Claude Fonnereau

Claude Fonnereau (1677, La Rochelle – 5 April 1740, Hoddesdon) was a French Huguenot refugee who settled in England and became a prominent merchant. He was the founding father of the Fonnereau family in England.

In 1735 he purchased Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, Suffolk, from Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford.

Family life

Claude was the son of Zacharie Fonnereau and Marguerite Chataigner. He married Elizabeth Bureau, also a Huguenot, the daughter of Anne Bureau, and had several children:

• Thomas Fonnereau (1699–1779), a merchant and politician, who inherited his father's estates, including Christchurch Mansion
• Dr. Claude (or Claudius) Fonnereau (1701–1785), who inherited Christchurch Mansion on his elder brother's death
• Elizabeth Frances Fonnereau (born 1702), who married James (Jacques) Benezet, also from a Huguenot family, who had settled in London
• Abel Fonnereau (1703–1753)
• Anne Fonnereau (born 1704), who married Philip Champion de Crespigny (1704–1765), also from a Huguenot family, who had settled in Camberwell, and was the father of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Baronet, and Philip Champion de Crespigny
• Zachary Philip Fonnereau (1706–1778), a merchant and politician who was the father of Philip Fonnereau and Martyn Fonnereau and grandfather of Thomas George Fonnereau
• Peter Fonnereau (1709–1743)
• Marie Anne (born 1711), who married John Martyn
• Elizabeth (born 1712), who married Mr. De Hauteville