John Dunn-Gardner


John Dunn-Gardner, of Soham Mere and of Chatteris House, Isle of Ely, in Cambridgeshire was a British politician and landowner. From his birth until his de-legitimization in 1843 he was the eldest legal son and heir apparent of George Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend, who was not however his biological father. He is otherwise notable in relation to the tangled marital history of his mother, the Marchioness Townshend.

Origins

He was born on 20 July 1811 as "John Margetts", the eldest surviving natural son of John Margetts, a brewer from St Ives, by his mistress Sarah Dunn-Gardner,, wife of George Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend, and only surviving daughter and heiress of William Dunn-Gardner of Chatteris House, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. By law until his de-legitimization in 1843 he was deemed the eldest son and heir of 3rd Marquess Townshend, as his mother's marriage was never annulled. On 26 December 1823 when aged 12, his mother had him baptised with the name "John Townshend" at St. George's, Bloomsbury,
and he adopted the use of the courtesy title Earl of Leicester, his legal father's subsidiary title. However all the children borne to his mother during her marriage were declared illegitimate by a private act of Parliament in 1843, whereupon John assumed as his surname his mother's maiden name of Dunn-Gardner.

Career

He was a Conservative member of parliament for Bodmin from 1841 to 1847, and served as a Justice of the Peace, a deputy lieutenant, and as High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1859. In 1872, having inherited his maternal estates, John Dunn-Gardner was the sixth largest landowner in Cambridgeshire, ranking after the Earl of Hardwicke, the Duke of Bedford, John Walbanke Childers MP, the Duke of Rutland and William Hall. He was the second largest landowner to be resident principally in Cambridgeshire, and owned, or about 0.7% of all land in that county.

Sarah, Marchioness Townshend

Sarah and her husband married on 12 May 1807, and were known as Lord and Lady Chartley, a courtesy title from his grandfather, the 1st Marquess Townshend. In September 1807, on the death of the 1st Marquess, the couple became the Earl and Countess of Leicester, also a courtesy title. They separated a few months later, in May 1808, without having produced issue, and she filed an ecclesiastical suit for annulment, alleging non-consummation of the marriage, i.e. that the couple had never had sex. While the suit was still pending, Lady Leicester eloped with John Margetts, a brewer, and married him in a bigamous ceremony at Gretna Green in October 1809. They had several children. Her first marriage was never dissolved, which became a legal problem for the succession of the Townshend peerages. In 1811 her legal husband became the 3rd Marquess Townshend, but after leaving him, she did not use his name for over a decade, calling herself Mrs. Margetts; and Margetts gave his surname to their children. Sarah survived both men: Margetts died in 1842, and Marquess Townshend died abroad in December 1855. She remarried a few weeks after her legal widowhood, to James Laidler on 10 January 1856, and died on 11 September 1858.

Settling of Dunn-Gardner estate in 1831

In August 1831 Sarah's father William Dunn-Gardner of Chatteris House, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, bequeathed the estate of Soham Mere, bought with the funds he had settled on his daughter and her husband, to his eldest natural grandson then known as "John Townshend", described in 1863 as a stranger in blood under the law. However, at the time, John was his legitimate grandson, as he was born to his daughter within wedlock. William Dunn-Gardner apparently bequeathed the estate by name to ensure that his grandson would not be disinherited by any future legal steps taken by the Townshend family, which in fact happened in 1842.
Soham Mere was given to John's younger brother William Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey, and descended in the family until 1974 when it was sold to the present owner.

De-legitimization in 1843

Sarah, Lady Townshend, and John Margetts had several children besides John who bore the surname "Margetts" until 26 December 1823, when there was a wholesale christening under the surname "Townshend", but they were all declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament passed in 1843 at the request of the Townsend family. John himself was at the time a member of parliament, and after the passing of the Act he assumed his mother's surname of Dunn-Gardner.

Dunn-Gardner family

The Dunn-Gardner family was descended from William Dunn-Gardner and his wife the heiress Jane Gardner, who married in 1783 and had an only surviving daughter and heiress Sarah Dunn-Gardner. Jane Gardner was herself the only surviving child and heir of John Gardner of Chatteris House who married his cousin, the daughter and heiress of John Marriott of Chatteris House by his wife Barbara Johnstone, sister of his mother. When John Gardner died in 1804, his son-in-law William Dunn was obliged under the will to change his name to Dunn-Gardner to inherit Chatteris House and the other Gardner estates. Burke's Peerage states that the grandson "John Townshend" / John Dunn-Gardner inherited Chatteris in 1839, after his maternal grandmother Jane Gardner had died in that year.
Although A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain fails to mention Mr Dunn-Gardner's parentage, it mentions that he had two surviving brothers and two sisters. The "Townshend Peerage Case" gives details of all the children fathered by John Margetts:
  • 1. a son
  • 2. John Margetts, later John Dunn Gardner, above, born and known as John Margetts and so enrolled in school although styling himself Earl of Leicester, but christened December 1823 with the surname of Townshends, and then assumed the style of Earl of Leicester until 1843.
  • 3. William 'Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey, nr Newmarket, co. Cambridge, JP, known as Lord William Townshend from 26 December 1823 until 1843, when he and his siblings were declared illegitimate by private act. He inherited the Fordham Abbey estate from his maternal grandfather, but came into possession only in 1839 when his maternal grandmother died, and was at first an unpopular landlord. He married Angelina Wainwright, by whom he had one surviving son and heir Cyril.
  • *3.1. Cyril Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey. Cyril was of age in 1895, and owned about in Fordham in 1910. He died without issue in 1911, leaving a life interest in the Abbey estate to his mother and former guardian, who died 1923, as above. The Fordham Abbey estate then passed in 1923 to Algernon Charles Wyndham Dunn Gardner, apparently by then the next heir male..
  • 4. Rosa-Jane Dunn-Gardner, used the name of Lady Rosa Jane Townshend December 1823 – 1843, wife of Charles Mottram by 1842.
  • 5. Frederick Thomas Margetts who died in infancy according to the Townshend Peerage Case.
  • 5. Lavinia-Charlotte-Sarah Dunn-Gardner, known as Lady Lavinia Charlotte Sarah Townshend from December 1823 to 1843.
  • 6. Cecil Mina Bolivar Dunn-Gardner', formerly of the 13th Light Dragoons, known as Lord Cecil Townshend from birth to age 21. His death is recorded, 7 September 1903. This Cecil Dunn-Gardner was the father of two sons, Robert Cecil, born 18 Sep. 1868, Francis Cyril, bapt. 2 Aug. 1872 and four daughters – Cecilia or Cissie, Maude, Violet, and Flora:
  • *6.1. Robert Cecil Dunn-Gardner unmarried
  • *6.2. Francis Cyril Dunn-Gardner
  • *6.3. Cecilia Dunn-Gardner, or Cissie, who married 1stly in 1887 Col. Robert Ashton by whom she had one son and one daughter, and 2ndly in 1899 the 10th Earl of Scarbrough, by whom she had an only daughter. According to her daughter's obituary, the Countess ignored her daughters, and was known for her vulgarity, solecisms, and malapropisms but, in fact, also for her work in the hospital of the Order of St.John
  • *6.4. Violet Dunn Gardner, the artist.
  • *6.5. Maude Dunn Gardner, aged 15 in 1881
  • *6.6. Flora Dunn Gardner, who had issue.

Marriages and children

John Dunn-Gardner married twice:
  • Firstly, in 1847, to Mary Lawson, elder daughter of Andrew Lawson, of Boro Bridge, Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, MP for Knaresborough, and granddaughter on her maternal side of Sir Thomas Gooch, 4th Baronet, of Benacre in Suffolk. By her, he had issue, one son and one daughter:
  • *Arthur Andrew Cecil Dunn-Gardner, J.P., who was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar. His obituary states that he 'devoted his life to the interest of others', and he was involved with the Society for the Relief of Distress and the Charity Organization Society. He was apparently also a notable book collector like his father. He married 1890 Rose Lawrie, daughter of Andrew Lawrie. She was apparently the Rose Dunn-Gardner, who was active in 1895 in the Society for Organising Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicity, known later as Charity Organisation Society.
  • *Mary Marianne Mariana, later Mrs William Robinson md 1870 her stepmother's brother William Robinson, of Dullingham House, Newmarket, co Cambridge and Denston Hall, co. Suffolk; he was son of William Pigott, Esq., of Dullingham House, Newmarket, co Cambridge by his wife Harriet Jeaffreson. He changed his name twice from Pigott to Jeaffreson to inherit Dullingham House under the terms of his grandfather's will, and then again to Robinson to inherit Denston Hall, Suffolk, from another relative. He died 23 June 1889, apparently leaving no issue.
  • Secondly, in 1853, he married Ada Piggott, daughter of William Pigott of Dullingham House, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, son of Sir George Pigott, Baronet, of Knapton, Queen's County. By his second wife, he had further issue, a son and a daughter:
  • *Algernon Charles Wyndham Dunn-Gardner, of Denston Hall, co Suffolk, and Chatteris ; he married Harriet Compton of the Minstead family of that name, itself a branch of the Marquesses of Northampton. They had issue, one daughter
  • ** Miriam Dunn-Gardner, married by 1934 to Harvey Cliff Leader, a racehorse trainer at Newmarket. She sold her manorial rights in Fordham Abbey in 1972. The Abbey itself with about remaining mostly parkland, was sold between 1933 and 1937.
  • *Ada Marietta Dunn-Gardner.

Death

Dunn-Gardner died on 11 January 1903, when resident at 37 Grosvenor Place, London.