Sunday 1 December 2024

The March Phillipps de Lisle Family and Leicestershire over 340 years

LAHS Vice-President, Squire Gerard de Lisle, reflects on his family’s long association with the county.

This article, written by a descendant of the March Phillipps de Lisle family, chronicles over 340 years of their history in Leicestershire. Beginning in the 17th century, it follows numerous descendants as they engaged in local and national affairs. From political engagements and military service to community and religious contributions, each generation has forged connections both locally and far beyond Leicestershire. Drawing on family records and personal memories, this account provides a detailed look at the enduring legacy of one of Leicestershire’s longstanding families.

The Beginning

We linked officially with the county when Edward Lisle (1666-1722) married Mary Phillipps of Garendon in 1688. They then had twenty children: a family record!

Her father, Sir Ambrose Phillipps (1637-1706), purchased the Garendon Hall and Estate in 1684 for £28,000 and then acquired the Gracedieu Estate in 1690. Both had previously been monastic properties, and it seems that the Lisle family, at that time of the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, had previously given donations to Garendon Abbey! So, the link may extend further back. Sir Ambrose Phillipps was a judge, who according to his handsome tomb in Shepshed Parish Church:

                                                                                                                                He then retired into the country

                                                                                                                                 where he made himself useful

                                                                                                                                    by composing differences

                                                                                                                                    and preventing law-suits

                                                                                                                                     amongst his neighbours

Ambrose Phillips was also the founder of the Garendon Library, and the present-day collection contains a volume with his signature. His eldest son died before him, and the heir was William (1672-1729) who made his fortune in the Levant trade; he is depicted holding a silver coin.

William’s two sons traveled extensively; the eldest Ambrose (1707-1737) –known as Il Bello Inglese when in Italy – was portrayed there, c.1730, by Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757). After his return, he designed and erected at Garendon three major “follies”:

-The Temple of Venus (which contained a “Greek” statue of Venus which was unfortunately smashed by Luddite rioters in 1811

-The Arch of Triumph (a smaller copy of the Arch of Titus in Rome)

-The Obelisk (recently measured to be 82 feet high), a feat of engineering: the hollow needle does not rest on its base but on four balls – originally wood but changed to stone c.1800 by a clever architect. The bronze plaque was borrowed during WWII!

After Ambrose’s early death, aged just 30, his brother Samuel (1709-1774) erected a very elegant tomb in Shepshed Church by Robert Taylor (1714-1788), monument maker; the carver’s name was Beresford. Following this, Samuel undertook the rebuilding of Garendon Hall which he completed based on Ambrose’s original Palladian design. It was adorned with statues by John Cheere (1709-1787), similar to a group at Staunton Harold.

Samuel married twice but had no children and when his widow died in 1796, the estates devolved to Thomas March II (1747-1817) (a grandson of Edward and Mary); he was married to Susan Lisle (1758-1838), also a grandchild of the same prolific couple.

The March Phillipps Family

Thomas – judging by his books which still form part of the Garendon library today – was instrumental in founding a squadron of the Leicestershire Yeomanry, the Garendon Troop, due to the possible threat of invasion by Napoleon after the French Revolution. He built a riding school (150 feet long) at the rear of the Monastic stables which remained in use till 1942. Strangely, there is no record of him sitting for his portrait, whereas there is an impressive collection of most of the others to the present day.

Thomas and Susan’s eldest son, Charles (1779-1862) was active in Leicestershire politics and was MP for the Loughborough area in three reigns, on and off between 1818-1837, according to Patterson “Radical Leicester 1780-1850”, Leicester, 1854, p. 187.

The quadruple triumph was celebrated in Leicester by a public dinner of colossal proportions on the Cricket Ground. Three thousand reform voters sat down at nearly a hundred tables to a feast for which 4,000 lbs. of roast beef, 3,000 lbs. of plum pudding, and 2,500 gallons of ale were provided. Two hundred and fifty “vocal and instrumental performers,” under William Gardiner’s direction, supplied an accompaniment; and over 20,000 spectators watched the consumption of the gargantuan repast and listened to the speeches. It was a famous victory.

In 1807, he married Harriet Ducarel (1790-1813) whose mother was a Bengali saved (it is said) from the sacrificial funeral pyre of suttee, and was married in 1772 to her saviour, Gerard Ducarel (1745-1800). Charles and Harriet had three children and the eldest, Ambrose (1809-1878), became a Roman Catholic aged 16, was admitted to Trinity College Cambridge, and gave the 227 acres in Charnwood Forest to build the present-day Mt St Bernard Abbey.

Ambrose March Phillipps de Lisle (1809-1878) and Family

Ambrose married 1833 Laura Clifford (1811-1896), and they had 16 children. They built 1834 Grace Dieu Manor (now a sports academy) and, on inheriting 1862, added a fourth floor to Garendon Hall; Messengers of Loughborough put in (coal fired) central heating in 1864. Ambrose and Laura were of their time: building Catholic schools and churches at Whitwick and Shepshed – often with the help of Augustus Welby Pugin.

Their eldest son, Ambrose Charles (1834-1883), known as Amo, was also keen on the Yeomanry. He had two sons by Fanny Sutton (1840-1871), whose father was Sir Richard Sutton the famous Master of Foxhounds. Unfortunately, her dress caught fire in 1871, and she died of her injuries after a month of agony. She is reputed to be the ghost of Grace Dieu Manor; the one at Grace Dieu Priory is, of course, a nun!

Their eldest son, Everard (the Old Squire) was a very good shot (much in demand in those days) and – like his father – very active in the Yeomanry. He lived at Grace Dieu Warren, a house not far from the manor, till 1907, when he returned to Garendon Hall by popular acclaim. The rich Australian family that had been tenants there had not been popular.

Everard married in 1891, and his only son Eddie, in due course, though in delicate health, joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry as a 2^nd Lieutenant and was soon shell shocked during the First World War. After six months, he discharged himself from the vast recovery hospital in Dundee and enlisted as a private in the US Army in America. He was soon sent (back!) to France where he was shell shocked again. In due course, he returned to Dumfries where he died in 1957.

Ambrose and Laura’s second son, Everard (1835-1857) studied Hindustani in Paris and Addiscombe College and was posted by the East India Company to India in 1855. His Native Infantry Regiment mutinied in 1857. He managed to survive and joined the 60^th Rifles at Delhi. On 14 September 1857, he and his Indian Troop charged the water bastion, and he was recommended for the Victoria Cross. Unfortunately, he was killed on the 17^th by a sniper.

Another notable son of Ambrose and Laura was Rudolph (1853-1885) who joined the Royal Navy at a young age and cruised around the globe, often writing to his parents (many letters of his are preserved), and also sketching the interesting places he visited. His Naval Squadron were observers of the Peruvian-Chilean War 1879-1881. This was the Family’s first Peruvian link although as will be seen, not the last. In 1884, he was part of the (very late) Nile Expedition to rescue General Charles Gordon in Khartoum and Rudolph was very involved in the transport of the Troops up the Nile. Many of his informative letters were also embellished by sketches or watercolours and some were reproduced in the Illustrated London News. Very sadly he was killed at the Battle of Abu Klea, Sudan 17 January 1885, and he is buried there.

To the Present Day

Another of Ambrose and Laura’s younger sons was Edwin (1852-1920) who studied in Germany, and married Agnes Hope in 1889 in the original Roman Catholic Church of St Mary, Loughborough. They had eight children: 2 daughters became nuns, and 3 of the boys died, two of war wounds, and one who became a pilot and was shot down in 1917. Edwin’s son, Ambrose de Lisle (1894-1963) survived the trenches and Spanish flu and married in France in 1939 Christiane de Conchy (1908-2000). His French was not good enough and after the occupation of France in 1940, the Gestapo took him away to Stalag 122 for 4 years! His wife and young son, Gerard, the author of this article, were then hidden by brave people till June 1944, including in the attic of a convent. The Mother Superior there was Soeur Rose de Lima, originally from Peru which provided the 2^nd Peruvian family link.

Ambrose inherited the Garendon estate in 1957 but had already come to live at the nearby Knight Thorpe Lodge in 1955. He was very involved in the Conservative Party and was patron of the new de Lisle Catholic School at Thorpe Acre, Loughborough. Unfortunately, he died young in 1963. His son Gerard then came back from Peru (the 3^rd family link to that country), where he had worked for the Australian Trade Commission – and took over the management of the Garendon estate just as it was being cut in two by the M1. His earlier time with the Crown Estates also served him well during this period.

In 1965, he married Edith Krarup Tejada from Peru and lived first at Grace Dieu Park and then Quenby, where he was able – and still continues – to re-establish the vast Garendon Library that had been sold during the Second World War to make way for the army.

He joined the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society and was made Vice President in 1993. He was High Sheriff 1979/81 and Deputy Lieutenant 1997. He has been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries since 2008.

Squire Gerard De Lisle FSA (2024)