It is believed that the earliest Fonblanques came from a small village called Fonblanque in the Forêt de la Gresine, near Bruniquel in France.
Grenier
Going further back in the family tree, the surname of this Huguenot family was Grenier, a corruption of “Garniero”; with links to Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy pointing to Italian ancestry.
The Senior branch of Grenier
The senior branch was represented as late as 1829 by the late César de Garnier, Marquis de Juliers. This title was reinstated in England and last held by Robert Edgar de Fonblanque who actually descended from the junior branch below. Robert died in 1932 in Sussex, England and there were no male heirs in his or his brother’s line to inherit the title.
The Junior branch of Grenier
The junior branch were the Greniers of Languedoc, eminent in the Huguenot civil wars; a member of the family was created Comte de Fonblanque by Henri IV.