Who was the real Thomas Lefroy? As reported recently in the Longford Leader, the new film about the life of Jane Austen, "Becoming Jane", documents the famous author's relationship with Thomas Lefroy, who went on to purchase Carrigglas Manor. While the film concentrates on Austen, there is also much interest in Mr Lefroy's background and how he came to own Carrigglas. Here, in an article written by Lt Colonel Patrick Lefroy MA MBE, a descendent of Lefroy, for the 1983 Longford Historical Society Journal, we look at Lefroy, the man who was said to be the inspiration for Darcy- one of Austen's most famous characters. The Right Honourable Thomas Langlois Lefroy, three times Gold Medalist at Dublin University, Doctor of Law, Queen's Counsel, Member of Parliament for Dublin University, Privy Councillor, sometime Baron of the Exchequer and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, has no enduring place in the history of our country; and his name is largely forgotten today. Yet if few have heard of the nineteenth-century statesman, many who love the novels of Jane Austen will have heard of young Tom Lefroy who stirred the affections of the heroine in the winter of 1796. This is how it came about. The Lefroy family were protestant refugees who fled from Flanders to England in about 1580. During the eighteenth century one of them, Anthony Lefroy, became a banker at Leghorn in Italy. He married Elizabeth Langlois, a descendant of another Protestant refugee family. Anthony himself made (and lost) a fortune, but the Langlois connection was important because Elizabeth had four brothers, all of whom acquired wealth and, all dying without legitimate issue, their fortunes eventually came to the Lefroy family. Anthony and Elizabeth had three children who survived infancy- Phoebe, who married the Count del Medico Staffetti who owned the marble quarters at Carrara, Anthony Peter who became a soldier and George, who became a parson in the Church of England. George married a wealthy and well-connected wife, and settled down to the comfortable life of country parson in Hampshire.The elder son, Anthony Peter, having entered the army as an Ensign, was posted to Limerick. While still a very junior officer he met and married in 1765, Ann Gardner of Doonass in Co.Clare. Five girls were born to them before, in 1776, a son arrived and was baptised Thomas Langlois. Great was the joy and great were the expectations! His great uncle Benjamin Langlois took a personal interest in the child's education and bombarded his father with admonition and advice, which, since he held the money bags, were virtually commands. It must be the classical studies, of course, but he must also take exercise ride and fence. Of course, he must go to the University. Great-uncle Benjamin would have preferred Oxford where his uncle, Rev. George Lefroy, was a Fellow of All Souls College in addition to his Hampshire rectory. But Anthony Peter (remembering, perhaps, how he had left home and parents in Leghorn at an early age and had not seen them again for 23 years) drew the line at this, and urged the advantages of Trinity College, Dublin. Great-uncle Benjamin agreed "if he can but obtain the great prize at last of a fellowship, I shall consider him safely landed." The Colonel - as Anthony Peter later became - and his brother George between them had seventeen children alive in 1793. As great-uncle Benjamin pointed out "On such a sure total, the chance is great that one or two should rise into distinction and there haul up the rest." Little Thomas was indeed destined in later life to fulfil this role. As a child he was reported to be "of a kind disposition and affectionate heart." He started his education at home in Limerick and entered Dublin University at the tender age of fourteen. His tutor was Dr.Burrowes (afterwards Dean of Cork) who kindly agreed to receive Tom into his family circle. His relationship with his tutor was therefore, more like that of a son than a pupil. In 1790 to read for a Fellowship. Trinity students had special privileges of attending debates in the Irish Parliament. Politicians considered it an honour to belong to the College Historical Society, founded by Edmund Burke in 1747. The Society had been suppressed by the college authorities shortly before Tom's time on account for the infiltration of United Irishmen and the independence of the political views expressed in its debates. Tom took part in negotiations with the college board to permit the re-establishment of the famous Society; and was secretary immediately afterwards - an early example of the confidence reposed in him by those in authority. He flung himself into debates in the Tory interest. Romantic nationalism and the doctrinaire philosophy of revolutionary France as preached by Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, Tom Moore and Lord Cloncurry, Who were contemporaries in the Society, were not the taste of the son of a protestant Colonel of Dragons. Corry, Plunkett, Bushe and Beresford were all members of this company. Tom won three gold medals and was elected Auditor in 1795 he took his degree and at this point, surprisingly for one whose mental and bodily vigour became a byword in later years, his health broke down and his eyesight gave cause for concern. The kindly Dr. Burrowes advised against the idea of a fellowship for Tom. His health simply would not stand the strain. A holiday would be the best cure, and the best place to secure a rest and a change of scene would be his uncle George's Rectory in England. It was peaceful, his uncle and aunt moved in the best of local society and there were plenty of other young people around. There are two descriptions of Tom at this time. Great-uncle Benjamin describes him as having "everything in his temper and character that can conciliate affections. A good heart , a good mind, good sense and as little to correcting him as ever I saw in one of his age" (and great-uncle Benjamin had a sharp eye for things to correct in other people). Dr. Burrowes testified, "No young man has left our College with a higher character. Of his conduct in London, however seducing its idleness and its evils, you need not have the slightest doubt. He is, in his religious principles, in his desire of knowledge, in his just ambition, fortified in every place." This then was the young man who was to sojourn in the pleasantly ordered country society of Hampshire. A bit of a prig? - Perhaps - although Miss Austen's description of him a few weeks later suggests that he was a sensitive lad with a hauteur of manner caused by great shyness. Footloose? Yes. Fancy-free? Ah - there is the question! Tom's closest friend in college was another Tom - Thomas Paul, son of Jeffry Paul, who owned much property and a mansion at Silverspring, Co. Wexford. Tom Paul had one sister, Mary. Tom Lefroy became engaged to Mary Paul the following year. Had they, at any time, any previous "understanding"? However, to his uncles Hampshire rectory Tom went and, being there at Christmas, took part in all the seasonal festivities, dancing and charades which were a feature of young people's life. The nearest neighbours were the Austens at Steventon Rectory about two miles away by road and one and a half across the fields. Tom's aunt, Mrs. Lefroy, was the sort of person who is always 'getting up to things' and although 25 years older than Parson Austen's daughter Jane and and mother of a family, she was one of Jane's best friends. Tom was a bit older than his cousins, who were schoolboys, but he and Jane were, more or less, of an age. It is hardly surprising that they flirted; and when Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra in January 1796 she and Tom were obviously 'getting themselves talked about'. The flippant references to him in her letters have a familiar ring. The behaviour was "everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together" But "he is so excessively laughed at about me at Ashe (his uncle's rectory) that he’s afraid of coming to Steventon."He has but one fault - "that his morning coat is a great deal too light" (evidently according to the fashion of the period this was very dashing!). She expects him to propose to her at a ball at Basingstoke. "I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises to give away his white coat." She makes over all her other admirers to a friend - "even the kiss which C.Powlett wanted to give me, as i mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy - for whom I don't care sixpence." How serious was all this? Unfortunately we have only one side of the story - Jane's. From the letters which have come down to us it is fairly clear that Jane made all the running. She was evidently attracted to Tom - but would she of married him? She says not - but we are left wondering as she does not protest too much. And Tom - might his reluctance to become embroiled at Steventon have been due not only to fear of ridicule but to memories of someone else in Ireland? These - and a proper objection for being only 'a scalp' for Jane - might have been the reasons why the expected proposal was not made. As an old man Tom is alleged to have said that to know Jane was to love her and that he had loved her - but it was a boy's love - which might mean anything. Perhaps Jane was more deeply involved than she cared to admit. Mrs. Lefroy evidently thought so. She took fright and bundled Tom off as quickly as possible. Remembering the famous literary figure which Jane afterwards became, it is easy to forget that at this time she was simply the penniless daughter of a country parson well connected, it is true, but a most unsuitable match for a young man expected to rise into distinction and haul up the rest of his numerous relations with him. So Tom was sent to London to read for the Bar. He was entered at Lincoln's Inn and lodged with great-uncle Benjamin Langlois who kept a snug bachelor establishment presided over by his highly illegitimate niece Mary. Two years later, when Tom's name cropped up in conversation. Jane was "too proud" to enquire after him although she was glad enough to get news of him gleaned by her father.In 1797 Tom returned to Ireland to be called to the Irish Bar and to request permission to ask for the hand of Mary Paul. This was duly granted and they became engaged. Tom then returned to London to complete his legal studies. With the outbreak of the Insurrection of 1798 the position of the Paul family at Silverspring in Wexford in the heart of the "disaffected" area became perilous. Jeffry Paul packed his family off to Wales, while he himself joined the Yeomanry and fought at New Ross and Wexford. Silverspring was occupied by the insurgents and sacked. "The house, I am told, is standing," wrote Jeffry to his wife, "but every article of furniture, beds, wine, etc., taken away or destroyed - mostly by the women of the neighbourhood." So, having no home to, the Pauls stayed on temporarily in South Wales and at Abergavenny in 1799 Tom and Mary were married. They went to live in Dublin where Tom began to practice at the Irish Bar. Within a year or so of their marriage, Tom's dear friend and Mary's Brother, Thomas Paul, A vigorous young man in apparently robust health who would succeed to the family properties and would, it was confidently expected, marry and have children to carry on the line, suddenly died. Mary now became the heiress of the Paul estates. This untoward and totally unexpected happening has given a lie to a faction which some biographies of Jane Austen have propagated - that in 1796 Tom Lefroy trifled with Jane's affections and then threw her over in order to marry an heiress. Such a story is nonsense. Tom may have had an acquaintance with the sister of his College friend before he ever met Jane. As Jane was very much his aunts protegee he could not have been other than cordial with her, but he avoided becoming embroiled in Steventon. When he married, although following eighteenth century custom, great-uncle Benjamin doubtless saw to it that she had an adequate jointure, his wife Mary was not an heiress and was not regarded as ever likely to become one. In fact the Lefroy and Austen families have twice been connected in marriage. In 1814 Tom's youngest cousin Rev. Benjamin Lefroy married Jane's niece Elizabeth, and in 1889 their grand-daughter Florence married Rev. Augustus Austen Leigh who was provost of King's College, Cambridge. Tom rapidly became prominent at the Irish Bar. About 1810 he acquired the estate of Carriglas from its bankrupt Newcomen owners. The Newcomens had intended to build a great house and had employed Gandon to build the impressive stable yards and the Dublin Gate. But money ran out before the house was built and by the time Tom Acquired it there were only a few rambling buildings on the demense. In 1824 Tom's eldest son Anthony had married the daughter of Viscount Lorton of Rockingham who was a son of the Earl of Kingston. He and his father owned large properties in Longford and Leitrim. His son-in-law Anthony Lefroy had political ambitions and become member of Parliament for County Longford. This really necessitated a family residence and in property in the county. So in 1837 Tom decided that Lefroy would do what Newcomen had failed to do. He would pull down the rambling old house in the Carriglas demense and would replace it by a noble structure in the latest style. There were problems. Tenants had to be evicted to clear the ground for a lay out on a suitable scale. But Tom was generous and the process of eviction went relatively smoothly. An architect, Daniel Robertson was entrusted with the design of the new house. The project was placed in the hands of the Almighty - 'We lay the strong Foundation Stone But build O Lord! Build Thou thereon We drop Plummet, stretch the Line But Thine the Work, the Blessing Thine.' - wrote Tom at the end of the architect's drawings. The result was the graceful, if somewhat austere, gothic pile which exists today. It took three years to build and such were the political convulsions in the county that, at times, Tom doubted whether he or his children would ever find it safe to live there. He persevered with the building however, on the theory that, if political unrest ever compelled him to sell the estate, it would fetch a better price with a house on it. His need as a politician, and later as a, Judge, to be within easy reach of Dublin; and his great sorrow at the tragic destruction by 'the Big Wind' of 1839 of a magnificent avenue of cedar trees which were a feature of the demense prevented him from making it his permanent home. But his son Anthony resided there and it has been occupied by his descendants ever since. What if he had married Jane Austen? It is an intriguing speculation. If Jane had come to Dublin as the wife of an ambitious Tory barrister we probably should of lost a romantic novelist. We might perhaps have found another and more graceful Trollope (whose Irish stories had tended to be underestimated). We must also remember that a near neighbour of Carriglas would have been Maria Edgeworth and the relationship between Carriglas and Edgeworthstown could have resembled that between Ashe and Steventon rectories thirty years before. What effect might this of had on literature? Might not the Anglo-Irish literary explosion, which took place at the end of the century, have occurred earlier in the county which had known Goldsmith?This article was printed by kind permission of the Longford Historical Society. It first appeared in the in the Historical Society Journal of 1983 which was edited by Jude Flynn. Courtesy of the Longford Leader http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/gaels/stories/lefroy.htm
Who was the real Thomas Lefroy? by Irish Identity vs. Laura Boyle (JAC)
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Who was the Real Tom Lefroy
“Tell Mary that I make over Mr. Heartley and all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in future, and not only him, but all my other admirers into the bargain wherever she can find them, even the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I do not care sixpence. Assure her also, as a last and indisputable proof of Warren’s indifference to me, that he actually drew that gentleman’s picture for me, and delivered it to me without a sigh.
Jane Austen to Cassandra
January 14, 1796
Thomas Langlois Lefroy (1776-1869 ) was an Irish Politician and judge, who eventually rose to the position of Chief Justice of Ireland. He was one of 10 children born to Colonel Anthony Lefroy of Limerick and Anne Gardiner. As the eldest son, the family depended on him to “rise into distinction and there haul up the rest.”This rise in distinction, from being the son of a soldier, to the chief Justice of Ireland was facilitated by Tom’s uncle, Benjamin Lefroy. Uncle Benjamin, in reality, great-uncle to young Thomas and his brothers and sisters, had made his money in the banking industry in Italy, before returning to London to take on life as a politician. He was greatly concerned with the welfare of his family and provided generously for his relative’s education, praising his “good heart, a good mind, good sense, and as little to correct in him as ever I saw in one of his age”.
Tom graduated with top honors from Trinity College in Dublin in 1775 and soon began studying law in London. At some point, however, it was decided that he should take a break. Family history maintains that long nights poring over books had weakened his constitution and his eyesight. It was clear that he needed a rest. With a new term beginning in January, 1776, Tom took several weeks off in December of 1775 to visit his Uncle and Aunt, Rev. George and Anne Lefroy in Ashe, nearly 60 miles away.
It was there that this young law student made his mark on history, for nearby to Ashe, at Steventon, lived the Austen family. Their younger daughter, Jane, was a great favorite of Tom’s Aunt Anne, though close to 30 years separated them in age. Anne Brydges Lefroy was, by all accounts a handsome woman who held great powers of persuasion over her children and friends, and in return was respected and loved by many. She was in many ways Lady Russell to young Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot.Although it is clear that many letters are missing, the account of this meeting that we do have is due to the fact that Jane Austen’s dearest friend and older sister, Cassandra, was at the time of Tom’s visit, visiting her own fiancé, Thomas Fowle. She was absent for the whole of Lefroy’s visit to Ashe and in fact never met this man who might have been her brother-in-law. Only two letters survive from this period of Jane Austen’s life, but they are invaluable to the scholar seeking information about this only known love interest who obviously shaped Jane’s outlook on love and life.
Many have argued that the tone of these letters does not sound like a woman deeply in love. It is important to consider, however, that Jane, but 20 years old at the time, no doubt expected them to be read to or at least shared with the Fowle family, with whom Cassandra was staying. She perhaps wished to express less than she felt in order to avoid embarrassment with her friends. It is also known that after Jane’s death, Cassandra ruthlessly purged her letters, lest any that might seem too personal fall into the wrong hands. We will never know what the missing letters were that Jane wrote to her sister.
It is not unlikely for two attractive young people to fall in together and enjoy each other’s company. A few years earlier, Jane’s cousin, the worldly wise Eliza de Fuillide, had described Cassandra and Jane as “perfect beauties [who] of course gain hearts by the dozen.” A portrait* drawn of Tom Lefroy in 1796 shows a serious young man with the light hair typical of the family. His prominent nose and deep blue eyes certainly present an overall picture of a “very gentleman like, good-looking, pleasant young man.”
To be fond of dancing [is] a certain step towards falling in love
-Pride and PrejudiceTom and Jane first met in mid December. As it was the Christmas season, balls were held frequently and Jane and this young student from Ireland met often and danced often. Jane even teased her sister about how often they stood up together and how they taught other couples a lesson on “being particular”. The two found much in common, sharing opinions and books. Their relationship was a close one, as evidenced by the fact that he lent her Tom Jones, an amazingly racy novel, not likely to be found on the shelves of her clergyman father’s library. Others, too, thought them a couple, as evidenced by one acquaintance sketching a picture of Tom for Jane to keep.
Visits were exchanged at each other’s homes and this whirlwind relationship ended after four weeks with Jane rather expecting to receive an offer of marriage from Tom. Was such an offer made? One tends to think not. Though she steadfastly refuses to accept him in her letter (unless he gets rid of his white coat) her later sentence in the same letter betrays her cavalier attitude, “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea.”
Tom returned to his uncle’s house in London and to his studies. Many readers persist in thinking that Anne Lefroy sent him away in order to avoid an imprudent match on Tom’s part. Certainly, it would have been in his best interest to marry well. Anna Austen Lefroy, Anne Lefroy’s daughter in law and Jane Austen’s niece, refutes this theory. Though alone among her relatives, she wrote, in 1869,
I am the only person who has any faith in the tradition…but when I came to hear again & again, from those who were old enough to remember, how the Mother had disliked Tom Lefroy because he had behaved so ill to Jane Austen, with sometimes the additional weight of the Father’s condemnation, what could I think then? Or what now except to give a verdict . . . [of] ‘under mitigating circumstances’—As—First, the youth of the Parties—secondly, that Mrs. Lefroy, charming woman as she was, warm in her feelings, was also partial in her judgments—Thirdly—that for other causes, too long to enter upon, she not improbably set out with a prejudice against the Gentleman, & would have distrusted had there been no Jane Austen in the case. The one thing certain is, that to the last year of his life she was remembered as the object of his youthful admiration—
Perhaps the blame was Tom’s. Before he had even left the countryside, rumors of an engagement to another were being spread. It is true that by the next spring, in 1797, he was engaged to Mary Paul, the sister of a college mate. Was this alliance in place before he ever met Jane Austen? Did Jane work this angle into Sense and Sensibility when she rewrote it years later, allowing Edward Ferrars to be trapped by a youthful engagement while falling in love with Elinor Dashwood?
Romantics may find it difficult to forgive the man who loved and left our favorite author, breaking her heart, perhaps forever—and yet, we must be grateful to him, as well. It is obvious that Jane knew love and could write with authority about love. Though she never admits it in the letters we have, it seems clear that she did love Tom Lefroy, and when asked about Jane, at the age of 94, Tom, too, admitted to loving Jane, though he qualified it by calling it a “boyish love”.If she had married, it is doubtful that Jane would have had time or encouragement to write and without this period of awakening, without this loss, we may never have seen Jane Austen’s novels in print. It is possible to see aspects of Tom Lefroy and his relationship with Jane in every hero she created, and in working out the lives of her heroines, is it not surprising that she gave each of them the happy ending she longed for?
We cannot know if that night in Ashe was the last Jane ever saw of Tom. The very next letter that she wrote to Cassandra (August, 1796) is dated from Cork Street, London, where Tom lived with his uncle Benjamin. “For the Austens to have stayed there by chance at this particular time, in the very street where Tom Lefroy was living, would have been a strange coincidence”, suggests Jon Spence in his new book, Becoming Jane. History shows that there were no boarding houses or hotels in Cork Street during that time. “There is no direct proof that they stayed with Langlois and his nephew, but it looks as though they did.”
Others suggest that Jane at least caught a glimpse of Tom later on that year in Bath.** He did visit his aunt in Ashe in 1797, but departed the country without visiting the Austens. This was clearly a difficult time for Jane, who wrote of this visit to her sister in November, 1798,
“Mrs. Lefroy did come last Wednesday…with whom, in spite of interruptions both from my father and James, I was enough alone to hear all that was interesting, which you will easily credit when I tell you that of her nephew she said nothing at all, and of her friend very little. She did not once mention the name of the former to me, and I was too proud to make any inquiries; but on my father’s afterwards asking where he was, I learnt that he was gone back to London in his way to Ireland, where he is called to the Bar and means to practise.”
Thomas Lefroy been called to the Irish Bar in 1797, did Jane but know it, and there he became a prominent member, publishing a series of Law Reports on the cases of the Irish Court of Chancery. He married Mary Paul in 1799 and they had seven children. The eldest son Anthony Lefroy was also an MP for his father’s old seat of Dublin University. A daughter named Jane is often thought to have been named for Jane Austen, though a more likely candidate is his mother-in-law, Jane Paul.
Thomas was elected to the House of Commons for the Dublin University seat in 1830, as a Tory (the party later becoming known as Conservative). He became a member of the Privy Council of Ireland on 29 January 1835. He continued to represent the University until he was appointed an Irish judge (with the title of a Baron of the Exchequer) in 1841.
He was promoted to Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Ireland in 1852. Despite some allegations in Parliament, that he was too old to do the job, Lefroy did not resign as Chief Justice until 1866 when, at the age of 90, a Conservative government was in office to fill the vacancy. He died in 1869.
The Lefroy family home, Carrigglas Manor, in County Longford, Ireland, is an imposing Victorian Limestone house with oriel windows, pitched gables and battlemented turrets. Just the kind of place Catherine Morland would have delighted in. Carrigglas was designed in 1837 for Thomas and his family by Scottish architect, Daniel Robertson. It remains in the Lefroy family to this day and is open seasonally for tours.Posted 3 months ago #
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