Peter Thellusson

Peter [de] Thellusson (27 June 1735 — 21 July 1797) was a Genevan businessman and banker who settled in London, and became a British subject in 1762. He amassed a fortune through commerce and, when he died in 1797, he owned more than 4,000 acres of land in England. His descendants built the new Brodsworth Hall in South Yorkshire, which is maintained since 1988 by English Heritage. He was a son of Isaac de Thellusson (1690–1755) and Sarah (née le Boullenger) Thellusson (1700–1770). His father had started a bank in Paris with a branch in Geneva (Thellusson, Necker et Cie) and became the Genevan ambassador to Paris. Thellusson built a large house for himself 'Plaistow Lodge' at Bromley in Kent (Now Bromley Parish CofE Primary School) and in 1790 bought the Brodsworth estate in South Yorkshire.

Personal life

On 6 January 1760 he married Ann Woodford (1740–1805), daughter of Matthew Woodford and sister of Sir Ralph Woodford of Carlby, Lincolnshire. They were the parents of:

Peter Isaac Thellusson, 1st Baron Rendlesham (1761–1808), who married Elizabeth Eleanor Cornwall, a daughter of John Cornwall, in 1783. and Mary ( Parker) Fonnereau (a daughter of Armstead Parker, MP for Peterborough), in 1790. whereby his fortune and estates were put into a trust fund for the benefit of future generations at the expense of his children and grandchildren. The two ultimate beneficiaries, decided by the courts after protracted legal wrangling, were the grandchildren of his eldest son Peter Isaac Thelluson, who was created Baron Rendlesham in 1806 and one of his other sons, Charles. It is believed that the Thellusson Will case provided the basis for the fictional case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce in Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House. Thelluson may also be the inspiration for the Tellsons Bank mentioned in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. As a result of the case, legislation, commonly known as the Thellusson Act, was passed to prevent a recurrence of such problems in the future.