Melville Amadeus Henry Douglas Heddle de La Caillemotte de Massue de Ruvigné, "9th Marquis of Ruvigny and 15th of Raineval" (25 April 1868 – 6 October 1921) was a British genealogist and author, who was twice president of the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland.
Biography
Ruvigny was born in London to Colonel Charles Henry Theodore Bruce de Massue de Ruvigné, ''
soi-disant'' Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval, a native of Switzerland, by his marriage to Margaret Melville Moodie, a daughter of George Moodie, of Cocklaw and Dunbog in
Fife, Scotland. Ruvigny's grandfather,
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
Lloyd Henry de Ruvynes, an Irishman of French origin, changed his name to "de Massue de Ruvigné", because of his descent from a daughter of
Henri de Massue, 1st Marquis de Rouvigny Henri de Massue, 1st Marquis de Rouvigny (1603–1689) was a French diplomat.
He was the eldest son of Daniel de Massue, Seigneur de Rouvigny and Madeleine de Pinot des Fontaines.
A Protestant, in 1647 Rouvigny married Marie, a daughter of Pierr ...
.
In one of the few sources to discuss the de Massue family, the genealogist and
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...
herald
George Edward Cokayne
George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standa ...
states that at the death of the 1st Marquis's son,
Henri de Massue, 2nd Marquis de Rouvigny, created Earl of Galway,
"all his honours, both French and English, became extinct. This statement is made after a careful investigation of all the facts".
The genealogist
Guy Stair Sainty
Guy Stair Sainty, (born 7 December 1950) is a British art dealer and author on nobility, royal genealogy, and heraldry.
Life and education
Guy Stair Sainty is the son of Christopher Lawrence Sainty and Virginia Cade Stair, grand-daughter of ...
viewed Ruvigny as
"a very fine scholar, but occasionally his romantic (in the 19th century sense) inclinations got the better of him, and that is certainly the case with regard to his own title. He was a female line heir, and he simply ignored the provisions regarding nobiliary succession introduced post 1814..." "Ruvigny... since the male heirs of this family were extinct, considered himself the heir since the original patent allowed for mixed succession (like so many French creations). He ignored the fact that after the restoration all French titles became inheritable by male heirs only. His argument was that he was the heir according to the original patent- unfortunately he was treating this title like a British title, i.e. that the title itself was what mattered. However in France before the revolution territorial titles like this were tied to the original lordship which had been "erected" into a barony, county, marquisate or dukedom, and possession of the title required possession of the land. Ruvigny's claim would have been stronger (although not sufficient) if he had inherited the property in addition to the title."
![Marquise De Ruvigny - Raineval LCCN2014717449](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Marquise_De_Ruvigny_-_Raineval_LCCN2014717449.jpg)
On 30 August 1893 Ruvigny married Rose Amalia Gaminara, daughter of Poncrazio Gaminara of
Tumaco
Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited mai ...
, Colombia, by his wife, Doña Amalia Cabezas, daughter of
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
Felipe Cabezas, LL.D. of the University of
Quito, Ecuador.
Ruvigny was an early member of the Jacobite
Order of the White Rose (1886–1915), though he found the sentimental nature of the Order restrictive.
In 1891, he co-founded the
Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland, with
Herbert Vivian and
Ruaraidh Erskine, as a more political and radical Jacobite society. He was President of the League in 1893, 1894 and 1897. The League was one of the principal organizations driving the
Neo-Jacobite Revival
The Neo-Jacobite Revival was a political movement that took place during the 25 years before the First World War in the United Kingdom. The movement was monarchist, and had the specific aim of replacing British parliamentary democracy with a restor ...
of the 1890s. In 1898 he was made a Knight of the
Order of Charles III
The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III ( es, Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, originally es, Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) was establ ...
by the
Spanish Carlist claimant
Don Carlos, Duke of Madrid, known as "King Carlos VII".
Ruvigny was a prolific author of genealogical works and a committed member of the Roman Catholic Church, which he joined in 1902. He died in a London nursing home and was succeeded by his second son, Charles, "Comte de la Caillemotte", his first son having died unexpectedly shortly before the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
['']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' dated 7 October 1921, p. 9, col. C
Publications
*''Moutray of Seafield and Roscobie, now of Favour Royal, Co. Tyrone: an Historical and Genealogical memoir of the family in Scotland, England, Ireland and America''
*
The Family of Hicks' (London: Privately Printed, 1902)
*
The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal', 5 vols. (London, 1903–1911)
*
The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Grants of Honour' (Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904)
*
Morris of Ballybeggan and Castle Morris' (s.l.: Privately Printed, 1904)
*
The Moodie Book: Being an Account of the Families of Melsetter, Muir, Cocklaw, Blairhill, Bryanton, Gilchorn, Pitmuies, Arbekie, Masterton, etc., etc.' (s.l.: Privately Printed, 1906)
*
The Nobilities of Europe' (London: Melville and Company, 1909)
*
The Legitimist Kalender for the Year of our Lord 1910' (London: The Forget-Me-Not Royalist Club, 1910)
*''The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage'' (London: Harrison & Sons, 1914)
*
The Roll of Honour: a biographical record of all members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war', 2 vols. (London: The Standard Art Book Co., Ltd., 1916)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massue, Melville Henry
1868 births
1921 deaths
People from Fulham
British genealogists
Jacobite propagandists
Scottish Jacobites
Neo-Jacobite Revival