# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dumaresq, Philip

​DUMARESQ, PHILIP (1650?–1690), seigneur of Samarés, in the parish of St. Clement's, Jersey, the eldest son of Henry Dumaresq by his wife Margaret, only daughter of Abraham Hérault of St. Heliers, is said on doubtful authority to have been born ‘about 1650’ (Payne, Armorial of Jersey, pp. 134–5, 141 pedigree). His father, a staunch parliamentarian, had been dismissed from his office of jurat of the royal court at the beginning ​of the civil war, but was reinstated along with his father-in-law by the council of state in August 1653 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1653–4, p. 118). The son, however, appears to have held different views. At an early age he entered the navy, and attained the rank of captain. He was sworn in jurat of the royal court, 2 Feb. 1681. On the accession of James II in 1685, he presented him with a manuscript, giving an account of the Channel Islands, with suggestions for their defence. It remained among the state papers until about the close of the last century, when it was transmitted to Admiral d'Auvergne, duke of Bouillon, the then naval commander at Jersey. By his permission copies were allowed to be made. ‘If I am not mistaken,’ says Edward Durell, ‘the original is still in the governor's office’ (Falle, Jersey, ed. Durell, 1837, p. 284). Payne (Armorial, p. 135) wrongly asserts the original to be ‘preserved at the British Museum;’ he had probably confused it with ‘a plan of the coast of the island of Jersey’ by John Dumaresq (Addit. MS. 15496, f. 14). From his letters Dumaresq seems to have been an amiable, well-informed man, who devoted most of his time to gardening, fruit, and tree culture. He was the friend and correspondent of John Evelyn (Addit. MS. 15857, ff. 225–7; Evelyn, Diary, ed. 1850–2, iii. 189, 227–8). There are also a few of his letters to Christopher Lord Hatton, when governor of Jersey, in Addit. MS. 29560, ff. 108, 212, 318. Shortly before his death he imparted to Philip Falle, who was then engaged on his history of the island, ‘a set of curious observations;’ but what was still more valuable, an accurate survey of Jersey, ‘done on a large skin of vellum,’ and ‘equally calculated for a sea chart and a land map,’ which in a reduced form adorns the front of Falle's book (see Falle's prefaces to first (1694) and second (1734) editions). Dumaresq died in 1690. By license bearing date 24 June 1672 he married at the Savoy Chapel, London, Deborah, daughter of William Trumbull of Easthampstead, Berkshire (Chester, London Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 426; pedigree of Trumbull in Marshall's Genealogist, vi. 100). Mrs. Dumaresq died in 1720 at Hertford (Probate Act Book, P. C. C. 1720), and desired to be buried at Easthampstead ‘as near my dear father as may be.’ Her will of 25 Dec. 1715, with two codicils of 2 (sic) Dec. 1715, and 24 Oct. 1717, was proved at London 20 Dec. 1720 (registered in P. C. C., 252, Shaller). Dumaresq's only child, Deborah, married Philip, son of Benjamin Dumaresq, a junior scion of Dumaresq des Augrès, but she died without issue. She was the last of her family who held the seigneurie of Samarés, having conveyed it to the Seale family.
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