Thomas Langlois Lefroy

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Thomas Langlois Lefroy

Thomas Langlois Lefroy 1855 by W. H. Mote
Born 8 January 1776 (1776-01-08)
Died 4 May 1869 (aged 93)

Thomas Langlois Lefroy (8 January 1776 – 4 May 1869) was an Irish politician and judge. He was the eldest son of Colonel Anthony Peter Lefroy of Limerick (born at 108 George St, Limerick, now O'Connell St) and Anne Gardiner. According to the no-longer functioning website of Carrigglas Manor (Tom Lefroy’s house in Longford, Ireland), the Lefroy family came from the town of Cambrai in North Western corner of France. They were a Huguenot family, and one of their heads of the family, the Lord L'Offroy, died at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

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[edit] Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen

In 1796, Lefroy began a flirtation with English novelist Jane Austen, who was a friend of an older female relative of his. Jane Austen wrote two letters to her sister Cassandra mentioning "Tom Lefroy" but it does not seem to have been a serious relationship. However, it may have been he whom Austen had in mind when she invented the character Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice — D’Arcy was quite a well known and distinguished name in Ireland at the time with legal connections and a family barony that could pass down the female line[1].

In a letter started dated Saturday (9 January 1796), Austen mentioned Lefroy.

“ 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 is 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. ”

Upon learning of Jane Austen’s death (on 18 July 1817), Thomas Langlois Lefroy traveled from Ireland to England to pay his respects to the British author.[2] In addition, at an auction of Cadell's papers (possibly in London), Tom bought a Cadell publisher's rejection letter—for Austen’s early version of Pride and Prejudice (originally titled First Impressions). Caroline Austen said as follows 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 rather 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 Tom would then keep it and handed it over to Thomas Edward Preston Lefroy (TEPL; husband of Jemima Lefroy who was the daughter of Anna Austen Lefroy and Benjamin Lefroy) later on. TEPL 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[3].

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". [4] 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. [5] ”

A fictitious account of their relationship is at the center of the 2007 historical romance film Becoming Jane. In this film, Lefroy is played by James McAvoy. Although the film depicts a deep and abiding love between Jane and Tom, there is no clear evidence that such love existed between them.

[edit] Tom Lefroy’s siblings

Tom Lefroy was born of the Lefroy family in Ireland, who was the descendant of the Huguenot Lefroy who migrated to England in the 16th century[6], hence the name that sounds like a French name (their head of family was Lord L'Offroy). In 1765, Tom’s father (Anthony Peter Lefroy) was secretly married to Ann Gardner in Limerick (Ireland). Five girls were born without Benjamin Langlois (Tom’s great uncle and his family's benefactor) knowing it (Radovici mentioned five, but Cranfield mentioned four; it is possible that one of Tom's elder sisters died in infancy). Thomas Langlois Lefroy was the sixth offspring, also the first son. The list of Tom’s siblings (including him) is as follows[7]:

  1. unnamed fifth elder sister (actual birth order unknown other than being older than Thomas)
  2. Lucy (1 January 1768 – May 1853)
  3. Phoebe (15 April 1770 – 5 December 1839)
  4. Catherine (18 September 1771 – 3 September 1805)
  5. Sarah (18 March 1773 – 1836)
  6. Thomas Langlois (8 January 1776 – 4 May 1869)
  7. 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) on 9 September 1846
  8. Elizabeth (17 April 1780 – 22 July 1867)
  9. Benjamin (5 May 1782 – ?)
  10. Christopher (26 June 1784 – 14 February 1805)
  11. Anne (26 January 1786 – ?)
  12. Henry (5 May 1789 – 29 January 1876)

[edit] Tom Lefroy's children

Tom Lefroy married Mary Paul on 16 March 1799 in north Wales [8]. From their marriage, they had seven children as listed in the Visitation of Ireland[9]:

  1. Anthony Lefroy (MP) (21 March 1800 – 11 January 1890)
  2. Jane Christmas Lefroy (24 June 1802 – 3 August 1896)
  3. Anne Lefroy (25 April 1804 – 24 February 1885)
  4. Thomas Paul Lefroy (31 December 1806 – 29 January 1891; wrote Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy, published in 1871)
  5. The Very Rev. Jeffry Lefroy (25 March 1809 – 10 December 1885)
  6. George Thomson Lefroy (26 May 1811 – 19 March 1890)
  7. Mary Elizabeth Lefroy (19 December 1817 – 23 January 1890)

Another son (Benjamin, born March 25, 1815) died in infancy. Tom Lefroy’s daughters never married.

[edit] Jane Christmas Lefroy

Tom Lefroy’s first daughter was named Jane Christmas Lefroy.[9] Scholars debate the derivation of this name. Some believe that the name 'Jane' was derived from Lady Jane Paul (Tom's mother-in-law).[10] Others believe the name referred to Jane Austen.[6] The 2007 film, Becoming Jane implies that Lefroy named his eldest daughter after the author.

[edit] Political career

Tom Lefroy had an outstanding academic record at Trinity College, Dublin from 1790 to 1793. In 1793, his great-uncle Benjamin Langlois sponsored Tom's legal studies at Lincoln's Inn, London. Later, 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.

Tom Lefroy's eldest son Anthony Lefroy was also a MP for his father's old seat of Dublin University.

Lefroy contested Dublin University in an 1827 by-election, as a Tory, but finished third.

An idea of Lefroy's politics is given by the opening of an editorial in The Times (of London) on Friday 27 February 1829 when he was opposing the Bill to give Irish Catholics the vote (if they met a high property qualification).

Serjeant Lefroy and Mr Saurin have been… re-edifying their Orange disciples in Dublin with much curious but rather apocryphal twaddle, touching the coronation oath, the Act of Settlement and so on.
The learned Serjeant expresses his hostility to the proposed law by declaring that he is averse to the removal of ancient landmarks. Now, if the saintly Serjeant means that the letter of a law can constitute a political landmark, we can assure him he is in pitiable error.

Richard Lalor Sheil 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 Protestantsim, leading Daniel O'Connell 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.

He was elected to the House of Commons for the Dublin University seat in 1830, as a Tory (the party later becoming known as Conservative). He became a member of the Privy Council of Ireland on 29 January 1835. In 1838, Thomas Langlois Lefroy received American politician Charles Sumner during Sumner's visit to Ireland[11]. 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 Ireladner JOHN MITCHEL.

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.

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 certain Conservative lawyer-politicians insist whenever the Conservatives are 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.

[edit] 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’ new telescope called Leviathan of Parsonstown. Tom later said to his wife (Letter 31 March 1846)[8]:

“ Yesterday was indeed a most interesting day. Lord Rosse and his wife were as kind to me as possible. The wonders of his telescope are not to be told. He says—with as much ease as another man would say, “Come and I’ll show you a beautiful prospect”—“Come and I’ll show you a universe, one of a countless multitude of universes, each larger than the whole universe hitherto known to astronomers.” The planet Jupiter, which through an ordinary glass is no larger than a good star, is seen twice as large as the moon appears to the naked eye. It was all true what Doherty [a Chief Justice, more than six feet high] said, that he walked upright in the tube with an umbrella over his head before it was set. But the genius displayed in all the contrivances for wielding this mighty monster even surpasses the design and execution of it. The telescope weighs sixteen tons, and yet Lord Rosse raised it single-handed off its resting place, and two men with ease raised it to any height. ”

[edit] 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 letter for Mary was dated 5 October 1834). In 1837, Lefroy renovated the Manor with the help of Daniel Robertson, Esq., a famous English architect. A hurricane on 6th January 1839 destroyed some parts of the house, and Lefroy had to rebuild it.[8] As of 2007, the manor house is being renovated to be part of a newly built hotel, and the 660-acre park is being turned into a golf course and housing estate.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nicholas Beale Constructive Engagement (Gower 2005) p 51
  2. ^ Family history
  3. ^ Besterman, T. 1938, The Publishing Firm of Cadell & Davies: Select Correspondence and Accounts, 1793-1836, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  4. ^ Spence, Jon. Becoming Jane Austen. Hambledon Continuum. London, 2003. ISBN 1 84725 046 7
  5. ^ Linda Robinson Walker
  6. ^ a b Radovici, N. 1995, A Youthful Love: Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy?, Merlin Books Devon.
  7. ^ Cranfield, R. E. 1960, From Ireland to Western Australia: The Establishment of a Branch of the Lefroy Family at Walebing, Western Australia, 1842 to 1960. Perth
  8. ^ a b c Lefroy, T. 1871, Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy, Hodges, Foster & Co., Dublin
  9. ^ a b Howard, J. J. & Crisp, F. A. 1973, Visitation of Ireland, Genealogical Publishing Com
  10. ^ Walker, L. R. 2007, 'Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy: Stories', Persuasions On-line, vol. 27, no. 1.
  11. ^ Pierce, E.L. 1970. Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner. Ayer Publishing
  12. ^ Carrigglas Manor

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Jane Austen
General:
People:
Catherine Hubback · Francis Austen · Cassandra Austen · Thomas Langlois Lefroy
Published novels:
Sense and Sensibility (1811) · Pride and Prejudice (1813) · Mansfield Park (1814) · Emma (1815) · Northanger Abbey (1817) · Persuasion (1817)
Incomplete novels:
Juvenilia:
Characters:
Languages