Duval, father of the Lancers quadrilles
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Our editor-in-chief has struck again ! His inclinations as an amateur genealogist have already led us to more or less in-depth explorations of the Laborde (see here), Cellarius (here), Landrin (here), Henri Marx (here), and Louis Julien Clarchies (here) families. Here, he investigates the case of the dancing master Duval, who published the Lancers quadrilles in Dublin in 1817 (see the first part of our saga on this countrydance here).
In doing so, we continue the work begun by Paul Cooper of the website www.regencydances.org : in the study found here, he had already investigated who that "Duval" was, but additional genealogical data has allowed us to delve deeper into that research.
Until now, our editor-in-chief has focused exclusively on French archives and entrusted the exploration of foreign archives to others. This time, he embarks on a reading of British archives. The quality of the investigations is perhaps diminished by a lack of mastery of the available sources, nevertheless, even with inevitable gaps, we can consider that the data collected constitutes a coherent set of pieces from different sources that overlap and reinforce each other. Therefore, what is described below gives an extremely probable picture of the origins of the dancing master Duval(l).
Our progress originates from the website www.charlesduval.org, dedicated to the painter Charles Allen Duval (1810-1872), put online by his great-great-grandson, Stephen C. Askey. In particular, it contains useful information on the artist's genealogy (whose biography can be read here) and includes about ten lines linking him to the dancing master Duval of Dublin. In 1863, the painter wrote a manuscript in which, among other things, he lists his family members. And what we find there is quite miraculous.
The site, however, has a major problem: it is now offline and no longer fully accessible ! We tried to contact Stephen C. Askey via various social networks, but were unsuccessful. So, we had to take our pilgrim's staff ourselves to search the British archives. In the end, we gathered information that allowed us to write much more than 10 lines !
To access the information of the website www.charlesduval.org, we relied on what had been gathered there by genealogists Lise Kreps and Phil Williams. We also asked targeted questions to chatgpt, which had digested the site's data and stored it in its memory !
DUVAL FATHER
Let's start with the painter's paternal grandfather, as he seems to be at the root of a family "deviation" into dance.
We immediately realize that the Frenchified name "Duval" is more complex : Charles Allen Duval's grandfather was actually named John Wall-du Val. He initially pursued a military career as a captain. However, by the end of the 18th century, he had a wife and a large family to support (as we will explain below), and his pay was insufficient to support them. He therefore left the army and moved to London, where he set up as a dance teacher. (Source of this anecdote = The Williams Family Tree)
Examining the marriage certificate reproduced above leads us to put into perspective what is stated on the genealogy website consulted : indeed, at the time of his marriage to Ann Atkinson, John Duvall was already referred to as a "dancing master" even though his children were not born yet. Moreover, the certificate illustrates the duality of the name, which is the key to understanding the family : members will sometimes be called Duval or Duvall, sometimes Wall-du Val or even Wall.
Phil Williams (on his website The Williams Family Tree) states that John Wall du Val (whom we will refer to as "Duval father" in this article) added "Du Val" to his surname "Wall," believing it would give an additional note of distinction to his new profession as a dancing master. (Which we understand perfectly well : indeed, at that time, being French or having learned to dance in Paris was the height of chic for British dancing masters and was a commercial asset for their business.) Phil Williams adds that "Du Val" was the old family name. We'll come back to this later...
A FAMILY OF DANCE TEACHERS
For that grandfather, who became a dance teacher in London, the website www.charlesduval.org lists the following descendants, from his marriage on August 20, 1764, in Liverpool to Ann Atkinson.
The people listed below are then the father, uncles, and aunts of the painter Charles Allen Duval, his grandson :
John William Wall-du Val – born June 26, 1765 (died at 5 months old)
Sarah Ann Wall-du Val – born July 26, 1766 (no descendants)
Julius Caesar Wall-du Val – born October 12, 1768 (died May 1772, at 3 years old)
Charles Allen Andrews Wall-du Val – born September 22, 1770
John Arthur Wall-du Val – born October 21, 1773 (unmarried, no descendants)
William Augustus Caesar Wall-du Val – born April 22, 1775 (soldier, unmarried, no descendants)
Juliana Wall-du Val – born February 22 1777 (single)
Octavius Caesar Wall-duVal – born February 22, 1779
Julius Caesar Wall-du Val – born May 15, 1781 (died at 1 year 6 months)
Elizabeth Mary Wall-du Val – born May 20, 1784 (single)
Edward Julius Caesar Wall-du Val – born December 1787 (died in infancy)
We'll quickly skip over the observation that John Wall-du-Val and/or his wife Ann Atkinson clearly had a fascination with Roman emperors, given their recurrent use of the first names Julius, Caesar, Augustus, and Octavius : this is not the subject of our investigation ! We'll simply say that this large family described in the 1863 manuscript seems reliable. Indeed, without further ado, we do find the baptism of children in London : John Arthur in 1773, William Caesar in 1775, and Edward Octavius Caesar in 1779, all three in the parish of St. Andrew (Holborn). (source = https://www.ancestry.co.uk/)
It is obvious the the family settled in London. The "migration" is, however, marked by at least one stage : on September 16, 1766, Sarah Duvall, daughter of John Duvall, was baptized in Llanbeblig, in the County of Caernarvonshire in Scotland (west of Liverpool, near the coast, almost at the level of Dublin on the other side of the Irish Sea). (source = https://www.findmypast.co.uk/)
For the same year and location, we find an advertisement in the Chester Courant newspaper on May 6, 1766, announcing that dancing master Duvall intended to open a boarding school for young ladies in Carnarvon. Various classes would be offered, including dance and French.
Sarah Ann's marriage is recorded in the same parish of St. Andrew in Holborn where the family appears to have settled : on January 16, 1785, Sarah Ann Wall married John Edward Burghall (see image below).
That civil status would be anecdotal if it did not show a formal link between the "Wall" or "Wall Du Val" family of Holborn and the "Duval" of Dublin. Indeed, on December 22, 1801, an advertisement was published in which Mr. Burghall promoted his dance classes in London. In addition to the fact that he was also a dance teacher, we see that, among other dances, the London teacher learned the Irish steps of his brother-in-law, Mr. Duval, who was established as First Master in Ireland.
Other newspapers shed light on the Duval dance teacher siblings. Later, "The Morning Herald" of October 7, 1822 indicates that Mrs Burghall, widow of J.E. Burghall, brought the latest fashionable steps back from Paris after a visit to the continent that she made with her sister "Mademoiselle Duval". It is thus clear that Duval had at least 2 sisters who were also dance teachers, which clearly shows that there was a dynasty of dancing masters among the Duvals.
The Irish newspaper "Freeman's Journal" already reported on May 10, 1820 (see opposite) that Mr. Duval (of Dublin) and his much-admired sister Bess (the usual diminutive of "Elizabeth") danced remarkably well at a ball hosted by Mr. Duval at the Rotunda.
This information is consistent with the siblings mentioned above: Sara Ann, born in 1766, and Elizabeth Mary, born in 1784, seem to match. Moreover, there are enough brothers who could be the "Duval of Dublin."
Various sources already indicate that Duval of Dublin was called John, even though we never understood where that info came from. "John" could be John Arthur Wall-du Val born in 1773. Initially doubtful, in the end we are rather in favour of this assertion as appears below in our research on the Duval of Dublin.
THE DUVALS OF DUBLIN
We know that Edward Octavius Caesar Wall-du Val, John Arthur's brother, born in 1779, resided in Dublin. He married Sarah Eskildson there on December 19, 1804, while they were living in Drumcondra, a village north of Dublin. Note that the bride was no ordinary woman, as she was the daughter of the Danish consul in Ireland.
Edward Octavius Caesar Duval and Sarah Eskildson were the parents of the painter Charles Allen Duval (1810-1872), whom we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the man whose genealogical data allowed us to put together the family.
They had another son, George William Duval, who lived in Dublin. Indeed, he married Clara Maria Lodge there in 1832. Furthermore, the "Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent" of December 11, 1834, reports a dispute that ended at the police station between "William Duval" and his landlord. William Duval is said to be the "nephew of Mr. John Duval, the dancing master." The dispute stems from the fact that the dancing master made the boys dance with the girls in the building, that they galloped up and down the stairs, and that they drank wine and spirits, which led to a "retaliatory measure" from the landlord.
Besides the family connection, we also know that this nephew, the painter's brother, teached dances too for a more or less long time. Indeed, in its (unglamorous) "Insolvent Debtors" column of April 4, 1832, the "Dublin Morning Register" mentions "George William Duval, late of Abbey Street, formerly of Drumcondra, professor of dancing."
THE BENEFITS OF CLONTURK
After all these lists of people, it is clear that John Duval of Dublin was indeed the uncle of the painter Charles Allen Duval. He was a dance teacher, like his father, at least two of his sisters, and a nephew.
Nevertheless, it seems we can delve deeper into John Duval's deeds and actions. Indeed, in their stories about Drumcondra, several sources report that a famous dancing master named Duval attempted to exploit a water spring that supposedly had healing qualities. This can be read in the newspaper "Irish Independent" (the article is here) and in the 1920 book "A History of the County Dublin" (the cover of which is seen opposite and a digital version is available here). The website irelandxo.com reports here that the facts related to the source are due to "John Arthur Wall Du Val born in 1773", which leaves no doubt about the identity of the person (we were however unable to verify the origin of this information with them because they did not answer to our request for explanations).
In 1819, Duval discovered a spring on his estate and had it analyzed. The water exhibited chemical properties similar to that of Harrogate, a famous British spa town. However, it turned out that these characteristics were due to metal debris at the bottom of a well, which was removed. But Duval refilled the well with debris to preserve these properties !
An indirect trace of this fact can be found in the newspapers where Duval had the analysis of the water on his estate published and the health benefits that several doctors believed could be derived from it. See the carousel with images below (click on each image to see the full text).
To describe the facts more vividly, we reproduce here an extract from "The Dublin Builder" of August 15, 1870, which has the advantage of transporting us to Drumcondra as if we had been there. It returns to this somewhat incredible story 50 years after the events, but also tells us of the commercial exploitation that was made of it : Duval transformed the area around his home into a place of entertainment for Dubliners.
Approaching the village of Drumcondra through the Richmond Road we pass below an ordinary-looking grey mansion, situated upon a hill. This is Clonturk House : it was once occupied by a Frenchman, or one of French descent, named Duval. The ground around this mansion was a place of great resort by the pleasure-loving citizens of Dublin upwards of half a century ago. In 1819 the enterprising Duval endeavoured to convert these grounds of Clonturk into a second Wauxhall Gardens, like what Wauxhall was when George was king. By the aid of mineral wells, artificial spas, into which sulphur, old nails, horse-shoes, and sundry things were thrown, he presented the citizens with drinks of a sort of chalybeate springs, artificially pleasant if not naturally pure. In addition, it had swing-swangs, merry-go-rounds, rockets, balloons, and sundry fireworks. Duval's speculation went on well for a while, and Drumcondra Road was crowded on Sundays and holidays — became a sort of "Strawberry Beds."
Duval had his day : the citizens had their pleasure ; but everything did not go smooth, — fashion veered, and the glories of Clonturk departed.
John Duval's presence in Clonturk is confirmed in 1824, the year the Dublin Evening Mail quotes residents in its October 27 edition (see opposite).
Some sources claim that it was Duval himself who had Clonturk House built. This is the case, for example, in The Dublin University Magazine, volume 42 of 1853.
To understand the extent of Duval's property, we turn to an article published in Saunders's News-Letter on February 1, 1832, which advertises an auction for the house and the Clonturk estate. Although these properties are referred to as "property of the late William Tisdall, Esquire," they are also referred to as "formerly Mr. Duval's" (see highlighting in the photo)." We'll let you read the article in its entirety. The least we can say is that the list of properties up for auction is extremely impressive ! John Duval must have been rich, or at least did everything he could to appear so !
Below is a photograph of the current Clonturk House. It is unclear whether it corresponds to the building whose contents are listed above. The website irelandxo.com reports, at the very least, that extensive renovations took place in 1880, resulting in its current Georgian-style facade. The balustrades, salvaged from an old bridge, are also not original.
In 1826, an advertisement in "Saunders's News-Letter" dated November 6th stated that Mr. Duval was opening his academy at the Rotunda. It explicitly stated that he could be contacted directly at his house in "Spamount, Drumcondra."
We wonder if the place name "Spamount" refers to the mount where Duval operated his spa. This place name does not appear to have persisted over time.
DUVAL'S DECLINE
Lise Kreps, a descendant of Edward Octavius Caesar Wall Du Val, John's brother, tells us that the latter wrote a will in 1827. While the lists may still exist, the fire at the Public Record Office archives in Dublin in 1922 during the Irish Civil War largely destroyed the older wills. In any case, we were unable to access the will, the existence of which is known thanks to an index, the extract of interest to us of which is shown below.
Nevertheless, it is consistent with a hagiographic obituary that appeared in the "Saunders's News-Letter" of July 5, 1827, which reports the death of John Duval of Drumcondra "after a long and severe illness." Those with sharp eyes will have noticed that Duval is stated to be 60 years old instead of 53, the age he should have been given his theoretical date of birth. It bothers us a bit, however a newspaper is not a civil status document and we can admit that there were some approximations made by the editor.
For the dancing master activities that continued after this date, we assume they could have been the work of John Duval's nephew. Indeed, a kind of "Duval Professor(s) of Dancing" franchise may have emerged, which would have continued to be operated by members of his family after John's death.
WHAT ARE DUVAL'S FRENCH ORIGINS?
We still need to discuss Duval's supposed French origins. He is regularly referred to as French, but is this correct ?
According to genealogists who have studied the Wall-Du Val family, the answer is clearly "NO"!
As we mentioned above, Phil Williams of the website https://williamsfamilytree.co.uk/ claimed that the "Du Val" element of the name was used for marketing purposes to make Duval father fashionable as a dance teacher. The same website lists John Duval father's grandfather as Edward Wall, who is not French at all.
Of particular interest to us is the existence of a scroll that relates to the Wall family.
In the context of British family genealogy, a scroll refers to a handwritten or calligraphed document, usually presented in the form of a roll, that traces a family's lineage. It is a traditional form of representing genealogy and coats of arms, used particularly in heraldic or aristocratic circles. It brings significant social recognition to the family.
The "Duval Family Scroll" goes back to the Battle of Hastings in... 1066, when the Norman prince took possession of England. It was the Norman warrior "Homo de Valincourt" (also known as "Wallcourt"), who fought in the battle alongside William the Conqueror, who gave rise to the family we're interested in. In gratitude for his warlike services, he is said to have received lands in England, in the counties of Suffolk and Essex.
That scroll, which attests to the family's Norman ancestry, was validated around 1756 by John Hawkins, Ulster King of Arms (then responsible for registering Irish families). He affixed his seal to the scroll, thus officially recognizing the genealogy presented by the Wall du Val family, which strengthened their claim to noble ancestry dating back to the Norman period.
It's worth noting that the affixing of the seal took place a little less than 10 years before John Duval senior married Ann Atkinson.
Clearly, the Wall-Du Val have been British for a looooong time, but should we take this medieval Norman ancestry for real ?
Although the document was accepted by a heraldic authority, this does not mean that every piece of information is historically accurate : the Ulster King of Arms certified the consistency of a presented lineage, but did not necessarily conduct in-depth investigations into periods prior to the civil registers. Heraldic validation could rely in part on documents provided by the family itself, without rigorous external verification.
In the 18th century, many Protestant or bourgeois families claimed Norman or Huguenot ancestry to legitimize their social status. These reconstructions were sometimes embellished or inferred from namesakes, similarities in coats of arms, or old documents that were difficult to authenticate. Regarding the "Duval Family Scroll," ancestry tracing back to a Norman ancestor named Homo de Valincourt is apparently not documented by independent medieval sources known today.
SUMMARY
Since we have made a lof of observations, it seems useful to summarize what we have said to clarify what we know about John Duval, the founder of the Lancers quadrilles.
John Duval belongs to "Wall" family. Around 1756, the family had the family's Norman ancestry validated by the Ulster King of Arms : its ancestor was said to be "Homo de Valincourt" (also called "Wallcourt"), who fought in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 alongside William the Conqueror.
The validation of the "Duval Family Scroll" by heraldic authority provided significant social recognition for the family.
Subsequently, John Wall / Wall-Du Val father used the name "Duval" for his activities as a dancing master. The use of the surname "Duval" became widespread within the family. Around 1770, Duval father worked as a dance teacher in London, where he was established in the parish of Saint Andrew in Holborn.
John Duval son, the creator of the Lancers' Quadrilles, settled in Dublin. From the early 19th century, the Duval family lived in the village of Drumcondra, north of the Irish capital. The Duvals were a dynasty of dance teachers. At least five Duvals practiced this profession : John Duval son, his father, two of his sisters, and one of his nephews.
Charles Allen Duval, another of his nephews, would become a renowned painter.
As early as 1819, John Duval son took advantage of a spring located on his grounds at Clonturk House in Drumcondra, attempting to use its supposed therapeutic properties to transform it into a spa and entertainment center for Dubliners. The "therapeutic" elements were actually created by waste, particularly scrap metal, that had been thrown into a well.
John Duval lived at Clonturk House. Some sources state that he was the one who had the manor built.
John Duval Jr. died in 1827. His activities as a dancing master were taken over by his nephew and possibly other members of his family.
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