Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 20 - Fonnereau
Fonnereau. — This family is believed to spring from a branch of the ancient stock of the Comtes De Poitiers and d’Evreux, the chief of which branch in 1120 was Messire Gauthier d’Evreux, Sire De Valliquerville, cousin of the Dukes of Normandy, Kings of England. The surname of Fonnerel, or Fonnereau, is supposed to have been a royal grant, or an assumed designation, in memory of military services or achievements. In a manuscript memoir concerning the wars in Dieppe it is stated that, in 1599, the citizens of Dieppe were led by “Noble homme Robert de Valliquerville, cadet de Normandie,” called “le capitaine Fonnerel,” whose wife was a lady of the house of Vauquelin des Ifs; during the same period are mentioned Abraham de Valliquerville, chevalier, called also “Fonnereau,” and Jean de Valliquerville, ecuyer, his nephew. The ascertained ancestry of our refugee family was located in La Rochelle. It appears that the Sieur Zacharie Fonnereau (born in 1636) lived there in 1685; and his son, Claude, born 22nd March 1677, was sent into England in 1689. The father, who is sometimes styled Zacharie Fonnereau de Valliquerville, had married, in 1674, Marguerite Chataigner. The late Thomas George Fonnereau, Esq. (see Chapter XXV.), had among his treasured papers a certificate on parchment, finely written, and surmounted by the Fonnereau arms, emblazoned:—
Je certifie d’ avoir fait les recherches dans l’Armorial General des Armories de France qui est entre mes mains comme genealogiste du Roy: et j’y ay trouvé que le Sieur Zaccarie Fonnereau descendu des Fonnereau de la Rochelle pays d’Aunis epousa en 1674 Marguerite Chataigner dont il eut un fils Claude qui passa en Angleterre en son enfance, et que les armes de cette famille sont de gueules à trois chevrons d’argent au chef cousu d’azur charge d’un soleil d’or, selon qu’elles sont blazonnees cy dessus.
“Fait à Paris ce 20 Juillet mil sept cent trente.
Claude Fonnereau, a merchant prince, died on 5th April 1740, possessed of immense wealth. His first wife’s maiden name was Elizabeth Bureau (naturalized with Mrs. Anne Bureau, her widowed mother, on 5th January 1688 — see List xiv.); she was the mother of his children; he married, secondly, in 1738, Ann Boehme. The Gentleman’s Magazine reported that he had left to his eldest son, Thomas, £40,000, and to his other sons, Rev. Claude, £25,000, Abel, Philip, and Peter, each £20,000, to four daughters, each £10,000, and to his widow (his second wife) £400 per annum. I have read the Will, proved 17th April 1740, and I find mention of only two daughters, Elizabeth Frances, wife of James Benezet, Esq., and Anne, wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny, Esq. His sons being married, the Will confirms all marriage agreements and covenants, without quoting any of their details; in addition to which a sum of £54,000 is left to be invested; there are also legacies to St. Thomas’s Hospital, to the French Church in Threadneedle Street, to the Charity in London for the poor of La Rochelle and the Province of Aulnix, and to the French Charity in London called La Soupe. [The fourth son, who was often styled Philip, was Zachary Philip; he was the grandfather of Thomas George Fonnereau, Esq. As to daughters, there were other two — (1) Marie Anne (born 9th July 1711), baptized in St. Martin Orgars French Church, who was married at Chelsea, to John Martyn, Professor of Botany at Cambridge; (2) Elizabeth (born 2nd November 1712), wife of Dauteville Lebur.]
The testator, according to Burke, had acquired much landed property. He had purchased, in 1732, from Viscount Hereford, the manors of Christ-Church and Wicksufford in Suffolk, and a large estate at Edmonton. The estate which has remained with his descendants, is Christ-Church near Ipswich. His eldest son, Thomas, of Christ-Church, was M.P. for Sudbury, elected 1741 , 1747, and 1754; he was M.P. for Aldborough in 1773, and died in 1779. He left no descendants, and was succeeded by his brother, Rev. Claude Fonnereau, LL.D., the ancestor of the present family. This reverend squire, who was born in 1701, married, in 1725, Ann, daughter of Rev. William Bunbury, and through her acquired some of the Bunbury property in Cheshire; they had twelve children, of whom two only are on record, viz., Ann, wife of Sir Booth Williams of Clapton, baronet, and the Rev. William Fonnereau, LL.B., his successor at Christ Church, who married in 1758 the heiress of the last baronet of Clapton, to whom his eldest son, Rev. Claude William Fonnereau (born 1761) succeeded as the Squire of the Friars, Chichester; he himself, on his death in 1817, was succeeded by his second son (eventually the head of the family, as his cider brother had no children), Rev. Charles William Fonnereau of Christ Church, Park (born 1764, died 1840), (the latter gentleman was previously a lieutenant in the navy, and served under Admiral Rodney in the American War, and in the action of 12th April 1782). His son, William Charles Fonnereau, Esq. of Christ Church Park (born 1804, died 1877), married in 1832 (Catherine Georgiana, daughter of John Cobbold, Esq. of the Holy Wells. Their son is the present Thomas Neale Fonnereau, Esq. of Christ Church Park (born 1841) (named after his great grandfather, Thomas Neale, Esq. of Preston Tower), whose eldest son is William Neale (born 1862); his Huguenot ancestry, however, is recognised in the names of his second and third sons, Zacheric-de-Valliquerville, and Thomas-Claude.