_Sir John Vanbrugh_ (Vol. vii., p. 619.).--Sir John Vanbrugh was the
grandson of a Protestant refugee, from a family originally of Ghent in
Flanders. The Duke of Alva's persecution drove him to England, where he
became a merchant in London. Giles, the son of this refugee, resided in
Chester, became rich by trade, and married the youngest daughter of Sir
Dudley Carleton, by whom he had eight sons, of whom Sir John Vanbrugh was
the second. The presumption is he was born in Chester, but the precise date
is unknown.