DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65479#0039
THE THREE BROTHERS-
GEORGE, WILLIAM, AND JOHN TOLLEMACHE.
THESE three young men were the sons of Lionel, fourth Earl of
Dysart, and Grace Carteret, Countess of Dysart. Their un-
timely deaths followed each other in quick succession, but their
mother was spared the grief which she would have suffered in their loss,
for she had died before the news of the first blow reached England.
George Tollemache, the godson of George II., was born in the
spring of 1744, and was sent to Westminster School before he was ten
years old. He was placed in the boarding-house kept by Mrs. Porten,
the aunt of Edward Gibbon the historian. On the 7th of November, 1755,
Lord Dysart made the following entry in his account-book:
“To Mrs. Porten mistress of ye Boarding House at Westminster ye
Sum of Eighteen Pounds Nineteen Shillings in Full of her Bill for
George Tollemache’s Board and Bills of Disbursements or Expences
from December 14, 1754, to June 15, 1755.
“ Ye Half Year’s Board is ^12 : 10 : o. And ye Bills are ^*6 : 9 : o.”
There is a similar entry in July, 1756, and later in the same month
Lord Dysart notes in his book: “ Paid One Guinea and Sixpence to ye
Secretary of ye Admiralty being ye Fee for ye Order of ye Lords of ye
Admiralty for ye Admission of Mr. George Tollemache to ye Academy
at Portsmouth.”
In 1757 George received five guineas for pocket-money, and on the
26th of July, 1760, Lord Dysart gave him ^30, “on his going on Board
ye Modeste at St. Helliers on a Cruize.”
From this first cruise George Tollemache, who was only sixteen,
never returned. The Modeste was a man-of-war carrying sixty-four guns.
Four months after George Tollemache joined his ship, and when she was
about to touch at Lisbon, he fell overboard and was drowned. In the Log
Book of the Modeste on Thursday, the 13th of November, 1760, after the
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GEORGE, WILLIAM, AND JOHN TOLLEMACHE.
THESE three young men were the sons of Lionel, fourth Earl of
Dysart, and Grace Carteret, Countess of Dysart. Their un-
timely deaths followed each other in quick succession, but their
mother was spared the grief which she would have suffered in their loss,
for she had died before the news of the first blow reached England.
George Tollemache, the godson of George II., was born in the
spring of 1744, and was sent to Westminster School before he was ten
years old. He was placed in the boarding-house kept by Mrs. Porten,
the aunt of Edward Gibbon the historian. On the 7th of November, 1755,
Lord Dysart made the following entry in his account-book:
“To Mrs. Porten mistress of ye Boarding House at Westminster ye
Sum of Eighteen Pounds Nineteen Shillings in Full of her Bill for
George Tollemache’s Board and Bills of Disbursements or Expences
from December 14, 1754, to June 15, 1755.
“ Ye Half Year’s Board is ^12 : 10 : o. And ye Bills are ^*6 : 9 : o.”
There is a similar entry in July, 1756, and later in the same month
Lord Dysart notes in his book: “ Paid One Guinea and Sixpence to ye
Secretary of ye Admiralty being ye Fee for ye Order of ye Lords of ye
Admiralty for ye Admission of Mr. George Tollemache to ye Academy
at Portsmouth.”
In 1757 George received five guineas for pocket-money, and on the
26th of July, 1760, Lord Dysart gave him ^30, “on his going on Board
ye Modeste at St. Helliers on a Cruize.”
From this first cruise George Tollemache, who was only sixteen,
never returned. The Modeste was a man-of-war carrying sixty-four guns.
Four months after George Tollemache joined his ship, and when she was
about to touch at Lisbon, he fell overboard and was drowned. In the Log
Book of the Modeste on Thursday, the 13th of November, 1760, after the
83