One possible reason could be that the marriage was not recognised, and therefore the children considered illegitimate. I understand that the advice offered at the time by the authorities was that marriages between English ladies and French prisoners of war would not be recognised, whether this was because of the different and warring nationalities or whether because one party was Catholic and the other Protestant, I'm not clear. As above, it would appear that the father's name was known and recorded, unlike other entries for illegitimate children within the St Peter's parish register. It may also be that the baptism was instigated by a third party, as it has been suggested to me that this may have been a requirement before poor relief could be received from the parish. Someone with greater ecclesiastical knowledge may be better placed to answer that than I.
By "maintenance", are you thinking of support from the father or from the parish? If the former, it is interesting to note that the prisoner in question received a promotion (and thus pay rise) at a time consistent with the birth of the eldest child (and that after three years of being held prisoner). If the later, I believe that the records for Tiverton have not survived.
The muster log from Le Formidable, now in the National Archives (TNA), Kew, does indeed reference both Auguste Pezenas and Charles Pezenas. There is no direct evidence within this document, as far as I am aware, to confirm the relationship between the two, however, from other circumstantial evidence, this does seem likely. The log contains only a few references to Charles Pezenas which, together with the lack of capture records, suggests that his time aboard the ship was short and that he was not taken prisoner with Auguste.
In passing, I noticed that Charles de Pezenas had been awarded the Legion D'Honneur,
PEZENAS DEUnfortunately, this record is not as yet one of those available online.
Again, you are correct in that the entry in the general register, held at TNA, for Auguste Pezenas does not record his fate. To answer this question, I engaged the services of a researcher in Paris to access the National Archives at Vincennes and a second in Toulon to access the maritime records held there. They were able to obtain copies of Auguste de Pezenas' service papers which show, amongst other fascinating details, the date he was captured and the date he returned to France. From there it was possible to find the French papers recording his entry into France and the corresponding list of prisoners who had escaped, as compiled by the British authorities and presumably forwarded to France. Armed with this information, it was then possible to find the entry for Auguste de Pezenas within the descriptions of escaped prisoners, again held at TNA, and the reward offered for each (10 guineas in this case). Sadly, a search through the letters-out from the Admiralty to the parole agent for Tiverton of this time yielded no relevant information.
As an aside, a contemporary account from a French officer, subsequently published in America, mentions that a certain M. Pezenas and M. Laborde, French Navy officers on parole in Tiverton, ran foul of a Royal Marine, Mr Walker, who had them thrown into prison for the night on the grounds of behaviour likely to cause a breach of the King’s peace. It seems this Marine may have exceeded his authority but when the two prisoners requested leave of the judge to enter a complaint, they were advised that this would not be in their best interest. Recognising the wisdom of the judge’s advice, they allowed the matter to rest. This and other similar stories were offered by the author as examples of English justice towards their prisoners and as a cautionary tale to other peoples who may have dealings with the British.
Whilst part of my research seeks to add weight to the argument supporting the claim that Auguste de Pezenas was the father of Auguste and Charles Marshall, I am also attempting to discover more of their mother, Ruth Marshall, of whose origins and fate I know very little.
Other threads on these discussion groups seek to address the progress of the two sons from their baptism at Tiverton through marriages in Chard and onto Sneinton. All three areas were associated with lace manufacture during the nineteenth century and this connection may form the basis for future research.
