John Dunn Gardner

John Gardner (20 July 1811 – 11 January 1903), formerly of Soham Mere and later of Chatteris House, Isle of Ely, in the county of Cambridge, known as John Townshend until 1843 and sometimes styled "Earl of Leicester", was a British Member of Parliament from 1841 to 1847, elected to represent Bodmin as a Conservative. He was also a Justice of the Peace, a Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1859.

He is otherwise notable for the tangled marital history of his mother, the Marchioness Townshend.

Baptised John Townshend on 26 December 1823 at St. George's, Bloomsbury, he was the eldest surviving son of the brewer John Margetts and the heiress Sarah (née Dunn Gardner), estranged wife of George Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend.

All the children of this union were declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament in 1843. Dunn Gardner, who had styled himself "Earl of Leicester" (the courtesy title used by the heir apparent to the marquessate of Townshend) before his election to parliament, then assumed his mother's maiden name of Dunn Gardner.

Dunn Gardner died in January 1903, aged 91.

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 by courtesy. They separated a few months later, in May 1808, and she filed an ecclesiastical suit for annulment, alleging non-consummation, 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. Her first marriage was never dissolved, which became a legal problem for the succession of the Townshend peerage. 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 name 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 the grandfather's estate in 1831

Chatteris House

In August 1831, her father William Dunn-Gardner, formerly Dunn, Esq., of Chatteris House (died 10 November 1831) devised (bequeathed) the estate of Soham Mere, bought with the funds originally settled on his daughter and her husband, to his eldest natural grandson John Dunn Gardner, described in 1863 as a stranger in blood under the law. However, at the time (1831), John Dunn Gardner was his legitimate grandson, as the son born to his daughter within wedlock (albeit not by her husband). William Dunn-Gardner apparently devised 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 the second brother William Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey, and descended in the family until 1974 when it was sold to the present owner.

Formal bastardization in 1843

Sarah, Lady Townshend, and John Margetts had several children who bore their father's name until 26 December 1823, when there was a wholesale christening under the Townshend name, but they were all declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament brought in 1842 and passed the next year. (One child, being a minor and having no legal guardian, was exempted from the act's provisions, but was similarly excluded from succession to the peerage by a second private bill as soon as he came of age.) The eldest son, John, is the subject of this article. In 1843 (after the Act of Parliament declaring him illegitimate was passed) he assumed his mother's surname of Dunn Gardner.

The Dunn-Gardners were descended via William Dunn-Gardner, originally Dunn (d. 1831), and his wife Jane Gardner (d. 1839), who married in 1783 and had an only surviving daughter Sarah, mentioned above. Jane Gardner was herself the only surviving child and heir of her father John Gardner, Esq., of Chatteris House (d. 1804), who married his cousin, the daughter and heir of John Marriott, Esq., of Chatteris House by Barbara Johnstone, sister of his mother. When John Gardner died in 1804, his son-in-law was obliged to change his name from Dunn to Dunn-Gardner to inherit Chatteris House and the other Gardner estates. Burke's Peerage says that the grandson inherited Chatteris in 1839, after his maternal grandmother Jane had died that year.

Although A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain (1862) fails to mention Mr Dunn Gardner's parentage (as the eldest illegitimate son of a brewer John Margetts and his bigamous spouse Sarah Dunn-Gardner, Marchioness Townshend), it credits him with two surviving brothers (William and Cecil) and two sisters. The Townshend Peerage Case 1842-1843 gives details of all the children:

1. a son (b. Jan 1810, died shortly afterwards)

2. John Margetts, later John Dunn Gardner, above (b. July 1811), born and known as John Margetts and so enrolled in school although styling himself Earl of Leicester, but christened December 1823 (with his other siblings) 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 (23 June 1812 – 1879), known as Lord William Townshend from 26 December 1823 until 1843 (as the alleged second surviving son of the 3rd Marquess Townshend), 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 (d. 1923), by whom he had one surviving son and heir Cyril.
3.1. Cyril Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey (d. 1911). Cyril was of age in 1895, and owned about 1,570 acres (6.4 km²) 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 (d. 1929), apparently by then the next heir male. (The estate fell to about 1,140 acres (4.6 km²) by his death).

4. Rosa-Jane Dunn-Gardner (born 2 January 1814, or June 1815 per Townshend Peerage Case), used the name of Lady Rosa Jane Townshend December 1823 - 1843, wife of Charles Mottram by 1842.

5. Frederick Thomas Margetts (born 3 July 1816) who died in infancy according to the Townshend Peerage Case.

5. Lavinia-Charlotte-Sarah Dunn-Gardner (b. 5 June 1820), known as Lady Lavinia Charlotte Sarah Townshend from December 1823 to 1843.

6. Cecil Mina Bolivar Dunn-Gardner (born 1825, d.1903), formerly of the 13th light Dragoons, known as Lord Cecil Townshend from birth to age 21 (a second private act forbidding him to use that name and style was then passed). 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 (both unmarried)and four daughters - (Lucy) Cecilia or Cissie, Maude, Violet, and Flora:
6.1. Robert Cecil Dunn-Gardner (b. 18 Sep 1868) unmarried
6.2. Francis Cyril Dunn-Gardner (bapt. 2 August 1872)
6.3. (Lucy) Cecilia Dunn-Gardner, or Cissie (d. 24 November 1931), who married 1stly in 1887 Col. Robert Ashton (1848–1898) by whom she had one son and one daughter, and 2ndly in 1899 the 10th Earl of Scarbrough (16 November 1857 – 4 March 1945), by whom she had an only daughter. According to her daughter's obituary (2000), the Countess ignored her daughters, and was known for her vulgarity, solecisms, and malapropisms.
6.4. Violet Dunn Gardner, the artist.
6.5. Maude Dunn Gardner, aged 15 in 1881 (born circa 1865)

6.6. Flora Dunn Gardner, who had issue.

Dunn Gardner married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1847, was Mary Lawson (d. 13 April 1851), elder daughter of Andrew Lawson, of Boro Bridge, Boroughbridge, co York formerly MP for Knaresborough, and granddaughter maternally of the late Sir Thomas Gooch, Bt., of Benacre, co. Suffolk. By her, he had issue, one son and one daughter.

His second wife, whom he married in 1853, was Ada Piggott, daughter of William Pigott, Esq., of Dullingham House, Newmarket, co Cambridge, and granddaughter of Sir George Pigott, Bt., of Knapton, Queen's County. By his second wife, he had further issue, a second son and a second daughter.

Children:

1. (by 1st wife) Arthur Andrew Cecil Dunn-Gardner, J.P. (8 January 1851–28 July 1902), 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 (formed 1869), known later as Charity Organisation Society (COS).

1. (by 1st wife) Mary Marianne Mariana, later Mrs William Robinson (b. 1848–1850) md 1870 her stepmother's brother (Christopher) William Robinson (23 January 1830 – 23 June 1889), of Dullingham House, Newmarket, co Cambridge (the house formerly owned or rented by her stepmother's father) and Denston Hall, co. Suffolk; he was son of William Pigott, Esq., of Dullingham House, Newmarket, co Cambridge (see above) 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.
2. (by 2nd wife) Algernon Charles Wyndham Dunn-Gardner, of Denston Hall, co Suffolk, and Chatteris (b. 12 December 1853; d. 1929); he married Harriet Compton of the Minstead family of that name, itself a branch of the Marquesses of Northampton. They had issue, one daughter
   1. Miriam Dunn-Gardner (b. 1905; d. after 1977), married by 1934 to Harvey Cliff Leader (1893–1972), a racehorse trainer at Newmarket. She sold her manorial rights in Fordham Abbey in 1972. The Abbey itself with about 245 acres (0.99 km²) remaining mostly parkland, was sold between 1933 and 1937.
3. (by 2nd wife) Ada Marietta Dunn-Gardner

Dunn-Gardner died circa 1904–1905, being still living and residing at 37 Grosvenor Place, London, when Ruvigny compiled the Anne of Exeter volume.

In 1872, John Dunn Gardner was the sixth largest landowner in the county of Cambridge, ranking immediately 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 3,676 acres (14.88 km²), or about 0.7% of all land in that county.