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Brian Rieusset Family web site |
My Rieusset Family History - A brief overview
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I believe that 'my Rieusset Family' originated in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region in Southern France. The name, possibly of Roman Latin origin, was originally officially cited as early as 1069 as Rivis Siccus which literally meant "Dry Creek" (Brook or Stream) Rivis Siccus was a meagre village south of the Brian River Basin. (see the map below) The small village agricultural community who lived on the harvest and the breeding of cattle, managed to survive due to its position as a crossing point. However, they had known long time water problems, hence the name. Later Fremch documents from around 1626 onwards spell the name as Rieussec as well as Rieusset for villages around the Languedoc region.
My Rieusset ancestors were Huguenots or French Protestants persecuted for their religious beliefs by the Catholic hierarchy who held considerable power at the time. Many were put to the sword or burned at the stake as heretics. Although edicts of toleration were proclaimed they continued to labour under many disabilities. They were excluded from civil office and political employment and thus devoted themselves to industrial pursuits. They were acknowledged to be the best agriculturists, winegrowers, merchants, artisans and manufacturers in France. In the south around Languedoc, by diligence, skill and labour they subdued the stubborn soil, with the cantons and valleys inhabited by the Protestants celebrated for their richness in vegetation as the best cultivated and most productive.
From my research, visiting and talking to some great French Rieussets, it appears that my family could have come from the Brissac / Coupiac area where there is an 11th Century Chateau and a Rieusset House (right above, behind the trees)
This is me at the original Rieussec Village. - There are several small villages and houses around the Languedoc Region bearing the name Rieussec, all are beside dry creeks.
Between Vagnas and Salavas is an old Rieusset house built beside the Roman Road. At dawn one January morning in 1703 Jean Cavalier with 800 Protestant Camisards fought a pitched battle with 700 Catholic Regional Militia under the Baron de Lagorce at the Rieusset location. The Camisards won the day, but soon after were wiped out by a 2000 strong Catholic army brought by General Jullien from nearby Barjac.
A large number of Rieussets still live in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, some in Brissac and others spread from Nimes to Narbonne.
However, I believe my ancestors fled in the 17th century from France to Ireland. Following the English Revolution of 1688 and three years of civil war in Ireland, the Irish Parliament granted naturalization to such Protestant refugees as should settle in Ireland. The records detail a small number of Rieusset families in Dublin. Two brothers Peter and John Rieusset moved from Dublin and settled in the then British Colony, North Carolina. Later David, a son of John Rieusset settled in Jamaica and I believe invited other Rieussets to move to Jamaica. Another Peter, son of Andrew Rieusset, born in Languedoc and John Rieusset, son of John Rieusset applied and were granted English Naturalization around 1705-1708 Settling later in London, Peter Rieusset became well known as a Huguenot artisan and craftsman.
Peter Rieusset worked for Ralph, the 1st Duke of Montagu between
1697 and 1708 on his three
residences, Firstly
Montagu House
in Great Russell Street
in the
Bloomsbury district of
London,
which later became the first home of the
British Museum. Then Peter worked at
Ditton Park, Datchet in Buckinghamshire and for several years at
Boughton House, near
Geddington, 3 miles north of Kettering in Northamptonshire.
Montagu House, Bloomsbury Ditton Park, Buckinghamshire Just over 300 Years later descendants of Ralph Montagu and Peter Rieusset meet in Sydney
In January 2017 I
attended a Huguenot Society talk in Sydney by Richard Walter John
Montagu Douglas Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of
Queensberry KBE DL FSA
FRSE. Richard is a direct
descendant of Ralph Montagu and thus by descent of Mary, Queen of Scots.
He is the current owner of Boughton House. Richard eloquently spoke
about the influences of the Huguenot artisans, frequently mentioning
Peter Rieusset and acknowledging me in the audience as being a
relative of a great Huguenot artisan in the construction of Boughton
House.
Boughton House With His Grace Richard Scott Peter Rieusset's Parquet Floor in a Boughton State Room The use of the ‘Parquet de Versailles’ flooring in many of the State rooms at Boughton house was quite new to England. In addition to supplying and laying the parquet floors, Peter Rieusset supplied countless other joinery items from garden rakes, chests, desks to a billiard table. His huge 300 year old billiard table at Boughton House has been restored to full working order.
A Peter Rieusset Junior married Maria Teresia Haedy in London in 1782. Maria was the daughter of Christopher and Anna Maria Haedy. Christopher ran a Glass manufacturing business at 287 the Strand (now the site of Australia House) and was quoted as claiming "He was the German who was the first that brought the art of cutting and engraving glass from Germany". He was born in the small mountainous village of Stein Schenow, Bremmich, Kannich in Bavaria and came to London where he received his 'Letter of Denization' on 6th July 1793 after swearing allegience to King George III as a foreign-born subject.
287 Strand, London 1781 Haedy advertisment A Haedy Chandelier at Uppark House, South Harding, Petersfield, West Sussex Peter and Maria Teresa Rieusset had two sons, Peter Christopher born 1784 and Christopher born circa 1785. However, I believe Peter (Snr) was a soldier who was sent to Jamaica as part of a detachment to protect the British population from foreign invaders, buccaneers, pirates and local uprisings. Possibly leaving her sons behind in England under the care of her parents, I believe Maria Teresa joined Peter in Jamaica where she produced a daughter Anna Maria, born and baptised the same day 21st December 1786. Sadly, it appears both mother and daughter passed away soon after childbirth as no death or burial records still exist. Peter Rieusset remained living in Jamaica remarrying and siring more children. He rose to the position of Lieutenant Colonel of the Port Royal Regiment. He ran a large farm 'Barn Pen' just outside of Kingston and was a City Officer, beating the title of Clerk of the Markets. Peter died in 1820. Peter and Teresa's son Peter Christopher Rieusset, who remained in England, eventually married Rebecca Wheeler on 4th March 1813 in Saint Martin in the Fields Church in London. The had four childen. Their second son William, born 1814, married Hannah Hobbs on 24th June 1833 in the church of Saint Anne, Solo, London.
In April 1854, my Great-grandfather
Augustus (Augustine) Benedict
Rieusset,
became the forth son of William and Hannah (nee Hobbs)
thirteen children. He
was born in the home of his father's cousins,
Elizabeth, Ann, Louisa
and Christopher
Haedy
(the younger).
The large
5 acre
property, aptly named
Steinschaenau
at Southwood near Ramsgate, ran half the length of Queen Bertha Road and bordered Norman Road.
The spinster Haedy sisters and their brother were daughters of John Christopher
Nicholas Haedy,
lawyer and steward to the seventh Duke of Bedford. They were staunch
Catholics and attended St
Augustine’s Church, designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and run by
Benedictine monks. Hence it comes as no surprise that my
great-grandfather was christened Augustus Benedict, but
preferred to use the Anglicized 'Augustine'. He later reported
that he spent his first 17 years living in Ramsgate (with the Haedy
Sisters) and studying at St Augustine's College and Monastery from 1862
until 1870. The Haedy and Pugin families were friends, thus Augustine naturally studied Augustus Welby and Edward Welby Pugin's
history and architecture, considering St Augustine's Church as “The best
specimen of the Gothic Revival in England because of the purity of its
style".
It comes as no surprise that
Augustine later moved to
London to study architecture.
Augustine Benedict's older sister Mary Ann Rieusset married James Downey in Ramsgate's St Augustine's Church in 1870 and eight years later (September 1878) Augustine Benedict married James Downey's sister Jane Downey in Pugin’s Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church in Liverpool. James and Jane Downey's older brother John Cuthbert Downey was one of the founding Benedictine monks of the Ramsgate Monastery and St Augustine's Church. He later moved to New Zealand where he built and ran the St Benedict's Church at Newton, Auckland for many years. The Downey children's influence had no doubt come from their mother Maria's brother who became the extremely well known Benedictine Abbott Henry Gregory who was the senior Catholic Vicar General in Australia under Archbishop Bede Polding from 1842 until 1861. Polding had been a close friend of the Gregory family as he grew up and was educated in and around Cheltenham in England.
After working in
Liverpool as an architect Augustine Benedict sailed on the Cosco with his wife, Jane
and two sons, Christopher and Benedict,
to Australia in 1883, settling first in Melbourne where he was later elected as the President of
the Victorian Architectural and Engineering Association. He designed
several fine villas and houses as well as a proposed Stock Exchange
building and his entry entitled ‘Fire’ was originally considered the
winner of a competition, but later rejected, for the new Melbourne Fire
Brigade Headquarters.
The Stock Exchange design 'Fire'
In 1895, due to the depression, he relocated with his enlarged family to Perth, Western Australia, where after a short period with the Public Works Department he set up his own private Architectural business. After the death of Louisa Haedy in 1899, Augustine inherited the Steinschaenau Estate in Ramsgate. He sailed to England in 1901 and sold the property, returning to Perth quite a wealthy man.
He
designed many fine
public
buildings including the 1902 King’s Hall in Rokeby Road, Subiaco.
The hall became the social centre of the area as a venue for concerts,
balls and important events including the reception that marked the end
of World War 1. It later became a clothing store and now houses a small
shopping centre.
He presently specialized in designing Catholic and Anglican
Churches as
well as the Perth St. Patrick's Boys School, which was later included
into the Royal Perth Hospital.
In Subiaco there are several fine houses of similar design to his
Caulfield Villa.
King's Hall, now a shopping centre in Rokeby Road, Subiaco St Patrick's School, at the corner of Wellington and Lord Streets, Perth, 1907
St. Anne's Catholic Church, Hehir Street, Belmont, W. A. All Saints Anglican Church, Donnybrook, W. A. St Bridgits Catholic Church, Bridgetown W.A. (Sketch by M. Mclean)
Daniel
Hehir, a building contractor
and close friend of Augustine Benedict Rieusset, had also relocated to
Perth. He
was accompanied by his wife Anne and later joined by his nephew Edward and niece
Elizabeth Hehir. Daniel bred race horses and later operated the Crystal
Palace Skating Rink.
Augustine Benedict’s second son
Ben Rieusset and Daniel Hehir's niece Elizabeth Hehir,
whom had originally known each other in Richmond, Victoria met up again, becoming close
friends and married in Perth in 1906. My father Benedict Daniel Francis Rieusset, Ben & Elizabeth's first child, was born in 1908 in Subiaco, W.A. Although named after his father and great uncle Daniel Hehir, he was always known as Frank Rieusset to save confusion. In 1927 he moved to Melbourne to work in the newspaper industry with his father. Dad became the Melbourne representative for the Hobart Mercury and eventually in 1954 moved with us, his family, to Hobart to become the Advertising Manager with The Mercury newspaper. I continue to live in Hobart and have had a wide variety of employment and research interests. |
