James de Beauvoir, Esq.;[1] John, married to Elizabeth De Lisle,[2] daughter of the then lieutenant-bailiff of the island; Henry, married to Susan Saumarez, sister of the late Admiral Lord de Saumarez; and Mary, wife of John Le Marchant, Esq.[3] In giving this brief recital of Sir Isaac Brock’s family and connexions, we feel pride in adding, that in Guernsey the law of primogeniture prevails happily to a very limited extent; all the children, both sons and daughters, inheriting nearly alike. In consequence, the upper ranks belong to what in England would be called the middle classes of society, because property, both real and personal, is so divided at every generation, that wealth in families cannot be long preserved entire. But if there be no “eldest son," there is what the philanthrophist will value much more highly—a moral and contented population of above 1100 souls to a square mile, with neither great riches nor extreme poverty, with neither luxurious landlords nor a degraded tenantry.
John Brock, Esq., born January 24, 1729, second son of the above-named William, had by his wife, Elizabeth De Lisle, a very numerous family of ten sons and four daughters, of whom eight sons and two daughters reached maturity. He died in June, 1777, at Dinan, in Brittany, whither he had gone for the benefit of the waters, at the early age of forty-eight years.[4] In his youth he was a midshipman in the navy, and in that capacity had made a voyage to
- ↑ The name of this ancient family, second to none in wealth and station, became extinct in Guernsey, in 1810, on the death of Osmond De Beauvoir, Esq., when his large property was inherited by distant relatives.—Duncan’s History of Guernsey.
- ↑ Sir John De Lisle was appointed governor of Guernsey on the 28th May, 1405, 6 Hen. IV., (vide Curtis’ French Rolls, vol. ii, p. 189,) and proceeded to that island in July following.
- ↑ Major-General Le Marchant and his eldest son, a captain in the Foot Guards, who both fell in Spain during the late war; and Captain Philip Saumarez, who was Lord Anson’s first lieutenant in the Centurion, and was slain in 1747, while commanding the Nottingham, of 64 guns, were members of those families.
- ↑ Brock street, at Bath, was named after him by the projector, in testimony of friendship.
