Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 25 - Demainbray
Demainbray. — A noble Huguenot family, bearing the surname of Triboudet and the title of De Mainbray, took refuge in Holland, and a son was made a page of honour to Princess Mary of Orange. This young man came over to England in 1688-9, and was page to Queen Mary. This was the first Mr. Triboudet Demainbray in this kingdom. He married a daughter of Rev. Alexandre Descairac, late one of the refugee pasteurs of Bristol. His son, Stephen Charles Triboudet Demainbray, was born on 20th February 1710, n.s.; he was highly educated, and becoming an eminent man of science, he received the degree of LL.D. He was appointed tutor to George III., when Prince of Wales, to the Duke of York, and others of the Royal Family, in the departments of natural history and the physical science. He gave his instructions in the form of lectures on natural philosophy, chiefly electricity and astronomy, in the year 1753. When his senior royal pupil had passed from education, and as king had become engaged to his future queen-consort, Dr. Demainbray wrote to the Earl of Bute in the following terms[1]:—
My Lord, — I most humbly hope for the pardon of my presumption in troubling your Lordship with my petition to be employed as a Teacher of English to the Princess whom His Majesty has declared his intentions of espousing. If your Lordship thinks me deserving of so great an Honour, I shall use every possible Endeavour to justify your Lordship’s Recommendation.
I am, My Lord, with the most dutiful Respect and Submission, Your Lordship’s most faithful and most obedient humble Servant,
Though this petition was unsuccessful, yet it resulted in his gaining, as an astronomer, the notice and confidence of Queen Charlotte; the Observatory which was built for him was named Their Majesties’ Observatory. It is thus described by Frederic Shobert, writing in 1813, in “Brayley’s Beauties of England and Wales”:—
“Richmond Observatory was erected in 1768 and 9 by Sir William Chambers, under the direction of the late Dr. Demainbray for the astronomical part Here is a mural arch of 140 devices, and 8 feet radius; a zenith sector of 8 feet; a transit instrument of 8 feet; and a 10 feet reflector by Herschel. On the top of the building is a movable dome, which contains an equatorial instrument. Here, also, is a collection of subjects in natural history, an excellent apparatus for philosophical experiments, and a collection of ores from the mines in His Majesty’s Hanoverian dominions.”
Dr. Demainbray, by his first wife, had an only child, Mary, who was married to Stephen Rigaud, gentleman. The doctor was the Astronomer, or Superintendent (or Director, as it might now be expressed.) Mr. Rigaud was the Observer, on Dr. Demainbray’s recommendation, in or about 1769, and the marriage took place in or about 1773. I have no list of the staff, but Mrs. Rigaud became the “housekeeper.” The pecuniary rewards of pure science in England have always been parsimonious and insufficient; so that, in order to render the doctor’s income sufficient, the king procured him a remunerative post in the revenue department. Accordingly in the Gentleman’s Magazine we read, “Died, 22nd February 1782, Dr. Demainbray, principal surveyor of the customs, and inspector of the East India Company’s warehouses.” Afterwards, in recording the worthies of Middlesex, the same magazine notes Dr. Stephen Charles Triboudet Demainbray, astronomer and electrician, buried at Northall in 1782. It does not appear that he ever made his post of Astronomer a sinecure, although he may have left his son-in-law in residence at Richmond, and taken up his abode in the neighbouring parish of Northall, now called Northolt. Dr. Demainbray had married, secondly, Miss Sarah Home, sister of the celebrated John Home Tooke, and left by her one son and three daughters. There is a large square tomb in Northolt Churchyard with this inscription:—
To the Memory of
Stephen Charles Triboudet Demainbray, LL.D.,
who departed this life 20th Feb. 1782,
on which day he entered into his 73rd year;
also of Sarah his wife,
who died Sept. 18th, 1823, aged 89;
also their daughter,
Elizabeth Sarah Triboudet Demainbray,
who died Sept 5th, 18 18, aged 61;
also, Louisa Mary Triboudet Demainbray,
who died Oct. 13th, 1836, aged 80;
also, Sarah Lydia,
who died March 5th, 1844, aged 82.
They lived beloved
and died regretted.
Dr. Demainbray’s only son, Stephen George Richard Triboudet Demainbray, was born on 7th August 1759, and educated at Harrow and at Oxford. He became a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, at the age of nineteen in 1778, and succeeded his father as Astronomer of Richmond Observatory in 1782, which honorary post he held until the closing of the Observatory in 1840. He was B.A., M.A., and LL.D. of Oxford. He was ordained a clergyman of the Church of England. His first appointment was that of Whitehall Preacher. Next, he was presented by Exeter College to the Vicarage of Long Whittenham in Berkshire. In 1799 his College presented him to the Rectory of Broad Somerford in Wiltshire, and he was rector of that parish for fifty-five years. In 1802 he became Chaplain to his Majesty. In 1807 his benevolence led him to found a scheme of allotments of land to be let to poor parishioners and to be cultivated by them. The scheme has proved a permanent one; about 80 acres are still let out in small allotments, and are highly valued by the occupiers. The system having interested other philanthropic persons in England, Mr. Demainbray published a narrative of it in 1831, with the title, “The Poor Man’s Best Friend; or, Land to cultivate for his own benefit, being the result of twenty-four years’ experience;” it was addressed to James, second Marquis of Salisbury. Some insight may be obtained from one of Mrs. Southey’s tales, entitled, “Broad Somerford.” Mr. Demainbray had two sons and a daughter. The second son, Rev. Francis Demainbray, was of Pembroke College, Oxford, and became Rector of Barcheston in Warwickshire in 1839, but died on 2nd April 1846, aged fifty-two. The father survived till 1854, when he died in his ninety-fifth year. His monument is on the north wall of the chancel in his church, with this inscription:—
In Memory of
Stephen George Francis Triboudet Demainbray, B.D.,
55 years Rector of this parish,
Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties
George III. and his three successors
and for many years
Superintendent of the Royal Observatory at Richmond;
but in this place best remembered as
The Poor Man’s Friend,
for whom at the enclosure of this parish he secured certain
portions of land, and to whom he let a portion of his glebe
in small allotments.
He died on the 6th of July 1854, aged 94 years and 11 months.
Also of
Mary Demainbray, his widow,
who died on the 7th of October 1S54, aged 84 years.
- ↑ “Musgrave Collection of Autographs in the British Museum,” vol. iii.