Peter Bonnin was born in France. He was naturalized as a British citizen in 1699-1700 (1).
His name is given as Peter Bonning, from Bordeaux in the Guiesne, son of Michael Bonning (sic) and his wife Elizabeth.
In November 1699 he married Elizabeth Strang (or Strong), one of the daughters of Mary Strang of Greenwich.
They were married by licence in the church of All Hallows the Great in the City of London.
The will of David Strang (2), one of the sons of Mary Strang,
refers to Peter Bonnin as "my brother-in-law Peter Bonnin".
Peter's daughter Elizabeth Bonnin died in 1720, the year after her father.
She left a will (12) which included a bequest to her cousin Alice Barrand,
who was one of Mary Strang's granddaughters (3), and the residue of her
estate to " my grandmother Mary Strang".
After the death of his first wife, Peter Bonnin married Jane Stepney, daughter of
wealthy merchant Lancelot Stepney and his wife Hannah Monteage, daughter of Stephen and Jane Monteage.
The Monteages were another family of French immigrant merchants, who were engaged in the wine trade (4).
Peter Bonnin died in 1719. In his will he described himself as a "merchant of Lisbon".
Lisbon at this time had a flourishing wine trade with Britain, so
it is probable that Peter had also been a wine merchant.
Jane Monteage (née Deane), Hannah's mother, was the sister of Richard Deane, a regicide
(he was one of the sigantories to the death warrant of King Charles I). He was a successful general
and had been "general at sea" in command of the navy.
Hannah Stepney's sister Jane Monteage married Stephen Poyntz, the son of a London
upholsterer: their daughter Margaret Georgiana married into the Spencer family and became
the mother of Georgiana Spencer, first Duchess of Devonshire(5).
Stephen and Jane Monteage's eldest son Deane, a wine merchant, is
recorded in the will of Robert Stepney in 1688(6) as being one of
his business partners.
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