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Samuel Romilly
Sir Samuel Romilly KC (1 March 1757 – 2 November 1818) was a British lawyer, Whig politician, abolitionist and legal reformer. Born in London of French Huguenot descent, he was largely self-educated and escaped poverty through a fortuitous inheritance that allowed travel. From a background in the commercial world, Romilly became well-connected, and rose to public office as [[Solicitor General for England and Wales] (1806–1807) and a prominent position in Parliament, where he sat for Horsham (1807–1808), Wareham (1808–1812), Arundel (1812–1818), and finally Westminster (July 1818 until his death).
After an early interest in radical politics, he built a career in chancery cases, and then turned to reform of British criminal law and abolition of the slave trade. The grandson of refugees, he became known as a "friend of the oppressed". Yet few of his ambitions were achieved during his lifetime, which was cut short in 1818, when, despondent after the death of his wife, he died by suicide, leaving criminal law "in the same state as he had found it when he embarked upon his work of amelioration". He was an early campaigner against the death penalty, which was partially realised on the bicentennial of his birth with the Homicide Act 1957.
His eldest son, John, was Attorney General for England and Wales and was ennobled as Baron Romilly in 1866. Three other sons, Frederick Romilly, Edward Romilly, and Charles Romilly, were first-class cricketers.
Romilly was born on Frith Street in Soho, London, into a French-speaking Huguenot family who had fled France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He was the second surviving son of Pierre (Peter) Romilly, a watchmaker and jeweller, and his wife, Marguerite (Margaret) Garnault, daughter of Aymé Garnault, another Huguenot jeweller, whose father left Châtellerault in Poitou. Isaac Romilly was his father's elder brother.
His paternal grandfather, Étienne (Stephen) Romilly, emigrated from Montpellier to Hoxton in 1701 via Geneva. He married Judith de Montsallier. Étienne's father, who owned a large estate in Montpellier, helped him financially, and he set up a firm in Hoxton as a wax bleacher and was able to comfortably support his large family and business interests. However, when his father died in France, a Catholic relative inherited the estate and slashed his income to a paltry amount, and ultimately he was left bankrupt, unable to cover his expenses. Remembered for his generosity and his piety, Étienne died in 1733, aged 49, "of a broken heart" according to Samuel's memoirs. He left a widow and eight children, the youngest of whom died within a few months and was buried in his father's grave. Samuel's father, Pierre, was the youngest surviving child.
Pierre and Marguerite Romilly married in 1744. They had six children who died young: Michel Pierre (April 1744 – December 1744), Marguerite (born 1745), Sarah (1746–1747), Anne (born 1747–1748), Mary (1749–1755), and Judith (born 1752), followed finally by three surviving children, Thomas Peter (17 June 1753 – 7 December 1828), Catherine (born 14 February 1755) and lastly Samuel. Pierre blamed the deaths of his children on the unhealthy atmosphere of the city of London. They moved to Soho and then moved again to the High Street in Marylebone – at the time a small village a mile from the city.
His mother was in poor health, and Samuel and his siblings were largely raised by a maternal relative, Margaret Facquier, who educated the children mainly with the Bible, the 18th-century moralist periodical The Spectator, and an English translation of François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque. For a while he attended a school run by a Mr. Flack, which he hated, and his formal education ended at age 14.
Every Sunday, his family attended the French Protestant Chapel in Soho, where his future brother-in-law, John (Jean) Roget from Geneva, was pastor. (Roget and Samuel's sister Catherine were the parents of Peter Mark Roget). Roget introduced Romilly to the works of Jean Jacques Rousseau, and he became a follower. Self-taught from then on, Romilly became a good classical scholar and was conversant with French literature.
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Samuel Romilly
Sir Samuel Romilly KC (1 March 1757 – 2 November 1818) was a British lawyer, Whig politician, abolitionist and legal reformer. Born in London of French Huguenot descent, he was largely self-educated and escaped poverty through a fortuitous inheritance that allowed travel. From a background in the commercial world, Romilly became well-connected, and rose to public office as [[Solicitor General for England and Wales] (1806–1807) and a prominent position in Parliament, where he sat for Horsham (1807–1808), Wareham (1808–1812), Arundel (1812–1818), and finally Westminster (July 1818 until his death).
After an early interest in radical politics, he built a career in chancery cases, and then turned to reform of British criminal law and abolition of the slave trade. The grandson of refugees, he became known as a "friend of the oppressed". Yet few of his ambitions were achieved during his lifetime, which was cut short in 1818, when, despondent after the death of his wife, he died by suicide, leaving criminal law "in the same state as he had found it when he embarked upon his work of amelioration". He was an early campaigner against the death penalty, which was partially realised on the bicentennial of his birth with the Homicide Act 1957.
His eldest son, John, was Attorney General for England and Wales and was ennobled as Baron Romilly in 1866. Three other sons, Frederick Romilly, Edward Romilly, and Charles Romilly, were first-class cricketers.
Romilly was born on Frith Street in Soho, London, into a French-speaking Huguenot family who had fled France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He was the second surviving son of Pierre (Peter) Romilly, a watchmaker and jeweller, and his wife, Marguerite (Margaret) Garnault, daughter of Aymé Garnault, another Huguenot jeweller, whose father left Châtellerault in Poitou. Isaac Romilly was his father's elder brother.
His paternal grandfather, Étienne (Stephen) Romilly, emigrated from Montpellier to Hoxton in 1701 via Geneva. He married Judith de Montsallier. Étienne's father, who owned a large estate in Montpellier, helped him financially, and he set up a firm in Hoxton as a wax bleacher and was able to comfortably support his large family and business interests. However, when his father died in France, a Catholic relative inherited the estate and slashed his income to a paltry amount, and ultimately he was left bankrupt, unable to cover his expenses. Remembered for his generosity and his piety, Étienne died in 1733, aged 49, "of a broken heart" according to Samuel's memoirs. He left a widow and eight children, the youngest of whom died within a few months and was buried in his father's grave. Samuel's father, Pierre, was the youngest surviving child.
Pierre and Marguerite Romilly married in 1744. They had six children who died young: Michel Pierre (April 1744 – December 1744), Marguerite (born 1745), Sarah (1746–1747), Anne (born 1747–1748), Mary (1749–1755), and Judith (born 1752), followed finally by three surviving children, Thomas Peter (17 June 1753 – 7 December 1828), Catherine (born 14 February 1755) and lastly Samuel. Pierre blamed the deaths of his children on the unhealthy atmosphere of the city of London. They moved to Soho and then moved again to the High Street in Marylebone – at the time a small village a mile from the city.
His mother was in poor health, and Samuel and his siblings were largely raised by a maternal relative, Margaret Facquier, who educated the children mainly with the Bible, the 18th-century moralist periodical The Spectator, and an English translation of François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque. For a while he attended a school run by a Mr. Flack, which he hated, and his formal education ended at age 14.
Every Sunday, his family attended the French Protestant Chapel in Soho, where his future brother-in-law, John (Jean) Roget from Geneva, was pastor. (Roget and Samuel's sister Catherine were the parents of Peter Mark Roget). Roget introduced Romilly to the works of Jean Jacques Rousseau, and he became a follower. Self-taught from then on, Romilly became a good classical scholar and was conversant with French literature.