Thomas Philip Le Fanu (9 December 1858 – 21 October 1945) was an Anglo-Irish civil servant. Born in Ireland to 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, he was the son of William Richard Le Fanu (1816-1894) and his wife Henrietta Victorine Barrington, daughter of

Sir Matthew Barrington, 2nd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

. He was educated in England at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

,''

Alumni Cantabrigienses ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...

'' whence he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1881. Le Fanu worked first in the Public Record Office of Ireland from 1881, transferring to the Chief Secretary of Ireland's Office in 1884. He rose to become Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary of Ireland,

Augustine Birrell Augustine Birrell KC (19 January 185020 November 1933) was a British Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers to own their property, and for exte ...

, between 1910 and 1913. In 1913 he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. From 1913 to 1926, through the period when Ireland gained independence, he was Commissioner of Public Works. LeFanu was Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1918 to 1920 and again from 1925 until 1930. He was President of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

between 1933 and 1936. He married Florence Sophia Mabel Sullivan, daughter of the Reverend James Sullivan, on 3 July 1890. They had two children: their daughter Lucie Catherine Le Fanu (1901-1996), who married the educationalist

John Traill Christie John Traill Christie (18 October 1899 – 8 September 1980) was headmaster of Repton School (1932–37) and Westminster School (1937–50), before becoming Principal of Jesus College, Oxford (1949–67). Christie married Lucie Cath ...

; and their son William Richard LeFanu (1904-1995), who became a librarian and was the husband of the composer

Elizabeth Maconchy Dame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy LeFanu (; 19 March 1907 – 11 November 1994) was an Irish-English composer. She is considered to be one of the finest composers Great Britain and Ireland have produced. Biography Elizabeth Violet Maconchy was b ...

. The composer

Nicola LeFanu Nicola Frances LeFanu (born 28 April 1947) is a British composer, academic, lecturer and director. Life Nicola LeFanu was born in Wickham Bishops, Essex, England, to William LeFanu and Elizabeth Maconchy (also a composer, later Dame Elizabeth ...

is their granddaughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LeFanu, Thomas Philip 1858 births 1945 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Irish people of French descent