The Frustrations Of Pierre d'Aigueville's Timeline

Among some of the first data about a Peter/Pierre d'Aigueville to show up on the Internet was a marriage record held by FamilySearch. A Peter Hervez Daigueville married Margaret Benton at Saint Mary's Church, Portsea, Hampshire, on 19 December 1774.

The Hampshire Chronicle 4 October 1773
The British Library Board

In October 1773 Mr and Mrs Daigueville were performing at the theatre in Southampton and Mr Daigueville's teaching practice was based at a girls' boarding school.

Elizabeth Armstrong was a longstanding pupil and is listed among "scholars of d'Egville". She had certainly been on the stage since the age of six when she danced at Sadler's Wells in the autumn of 1769. At the time of the performance in Southampton she was no more than ten years old.

For Peter, the father of James Harvey d'Egville, to have married Margaret Benton in Portsea in December 1774 the Mrs Daigueville on the bill would have to have died sometime in the next twelve months. But at his benefit in May 1775 his wife danced in the role of Boadicea Queen of Britain assisted "by her two daughters."

Peter often seems to have spent extended periods in the provinces as he danced in Bristol in 1776. For him to have been in Southampton - a city of some importance - would not be unusual for a performer based in London.

After James returned to England at around the time of the French Revolution it becomes increasingly difficult which d'Egville is referred to in the bills and advertisements. It is consequently difficult to identify the woman referred to as Madame d'Egville.

The Daigueville who left a well furnished home in Ipswich in 1791 remains tantalising. In another coincidence Peter's daughter Sophie disappears from the English scene shortly afterwards.

Sophia And Pierre In The Electoral Palatinate

Jean-George Noverre (1727-1810)
by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1760 Jean-George Noverre moved from Lyon to Stuttgart to take up an engagement with Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. It was here that Noverre's career achieved its apogee following the publication of his Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (Lyon, 1760). Many of his ideas on the ballet d'action in this treatise were influenced by David Garrick (1717-1779), with whom he had spent two years in London from 1755. 

We know from the 1768 correspondence between Jean Monnet, former director of the Opéra Comique, and David Garrick that Mademoiselle Auselin had danced (circa 1765) at the opera in London. In 1766 she moved to Stuttgart to work with Noverre. After a brief engagement in Paris in April 1768 it is recorded in the same correspondence that she intended to travel to the Electoral Palatinate and the court of Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector and Count Palatine.

There is a confusing note on Pierre d'Aigueville's presence in the Electoral Palatinate. In La culture française à Francfort au XVIIIe siècle (1914), Bettina Strauss refers to the ballet master Pitrot, whose real name is Pierre d'Aigueville of Verseilles. It is possible that Pierre adopted this name but it provokes many questions. Jean Baptiste Pitrot (1729-1809) was active in Brussels, Lille, Ghent, Liège and became ballet master in the Hague in 1762. His elder brother, Antoine-Bonaventure (1727-after 1792), pursued his career throughout Europe and even worked in Russia. So, either this ballet master was Pierre or was perhaps Antoine-Bonaventure Pitrot.

The latter seems more likely, but in Festschrift zu Goethes 150. Geburtstagsfeier (Frankfurter Verein für Geschichte und Landeskunde, 1882) states that Pierre was usually called on playbills, "the famous Monsieur Pitrot." But, confusion aside, Pierre and Mademoiselle Auselin may have both performed in this region of Europe. Mademoiselle Auselin's engagement at the court theatre may have been somewhat briefer than her time in Stuttgart. Pierre was performing in London, partnered by Mrs. King, on the 1 November 1768 and both he and his wife were discharged by Garrick in the middle of the 1773-1774 season. Somewhere in between Madame d'Aigueville found time to give birth to James. His year of birth is given between 1770-1773.

I've often wondered whether Pierre was the price that Garrick paid to get Sophia who would "make much impact" on his theatre and if Garrick's theatre was the price that Sophia paid for Pierre.

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.

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.

More for Your Bookshelves

The price tag of this book must be attached to a rocket. I bought it a couple of years ago and I can't have paid anything like this sum as my pockets aren't this deep.

Luckily, a preview is available of this book. If you pull down the 'more' menu on the Google search page, then select 'Books' and enter the search term 'Italian opera in 18th century London' this book will be top of the list.

On navigating to the book you can replace the search term with 'd'egville' and then follow the links to some of the pages which are freely accessible.

Ian Woodfield's Opera and Drama in Eighteenth Century London (Cambridge University Press, 2006) is more within reach at £34.85. This book doesn't have a preview available to Google but does refer to Pierre and Sophia d'Aigueville and their earnings at the King's Theatre.