Peter/Pierre Raymond Layard formerly de L 1666 - 1747
Peter/Pierre Raymond Layard formerly de L, of Sutton Friars, Canterbury, Kent. Military service: Major in General Verey's Regiment of Foot for William III Notes for Major Pierre de Ramond de Layard: Information taken from a history compiled by Liet. General Fred. Peter Layard 1888. Fred was the son of Henry Peter John Layard and Marianne Austen Pierre Raymond de Layard ( also spelt: Layrs, Layarde, and Layarrd also Lajard) was born in the year 1666 at Monflanquin, in the Ducy of Agen, in the acient Province f Guienne (now Lot et Garonne), the nearest town to which is Fumel, on the railway leading to Toulouse. The list of foreign subjects naturalized by Act of Parliament No.43 of the 12th of Queen Anne, passed onthe 16th July, 1713, we find "Peter Layard, son of Raymond and Francoise Layard, born at Monflanquin, in Guienne, " from this, also from papers preserved int he family, we know that Pierre was the son of Raymond de Caumont de Layard, by his wife Francoise Savary de Mauleon de Castillon (or Chatillon). This Raymond de Caumont, who evidently adds to his surname the name of the estate which his family possessed in France, and by which they were afterwards known in their exile, was, it is said, living in 1590 at Monflanquin; if so, he must have been 95 years of age when he fled, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This seems very improbable. I can only therefore conclude that the old family record from which the date was taken, was, as in many similar cases, almost illegible and difficult to dicipher. Unfortunately, any dates of this kind cannot now, apparently, be verified, as I am informed that the executors of Daniel Peter Layard, the son of the refugee, Pierre Raymond de Layard, destroyed most of the old family records, it appearing to them they could no longer of use, the estates in France having been forfeited and confiscated after the flight of the Huguenot Raymond de Caumont from the persecutions of Louis XIV, against the Protestants. There is at present no authentic proof of the descent of Raymond de Caumont from the Caumont de La Force family, though a pedigree, or a portion of one, of the La Force Family existed amongst the papers left to Daniel Peter Layard; and the family records speak of a Peter de Caumont living in the year 1570, who quartered the Arms of Layard with those of Caumont de La Force. He was the husband of Madlle. Jeanne de Brissac or Brisac, of a noble Huguenot family. Also the name occurs of a Jean Raymon, bearing the Layard Arms, who was living in 1560, who married Madlle. Jeanne Froisaac, a lady of good Huguenot birth, two of whose family we find as refugees, serving about the yaer 1648 with the Troops of the Elector of Hanover. In the record of the Layard Arms, lodged in the Herald's College in London, by Dr. Daniel Peter layard in 1780, it is stated that "by tradition" the family is "descended from an antient and respectable family in Italy of the surname raymon," but this must evidently have been mere tradition, as the Raymons had apparently been long settled in France, and belonged to a branch of the Caumont family, still numerous in Monflanquin and its neighbourhood, and that Dr. Layard, the son of the Refugee, was correct when he always affirmed that the family was descened from a branch of the Caumonts of Guienne, connected with the Caumonts of Coutance in the North of France, from whom came the Caumonts de Camville (or Caumont ville) of Clifton Camville, int he County of Stafford, in England. Guillaume Catel, in his "memoires de l'Histoire de Languedoc", published in 1633, mentions "Layars" as a village and townland in the "Vigverie d'Andvze, estat general des onzes Dioceses de la generalite de Montpellier." It may have been from property at Layars or Layard that the present family name came into use. In the year 1625 we find a Jan or Jean le Royer described as Sieur de Layarde, one of the witnesses to a contract of marriage in the Huguenot family of Du Gue; he was "Receveur des Tailles at La Rochelle." The Arms of Layard, as recorded in the Herald's college, are "Gules, a chevron between two mullets of six points radiated, pierced or, and a crescent argent; on a chief azure three mullets as before." And for Crest, "On a ducal coronet, or, a mullet as in the Arms." Before entering on the story of the Refugees, I may mention that as early as the year 1517 we find an Art macDermot Layard living in Ireland. In the "Search Department" of the Public Record office, in Rolls Court in London, in the 9th report of the Commissions to His Grace the Duke of Leinster at Carton, Maynooth, in Ireland, "in which list mention is made of a "Red Book" which belonged to Gerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, a transcropt of which book was made for George, 16th Earl, by William Roberts, Ulster King of Arms, bearing the following title: "CORAMBO!" This Book Contains all the Chief Evidences which concerne the Estate of the earle of Kildare Being a true Copy of a book known in Ireland by the name of the Earl of Kildare's Redde Book which was begun by the right Honorable Gerald Earle of Kildare Lord Deputy General of Ireland Knight of the most Noble order of the Garter Anno Domini 1503 "The contents of this book consist chiefly of inventories of the Earl's possessioins, under the following heads: titles, farms, mills, land in various counties, claims for contributions tot he royal service, 'duties upon Irishmen', plate, books, also list of "chief horses, hackneys, armour and weapons, presented as gifts to various person, whose names are given." "The horses were, for themost part, presented toperson of importance in Ireland in amity with the Earl. Amongst these listes I find the following entry: "Chief horses, gyvin by the said earle, from the iij. day of Septbr anno ix* Henry viij. (A.D. 1517) unto the same day XII. moneth. 'ITEM: To Art MacDermot layard, a bay I." Thus it would seem that a family or an individual of the name of Layard existed in Ireland 168 years before the Revocation of the Edict of Nates! I may also add, that at this present time (1888) a gentleman of the name of Henry St. George Layard, Esq., M.D., is living on his property at Hollymount, Cardonagh, co. Donegal, a descendant, he tells me, of a Huguenot Refugee, who settled in Ireland between 140 and 170 years ago, bearing the same Arms as those of the name who fled to England. Unfortunately, Dr. Henry St. George Layard does not know the christian name of his refugee ancestor but he tells me the surname was sometime spelt Layars. CHAPTER II I should be glad if i could give a certified account of the manner in which my Huguenot ancestors escaped from France, but though an ancient MS. journal must exist in the possession of some member of the family, it apparently cannot at present be traced. I can therefore only quote a letter from my brother, Sir Henry layard, who remembers to have seen and read the old MS. giving an account of the flight of the Refugees. "You asked me some time ago to put down in writing wheat i told you about a MS which was shown to me, when a boy at uffington, by our uncle, the reverend Brownlow Villiers Layard. I have the liveliest recollection of it, although I cannot, after this long interval of time, remember the details. The general purport of it was the following:- The writer began by saying, that his object in recording his histroy was not to encourage his descendants to endeavour to recover what he has lost, in consequence of having abandoned his native country or to indulge in family pride, but to impress upon them the duty of adhering totheir religiion and their principles, and to sacrifice all worlding consideration to them (or something to this effect.) "He then went on to say, that he and his brother (?) had been compelled to leave their home to fly in consequence of the persecution to which the Protestants were exposed after the Revocation of the Edict of nates, and that they separated in order to escape more securely - they never met again. "The writer then described how he wandered about and the adventures he met with, in seeking to reach the French frontier, until on day he fell in with a gentleman who recognized him, but whom he did not remember to have seen before. "This person offered to conduct him in safety to the frontier, if he would place himself under his protection, which he accordingly did, and they proceeded on their way together. "Whenever they met soldiers or guards, this mysterious individual took their commanding officer aside and spoke secretly to him, upon which they were at once allowed topass on without molestation, when they reached the frontier - (I presume the French-flemish.) "The refugee's guide and protector, on being asked his name, refused to give it, saying, "I have brought you to a place of safety, go your way, and may God be with you.' "the writer added, that he believed that this gentleman must have been of high rank and of much authroity, on account tof the manner in which he was treated by the officers and guard whom they met, and who would otherwise have arrested a refugee; but he was never able to ascertain to whom he was indebted for his escape. "The M.S. which was written on folie paper, and was not very long, was in French. I have an impression, but am not certain, that I copied part of it for our father, at the same time that I copied the family pedigr4ee in the book which I still have. the M.S. contained numerous details about the family, their descent, property in France, &c., but they have escaped my memory - this is all that I can tell you" The M.S. which my brother saw was most probably written by Pierre raymond de Layard, who accompanied his father, Raymon de Caumont de Layard, in his flight, and from whom he appears to have separated, as I can find no trace either of the father or mother of Pierre, or whether they ever reached Holland and rejoined their young son. In a work entitled "documents Historiques inedits sur le Departement de la charente inferieure, " by M.L. de Richemond, the name of Ramond is twice mentioned; once in a charter, dated at villeneuve in 1601, where a Pierre raymond and his brother are spoken of, and he is again mentioned as being at meschers, where, with many other persecuted Huguenots, he signed a petition on the 21st April, 1623, to "Mosigneur le Comte de Laval A Thouars," complaining of the cruel treatment they had received at the hands of a Catholic lady - Madame de Theon. Also, in a collection of old MSS. and Papers referring to Huguenot refugees from La Rochelle, which my daughter Florence found in the Marsh Library, Patrick's Close, Dublin, a Pierre Renouoyret (?) de Layarrd" is mentioned. The MS is so injured, and in some places (copier cut off last sentence of the page at this point)........I therefore feel convinced that the word "Renouoyret" should be read "Raymond" and that the persecuted Pierre may have been a relative of the refugee. The document appears to have been a complaint against persecution, lodged at the "Consistoire" at Celle, near mougon, in the present Province of "deux-Sevres", part of ancient Poitou, by some poor Huguenots, and is dated "Celle, Ire Juin, 1681." "Janne Madier, Jacques Waudron, ez Pierre renouoyret (?Raymond) de Layarrd, de Celle, se sont plaintz au consistoire de Mougon, qu'ils ont ete assignez au devant Mr. Le Lieutenant de Malle, accusez........autour d'avoir assiste a un enterrement a...............Preau (?)...................destemoins le aet Mr. Lieutenant et son autorite lur tint prissonnier jusques diffiniti be quila ont...............rive enprison lespace de 3 semaines, cequi se surtifie par lear devoir, signe mausac due 12 May, 1681, q'ez nont pu etre delivrez qu'an payan la some de 154 Fl. quoy f................les temoins se sont.............diff..............a dire le paymt de ladte some se justifiez a la quittance donnee par ledte Sr. Lieutenant le 26 May de.......Signee huglis: "tout ci dessus, lesdes Madier, Wandron, Cr Moyremont.............e Tabitad (?) a mougon les jos (?jours) et au...........de en confessoire, en foy de...........le dit Wandron s'est sousigne, et d'autres sont declare ne savoir signer de ce interpellot, Nos sousnez certifious que ce qui...........dessus nous a ete rapporte........signe a la salle Dalmeau, et J. Champion, Ministre au Mougon (et la douste dessus, j'ay l'original)" Note: many parts of this old MSS. are blurred and oblitereated.) CHAPTER III Pierre Ramond de Layard seems ultimately to have reached Holland, where he obtained servcice as a cadet trooper in the corps of Noble Cadets which the Prince of Orange organized at Delft. There were 800 of these young Huguenot gentlemen raised in Hlland, who subsequently crossed to England with the Prince. Amongst the MOS. "Letters and documents of henre de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, from 1619 to 1701", in the library of the British Museum, there are several muster rolls, lists, & c. of the officers and soldiers of the French regiments which came over to England with the Price of Orange (afterwards William III.) from Flanders. From one of these lists it would appear that Pierre Layard must have joined the Marquis de Miremont's dragoons as a cadet in the troop commanded by Lieut. Colonel Jean de Savary, most probably a near relative of his mother. This regiment was "broke" or disbanded in March, 1699, the officers receiving from King William III 6pounds each, the value of their chargers. We next meet with Pierre's name, spelt Lajard, in a "Liste Exacte des Cadets, our Gens de bonne maison, qui etoient dans le regiment de Miremont." NOTE RE BURKE'S "Joined Miremont's Dragoons ca 1689' Again in another "List of the Officers to be added or preferred (? promoted) on the list of Brigadier Belcastel's Regiment of Foot," amongst men of best note" we find Pierre with his surname spelt Layarde. We may therefore presume that he had then obtained his promotion to a Lieutenancy in 1699 or 1700. On the breaking up of the "Corps of Noble Cadets", the Earl of Galway submitted a "Liste generale des officers des Regimens des Marquis de Miremont," in which we find the name of Louis de Boisragon as Captain (whose daughter, in 1743 married Pierre de Layard's son), and Pierre as one of the cadets. Lord Galway, in his own hand-writing, adds a marginal note to this list: "On demande .........cadets huit sous par iour" - a sum which does not seem very extravagant for a young officer of good birth, even though computed at the then value of the "sou"! Again, amongst other MS. "Letters and Papers of Henre de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, from 1692-1701, there is a "List of the non -commissioned Officers and Souldiers of the late Regiment of Dragoons, that was commanded by the Marquis de Miremont, who came over with the said regiment from Flanders dismounted, and were upon the muster rolls of the time of disbanding, and who personally appeared to desire and receive his Magesties allowance of six pounds to each man in lieu of his horse." One of these troops was commanded on 16th May, 1699, by a Lieut. Colonel Savary, the same Jean de Savary before mentioned, in whose troop Pierre de Layard was a cadet, who no doubt served as a good soldier in all the fights in which the dragoons took part, including the Battle of the Boyne, in July 1690. He subsequently rose to the rank of Major in the British Army in 1710, and we thus find him, at the age of 44, in General Wezey's Regiment of Foot. CHAPTER IV Like many of the refugees, Pierre de Layard appears to have delayed his naturalization in England till twenty odd years after he sought an asylum in this country, viz. till the 16th of July, 1713, in the 12th year of the reighn of the good Queen Anne, hoping, no doubt, that a "good time" would come, when he could return to France and reclaim his ancestral estates, However, the "good time" never came, and poor as he came to England, poor he remained in it, ultimately settling down, with "des autres pauvres compatriotes" at Canterbury. He evidently retained a respect for himself, his parentage, and his birth, putting his pride in his pocket! A family tradition states that when ready for his frugal dinner, his ecellent huguenotte wife used to say, "Put on your bag-wig and your sword, mon cher, and bring the dinnere from the bakere." This lady, whom he married at St. Bennet's, Paul's Warf, in London, in the year 1716, was Madlle, Marie Anne La Croze or Croissy, the eldest daughter of M. Jacques La Croze or Croissy, a captain in the Dutch navy and Susanne, daughter and heiress of M. Jacques Samuel Balaire. She was born at Rotterdam on the 8th April 1693, so was consequently twenty-seven years younger than her husband, he being at the time of his marriage 50 years of age and she only 23. The late Rev. Mr. Agnew, in his "Protestant Exiles", calls her "a comparatively youthful bride." She had a younger sister, Susanne Marie la Croze born in 1700 who until she married M. Samuel Despaignol, in 1722, lived with her sister, Madme. Layard, this appears to have been for a period of about five years, as her mother, Madame la Croze, died on the 23rd March, 1716/17 as we find by her Will, translated from the french in Somerset House. The old lady appears to have been ill and weak at the time of her death; she was living at the house of a refugee gentleman, one Mr. Pierre Garnaut, in St. Martin's-in-the-fields. the will was made out and read to her, being sick in bed. Mr. Garnaut asked her "whether it was worded according to her mind, she answered 'oui' in the French tongue, she being a French woman, and being again asked whether she would sign it, she answered 'oui' but through her great weakness, she was not able to sign the same." However, the will was proved and administered to . The death of his mother-in-law must have added something to the income of the old Huguenot soldier, as all her property was divided between her two daughters "share and share alike," and mademoiselle Susanne, who her mother "willed", should after her dease, 'stay with her sister Layard, paying her aconvenient board and for her maintenance, must also have contributed to the household expenditure, until ..................the young lady. The property left by madame la Croze may have been considerable, though no mention of the amount is made in her will, but we may assume so, fromt he fact that her mother, Madlle. Susanne Balaire, ws the heiress of her father, and that all his property fell to her. At all events, the poor Huguenot who had fled from his native country, and found shelter in Holland, and who could have possessed little more than his sword and boots when he joined as a dragoon the corps of noble cadets, at the close of his life, was able to give a good educaiton to his children and bring them up in the state of life to which their birth entitled them. That he was like most of the Huguenot refugees of good family, well aducated and of a cultured mind, we may well believe, from the hereditary ability of many of his descendants. The connections which he must have formed by family ties, with fellow refugees of noble descent and position in society in England, the land of their exile, would tend to show that he was a man of gentle and polished manners and of intellectual pursuits, though unhappily, all direct proof of this has been denied to us by the foolish destruction of old family records and papers which descended to his son, Dr. Daniel Peter Layard. Amongst his friends we may include the members of the family of Lieut.-Col. Louis Chevalleau de Boisragon Signeur de la Tifardiere, and that of the Marquis Nicolas de Rambouillet Seigneur de la Sabliere, whose daughter Marie Henriette was the wife of Col. Boisragon and became the mother of his son's wife, Susanne Henriette de Saint Paul, the daughter of a noble house, for the child of Monsieur Louis de L'Estang, an Aide-de-camp to the Prince of Orange, a descendant of an old noble protestant family of Poitou. I have before said, after major Pierre Raymond de layard retired from active service, he became a resident at Canterbury, amongst many fellow refugees, worshipping with them, in the reformed church of the Huguenots, in the Crypt under the glorious old cathedral. In burne's Hisotry of the Foreighn churches of England he states that a "Gaspard was baptised at Canterbury in 1725, the son of Monsieur Pierre de Layard, Mayor," but this must be a mistake for Major, as I cannot find that Pierre ever held the office of Major of Canterbury. He had a large family, as many, I believe, as six sons and five daughters, but of these, four sons and four daughters appear to have died young, and most of them were buried int he church of St. Alphage at Canterbury. Of his living children, the eldest son, Daniel Peter Layard, who was born on the 13th March, 1720, married Madlle. Susanne henriette de boisragon, daughter of Liet.-Col. Louis de Boisragon and Marie Henriette de Rambouillet. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of M.Charles fouace, of huguenot descent, and the youngest, mary Anne, born at Canterbury in Sutton friars, on the 5th march 1733, married as his second wife, the Lord Brownlow Bertie, afterwards fifth Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. CHAPTER V Major Pierre Raymond de Layard, or, as he was called in his exile, Peter layard, died on the 18th day of March, 1747, in the 81st year of his age, but where he died is not certain; my record only states that his remains were brought to Kensington twenty-one years after his death, and that they were re-interred with his wife's coffin, in the old Parish Curch at kensington, since pulled down. the entry in the Register of burials, for which, in 1862, I was indebted for a copy to the Rev. Wm.Wright, currate of the parish, says, "buried 1768, June 23, Anne Mary Layard, non: par: 23rd, Major Layard, non: par:" He seems to have left no Will. However, in the "Indes to Wills and Administrations," at Somerset House, for the year 1748, I find "Peter Layard, on the second day adm'cioin of the goods, chattels and credits of Peter Layard, late of the parish of St. Anne's westminster, in the county of Midx Esqre, deceased, was grated to Mary Anne Layard, widow, the relict of the said deceased, being sworn duly to administer, April, 1748." From this it would appear that Major Peter Layard died in London. Madame de Layard held, I believe, an appointment at the courts of George II and George III; hence her having lived at Kensington, where the court was sometimes held, and having died there on the 16th June, 1768, in the 79th year of her age. TAKEN FROM BURKE'S LANDED GENTRY 1972 EDITION PIERRE, or PETER LAYARD, of Sutton Friars Canterbury, Kent, fled from Guyenne to Holland after revocation of Edict of nantes 1685, and attended the Prince of Orange (subsequently WILLIAM III) NOTE: This is the same William that is referred to in the Jacobean ryhmm "Wee Willie Winkie" to London 1688, joined Miremont's Dragoons ca. 1689, Major in Gen. Wezey's Regiment of Foot 1710, naturalised a British subject by Act of parliament 1713, born at Montflanquin 1666, married at St. Benet's Paul's Wharf, 2 March 1716/7, Marie Anne (born at Rotterdam, 8 April 1693; died 16 June, 1768) daughter of Captain Jacques Croze, Dutch navy, by his wife Susanne, daughter and sole heiress of James Samuel Balaire, and died 17 March, 1747, having had issue with seven sons and two daughters who died young. a
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| Born: Montflaquin, Duche de Agen, Guienne, France 1666 | Baptised:
| | Died: London, , , England 17th Mar 1747 | Buried:
| | Family: Layard |
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