The Origins of the Delamain Family

The Delamain origins are in Saintonge, near Rouen, in Normandy and seem to be of Huguenot stock. This may appear odd as according to tradition the first Settler came to England from France, not as a Huguenot refugee, but in 1624, in the suite of a Catholic Queen – Henrietta Maria.

However, the Delamains were presumably Protestants as they would not have been able otherwise to retain their lands in Ireland. But they never intermarried to Huguenot families, which was the norm and expected of them, and they allied instead with Anglo-Irish families: – Lascelles, (Lord Harewood), Butler (Dukes of Ormonde), Steele (Earls of Derby) were marriages contracted by the first generations of Delamains in Dublin.

Within one century the Delamains considered themselves Irish-French rather than Huguenots, although 200 years on, in the 19th century Mathilda Hannah Delamain did marry Colonel Henry Ayme Ouvry, from a well-known Huguenot family.

The Delamain descendant who became involved in the brandy trade in the 18th century, James Delamain, a great gt gt grandson of the First Settler, Sir Nicholas I Delamain styled himself as Jacques Delamain and married a French catholic and heiress of the brandy merchant Ranson family. This union founded the famous cognac branch of the family of Jarnac – the Delamain-Ranson house.

Delamain’s Baronetsy Granted by Charles I, was revoked by Cromwell. The coat of arms of the Delamains is registered at Dublin Castle, Genealogical Office.

References:

For sources on the Delamain Genealogy see :

About the Cognac Delamains, see:

About the potters Delamains see:

Other Books of Interest :

The following are books not referenced in this run down of the Delamain family, but which might be of interest to people looking into the delamain history and that of Irish Delftware and Brandy Houses:

 

Some Delamain Worthies

Richard Delamain (b. ca 1600 – d. ca 1645)

Scholar, Mathematician, Inventor of the Circular Slide Rule, Tutor to Charles I, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1625-49).

A contemporary of the first Settler, Sir Nicholas I Delamain, was his kinsman Richard Delamain also born ca 1600. He died during the Civil war, ca 1645.

Richard Delamain was a joiner by trade and studied mathematics at Gresham College London, together with Christopher Wren, both as pupils of Oughtred. After this Richard remained in London, becoming a private tutor of mathematics to Charles I, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1625- 49). Delamain was of the same age as the king he tutored, and was paid forty pounds per annum for his teaching.

It may not be entirely fortuitous that whilst Richard Delamain was tutor to Charles I, his kinsman Nicholas (Nicolas) Delamain, “the First Settler”, also made his way to London in the suite of the king’s future wife, Henrietta Maria, Madame de France.

In 1642 the English Parliament proposed to finance the pacification of Ireland by rewarding investors with allotments of confiscated Irish land. This project was the subject of a letter from Richard Delamain to Viscount Mandeville, recently acquired by the British Library. In this document Delamain sought to allay doubts as to whether the requisite area (2.5 million acres) would be available, partly by citing current estimates and partly by measuring the area of each province on John Speed’s map of Ireland with a grid of 10,000-acre squares. Although his methods were flawed, he was right in predicting that enough land would be available. Indeed, his kinsman Sir Nicholas, “The First Settler” did get important parcels of land in Kilkenny.

Richard Delamain, described a circular slide rule in a 32 page pamphlet Grammelogia which was sent to the King in 1629 and published the following year. His fame as a mathematician rests on this work. Richard Delamain also published The Making, Description, and Use of . . . a Horizontal Quadrant (1631). As well as mathematical instruments Delamain also made sundials.

Captain Sir Henry II Delamain (1687- 1780)

Irish Delft manufacturer and his sons Captain Henry III Delamain (1713 – 1757): Battersea Enamel Boxes manufacturer and William Delamain (1720-1793), Marshall of Dublin Castle, Delftware manufacturer and tea importer.

The Delamains of Dublin were pioneers of Irish Delftware, now all very rare and found only in Museums. There are only about two dozen pieces of Delamain pottery and yet this was the only pottery made in Dublin during the 18th Century. The Delamains are known to have petitioned parliament for being granted loans and privileges to be able to patent and manufacture the porcelain, according to new techniques and formulae which were kept secret at the time throughout Europe. It is Henry Delamain who introduced in 1760’s the firing of kilns with coal, rather than wood, to keep his costs down and the prices competitive. The whole involvement of this family in Delftware manufacture lasted three generations in the 18th century and although based in Dublin it had strong links to Battersea enamel manufacture and
the London trade. The whole saga of Delamain’s Irish “pottery” is best researched and described by Peter Francis in his book “Irish Delftware: An Illustrated History”.

The first Delftware manufacturer in Ireland was Captain Sir Henry II Delamain (1687- 1780), son of Sir Henry I Delamain, Comptroller of the Household of the 1st Duke of Ormonde and a great grandson of the First Settler. During the 1730's a Belfast merchant, John Chambers moved south to establish the renowned Worlds End' pottery in Dublin. In the 1750's Captain Henry Delamain took over these works
and with an enormous financial investment transformed the pottery's fortunes. The most famous of all their products was the superbly painted romantic landscapes, which were unlike anything produced in Britain at that time. More recent research has produced a range of polychrome wares, and a further group
painted more crudely in blue and white has been discovered through archaeological investigations in irginia. More recently some Delamain pottery was discovered in excavations at Dublin castle.

Captain Henry III Delamain (1713-1757) was the eldest son of Henry II Delamain. Henry III spent 20 years abroad in the army of the Prince of Saxe-Gotha in Flanders, where he learned the art of Delftware, before returning to Dublin. There he became a wholesale dealer of ‘fine ceramics and tea’ from premises at the Felster Warehouse, the corner of Marlborough St near the Strand, Dublin, situated some 400 yards from the pottery he was going to purchase for £580 in April 1752.

At the time of his marriage to Ziphorah Henry III is mentioned as being “of the parish of St Paul, Covent
Garden”. His marriage to Ziporah failed and she stayed on in London, where she died. Henry III had a mistress Mary Bijar by whom he had two children, Mary Bijar was often mistaken for Mrs. Delamain.
His death was reported in the Dublin Journal of 11 January 1757 Henry III “Delamain’s name remains synonymous to Irish Delftware”.

He was also involved in a Battersea manufacture of enamel boxes, called “JENSEN, DELAMAIN & BROOKS” of York House Works, (c1753) with transfer engravings by the Irish artist James Gwin and engraved by Simon Francois Revenet. After his death, his brother William took over the pottery in 1769.

William Delamain (1720-1793) was the 4th son of Henry II.

William took over the running of the pottery in Dublin in 1760, at Mary Bijart’s death, in trust during his nephew’s minority and kept it until 1769, in partnership with Wilkinson, when the factory closed. He was a Freemason. In 1788 he went to visit his son in Jarnac and died there. William D produced for his son James (Jacques) the famous Delamain/Ransom service, which is still in the family. In 1761 he owned a tea importing business with premises in Little Strand Street, near the Essex bridge. William Delamain sells the pottery to Edward Stacey and in 1760 but he continues to reside in Dublin till 1788, when he joins in Jarnac his son Jacques (James), the founder of the Delamain cognac dynasty.

James (Jacques) Delamain (1740-1800)

Founder of the French Brandy House of Delamain, at Jarnac

The Irish Brandy Houses of 18th Century France by L.M. Cullen In the latter half of the 18th century, particularly in the 1760s, Ireland became the focal point of the international brandy trade. This pioneering study, based on exhaustive research in French archives, tells the story of the Irish families - Hennessy, Saule and Jennings, Galwey, Delamain, and others - who played a leading role in brandy distilling in the Charente region of France. Family connections and intermarriage, trading problems, marketing and finance, the role of smugglers and the effects of the French Revolution are detailed by Professor Cullen, against a backdrop of a burgeoning French economy and the expansion of world demand for brandy during a time of urbanization and grain surplus. Amongst the characters who figure prominently in Cullen’s book is James Delamain.

James Delamain was merchant in Dublin in 1750’s and he came to France in 1759 at the age of 19 and married in Jarnac in 1762. He went into partenrship with his father-in- law and formed the firm of Ranson-Delamain. In Jarnac Jacques Delamain was a Catholic. He had regular guests for dinner the Hennessy and Saule families. Between 1790 and 1800 Delamain purchased three "habitations" in the island of Saint-Domingue for 326.000 Tournaisian pounds, of French silver. He is an ancestor of Alain Brstaad-Delamain the present Head of the Cognac House of Delamain.

References:

Army Worthies

Brigadier-General W. S. Delamain

... was Commander of the 16th infantry Brigade in WWI. He was given the Command of the convoy containing the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' which moved from Bombay on 16th October 1914 and sailed straight to the head of the Gulf. His brief was to secure for the British the oil terminal and refineries in Bahrein and eventually, if Turkey attacked Mesopotamia also to secure the strategic Basra oil terminal. Two battalions (104th Wellesley's Rifles and 117th Mahrattas) embarked immediately and sailed to Basra, entering the city in the evening of the 21st November. In this action, of General Delamain, the British secured her oil production in the Middle East: this had immense strategic implications, as this oil field supplied most of the Royal Navy's fuel.

Brigadier-General George Delamain Crocker, CB (1882-1938) my great-great grandfather and an eighth generation descendant of the First Settler, Sir Nicholas Delamain. George Delamain Crocker was the eldest son of Surgeon-General Alfred Crocker and of Ann-Marie Delamain, eldest daughter of Captain Edward Smith Delamain.

His campaigns and medals are listed below:

Medals (as from the probate of his son John Crocker, 1992):

  1. CB (Millitary) in fitted case from Garrard
  2. The Indian general Service medal 1895-1902, two bars, Punjab Frontier 1897-1898 and Tirah 1897-1898
  3. The Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, three bars, Belmont, Transvaal and Wittebergen
  4. The King’s South Africa medal 1901-1902, two bars South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902
  5. 1914/15 Star
  6. The British War medal 1914-1920
  7. The Victory Medal 1914-1918
  8. The Indian general service medal 1908-1935
  9. Delhi Dunbar

References: “Who’s Who” 1930 edition

Captain John Weston Delamain (1828-1857)

killed in action at Badli-ke-Serai - 8th June 1857. Aged 29. Son of Colonel John Delamain, CB. of the Bengal Infantry. Born at Agra. Served in the Punjab (1848). Grave at Delhi - "Captain Delamain HEICS killed in action June 8, 1857."

Major John Delamain Crocker (1907 – 1989)

Eldest son of Brigadier-General George Delamain Crocker and of Mabel Norah Ogilby married secondly (1943) Tatiana Nancy Gaubert, (1913-1986), putative natural daughter of Grand Duchess Olga, by an Ossetian officer of the Tzar’s (apocryphal source) 1932 graduated Sandhurst 1940 retired from King’s Rgt
Served in WW2 in the naval artillery as Marine Gunner protecting the convoys crossing the Atlantic. Gentleman farmer Dorset and Co Meath, Ireland, Resident in Paris and Ireland.

Romantic Delamains

(Cork, Caribbean Islands, India, New Zealand, Australia)

INDIA

SPAIN

Henry DELAMAIN, (1727-1822), son of Lieutenant John Delamain, served in the Peninsular war. Fought at Cap Breton under Lord Anson and Lord Howe in 1747 (when he was 20 yrs of age). Participated in the defeat of the French fleet in May and October 1756 (aged 29) and was made a Purser.

Captain Edward Smith Delamain (1793-1870), enlisted in the 60th Rifle Regiment at the age of 18 and from 1811 fought under Wellington in the Peninsular war.

IRELAND

"When I think on your truth”. A favourite song, composed by Mr. Delamain of Cork. [Dublin]. Printed by J. Hill, Dublin, [1790?] 1 sheet: music; 1/20. British Library Music H.1601.f(5) A song - "When I think on your truth I can". Includes staves for the guitar and German flute. J. Hill at 8 Mary Street during 1789-1793 (Humphries and Smith) REFERENCE: ESTCT187930.

KIMERLEY GOLD RUSH, AUSTRALIA, 1885

John Ouvry Delamain set off sail from New Zealand, together with several mates to join in the Kimberley Gold Rush in 1886 as keen panning prospectors and failed. The Kimberley gold rush turned out to be a “storekeeper’s rush” and, because the shipping companies promoted it so heavily in New Zealand, it cost the people from there dearly. Their experience was summed up by George Hales, a Triumph passenger, who went to the rush with friends named Partridge, Delamain, Stack and Blake. The last of these men, Blake, lost his hand in a gun accident at Halls Creek. In summing up the rush, Hales wrote:

I don't think I have yet told you my opinion of the fields. I will do so.

There are no alluvial fields worth the name. There is a certain amount of alluvial gold, but even if there was a sufficient constant supply of water (which there is not) not more than £3 a week could be obtained & that is too little for such an out of the way place where provisions must always be very dear. Hales and other New Zealand prospectors regretted their participation in the rush. Mr D N Hunter returned to Wellington after four months convinced that the so-called goldfields were ‘a delusion and a snare’. He and three experienced West Coast diggers had succeeded in obtaining only 11/2 ounces of gold after three weeks’ diligent search. Others like Edward Browne (founder of Browne’s Dairy) and William Edward Routledge did well for themselves. But their good fortune came from leaving the Kimberley and settling in Perth.

SAN DOMINGO

Between 1790 and 1800 Jacques Delamain purchased three "habitations" in the island of Saint-Domingue for 326.000 Tournaisian pounds, of French silver.

 

Allied Families and Apocryphal Stories

Some of the Anglo-Irish allied families: Antrobus (Dublin) Bond, Butler (Dukes of Ormonde), Cooper, Crocker, Lascelles, (Lord Harewood), O’Shahanessy, Ouvry, Ranson, Sitwell of Renishaw, Steele (Earls of Derby), Waugh.

Sir Nicolas Delamain, the First Settler, who would have accompanied Henrietta Maria on her journey from France to England, is reputed to have been the natural father of Charles II a rather piquant if improbable story if one thinks that Sir Nicholas’ wife was maid of honour of Queen Henrietta Maria

 

Many Thanks To

Constantin Roman who compiled the notes from the family genealogy, August 2002