Lot Essay
This epergne was probably commissioned by Colonel David Grant of Blairfindy, a Jacobite and distinguished officer in the Army and Court of Charles Edward Stewart. He was discharged of his duties in 1774 and left France for Canada. His services to the Jacobite cause is acknowledged by the Young Pretender in a letter to Grant sent from Rome in 1774.
"Colonel Grant of Blairfindy. The assurances of your Loyalty and attachement are always agreeable to me and the account you guive me of the service you have been of to so worthy a youn man as you represent Sir John Gordon of Park guives me great pleasure.. It is however a subject of concern to me to finde that you have been obliged to quit the Court. Where you have been so frequently useful to your countrymen my faithful subjects. I heartily wish you all the happiness in yr next acquisition and am with esteem,
your sincere friend,
Charles Rex."
Colonel Grant had strong family connections with New France. His younger brother William Grant (b.1744), merchant, seigneur, Governer Receiver and politican had married Ann Catherine, Dowager Baroness Le Moyne de Longueuil, widow of Charles Jacques Le Moyne, 3rd Baron de Longueuil (1724-1755), in 1770. Baron de Longueuil had been killed on active service at the Battle of Lac Saint Sacrement (Lake George), New York. His only daughter, who was born posthumously in 1756, became Baroness de Longueuil and Dame of Boloeil in her own right. She was later married to Colonel Grant's son Captain David Alexander Grant of the 84th Foot Regiment on 7th May 1781. These two marriages representing the union of the Old Alliance between Scotland and France, or more exactly New France
The grandfather of Charles Jacques le Moyne, 3rd Baron de Longueuil was Charles le Moyne II (1656-1729), 1st Baron de Longueuil. He was the eldest son of Charles Le Moyne I who had been born at Longueil, near Dieppe France in 1626 and had settled in Canada in 1641. In his early career in Canada Charles Le Moyne I acquired a reputation as a fearless military commander and a 'singularly effective Indian negotiator'. In 1648 Louis XIV granted him letters of nobility. His eldest son received the Cross of St. Louis and was further created a Baron of France. His Lordship of Canada was erected into a Barony, with limitation to both his male and female descendants, in requital for his eminent services in Canada during the seige of Quebec and the war against the Iroquois.
In the first generation of the Le Moyne family in Canada, there were twelve brothers. They have been refered to as the 'Maccebees of New France.' Following research for his book, The White and the Gold, Thomas Costain records that;
"The Le Moynes were a fabulous family, no other word can give any conception to this gallant sire, Charles Le Moyne and his sons. There is no adequate record of the parts played in the drama of New France, very little in fact, but a series of names and dates and a manner in which each of them died, but they were always there fighting, contriving and dying. It was clear that they were ambitions as well as self sacrificing, keen witted as well as fearless."
Among the first Baron's brothers were Piere Le Moyne d'Iberville, soldier, naval commander, explorer, coloniser and founder of Louisiana, almost certainly one of Canada's most distinguished sons. The historian, Charles B. Read, titled his biography of d'Iberville The First Great Canadian. Other brothers included Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, seigneur de Bienville, explorer, naval commander, first Governor of Louisiana and founder of New Orleans. He was the only one to survive into old age. All the other brothers, distinguished soldiers, sailors explorers and developers of the New World, were to die either fighting the Indians or the English.
The marriage of Marie Charles Joseph, Baroness de Longueuil to Captain David Alexander Grant united the family of Grant with the Barony of de Longueuil and the epergne entered the possesion of the Barons de Longueuil. It passed by descent to Charles Colmore Grant, 7th Baron de Longueuil, who in 1880
'claimed a royal recognition of his right to the Barony of Longueuil. By the treaty of Quebec the sovereinty of Canada had passed from the Kings of France to the Kings of Britain, but with the reservation that the rights and priviledges 'of what kinds' should be reserved and secured to all individuals of French descent to which they had been entitled to under the previous regime. Under this clause Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, was graciously pleased to acknowledge the claim of Charles Colmore Grant to the title of Baron of Longueuil in the province of Quebec, Canada, 4th December 1880'
It was Charles Colmore Grant who returned to Europe, establishing residences in Scotland and the South of France. It is probable that the epergne was struck with French import marks when taken to France by Grant.
Tels Peres, Tels Fils - Like Fathers, Like Sons, Adventurs and Fortunes, The Saga of the Le Moyne Family in New France, is currently a major exhibition at the Museum of David Macdonald Stewart at the Old Fort, the Isle of St. Helens, Montreal. The Isle of St. Helens formed part of the estate of the Barons de Longueuil which was sold to the British Crown in the 19th century. The history of the Grant family is a source of research by the Societé d'Histoire de Longueuil, Longueuil, Montreal
"Colonel Grant of Blairfindy. The assurances of your Loyalty and attachement are always agreeable to me and the account you guive me of the service you have been of to so worthy a youn man as you represent Sir John Gordon of Park guives me great pleasure.. It is however a subject of concern to me to finde that you have been obliged to quit the Court. Where you have been so frequently useful to your countrymen my faithful subjects. I heartily wish you all the happiness in yr next acquisition and am with esteem,
your sincere friend,
Charles Rex."
Colonel Grant had strong family connections with New France. His younger brother William Grant (b.1744), merchant, seigneur, Governer Receiver and politican had married Ann Catherine, Dowager Baroness Le Moyne de Longueuil, widow of Charles Jacques Le Moyne, 3rd Baron de Longueuil (1724-1755), in 1770. Baron de Longueuil had been killed on active service at the Battle of Lac Saint Sacrement (Lake George), New York. His only daughter, who was born posthumously in 1756, became Baroness de Longueuil and Dame of Boloeil in her own right. She was later married to Colonel Grant's son Captain David Alexander Grant of the 84th Foot Regiment on 7th May 1781. These two marriages representing the union of the Old Alliance between Scotland and France, or more exactly New France
The grandfather of Charles Jacques le Moyne, 3rd Baron de Longueuil was Charles le Moyne II (1656-1729), 1st Baron de Longueuil. He was the eldest son of Charles Le Moyne I who had been born at Longueil, near Dieppe France in 1626 and had settled in Canada in 1641. In his early career in Canada Charles Le Moyne I acquired a reputation as a fearless military commander and a 'singularly effective Indian negotiator'. In 1648 Louis XIV granted him letters of nobility. His eldest son received the Cross of St. Louis and was further created a Baron of France. His Lordship of Canada was erected into a Barony, with limitation to both his male and female descendants, in requital for his eminent services in Canada during the seige of Quebec and the war against the Iroquois.
In the first generation of the Le Moyne family in Canada, there were twelve brothers. They have been refered to as the 'Maccebees of New France.' Following research for his book, The White and the Gold, Thomas Costain records that;
"The Le Moynes were a fabulous family, no other word can give any conception to this gallant sire, Charles Le Moyne and his sons. There is no adequate record of the parts played in the drama of New France, very little in fact, but a series of names and dates and a manner in which each of them died, but they were always there fighting, contriving and dying. It was clear that they were ambitions as well as self sacrificing, keen witted as well as fearless."
Among the first Baron's brothers were Piere Le Moyne d'Iberville, soldier, naval commander, explorer, coloniser and founder of Louisiana, almost certainly one of Canada's most distinguished sons. The historian, Charles B. Read, titled his biography of d'Iberville The First Great Canadian. Other brothers included Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, seigneur de Bienville, explorer, naval commander, first Governor of Louisiana and founder of New Orleans. He was the only one to survive into old age. All the other brothers, distinguished soldiers, sailors explorers and developers of the New World, were to die either fighting the Indians or the English.
The marriage of Marie Charles Joseph, Baroness de Longueuil to Captain David Alexander Grant united the family of Grant with the Barony of de Longueuil and the epergne entered the possesion of the Barons de Longueuil. It passed by descent to Charles Colmore Grant, 7th Baron de Longueuil, who in 1880
'claimed a royal recognition of his right to the Barony of Longueuil. By the treaty of Quebec the sovereinty of Canada had passed from the Kings of France to the Kings of Britain, but with the reservation that the rights and priviledges 'of what kinds' should be reserved and secured to all individuals of French descent to which they had been entitled to under the previous regime. Under this clause Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, was graciously pleased to acknowledge the claim of Charles Colmore Grant to the title of Baron of Longueuil in the province of Quebec, Canada, 4th December 1880'
It was Charles Colmore Grant who returned to Europe, establishing residences in Scotland and the South of France. It is probable that the epergne was struck with French import marks when taken to France by Grant.
Tels Peres, Tels Fils - Like Fathers, Like Sons, Adventurs and Fortunes, The Saga of the Le Moyne Family in New France, is currently a major exhibition at the Museum of David Macdonald Stewart at the Old Fort, the Isle of St. Helens, Montreal. The Isle of St. Helens formed part of the estate of the Barons de Longueuil which was sold to the British Crown in the 19th century. The history of the Grant family is a source of research by the Societé d'Histoire de Longueuil, Longueuil, Montreal