Claude Fonnereau facts for kids

Claude Fonnereau (22 March 1677, La Rochelle – 5 April 1740, Hoddesdon) was a French Huguenot refugee who settled in England and became a prominent merchant. He was the founding father of the Fonnereau family in England.

In 1735 he purchased Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, Suffolk, from Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford.

He was a Director of the Bank of England from 1738 to 1740.

Family life

Claude was the son of Zacharie Fonnereau and Marguerite Chataigner. He married Elizabeth Bureau, also a Huguenot, the daughter of Anne Bureau, and had several children:

• Thomas Fonnereau (1699–1779), a merchant and politician, who inherited his father's estates, including Christchurch Mansion
• Dr. Claude (or Claudius) Fonnereau (1701–1785), who inherited Christchurch Mansion on his elder brother's death
• Elizabeth Frances Fonnereau (born 1702), who married James (Jacques) Benezet, also from a Huguenot family, who had settled in London
• Abel Fonnereau (1703–1753)
• Anne Fonnereau (born 1704), who married Philip Champion de Crespigny (1704–1765), also from a Huguenot family, who had settled in Camberwell, and was the father of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Baronet, and Philip Champion de Crespigny
• Zachary Philip Fonnereau (1706–1778), a merchant and politician who was the father of Philip Fonnereau and Martyn Fonnereau and grandfather of Thomas George Fonnereau
• Peter Fonnereau (1709–1743)
• Marie Anne (born 1711), who married John Martyn
• Elizabeth (born 1712), who married Mr. De Hauteville