Tom Lefroy’s family in Ireland and his relatives in Australia
Yes, indeed my ladies and gents! Our dashing hero actually had relatives in
We know that 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 (Radovici 1995), hence the name that sounds like a French name. in 1765, Tom’s father (Anthony Peter Lefroy) was secretly married to Ann Gardner in
2. Phoebe Lefroy (April 15, 1770 – Dec 5, 1839)
3. Catherine Lefroy (September 18, 1771 – September 3, 1805); according to Spence, she was Kitty Bennet’s namesake in Pride & Prejudice
4. Sarah Lefroy (March 18, 1773 – 1836)
5. Thomas Langlois Lefroy (January 8, 1776 – May 4, 1869); our Tom!
6. Anthony Lefroy (October 19, 1777 – September 7, 1857); his son Thomas Edward Preston Lefroy married Anna Jemima Lefroy (daughter of Anna Austen Lefroy) on
7. Elizabeth Lefroy (April 17, 1780 – July 22, 1867); again, she reminds me of Spence’s analysis of P&P, that Lizzy Bennet was the female equivalent of Tom Lefroy… or a sister of Tom Lefroy, if any (!)
8. Benjamin Lefroy (
9. Christopher Lefroy (June 26, 1784 – February 14, 1805)
10. Anne Lefroy (
11. Henry Lefroy (May 5, 1789 – January 29, 1876)
Now, Henry Lefroy would later become a vicar in Santry (near
2. Gerald de Courcy Lefroy (October 4, 1819 – December 15, 1877)
3. Henry Maunsell Lefroy (June 13, 1826 – September 16, 1913)
4. Elizabeth Waller Lefroy (April 11, 1817 – December 23, 1875)
5. Ann Langlois Lefroy (September 9, 1818 – January 4th, 1898)
6. Mary Elizabeth O’Grady Lefroy (June 19th, 1824 – October 1st, 1875)
7. Dorothea Thomasina Lefroy (November 17th, 1831 – February 28th, 1901)
Anthony O’Grady Lefroy and his brother Gerald de Courcy Lefroy would later, in 1842, sail onboard the Lady Grey to
Cool eh? Now, after that brief historical story of the Lefroy settlement in
Reference:
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, Service Printing Perth.
Radovici, N. 1995, A Youthful Love: Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy?, Merlin Books Devon.
Spence, J. 2003, Becoming Jane Austen, 2007, Second edn, Continuum International Publishing Group, London.
Pic 1: the Lefroy family crest, 'From Ireland to WA' (Motto: 'Mutare sperno', I scorn to change)
Pic 2: Anthony O'Grady Lefroy, 'From Ireland to WA'
Pic 3: The bust statue of Thomas Langlois Lefroy, 'From Ireland to WA'
2 comments:
FANTASTIC research!!!!
So interesting!
Nice to read more about my Family name. My Grandfather was Jeffery LeFroy, who at one stage owned one of the largest sheep stations in W.A
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