man.” The same nephew, after giving a quotation from Outalissi, says of his uncle: “This honest indignation at fraud and cruelty — this fearless and simple assertion of the truth of revelation and of the judgment to come — characterized him to the close of life. His conversation was always forcible and original, with a character of humour which was often exceedingly quaint. Many stories might be told of his harmless eccentricities; one of them, which he told himself with much gusto, was his putting to flight the conqueror of Waterloo! Residing not far from Strathfieldsaye, he occasionally met the Duke of Wellington in the hunting-field; he observed one day that the Duke was taking a course that would oblige him to pass by a certain gate, and the idea struck him that he would ride forward and open it, to show the hero that he bore no malice against him. But the Duke, who saw the movement and mistook the intention, clapped spurs to his horse (to escape a bore), followed by his admirer. My uncle reached the gate first, and dismounting, opened it, hat in hand. The Duke, who knew his man, then saw his meaning, and, riding through with a nod and smile, left him perfectly happy with his success.”
Mr. Lefroy’s well-earned repose began when he was aged forty-four. He bought the property of West Ham, near Basingstoke, extending to 203 acres, with an excellent house. Although he was a bachelor, his house had many occupants. In the very year in which he settled there his younger brother died, leaving a young widow and seven children. Benjamin was six years younger than the retired judge, having been born in 1781; his school education was at Winchester; he was of Merton College, Oxford, and took the degree of B.A. on 19th November 1813. He was successively rector of Compton and of Ashe. In November 1814 he married Anne Austen, and his death took place at the early age of thirty-eight, on 27th August 1829. While Mr. C. E. Lefroy’s private life was that of a father to his fatherless nephew and six nieces, his public life displayed constant activity and energy in the advancement of beneficent enterprises. He had some thoughts of publishing with his name a second edition of Outalissi, and had written a preface dated “West Ham, May 1830;” but this intention was fallen from. After twenty-three years of usefulness as a country gentleman, he was, in December 1852, seized with partial paralysis, and was nursed for the remainder of his life by his affectionate and grateful household. He died on 2d July 1856, aged seventy, lamented by his neighbours universally. He was buried in Basingstoke Churchyard, and the following inscription is upon his tomb:—
| Christoper Edward Lefroy, Esq., for 10 years British Commissary Judge at Surinam for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, and late of West Ham, of this parish, died July 2d, 1856. Aged 70 years.
With all the humility of prostrate helplessness I throw myself on God’s mercy thro’ Christ for the pardon of my sins, trusting in the Infinite Sufficiency of the full and perfect Atonement by Himself once made upon the Cross for the sins of the whole World.
The concluding words of his Will.
|
XVIII. The Messieurs Le Keux.
These most eminent engravers sprang from Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Le Keux, of Spitalfields (born 1697, died 1723), buried at Whitechapel. John and Henry Le Keux were his great-grandsons, their grandfather being William, of Hayes, Middlesex (born 1697, died 1781)> buried at Putney, and their father being Peter, born at Limpsfield, in Surrey, 12th May 1746, died 19th March 1836, and buried at Ingatestone, Essex. According to Mr. Thorne,[1] this worthy nonagenarian was a pewterer.
John Le Keux was born 4th June 1783, and baptized at St. Botolph’s. As a boy, he did his father’s errands, and began to make drawings upon quart pots. This led to his being permitted to devote himself to the art of engraving. He became a pupil of Basire, and after fulfilling his apprenticeship, he engraved plates for Brewer’s Antiquities. In 1818 he was engaged by John Britton. He engraved about four hundred plates for Britton’s Architectural and Cathedral Antiquities, and about fifty
- ↑ With regard to the works of the brilliant trio of engravers, I follow (unless where I say otherwise) the articles by Mr. James Thorne in the “Imperial Dictionary of Biography.”
