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T H E C H R O N I C L E S O F T H E F A M I L Y O F B O I L E A U K N O W N A S DE C A S T E L N A U DE LA G A R D E E T DE S A I N T E - C R O I X DE B O I R I A C Compiled by DIGBY WHICHER BOILEAU over many years and up to his death at the age of 82, in 1976. Subsequently the work was continued by his brother, THOMAS WHICHER BOILEAU, who produced the first version of the book before his own death at the age of 85. This later, and where possible, more complete version is now presented by PETER MUDIE BOILEAU, son of Digby and nephew of Tom I N D E X ___________ PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 PART I SOURCES OF INFORMATION PART II STORY OF THE FAMILY PART III CERTIFICATE OF NOBILITY PART IV ARMORIAL BEARINGS PART V CHATEAU OF CASTELNAU PART VI INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES PART VII NAME INDEXES I N T R O D U C T I O N THE NATURE OF THE CHRONICLES ____________________________ These Chronicles of the Boileau Family are the product of the Compiler's endeavours to find out more about the men and women of that name than appeared in earlier accounts, in which they are often no more than names to clothe, in fact, the bare bones of skeleton pedigrees with life and substance. Research to that end has extended over many years, in a variety of possible sources of information. The results have been carefully sifted and compared and fitted into place in what has often seemed like a jigsaw puzzle. They have brought to light many interesting facts about the family and its individual members, hitherto unknown or at least unrecorded, or forgotten, and in danger of being lost; these are now placed on record. It has to be remembered that, as time has passed, since earlier historians of the family produced their accounts, a great deal of information has become available in archives and publications of various sorts; and so it is now possible to present a much fuller picture of the family history than there has been previously, even though there are gaps which it has so far been impossible to fill. The Character of the Family The family is of respectable antiquity, and has been of good standing for as long as its history goes back. It was indeed of the Noblesse of France, and in fact the Noble standing of the family was positively established in 1500, and possibly dates from 1371. (There are a bare score of English Baronies which are created earlier than 1500). Moreover, the Noblesse of the Boileau family was of a relatively better standing, compared with that of the large numbers who acquired it in France from the middle of the 17th Century onwards. The class of Noble, to which the Boileau family belonged, was, in its origins at any rate, one of professional public servants. Nobles in France were debarred, generally speaking, from any employment other than professional, and they had recognised military and administrative responsibilities. Living in a feudal system, they were liable to be called up for military service, and had magisterial functions in connection with the people of their estates. They often held official appointments of a legal, financial or local government nature. It is therefore interesting to observe how often the British members of the family, though bound by no rule, have followed the same line. The record, extending over some six centuries, perhaps more, is the story of a 'service family', whose members have served their God, their countries, and their fellow-men, at home and abroad - the men most often in the armed forces, but also in public services, the civil services, as doctors and lawyers; and the women have frequently been the wives of men of similar occupations. If the Boileaus have not, as individuals, become historic figures, they have often helped to make history. Foremost in this connection must be placed the share of the family in the establishment of the Reformed Faith in France and in the persecutions which the Huguenots suffered. Like many others, they held firmly to their beliefs, in spite of ill-usage, imprisonment, and the severance of family ties, preferring to leave their homeland, and become 'displaced persons', for conscience sake, for freedom of faith and worship. Next must be put the very marked inclination of the men of the family towards service in the armed forces, in which they have taken part in many wars, great and small, and often in famous battles. In the last 300 years - that is, since standing armies came into being in Europe - no fewer than 80 out of some 190 known Boileaus who have attained maturity (or 42%) have held regular commissions in the French, German, British, Indian and Australian armed forces, besides more than twenty men and women who have served full- time in various forces in all sorts of capacities. The total of all this service amounts to well over 1000 years. The family connection with India did not fall far short of the period of British rule of that country, continuing from 1764 for almost 200 years. Nearly thirty Boileaus were officers in the Indian Army, and a number of those in the British service also served there; others were in the Indian Civil Service, the Indian Police, and in legal office, while some were in civil occupations, especially as tea and indigo planters. The women's part must not be forgotten. A considerable number of them married men working in India - and not only there but also others in the armed services and Colonial Civil Services, whose fortunes they have then followed to the ends of the earth. Boileau men have also gone to distant parts of the British Empire (as we may call it in this context) since they helped to establish that organisation. Australia has been especially favoured, and there are flourishing family colonies there. Indeed, so widely has the family wandered, in response to some nomadic urge, that it has been said it is difficult for a Boileau to go where there had not been one before him. You will find in this book places in a very wide range of parts of the world, where Boileaus have been born, have lived, served, fought and died; the list is too long to give here, but it covers every Continent and the Seven Seas. Because of the wide-ranging nature of the family, the original compilers, first Digby and then his brother Thomas Boileau, arranged the story of the family in chronological order of historical periods and events, without trying particularly to distinguish branches of the family, or, generally speaking, different relationships. This gave an excellent view of the family as a whole, but it nevertheless makes tracing one's own line more difficult. Individual biographies do, of course, remain. The present compiler, Peter Boileau, son of Digby and nephew of Thomas, while preserving some of the chronological treatment during major wars, has, where it adds particular continuity, elected also to deal with the different branches right from the start of their becoming clear-cut; that is, from the founding of the British part of the family by Charles Boileau. This will enable Boileaus from a particular branch to concentrate on their own forebears first (a natural instinct) and then learn more from other sections of the book. Relationships For several generations after Charles Boileau settled in the United Kingdom, his descendants in both the male and female lines continued as a fairly close-knit group. The common descent formed a more or less intimate bond. Dublin was still the family centre. There were marriages between cousins of various degrees: patronage was sought and exercised for young kinsmen, in an age when it was usual: young women went out to Aunts and Cousins in India: some family names began to be perpetuated, and Boileau often occurred as a baptismal name among descendants in the female line: they all knew each other. But, as they began to spread themselves abroad, and as generation succeeded generation, relationships have become more remote and less easy to follow. Descents in the female line - especially those which struck off earlier - have become too involved and numerous to make it possible to record them in full, as was attempted some eighty years ago, and the Boileau connection has probably often been lost from sight. And so, for one reason or another, touch has been lost, and when we meet we often do so as strangers. But still, when any two of Boileau blood meet, who have not done so previously, the question is sure to be asked - "And where do you come in ?". An attempt has been made in this book to provide a fairly ready answer to that enquiry, at least in the case of those with the surname of Boileau, or at no great remove from it, and to furnish a guide to living members of the family and their mutual kinship. Individual biographical notices of married daughters of the house show their children, where known, and also known descendants with some special claim to notice. There is also a note of surnames traced as offshoots, from which their connection with the main stock may be traced, and in some cases it has been possible to cite a reference book which gives a detailed descent.