Philippe d'Auvergne
Philippe d'Auvergne Prince de Bouillon (by adoption) | |
---|---|
Vice Admiral | |
Battles/wars |
Philippe d'Auvergne (13 November 1754 – 18 September 1816) was a British naval officer and the adopted son of
Early life
Philippe D'Auvergne was born in Jersey, where his family had lived for four centuries.[1] His mother Elizabeth, the daughter of Philip Le Geyt, died giving birth to him. His father, Charles Dauvergne, was an ex-British Army officer, advisor to British Cabinet Committees and aide-de-camp to various Governors; they included John Huske, Governor from 1749 to 1761, who left Charles £2,000 when he died in January 1761.[2] His younger half brother, Corbet James D'Auvergne (born 1767), also joined the Royal Navy, [3] and was associated with Jane Austen.[4]
D'Auvergne was educated in Jersey, then England and France. He was fluent in French and English and had a mathematical mind, later to be used in various scientific studies and research. Much of his youth was spent sailing around the coast of Jersey.[1]
D'Auvergne joined the Royal Navy, and became a midshipman in 1770. He was trained aboard the Royal Yacht HMS Mary, under the command of Captain John Campbell. The Royal Yacht was used as a training vessel, for picked men. This was far easier than the usual training on a man-of-war. Accounts of Philippe's life[5] put this down to Earl Howe, later Vice Admiral of England and First Lord of the Admiralty. Howe had befriended Charles d'Auvergne, whilst commanding the flotilla stationed at Jersey during 1756.
Philippe's next vessel was HMS Flora, where he is reported as meeting Empress Catherine of Russia; and on a return trip was influenced by a French scientific team at Copenhagen. Throughout this time Philippe studied mathematics and tried to solve the problem of time keeping and barometric pressure at sea.[6]
Arctic expedition
During 1773, the Admiralty commissioned an expedition to the Arctic, to further science and knowledge. Two sloops were refitted for the expedition and on 4 June 1773[7] the Carcass and Racehorse set sail for the North.
The
The expedition failed to find the Northwest Passage, but they had sailed further north than any previous expedition, approximately 80°48′N 20°0′E / 80.800°N 20.000°E, a position just north of Svalbard. This and the scientific experiments carried out meant the expedition was a seen as a success.[9]
During 1774 d'Auvergne continued his scientific education and also prepared sketches for the journal Voyage towards the North Pole by Captain Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave.[10]
American War of Independence
By 1775 d'Auvergne was assigned to HMS Asia,[11] and he is recorded as discharging to HMS Kingfisher on 27 August 1775. Asia was assigned to the fleet at Boston Harbour, to support British forces against the American militia.
D'Auvergne, still a midshipman, was ordered to take charge of one of the boats carrying soldiers to attack Lexington. Paul Revere had already warned the Yankees of the attack, resulting in the British force of 800 being reduced by 73 dead and 185 injured by the pursuing American militia. D'Auvergne continued to command boats carrying troops around Boston and on 17 June 1775 after transporting troops, watched the ensuing Battle of Bunker Hill.[12]: 27 He was on board one of the ships that bombarded and burnt Falmouth.
Appointed acting Lieutenant, D'Auvergne went with the Chatham which landed troops on Long Island, he was commanding a number of flat bottomed boats with hinged gateways, before crossing to Manhattan Island under fire.
By late 1778 France and Spain had signed a treaty of alliance with the American colonies. When French frigates entered Rhode Island, d'Auvergne carried out his written orders and scuttled Alarm on 30 July 1778.[15] Now ashore, d'Auvergne was made a Major of the Naval Brigade.[12]: 31 The court martial of d'Auvergne for the loss of his vessel is reported as being aboard HMS Royal Oak, 28 September 1778. The court martial acquitted d'Auvergne,[12]: 31 the British had been forced to scuttle ten vessels in all, including Flora.
Prisoner of war
After returning to England, d'Auvergne was assigned to
Duke of Bouillon
Godefroy Charles Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, the
Returned to prison, Philippe d'Auvergne was quickly exchanged and returned to England. The Duke had liked him and hired genealogists to link the Jersey Dauvergnes with the French principality.
D'Auvergne was exchanged with French prisoners of war and returned to England in the spring of 1780, In June he was appointed to HMS Lark. During March 1781 Lark sailed as part of an invasion fleet against the Cape of Good Hope under the command of Commodore George Johnston. They were sent to punish the Dutch for their alliance with the French.
On 16 April 1781 the fleet stopped at Porto Praya to take on water and fresh supplies. While the British fleet was at anchor the French fleet, sent to help the Dutch, entered the harbour and attacked the British. After an inconclusive battle the French broke off. After a brief pursuit, Commodore Johnstone chose to stay and make repairs to the damaged ships, enabling the French fleet to reach the Cape first.
The British fleet failed to land at the Cape, but they did capture five Dutch
Trindade and Martim Vaz
D'Auvergne was promoted on 21 August 1781 to Master and Commander and took command of a ten gun cutter HMS Rattlesnake, allowing the former captain of Rattlesnake to return to London on Lark.
On 30 September, Rattlesnake, Mercury, and Jupiter captured the French ship Philippine. The prize money was remitted from Jamaica, suggesting the capture took place in the Caribbean.[17] French records have the capture occurring in the Antilles.[a]
Rattlesnake and Jupiter were sent to survey Trindade and Martim Vaz, to establish the islands suitability for a base for outward-bound Indiamen. The islands are volcanic with nothing but turtle doves and land crabs.[19] On the evening of 21 October 1781 during a heavy storm, Rattlesnake lost her anchor rope and in trying to get to sea struck a rock and was run ashore; Jupiter picked up five sailors. Commodore Johnstone had previously wished to colonise the island and claim it for Britain, so d'Auvergne agreed to stay on the tiny island with 30 sailors, 20 captured French sailors, one woman, some animals and supplies.[12]: 40–44
A supply ship arrived in January 1782 and the news of Rattlesnake's loss arrived in England on 5 February.[20] Then the castaways appear to have been forgotten.
D'Auvergne and his people remained on the island until 27 December 1782, when by chance,
India
Whilst in India D'Auvergne met
It was reported that D'Auvergne married whilst in India, but the India Office Records held by the British Library have no record of a marriage. Although there is a marriage of a Philip d'Auvergne to an Anne Lowrie in 1800, the individual in question was a captain in the army.[b]
Peace
On his return to England d'Auvergne was promoted to Post-captain, but the peace with France meant demobilisation.
Between 1784 and 1787 d'Auvergne spent time travelling and escorted John Townsend son of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney on a Grand Tour. D'Auvergne obtained an honorary degree in 1785 and elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 11 June 1786.[23] In 1787 he was appointed a Revenue officer in Jersey, on board HMS Narcissus, a post he continued in until 1789 when he asked to be relieved due to ill health.[12]: 52
The Duke du Bouillon had now found a way to connect the families, using the reported arrival of the d'Auvergne family in the Channel Islands during the 13th century. In the 14th century Thiébaut d'Auvergne obtained a grant of land in Jersey and the family remained there until the 18th century. In 1787 the adoption was agreed by King George and notices were published in the
During this period d'Auvergne also assisted Channel Island merchants in securing convoys for their shipping.[25]
French Revolution
In 1793, at the beginning of the French Revolution, d'Auvergne was based in London. The Governor of Jersey Alexander Lindsay had opened communications between England and the Royalists. Lindsay was then transferred to Jamaica in 1794.
Administrateur des Secours Accordés aux Émigrés (Administrator of Relief Grants to Emigres)
By 1794, after a petition from the Defence Committee of the Islands, and a letter from d'Auvergne to the Admiralty, he was appointed as commander of the floating battery Nonsuch and Senior of Officer of Gunboats in Jersey. Several gunboats formed his flotilla: Repulse, Lion, Scorpion, Tiger and Eagle. The ships were not purpose-built men of war, but rather small former Dutch hoys converted to gun-vessels. The crew were mainly from Jersey, as Englishmen did not want to serve on them, there being little opportunity for prize money. Merchants and locals on Jersey provided the money to defray the extra costs to support the flotilla. The vessels were not effective and the Navy withdrew them, selling most. Nonesuch was paid off in December 1794, but the Navy replaced her with the 16-gun floating battery Bravo, which the Navy re-rated as a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate to increase d'Auvergne's salary as her commander and commander of the flotilla. To replace the hoys, d'Auvergne received the services of the hired armed vessels Daphne, Royalist, and Aristocrat.[c]
With this responsibility d'Auvergne was asked, in September 1794, to assume the role Alexander Lindsay had started. A manuscript memorial to the War Office, held by the Library in Jersey, shows his duties as:[12]: 61
- To command a division of armed vessels to cover the Islands.
- Open communications with the continent, to obtain information on hostile enemy movements.
- Maintain communications with the insurgents in Western Provinces.
- To distribute succours (sic; assistance) to the lay French emigrants in the Islands.
In addition to his government duties, d'Auvergne distributed £122,031 of non-government monies to thousands of émigrés who had fled through Jersey, obtaining receipts for every penny spent and passing an audit with praise. He also established a school for the émigré children.[12]: 78–81
Spymaster in revolutionary era
Provided with £30,000 a month by the secret service of the British government to use to cause unrest in France and to whom he reported directly, the communications with the French Royalists was maintained by a network of spies, and insurgents whilst smuggling arms, ammunition and supplies across the short stretch of water to the French mainland.[12]: 67 The authorities in Jersey were suspicious of d'Auvergne who was reporting directly to London[12]: 107 and of the émigrés in Jersey at a time of threatened invasion, émigrés were required to wear a white ribbon and obey a curfew.[12]: 81
Jersey was an excellent base for d'Auvergne, who erected on a tower, the Prince's tower as it became called, that he had owned since 1754 at La Hougue Bie, a signal station, the masts of which could be clearly seen from the French coast. The smuggling of people with forged documents and materiel into France together with forged French Assignat notes, which were being mass-produced in London with the successful result of causing hyperinflation which raged in France until 1802.[12]: 67
From 1795 he was given complete access to
The invading force was led by
Neither d'Auvergne nor the Comte de Puisaye seem to have trusted each other,[27] with Puisaye trying to avoid Jersey, and deliver directly to London. d'Auvergne continued to ask Henry Dundas if he should send arms to Puisaye. After Puisaye returned to Jersey he retired from the military and headed for Canada.
A regular visitor to Jersey was Georges Cadoudal, the Chouan leader implicated in an attempt on Christmas Eve 1800 to assassinate Napoleon Bonaparte, in rue Saint-Nicaise Paris. A barrel of gunpowder concealed in a water cart was detonated as Bonaparte's carriage went by, but it was ignited too late, and the First Consul was only showered with broken glass.[12]: 109
Claims to the throne of Bouillon
First claim to throne of Bouillon
D'Auvergne lost the command of Jersey with the peace with France. His role was a wartime role, with peace came a Captain's half pay. He now spent his time in his house and gardens on Jersey, even opening the gardens to the public. His library contained 4,000 volumes, from scientific to classic, to French history. From 1792 he developed a neo-Gothic construction at La Hougue Bie known as the Prince's Tower. The mediaevalist architecture of the tower (originally to be called La Tour d'Auvergne as a symbolic motif of his adopted family name) supported both his claims to ancestry and his interest in fashionable architecture of the day.[28]
His promotions raised him to Vice Admiral of the Red.
In Bouillon the French had annexed the Duchy of Bouillon in 1795, and Duke Godefroy III, died in 1794, his son Jacques Leopold La Tour d'Auvergne inherited the title of Duke. Jacques Leopold died on 3 March 1802 without issue, and Philippe d'Auvergne used the full title and dignity of Duke after this date.
After the
Spymaster in Napoleonic era
D'Auvergne returned to Jersey. By 1802 the émigrés had been given a way to return home, as
Some of the spies continued to travel across the sea to France, and one was Noel Prigent, experienced in landing in France; he had journeyed across the sea over 150 times. In 1807 d'Auvergne was informed of the Chouans wanting to rise and rebel again, so Prigent and companions were sent to France to gain intelligence. On their arrival they found no signs of a possible uprising or even anyone willing to assist them. All the usual safe houses were closed to them. Prigent and his companions spent a number of weeks travelling around Brittany and living in ditches, and after a number of failed attempts to return to Jersey, one of the companions, Bouchard, gave himself up to the French. Bouchard then led the Secret Police to Prigent and his companions. As soon as Prigent was captured, he gave up every detail he knew about the correspondence, including landing places, codes and safe houses used by d'Auvergne's spies.
Bouchard then agreed to return to Jersey and persuade d'Auvergne that he was sent by Prigent. D'Auvergne welcomed him and sent Bouchard back to France with letters to General Puisaye, and further correspondence to Prigent. Bouchard had asked that Comte Vaucouleurs be despatched to France, and shortly afterwards he left for the French coast. He was arrested as soon as he landed. Armand de Chateaubriand followed in September 1808, but it was apparent that everyone was behind Napoleon. No-one would support Chateaubriand, and after a couple of failed attempts to return to Jersey, Chateaubriand was arrested and along with 10 other émigrés shot. The efforts of Bouchard and Prigent to save their own lives also failed, as they were shot on Bonaparte's orders. Even the Comte d'Artois was indicating he should have sole control of the correspondence.[31] Any hope of a new Royalist revolution was never going to materialise.
1808 saw d'Auvergne promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral and put in charge of naval ships in the Channel Islands although as he was not afloat, could not benefit from prize monies.[12]: 117 In 1809 Napoleon confirmed an order to confiscate all assets of the Bouillon family, granting d'Auvergne's Château de Navarre to his divorced wife, Josephine.[12]: 104 Promoted to Vice-Admiral, d'Auvergne stood down from his role in 1812, possibly due to ill health, possibly aware of the next period of peace and put on half pay.
Second claim to the throne of Bouillon
In 1814 the Comte d'Artois, of the House of Bourbon, was proclaimed
On hearing Napoleon had returned to power in 1815, d'Auvergne went to Brussels and marched to war with a small regiment formed in the colours of Bouillon. Nine days before the Battle of Waterloo, d'Auvergne discovered that the Congress of Vienna, which was allowed by the Treaty of Paris to rewrite the map of Europe, had decided to form the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as a buffer state along the northern border of France. This meant there was no place for an independent principality and the Duchy of Bouillon would be annexed to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (at that time considered part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands due to the personal union of the two states).[12]: 119
Although the independence of the Duchy was lost, there were rights to the estates (including some in France), however further complications came in the form of another claimant to the throne, Prince Charles de Rohan (who was a grandson of a half-sister of the 6th Duke). Things looked good for d'Auvergne since he had the backing of Lord Castlereagh and the Congress had rejected a similar case. With everyone watching events that would lead to Waterloo, the Congress decided that the King of the Netherlands should rule on the case, and left the ruling to arbitrators and the King. Whilst d'Auvergne was away, the Congress decided to uphold the arbitrators decision in favor of the claim by Rohan, the blood relation.[12]: 121
Death
Philippe d'Auvergne returned to London, the security for his personal loans having been lost, he was bankrupt, owing £12,000 in Jersey alone. He committed suicide at Holmes' Hotel, London, on 18 September 1816; he was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.[12]: 121–3
An inventory of his house and library from the auction of his estate are held by the Jersey Archives. The Duchy of Bouillon remained in upheaval until 1825 when it was divided between the last Duke of Bourbon, the Prince de La Trémoille and the Princesse de Poix.
Philippe d'Auvergne died with the titles:
- Monsignor His Serene Highness Philippe d'Auvergne, by the Grace of God and the will of his people, Duc de Bouillon.
- Vicomte de Turenne.
- Duc d'Albert and de Chateau Thierry.
- Comte d'Auvergne.
- Comte d'Évreux et du bas Armagnac.
- Baron de la Tour, Oliergues, Maringues and Montgacon, Peer of France.
- Knight of Order of Saint Joachim.
Most of these titles died with him.
Descendants
D'Auvergne fathered three illegitimate children by Mary Hepburn of
Notes, references and bibliography
Notes
- ^ Philippine was a French merchant vessel purchased by Bernard & Cie. at Lorient for Lt160,000 and commissioned 11 March 1781 by the French navy. She was fitted out between March and April. She had a crew of 100. French reports indicate that the British treated the crew harshly after they became prisoners.[18]
- ^ Philippe d'Auvergne was in Jersey at this time.
- ^ The commander of Aristocrat was Lieutenant Corbet James d'Auvergne.
Citations
- ^ a b Balleine, (1973)
- ^ Nichols, John (1761). The Gentleman's magazine; Volume 31. E Cave. p. 22.
- ^ D'Auvergne, Corbet James. "Captain, RN". National Archives. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Captain Corbet James D'Auvergne and Jane Austen". Jane Austen Forum. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
- ^ Kirke, (1904)
- ^ Philippe D'Auvergne, An Account of the New Improved Sea-compasses (1789)
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom): The Racehorse, Captain's Log Book: ADM 51/757 and the Racehorse Master's Log Book: ADM 52/1416
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom): HMS Racehorse Muster and Paybook ADM 36/7490
- ^ Baron Constantine John Phipps, Voyage towards the North Pole; and Sir Albert Hastings Markham, Northward Ho.
- ^ Kirke, (1904) pp.30–31
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom): Ship's Paybooks: ADM 34/4
- ^ ISBN 978-0955250880.
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) Colonial Office Correspondence, CO 5/127
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom): Colonial Office Correspondence, CO 5/94
- ^ a b The National Archives (United Kingdom): Colonial Office Correspondence, CO 5/96
- ^ The New Annual Register, Or General Repository of History ..., (1781), Vol. 2, p.89.
- ^ "No. 12405". The London Gazette. 11 January 1783. p. 3.
- ^ Demerliac (1996), p.103, #709.
- Edmund Halley placed a Union Jackon the islands in 1700.
- ^ Lloyd's List №1333.
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) Log Book, ADM 51/137
- ^ A petition of the claim is held by the Société Jersiaise
- ^ "Fellows of the Royal Society". Royal Society. 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
- ^ In records held by Société Jersiaise.
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) Foreign Office correspondence: FO 95
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) Foreign Office correspondence: FO 95/605/19
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) War Office correspondence: WO 1/921
- ISBN 0901897299.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) Foreign Office correspondence: FO 27/64
- ^ Parliamentary Papers Online (subscription website)
- ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom) War Office correspondence: WO 1/922
- ^ According to the burial register, cited in "Duchesse de Bouillon". Notes and Queries: 273–4. 6 April 1912.
References
- Ashelford, Jane (2008) In the English Service, the Life of Philippe d'Auvergne, Jersey Heritage Trust, ISBN 978-0955250880
- Balleine, George Reginald (1973) The Tragedy of Philippe d'Auvergne, Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy and Last Duke of Bouillon. (Chichester: Phillimore).
- Chalon, Renier-Hubert-Ghislain (1860) Le dernier duc de Bouillon. (Bruxelles: E. Devroye)
- Davies, Kenneth Gordon. Documents of the American Revolution 1770–1783, (Colonial Office Series), Irish University Press (1972–1981)
- Kirke, Henry (1904) From the Gun Room to the Throne.
- "Temps passé: Philippe d'Auvergne". 4 December 2008. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "D'Auvergne, Philippe (d.1816) Prince de Bouillon". National Archives. 2012.
External links
- Le Geyt dit Rauvet, Philippe (1947). "Philippe d'Auvergne". theislandwiki.org.