain under the vegetation of the hill that we call the Signal [the Beacon], 334 metres in height and the highest point of the Dombes).

In 1601 in the treaty of Lyon under King Henri IV, Savoyard Bresse (which then comprised all the western part of the current département of the Ain as well as the Bugey and the Valromey) was brought under the jurisdiction of the crown of France by the mediation of the Duke of Bourgogne.

Chalamont was reconstructed from 1609 at the foot of the hill that supported the ruined castle. The renovated medieval quarter of “l’îlot des Halles” [market isle] with its timbered houses is testimony to this period.

It was in 1703 that the Duke of Maine (the bastard of Louis XIV et Madame de Montespan), Prince of the Dombes, rebuilt a hospital on the current site, and in 1710 he founded a school for young girls.

Then Chalament traversed the Revolution relatively calmly.

In 1793, the Convention obliged the Commune to deliver the church bells to melt them down and make cannons, and according to the Citizen Paquin charged with this requisition for “delivering tired ears from a sound that has no virtue and is agreeable only for idiots”.

After the construction of the first public school near to the hospital in 1881, then the town hall and school 1892 in its present site, the centre of the village little by little  took the face that we know today.

Source: Mairie de Chalamont.


View Chalamont in a larger map

Archives départementales de l'Ain

L'Ain now have their archives online. The commune of Chalamont was the home of the Gravillon family throughout much of the seventeenth century.

The registers are not without their problems. Until the 1650s many of the entries are unreadable. Unlike some other digital collections it is not possible to adjust the contrast which can help when trying to decipher the crabbed handwriting. The good news is there's an index to the page in a pull down menu. The bad news is that not all of the registers are indexed. Consequently the names do not appear in the pull down menu neither will particular individuals be retrieved by the search engine.  

Baptism Pierre Gravillon 1683 Chalamont

The Curé at Thurins

Anthoine Peysal begins to appear in the registers as Curé at Thurins in 1673. He continued to follow his calling there until just before he was put to rest on 11 June 1721 at the age of 78. The Curés of the Lyonnais gathered to witness his funeral at the church.
 

For almost fifty years he witnessed the sadness and joys of everyday life; he baptised, married and buried the vast extended Rat family. He was clearly very much a part of family life as he travelled into Lyon to attend ceremonies and maybe celebrations although he is not recorded as a witness at the marriage of Pierre Gravillon and Jeanne Rat (the grandparents of Sophia d'Aigueville).

Neither did he perform the burial service for his sister, Catherine Peysal, on the 17 October 1712 shortly after she died at the age of 72. Catherine had married Philibert Rat, a merchant, and they were Sophia's great grandparents. Consequently, the Père Anthoine is Sophia's great great uncle.

Anthoine's church remains in Thurins although the tower has grown over the years.

The commune is thirty kilometres to the west of Lyon in the Monts du Lyonnais.

View Thurins en Lyonnais in a larger map

Norwich Early Dance Group

From the Norwich Early Dance Group website,

Now available — New Noverre research

Findings from the latest research on the Noverre family, by Maggie Marsh, author of Mr Noverre’s Academy* and of Norfolk Dancing Masters 1690—1815†, is now published; The Noverres of London and Norwich reveals new facts about the life of Augustin Noverre, founder of the Norwich dynasty of dancing masters, and his family.

Noverre Crypt Opened

This article appeared in Norwich EveningNews24 on Wednesday 30 March 2011.

Archaeologists have rediscovered a crypt containing the coffins of the family that taught Norwich to dance. Derek James reports.

A crypt, containing the coffins of a famous Norwich family, has been rediscovered beneath a city centre church.

In their 18th century heyday the Noverres taught the city to dance. And even when they died they stayed close to Norwich’s finest ballroom.

The family crypt was beneath medieval St Stephen’s church, close to the Assembly Rooms where the dance masters are still commemorated in the Noverre rooms.

When a water main failed close to St Stephen’s, alongside the Chapelfield Mall, and a huge crack split its east wall, the city centre congregation had to move out while engineers and builders moved in.

The upheaval was enormous as the church was closed and transformed into a building site. But for one group of experts it was an unmissable chance to dig deep into the history of Norwich.

Before the east wall of the St Stephen’s church was underpinned any buried bodies which might be disturbed by the work had to be removed and local archaeologists got the chance to excavate inside and out.

They uncovered 52 skeletons, dating back to the 12th century, plus a burial vault containing the lead-lined coffins of the famous Noverre family.

The human remains will be reburied once the underpinning work is finished but the information revealed along with the skeletons will remain.

The deepest, earliest burials were up to 2.3 metres below the modern ground level. These bodies had been wrapped in shrouds but by the 18th century the dead of St Stephens were buried in wooden coffins. All the bodies had been carefully placed according to Christian tradition, lying east to west, on their backs ready to be awakened by the trumpet sounding at the Last Judgement.

Four babies buried close together in the Chancel are believed to have died of disease, perhaps the black death which swept through Norwich in the mid 14th century. The dig was carried out by NAU Archaeology – part of Norfolk County Council’s NPS property consultants company.

David Adams, senior project officer, said “A particularly poignant finding was the identification of an 18th century brick vault in the chancel that contained members of the Noverre family, buried in lead coffins within the vault.”

The Noverres were the fascinating French family of dancers who travelled to London to give a series of performances in 1755.

The troupe included Jean Georges Noverre, his wife, two of his sisters and his younger brother Augustin.

Unfortunately they arrived just as war broke out between France and England.

Anti-French rioters stormed the theatre and in the resulting fighting Augustin stabbed a man.

He fled to Norwich – and found its sanctuary so satisfactory that he eventually set up a dancing school.

In Georgian Norwich, high society revolved around balls at the Assembly House and dancing lessons were vital for young gentlefolk.

The Noverre dance academy thrived and Augustin’s son, Francis, became a Norwich dance master too – and also one of the original directors of Norwich Union.

Today, the family is still commemorated in Norwich’s Noverre Rooms, part of the Assembly House, close to St Stephen’s church.

And it is beneath St Stephen’s church that their earthly remains were briefly uncovered by archaeologists.

Today the crypt is resealed and the dancing Noverres are at peace once more.

St Stephen’s is expected to reopen later this year.

For more information about NAU Archaeology visit nau.nps.co.uk

Using the Archives municipales de Lyon

Using this resource isn't for the faint hearted so I will be posting step by step instructions during the next day or so.

I will also create a family tree and link it to a Google map so that you can discover where your roots extend into the soil.

John Wilson Indicted for the Murder of Louis Bartolomichi

Or always pay your tailor's bill.

The account of this trial on 28 May 1800 is available among the proceedings of the Old Bailey.

When Counsel was asked the whereabouts of the murder weapon, a short sword, he replied,

Mr. Gurney. No, my Lord; unfortunately Mr. Degville, after the Coroner's Inquest, conceiving there was an end of the inquiry, broke it to pieces.
Court. That was extremely wrong.
Mr. Gurney. He is a foreigner, my Lord.

One suspects that Mr. Gurney may have been a patriot like Mr. Weeks. It seems to demonstrate that being a 'foreigner' is justification for wrongdoing as being an imbecile might be.

Denounced in Bristol

Bristol 6^th Jan: 1794

Sir

                I was last Saturday honoured with your letter of the 2^d instant, and immediately sent for Mr. Weeks, the Master of the Bush Tavern, who this morning attended me and gave the following account respecting the two Frenchmen mentioned in your letter._ That in Nov^r last a coach stopt at the door of the Bush Tavern and upon one of the Waiters going out to open the coach-door one d’Aiguville a French Dancing Master came up to the coach-door and without any provocation struck the waiter two or three times on the breast with his fist. The company in the coach interfered which occasioning a noise, Mr. Weeks went out to know the occasion when he observed d’Aiguville with a sword drawn out of a cane, flourishing it about and calling the people by several approbrious names in the French language; and declaring also that he wo^d run the sword thro’ their hearts or Guillotine them. On this Mr Weeks advanced towards d’Aiguville unobserved by him, knocked him down and took the sword-cane from him which now remains in his possession.
 Mr. Weeks was afterwards threatened to be sued at law by d’Aigville for this assault, but d’Aiguville soon afterwards left Bristol & went to London, as Mr. Weeks supposes, because he has been since served with a writ_

Writ served out by one Mr. Taylor an attorney in London. Respecting de Tourville, the miniature painter, mentioned in your letter_ Mr. Weeks says he knows nothing more than that in last Christmas week he was informed by the Landlord of the Greyhound and Shakespeare at Bath that de Tourville had been in his public room and had declared the Mr. Weeks was a very great Jacobine; and that de Tourville having made use of a great number of his affected expressions had been kicked out of the room by the company; and that the Landlord had further informed Weeks that de Tourville was a very bad fellow; for that he visited the Club of Jacobins at Bath,_ Weeks adds that on enquiry he found that de Tourville had been turned out of a public house at Bristol for having the impudence to hiss a loyal song sung there.

                This, Sir, is Mr. Weeks’s story and the first information I ever received of the disorderly conduct of these Frenchmen, or of any other from Mr. Weeks; and it seems to deserve no other attention (independent of your letter) than what arises from their being Frenchmen, and the necessity of excluding from this city all aliens coming under His Majesty’s Proclamation of the 4^th February, fixing the limits in which such person may permitted to reside.
  I therefore summoned de Tourville under the Alien

Alien-Act who immediately appeared and produced a passport dated 18^th February 1792 (by the name of Jean Benoît de Tourville) from Lord Grenville to proceed to Germany; he also produced a letter from Lord Grenville date 8^th May 1793 allowing him to go and remain at Bath; it is directed to him at Charing Cross.

                As these documents have all the appearance of authenticity (tho’ he has taken a latitude by coming to Bristol which Lord Grenville’s licence does not allow him) I did not think it right to detain him in custody but have given him liberty to return to his lodgings in Bristol until I receive your command respecting him. I have the honor to be Sir

                                                                        Yo^r. Most obed^t. and      

Humble Serva^t

                                                                                                                                James Morgan

                                                                                                      Mayor.

A copy of the autograph manuscript of this letter can be obtained from the National Archives.

It is addressed to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas who at this date was still Home Secretary, having succeeded Lord Grenville in this post in 1791. It would seem that the denunciation must have been made by Weeks directly to the Home Secretary. This letter does not appear in the catalogue of the National Archives.

James Morgan, Mayor of Bristol, was a druggist by trade. His reply appears quite reasonable, particularly as Mr. Weeks had the reputation of being a 'patriot'. His obituary describes Week's welcome for Lord Rodney,

Lately. Aged 84, Mr. John Weeks, formerly landlord of the Bush Tavern, Bristol, and since contractor for the mail coaches.—During the time he kept the Bush Tavern, he was celebrated for his patriotic spirit, and the following anecdote is related :—On Lord Rodney's arrival in England, he landed at Bristol, and nent to the Bush Tavern. On inquiring for his bill, the patriotic landlord replied, " There is nothing to pay—nothing for Lord Rodney to pay." After getting into his carriage to proceed to Bath, Lord Rodney requested he might be driven there as expeditiously as possible; the person who rode the leading horse immediately turned round and pulled out his watch ; when his Lordship at once recognized his worthy host, who replied, " As your Lordship said to the Governor of Eustatia (alluding to the time allowed for capitulation), in an hour, in an hour, my Lord."

THE Gentleman's Magazine AND Historical Chronicle.
From January to June, 1819.
Volume LXXXIX.
(being The TWELFTH Of A NEW SERIES.)
PART THE FIRST. (page 654)

The Bush Tavern