Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Dean Letablere
Dean Letablere. — The following inscription is on the Dean’s monument in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin:—
Fidelis usque ad mortem.
Nous avons tout abandonné et nous t’avons suivi.
Prudentia gloriam acquirit.
To the memory of the Very Rev. Daniel Letablere, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Mary, Tuam, Vicar of Laragh-Brian, and Prebendary of Maynooth in this Cathedral Church, who died a.d. 1775,
Son of
René de la Douespe de Lestablere, who, for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, left his country, Le Bas Poictou, France, and took refuge in Ireland, where, after having held several commissions under Du Cambon and Lifford in the army of King William III., he finally settled.
His daughter Esther Charlotte
married in 1783 Edward Litton, Esq., H.M. 37th Regiment, of Ballyfarmot, whose sons have, in memory of their ancestor, erected this tablet, A.D. 1865.
Mr. Wagner sends me a note of the refugee’s Will, dated at Dublin 28th August 1729, by which it appears that he had five children, and that his wife’s maiden name was Susanne Marie Theronde. He desired to be buried in the churchyard of Lucy Lane French Church.
Mr. Smiles gives several details concerning Dean Letablere’s ancestor. It seems that the manor of Lestablère was “in the parishes of Saint-Germain and Mouchamps, near Fontenai, in Lower Poitou;” that the refugee fled to Holland, and came to England with the Prince of Orange; that he died in Dublin in 1729, aged sixty-six. His relatives, who got possession of his French estates, behaved to him with humanity and affection, remitting to him at various times sums of money, total 5570 livres; and they gave him a present of 4000 livres in 1723, when he was on a visit to them. His heiress was his last surviving child, wife of Edward Litton, Esq., 37th foot (born 1754, died 1808). [One of her sons held a good position as a lawyer and politician, namely, the Right Hon. Edward Litton, M.A., O.C., M P., and a Master in Chancery in Ireland (born 1787, died 1870), father of the Rev. Edward Arthur Litton, M.A. (who won double-first class honours at Oxford in 1835, and was Bampton Lecturer in 1856); also of John Letablere Litton, Barrister-at-Law; also of Mary Letablere Litton, wife of William Carus Wilson, Esq. The Rev. E. A. Litton, who is Rector of Naunton, married Anne Carus Wilson.]
In the Annual Sermon and Report of “The Incorporated Society in Dublin for promoting English Protestant Working-Schools for Ireland,” the names of zealous Irish Protestants may be found. In such a document for 1752 I observe that Dean Letablere subscribed to the Society, and also to the school at Maynooth, besides remitting his tithes for its fourteen acres of land; to which school Miss Mary Vareilles also subscribes [probably of the same family as a refugee in Essex, Henri Vareilles, Sieur De Champredon, son of Etienne Vareilles, Sieur De la Roche]. Another member is Rev. Samuel Virasel [probably a descendant of Lord Galway’s friend, the Baron]. More appropriate to this chapter are the names of Isaac Gervais, Dean of Tuam; Rev. John Pellisier, D.D., Vice-Provost of Trinity College; and Theophilus Brocas, D.D., Dean of Killala — Dean Brocas died in 1766; his son, John Brocas, D.D., was Dean of Killala from 1766 to 1806, and was the Father of Rev. Theophilus Brocas, Rector of Strabane.