Thomas Langlois Lefroy
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Thomas Langlois Lefroy (8 January 1776 – 4 May 1869) was an
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
-
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 ...
politician and judge. He served as an MP for the constituency of
Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...
in 1830–1841,
Privy Councillor of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal execut ...
in 1835–1869 and
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...
in 1852–1866.


Early life

Thomas Lefroy was born in
Limerick, Ireland Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 c ...
. He had an outstanding academic record at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
, from 1790 to 1793. His great-uncle, Benjamin Langlois, sponsored Tom's legal studies at Lincoln's Inn, London. One year later, Lefroy served as Auditor of Trinity's
College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund ...
, the still-active debating society of the college. Later still, he became a prominent member of the Irish bar (having been called to it in 1797) and published a series of Law Reports on the cases of the Irish
Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...
.


Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen

In 1796, Lefroy began a flirtation with Jane Austen, who was a friend of an older female relative. Jane Austen wrote two letters to her sister Cassandra mentioning "Tom Lefroy", and some have suggested that it may have been he whom Austen had in mind when she invented the character of Mr. Darcy in ''Pride and Prejudice'', as the courtship between Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen took place over the year or so that ''Pride and Prejudice'' was written. In his 2003 biography, ''Becoming Jane Austen'', Jon Spence suggests that Jane Austen actually used her and Tom LeFroy's personalities as the models for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, but not in an expected way. Spence suggests that Jane Austen used Tom Lefroy's more gregarious personality as the model for the novel's heroine Elizabeth Bennet, and her own measured demeanor was used as the model for the male protagonist, Mr. Darcy. In a letter dated Saturday (9 January 1796), Austen mentioned:
You scold me so much in the nice long letter which I have this moment received from you, that I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together. I can expose myself however, only once more, because he leaves the country soon after next Friday, on which day we are to have a dance at Ashe after all. He is a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man, I assure you. But as to our having ever met, except at the three last balls, I cannot say much; for he is so excessively laughed at about me at Ashe, that he is ashamed of coming to Steventon, and ran away when we called on Mrs. Lefroy a few days ago.
. . .
After I had written the above, we received a visit from Mr. Tom Lefroy and his cousin George. The latter is really very well-behaved now; and as for the other, he has but one fault, which time will, I trust, entirely remove — it is that his morning coat is a great deal too light. He is a very great admirer of Tom Jones, and therefore wears the same coloured clothes, I imagine, which he did when he was wounded.
In a letter started on Thursday (14 January 1796), and finished the following morning, there was another mention of him.
''Friday.'' — At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea.
Austen's surviving correspondence contains only one other mention of Tom Lefroy, in a November 1798 letter that Austen biographer Claire Tomalin believes demonstrates the author's "bleak remembrance, and persistent interest" in Lefroy. In the letter to her sister, Austen writes that Tom's aunt Mrs. Lefroy had been to visit, but had not said anything about her nephew...
"...to ''me'', and I was too proud to make any enquiries; but on my father's afterwards asking where he was, I learnt that he was gone back to London in his way to Ireland, where he is called to the Bar and means to practise."
Another possible mention of Lefroy is in Austen's '' Emma'' (1815). In chapter 9,
Emma Woodhouse Emma Woodhouse is the 21-year-old protagonist of Jane Austen's 1815 novel '' Emma''. She is described in the novel's opening sentence as "handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition... and had lived nearly twenty- ...
and Harriet Smith discuss a poem. Austen may have hidden the word TOLMEYFOR—an anagram of TOM LEFROY—in the poem. Upon learning of Jane Austen's death (18 July 1817), Lefroy travelled from Ireland to England to pay his respects to the British author. In addition, at an auction of Cadell's papers (possibly in London), one Tom Lefroy bought a Cadell publisher's rejection letter—for Austen's early version of ''Pride and Prejudice'', titled ''First Impressions''. Caroline Austen said in her letter to James Edward Austen-Leigh on 1 April 1869:
I enclose a copy of Mr. Austen's letter to Cadell—I do not know which novel he would have sent—The letter does not do much credit to the tact or courtesy of our good Grandfather for Cadell was a great man in his day, and it is not surprising that he should have refused the favour so offered from an unknown—but the circumstance may be worth noting, especially as we have so few incidents to produce. At a sale of Cadell's papers &c Tom Lefroy picked up the original letter—and Jemima copied it for me –
It was unlikely that Caroline Austen would address the Chief Justice Lefroy as only 'Tom Lefroy' (she indeed addressed him as ''the still living 'Chief Justice in the later part of the letter). However, if it is true that the original Tom Lefroy purchased the Cadell letter after Jane's death, it is possible that he later handed it over to Thomas Edward Preston Lefroy (T.E.P. Lefroy; husband of Jemima Lefroy who was the daughter of Anna Austen Lefroy and Benjamin Lefroy). T.E.P. Lefroy later would give Cadell's letter to Caroline for reference. Cadell & Davies firm was closed down in 1836 after the death of Thomas Cadell Jr. The sale of Cadell's papers took place in 1840, possibly in November. In the latter years of Tom Lefroy's life, he was questioned about his relationship with Jane Austen by his nephew, and admitted to having loved Jane Austen, but stated that it was a "boyish love". As is written in a letter sent from T.E.P. Lefroy to James Edward Austen Leigh in 1870,
My late venerable uncle ... said in so many words that he was in love with her, although he qualified his confession by saying it was a boyish love. As this occurred in a friendly & private conversation, I feel some doubt whether I ought to make it public.
A fictional account of their relationship is at the center of the 2007
historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Dar ...
film ''
Becoming Jane ''Becoming Jane'' is a 2007 biographical romantic drama film directed by Julian Jarrold. It depicts the early life of the British author Jane Austen and her lasting love for Thomas Langlois Lefroy. American actress Anne Hathaway stars as the ...
''. In this film, Lefroy is played by
James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes ...
, and Austen by
Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, she was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2 ...
.


Political career

Lefroy contested
Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...
in an 1827 by-election, as a
Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
, but finished third. An idea of Lefroy's politics is given by the opening of an editorial in ''
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 ...
'' (of London) on Friday 27 February 1829 when he was opposing the
Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 The Catholic Relief Act 1829, also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829. It was the culmination of the process of Catholic emancipation throughout the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, whose effect was to admit Irish Catholics to parliament (if they met a high property qualification). Lefroy may have been influenced by Huguenot family memories of persecution by French Catholics; this was the case with other opponents of Catholic emancipation such as
William Saurin William Saurin (1757 – 11 February 1839) was an Irish barrister, Crown official and politician. He was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1807 to 1822, and for much of that period, he acted as the effective head of the Irish Government. He was ...
mentioned above.
Richard Lalor Sheil Richard Lalor Sheil (17 August 1791 – 23 May 1851), Irish politician, writer and orator, was born at Drumdowney, Slieverue, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The family was temporarily domiciled at Drumdowney while their new mansion at Bellevue, near ...
published a profile of Lefroy stating (amongst many hostile remarks on his combination of piety and moneymaking) that Lefroy was well known for his interest in the conversion of Jews to Protestantism, leading
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...
to joke during a lawsuit over a collection of antique coins that Lefroy should be given the Hebrew coins as his fee while O'Connell received those with a Roman inscription.
Patrick Geoghegan Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan, O.F.M. (1805–1864) was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who served firstly as Bishop of Adelaide. Born in Dublin, he became a Franciscan friar and served at a Dublin parish before volunteering for Australia. Af ...
's life of O'Connell, King Dan, states that O'Connell held Lefroy's legal abilities in contempt and regarded him as a prime example of a lawyer promoted above more meritorious Catholics (notably O'Connell himself) because of his Protestant religion and Tory politics. He was elected to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
for the Dublin University seat in 1830, as a Tory (the party later became known as
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
). He became a member of the Privy Council of Ireland on 29 January 1835. In 1838, Thomas Langlois Lefroy received American politician
Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
during Sumner's visit to Ireland. Tom Lefroy continued to represent the university until he was appointed an Irish judge (with the title of a Baron of the Exchequer) in 1841. In 1848 he presided over the sedition trial of the Young Irelander
John Mitchel John Mitchel ( ga, Seán Mistéal; 3 November 1815 – 20 March 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, author, and political journalist. In the Famine years of the 1840s he was a leading writer for ''The Nation'' newspaper produced by the ...
. He was promoted to Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland in 1852. Despite some allegations in Parliament, that he was too old to do the job, Lefroy did not resign as Chief Justice until he was aged 90 and a Conservative government was in office to fill the vacancy. This was in July 1866. One apocryphal story (in the memoirs of the Home Rule MP JG Swift MacNeill) describes Lefroy's son as denying in Parliament that his father was too old to perform his duties, but being himself so visibly old and feeble as to produce the opposite effect on parliamentary opinion. Another version of this story has the son defending his father's capacity although he himself had applied to be excused certain official duties on account of advanced age. The Hansard report of the debate can be foun
here
In a satirical pamphlet on the Trinity College Dublin election of 1865 Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu suggests that Lefroy was so old that he had "ridden on the mastodon to hunt the megatherium" and mocks the manner in which the Conservative lawyer-politicians Joseph Napier and
James Whiteside James Whiteside (12 August 1804 – 25 November 1876) was an Irish politician and judge. Background and education Whiteside was born at Delgany, County Wicklow, the son of William Whiteside, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland. His father wa ...
allegedly insisted whenever the Conservatives were in power (and might appoint them to replace him) that Lefroy is too old to perform his duties, only to insist whenever a Whig government is in power that he is in perfect health.


Interest in astronomy

Tom Lefroy was also interested in astronomy. On 30 March 1846, he visited William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse in Parsonstown to try Parsons's new telescope called
Leviathan of Parsonstown Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-f ...
. Tom later said to his wife (Letter 31 March 1846): :


Family

According to the website of (Tom Lefroy's house in Longford, Ireland), the Lefroy family came from the town of Cambrai in the northwestern corner of France. They were a
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 ...
family, and one of their heads of the family, the Lord L'Offroy, died at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.


Tom Lefroy's siblings

Tom Lefroy was born of the Irish Lefroys, descendants of a
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 ...
Lefroy who migrated to England in the 16th century, hence the French-sounding name (the family head being a Lord L'Offroy). In 1765, Tom's father Anthony Peter Lefroy was secretly married to Ann Gardner in Limerick, Ireland. Five girls were born (Radovici mentioned five, but Cranfield mentioned four; it is possible that one of Tom's elder sisters died in infancy) without the knowledge of Benjamin Langlois, Tom's great-uncle and his family's benefactor. Thomas Langlois Lefroy was the sixth child, also the first son. The list of Tom's siblings (including him) is as follows: # Unnamed fifth elder sister (actual birth order unknown) # Lucy (1 January 1768 – May 1853) # Phoebe (15 April 1770 – 5 December 1839) # Catherine (18 September 1771 – 3 September 1805) # Sarah (18 March 1773 – 1836) # Thomas Langlois (8 January 1776 – 4 May 1869) # Anthony (19 October 1777 – 7 September 1857) #* Anthony's son (Thomas Edward Preston Lefroy, 1815–1887) later married Anna Jemima Lefroy (1815–1855, daughter of
Anna Austen Lefroy Anna Austen Lefroy (1793-1872) (Jane-Anna-Elizabeth Austen/Anna Lefroy) was the niece of Jane Austen by her eldest brother James Austen, and a contributor to her life-history via the so-called ''Lefroy MS''. A keen if amateur writer herself, Anna ...
) on 9 September 1846 # Elizabeth (17 April 1780 – 22 July 1867) # Benjamin (5 May 1782 – 1 September 1869) # Christopher (26 June 1784 – 14 February 1805) # Anne (26 January 1786 – ?) # Henry (5 May 1789 – 29 January 1876)


Tom Lefroy's children

Tom Lefroy married Mary Paul on 16 March 1799 in north Wales. From their marriage, they had seven children as listed in the ''Visitation of Ireland'': # Anthony Lefroy (21 March 1800 – 11 January 1890), subsequently MP for his father's old seat of
Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...
. # Jane Christmas Lefroy (24 June 1802 – 3 August 1896) # Anne Lefroy (25 April 1804 – 24 February 1885) # Thomas Paul Lefroy (31 December 1806 – 29 January 1891; wrote ''Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy'', published in 1871) # The Very Rev. Jeffry Lefroy (25 March 1809 – 10 December 1885) # George Thomson Lefroy (26 May 1811 – 19 March 1890) # Mary Elizabeth Lefroy (19 December 1817 – 23 January 1890) Another son (Benjamin, born 25 March 1815) died in infancy. Tom Lefroy's daughters never married.


Jane Christmas Lefroy

Tom Lefroy's first daughter was named Jane Christmas Lefroy. Scholars debate the derivation of this name. Some believe that the name ''Jane'' was derived from Lady Jane Paul (Tom's mother-in-law). Others believe the name referred to Jane Austen. The second theory is implied in the 2007 film ''
Becoming Jane ''Becoming Jane'' is a 2007 biographical romantic drama film directed by Julian Jarrold. It depicts the early life of the British author Jane Austen and her lasting love for Thomas Langlois Lefroy. American actress Anne Hathaway stars as the ...
''. Christmas was a family name coming from the Paul family


Carrigglas Manor

Carrigglas Manor was a Gothic-style great house built for Lefroy and his family circa 1830 (''Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy''). The family had lived in Carrigglas before 1837 (one of Tom's letters for Mary was dated 5 October 1834). James Gandon the famous architect of Dublin's Custom House designed and built a stable block and farmyard and walled garden for Lefroy. In 1837, Lefroy renovated the Manor with the help of Daniel Robertson, Esq., a famous English architect. A hurricane on 6 January 1839 destroyed some parts of the house, and Lefroy had to rebuild it. The Lefroy family sold the Manor and Estate in 2006. , the plan to adapt the manor house to be part of a newly built hotel, and to turn the park into a golf course and housing estate collapsed and work at Carrigglas was terminated before the hotel or any of the new houses were occupied.Carrigglas Manor
In 2014, the estate was bought by the Longford family and company Glennon's who are the current owners.


Arms


References


Further reading

* ''Who's Who of British members of parliament: Vol. I 1832–1885'', edited by Michael Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976) * * ''Letters of Jane Austen – Brabourne Edition'' available on line at http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/brablet1.html#letter1 (The letters are public domain) * Shiel's Sketches of the Irish Bar: Vol. I & II 1880 (Donohue & Henneberry Press, Chicago)


External links

*
Becoming Jane Fansite: About Tom Lefroy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefroy, Thomas Langlois 1776 births 1869 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Auditors of the College Historical Society Irish Conservative Party MPs Irish people of French descent Jane Austen Lords chief justice of Ireland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dublin University Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Politicians from County Limerick Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium