Jean Louis Guillemard

(1764–1844)

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Jean Louis (John Lewis) Guillemard was a second cousin once removed of Esther Beuzeville.

Born on 31 August 1764 into a Huguenot family, he descended from Jean Guillemard, who had settled in England around 1699 as a silk weaver at Tottenham Court. Jean Louis was educated at St John’s College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1786 and M.A. in 1789.

Described as “of Clavering Hall, Essex, and 27 Gower Street, London,” Guillemard entered public service. In 1797 he was appointed Commissioner on behalf of Great Britain to adjudicate claims under the Treaty of Amity with the United States. Chosen by ballot over a rival American nominee, he was praised in a dispatch from Philadelphia to the Foreign Office as “a gentleman distinguished for the union of talents and information with uncommon modesty and urbanity.”

By December 1804 he had returned to England and married Mary Phillipa Davies-Giddy, daughter of the Rev. Edward Giddy (later Gilbert) and sister of Davies Giddy, who adopted the surname Gilbert in 1817. Through this marriage he was connected to prominent intellectual and landed circles; his wife was co-heiress of the barony of Sandys-of-the-Vine of Tredrea.

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1806—proposed by Dr James Lind and likely supported by his brother-in-law Davies Gilbert—Guillemard later served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830.

Though not a frequent contributor to its debates, he was committed to advancing scientific research. In 1828 he joined Dr W. H. Wollaston, Davies Gilbert, Sir Francis Chantrey, Charles Hatchett, and Henry Warburton in founding the Royal Society’s Donation Fund, contributing £100 toward its initial capital of £3,410. This fund was the first of the Society’s resources devoted wholly to experimental research, with income intended to be actively expended rather than accumulated.

Jean Louis Guillemard died in November 1844. He was buried at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Dagenham, Essex, in the vault of his grandfather Daniel Pilon. A memorial tablet within the church commemorates him.

Sources and Further Reading

• Royal Society archives, Fellowship and Presidential records.

• Venn, Alumni Oxonienses / University of Oxford records.

• Historical accounts of the Royal Society Donation Fund (1828).

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