Life story shared by Karen Heald
The odd one out in a family of soldiers, sailors and privateers
Saumarez MOUNSTEVEN was born on 19 May 1846 in Ansford, Somerset. He came from a well-to-do family of career soldiers and sailors. In the 1871 Census, aged 24, he is a boarder at the World Turned Upside Down Inn in Whitley, Reading and is described as a Gentleman with no occupation.
In the 1881 Census, he is lodging with Jane Hamilton, a widow aged 60, in Whitley Road, Reading, again with no profession. He died of epilepsy on 5 June 1889 aged 43 in Reading and is buried in Reading Old Cemetery.
The inscription on his stone reads:
Saumarez Mountsteven
who died June 5th 1889
aged 43 years
These are they who come out of the
great tribulation. They have washed
their robes and made them white in
the blood of the lamb.
His lack of profession and the grave inscription suggest that he may have been unwell throughout his life, presumably with the epilepsy that claimed his life at the age of 43.
Saumarez’s father, William Thomas Blewett MOUNSTEVEN (1798-1871) was a career soldier who was born in Bodmin, Cornwall, joined the army in 1813, served at Waterloo in 1815 and was a Major General by the time he retired. William married Emily WOODFORDE (1816-1897) in 1836 in Ansford, Somerset and they had 10 children including Saumarez. Each child was born in a different place as the family moved around according to the needs of the army. At his death, William left little money (effects under £450 at probate) but it seems likely that he settled money on his children beforehand because Saumarez did not have a profession and both his single sisters lived on their own means and left considerable sums at their deaths. Saumarez had 5 brothers and 4 sisters. William Hext MOUNTSTEVEN (1839-1857) died at 18 while serving in the army in India. Francis Hender MOUNTSTEVEN (1844-1935) served in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Honorary Colonel, was for a time a Superintendent in the Devon Police, and served in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Arthur Cardew MOUNTSTEVEN (1853-1873) died at 20 while apprenticed to a cotton broker in London. Henry Woodforde MOUNTSTEVEN (1850-1858) and Walter MOUNTSTEVEN (1855-1865) died in childhood. Saumarez’s sisters were Cornelia Mary MOUNTSTEVEN (1837-1895) and Julia MOUNTSTEVEN (1849-1933) who remained unmarried, Edith MOUNTSTEVEN (1859-1953) who married William Graham WHITE (1854-1904), a Captain in the Royal Navy, in 1890, and Emily MOUNTSTEVEN (1842-1928) who married William Richmond BROWN (1840-1906), in 1862. William Richmond BROWN was a colonel in the Lancashire Artillery Volunteers and later Deputy Lieutenant and High Sherriff of Nottingham. He also inherited a baronetcy becoming the Second Baronet in 1864 making Edith, Lady Richmond Brown. He clearly had considerable wealth. They lived for a time at 32 Ennismore Gardens, Kensington and later at 34 Chesham Place, Belgravia, with a country home at Astrop Hall, Kings Sutton near Banbury from 1866. Her residence at 34 Chesham Place had 30 rooms and 9 servants at the 1911 Census.
Saumarez’s grandfather was Hender MOUNTSTEVEN (1764-1845), a Gentleman and Attorney at Law from Bodmin who married Mary BENNETT (1768-1852) in 1788. They had 8 children including Saumarez’s father William. Two of William’s brothers were also in the armed forces: Hender MOUNTSTEVEN (1796-1879) was a Major in the Army and James Saumarez MOUNTSTEVEN (1811-1889) saw military service in the Royal Navy and was later Navy Paymaster.
Saumarez’s great grandfather, John MOUNTSTEVEN (1728-1788) was one of seven children born to Hender MOUNTSTEVEN (1696-1774), a Gentleman from Bodmin, and Elizabeth FROAD (1697-1767) who married in 1718. His siblings included Catherine MOUNTSTEVEN (1721-1787) who married Thomas SAUMAREZ (1720-1766) of Guernsey, a Captain in the Royal Navy, in 1755. This is the origin of the name Saumarez in the Mountsteven family; from then on, it is used a number of times in different branches.
Thomas Saumarez’s brother was Captain Philip de Saumarez (1710-1747). Philip sailed around the world with Commodore Anson twenty years before Captain Cook and designed the first naval uniform. He also made a fortune from his involvement in the capture of Nusetra Senora da Capa Donga (or Cavadonga), a wealthy Spanish treasure ship.
Philip de Saumarez has a memorial in Westminster Abbey designed by Sir Henry Cheers who also designed the gates at Sausmarez Manor, the ancestral home on Guernsey.
Another of Thomas’s brothers was Matthew Saumarez (1718-1778), a Navy Surgeon whose son, Admiral Sir James Saumarez (1757-1836) was one of Nelson’s ‘Band of Brothers’ and his second in command. James became the First Baron de Saumarez, officially dropping the middle s from Sausmarez.
Thomas, Philip and Matthew were the sons of Matthew de Sausmarez (1685-1751) and Anne Durell (1680-1788). Matthew de Sausmarez combined a career as an advocate with that of a privateer, launching raids against French, Spanish, and Dutch ships from Freeport in Guernsey.
The Sausmarez/Saumarez family originated in Scandinavia, arriving in Guernsey at some point between 1200 and 1254. They have long held prestigious roles in the governance of Guernsey such as Bailiff and Seigneur.
Division 47, Row I, Plot 1