Edward Barrington de Fonblanque (18 January 1821 – 14 June 1895) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

historian of English, Irish and

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

stock.

Family

Edward was born in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

Thomas de Grenier de Fonblanque Thomas de Grenier de Fonblanque, , (26 January 1793 – 1861) – diplomat, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul General and Consul-General to Serbia. Family Thomas de Grenier de Fonblanque, descended from a French Huguenot family. He was born in L ...

, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul General and Consul-General to Serbia, and Jane Catherine Barrington of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Through his grandfather, John Anthony Fonblanque, Edward was descended from a

family. His great-grandfather shortened his surname, de Grenier de Fonblanque, on his naturalisation in England, though some of his descendants later added it back. Edward's uncles were Albany Fonblanque and

John Samuel Martin Fonblanque John Samuel Martin Fonblanque (March 1787 – 3 November 1865) was an English legal writer and Commissioner of Bankruptcy (England and Wales), Commissioner of Bankruptcy. Biography Early life The eldest son of barrister John Anthony Fonblanque, ...

. His maternal grandfather was Sir Jonah Barrington, a judge known for his popular and amusing memoirs. Edward was said to have inherited his humour and wit.

Career

De Fonblanque was educated in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and had excellent language skills. In 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, he served as the Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General for the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

. After the war, he was promoted to commissariat and sent to China. He later helped form the

Italian Volunteer Legion The Italian Volunteer Legion (Afrikaans: Italiaansche Verkennings Corp), also known as the Italian Scouts were an expatriate military unit which took part in the Anglo-Boer War, raised and led by soldier and adventurer Camillo Ricchiardi on beha ...

during the

First Boer War The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...

. He eventually joined the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

as deputy controller. He retired early, possibly from exhaustion, which allowed him to devote his time to writing. He suffered a leg injury while riding that never properly healed, and though he was able to travel extensively, his leg was eventually amputated. Most of his writings were related to military history and were well received. A mention of his work in 1862 stated: "Mr. Edward de Fonblanque's serious, full and conscientious studies of military organization in the various armies of Europe, — made, we believe, under the auspices of the present

Earl of Dalhousie Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay. History The family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. ...

, and published about a year ago, — are worth twenty works like ''Red, White and Blue.''" His 1876 work, ''Political and Military Episodes in the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century'' was devoted to British General

John Burgoyne General John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British general, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several batt ...

. He also penned two volumes on the noble

Percy The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

and Smythe families, as well as a children's story, ''Cluck-cluck''.

Personal life

One of de Fonblanque's daughters, Louise Beatrice, married Francis William Lowther, illegitimate son of

William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, PC, FRS (21 July 1787 – 4 March 1872), styled Viscount Lowther between 1807 and 1844, was a British Tory politician. Background Lonsdale was the eldest son of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, and ...

, in 1868. Another daughter, Lavinia Mary, married Wilkinson Jocelyn Shaw, son of

Sir Frederick Shaw, 3rd Baronet Sir Frederick Shaw, 3rd Baronet (11 December 1799 – 30 June 1876) was an Irish Conservative MP in the United Kingdom Parliament, and a judge. He was the second son of Colonel Sir Robert Shaw, Bt of Bushy Park, Dublin and his first wife Mar ...

, in 1873. By his sixth son, Lester Ramsay de Fonblanque, he was grandfather of Major-General

Philip de Fonblanque Major-General Philip de Fonblanque (16 November 1885 – 2 July 1940) was a senior British officer, who at the start of the Second World War, organised the logistics for the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium. Already a sick man ...

, who organised logistics for the British Expeditionary Force in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

at the very beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and his namesake Major-General Edward Barrington de Fonblanque, who fought in both world wars.de Fonblanque formerly of Guildford House pedigree, ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' 1972 He lived in London, but died age 74, in

Bourne End, Buckinghamshire Bourne End is a village mostly in the civil parishes in England, parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, Wooburn, but partly in that of Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about five miles (8 km) south-east of High Wycombe and three ...

, where he had gone to stay with a friend after falling ill.

Publications

* ''A Life-Journey From Mannheim to Inkerman. From the Reminiscences of an Army Surgeon'' London: Ward and Downey, 1890. * ''Annals of the

House of Percy A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

: From the Conquest to the Opening of the Nineteenth Century'' (Vol. 1 & 2) London: R. Clay & Sons. 1887 * ''Lives of the Lords Strangford: With Their Ancestors and Contemporaries Through Ten Generations'' 1877 * ''Cluck-cluck: A Christmas story told by Grandpapa Potmouse'' London: Pickering, 1877 * ''Some Account of a New System of Elementary Teaching''. London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1877. * ''Political and Military Episodes in the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century'' London : Macmillan & Co., 1876. * ''Life and Labours of Albany Fonblanque''. London: Bentley, 1874. * ''Niphon and Pe-che-li; or, Two Years in Japan and Northern China'' London: Saunders, Otley and Co. 1863 * ''Treatise on the Administration and Organization of the British Army''. London, Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1858 * ''Money or Merit. The Army Purchase Question Considered with Especial Reference to the Recent Commission of Inquiry''. London: C.J. Skeet, 1857. (with Charles E. Trevelyan)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Fonblanque, Edward Barrington 1821 births 1895 deaths English people of Irish descent 19th-century British historians English travel writers De Fonblanque family British Army personnel of the Crimean War Royal Army Service Corps officers