Alfred David Augustus d'Espinassy de Fontanelle

D'Espinassy de Fontanelle entered the French Army and joined the Foreign Legion, taking part in the Crimean War. In the Siege of Sevastopol he was shielded by one of his men from a cannon ball; later in the fight he was severely wounded and his left arm was amputated as a result. His noted gallantry led to his promotion to the rank of Captain, as well as his decoration of Knight Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honor.

While recovering from the effects of the amputation he spent some time on board HMS Princess Royal, commanded by his cousin, Lord Clarence Paget. On his return to France he was appointed Major of the 1st Grenadier Regiment of the French Imperial Guard. At the close of the war in Italy he received honorable mention, retired from the army and he was appointed sous-préfet of Rambouillet, where he was stationed at the start of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

He was captured while defending Rambouillet and sent to the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein in Germany, where he was imprisoned. After three months, he obtained parole and for the remainder of his captivity made friends among the military authorities of the fortress. He was released at the end of the war and returned to France, but his health had been badly affected by his imprisonment and he retired from public life.

On 27 April 1881, at Kiltoom church in County Roscommon, Ireland, D'Espinassy de Fontanelle married Lucy Stuart, daughter of Capt. Thomas Stuart and Lucy Bland, of Combermere, Glanmire, County Cork.[3] Lucy was a great-niece of the Indophile Charles "Hindoo" Stuart".

The Marquisate of Fontanelle passed to his sister, Caroline Hélène Hortense Agathe d'Espinassy de Fontanelle, who had married the Count Claude Joseph Ernest of Narcillac du Chastil de Andelot, a direct descendant of Louis IX.[4]