Frederic Donegani was born in Exeter on 22 March 1829. His cautioner William Burn Callander of Preston Hall, Midlothian presented his case:
The parents are in very reduced Circumstances – Mrs Donegani is the daughter of the late Quarter Master John Jollie of the 4th Dragoon Guards who after having escaped in Safety from this burning rooms in the night tie in Newbridge Barracks Ireland (about ten or twelve years ago I believe) unfortunately rushed back to endeavour to save his Regimental Books and was burned to death. – and thus by her father’s untimely end, she with her Mother and six or seven Brothers and Sisters were left almost destitute – her Mother is also since dead – She married Joseph Donegani Trumpet Major of the 4th Dr. Guards who about eight years ago took his discharge – with a most excellent character and to the regret of the Officers, his time of service being expired – (without pension) in the hope of doing better for himself and family as a Musician in London or elsewhere – In this endeavour however, the Market being so overstocked, he has been sadly mistaken and compelled, with his wife and infant family of Seven – of whom five are now dead – to travel considerable distances (often in winter and with most scanty means of support) such as between Cheltenham & Brighton &c. as “the Season” in the different places stated. He has sometimes met with and at other times failed in getting employment, and in the latter unfortunate predicament they are often Most Miserably off – I shall only instance that this last winter, not being able to procure a livelihood at Brighton … (having travelled from Cheltenham) he went to London in the end of Feby (being only able to have seven shillings with his Wife and children at Brighton) where after remaining six weeks without one days employment, he was engaged by Colonel Tynte M. P. to go to Bridgwater to practice a Yeomanry Band for about a week or ten days but being confined to bed for some days when there by severe illness I fear he may have got little more than his travelling expences – He has since with his family returned to Cheltenham for employment. I will not repeat the description Mrs Donegani has written to me of the miseries she and her children have for some months endured, but trust that the Trustees will consider the child of an old Soldier and of the daughter of an old and Meritorious but poor Officer, who after better days and Brighter prospects are now so sunk in poverty, a fit object for the Charity of “John Watson’s Fund.” – WB Callander
Callander’s account of the family’s circumstances understandably leaves out that Frederic’s father had been involved in a sensational trial in 1830 when he was accused of stealing Lady Southampton’s jewels. The Leicester Chronicle for 7 August 1830 reported: ‘Joseph Donegani, aged 35, charged with having stolen various diamonds and other articles of jewellery, value £3000, as upwards, the property of the Right Hon. Lord Southampton, of Quorndon’. The Leicester Chronicle’s full trial report of 14 August 1830 has a witness describing him as ‘a musician in the service of Lord Southampton, and was accustomed to play on the bugle in the billiard room after dinner’. Donegani ‘said he had maintained a good character in the army for 20 years and that it was unlikely that he would commit a robbery’. He was found not guilty and the jewels were found buried in Lord Southampton’s garden in May 1831. See ‘The Theft of Lady Southampton’s Jewels’: https://www.quornmuseum.com/display.php?id=535 (accessed 27 November 2025)
Frederic moved from Cheltenham to take his place at John Watson’s Institution in 1835. It is notable that his youngest sister, Jane, born in 1836 and baptised in Edinburgh in 1837, had ‘Callander’ as her middle name in recognition of the family’s patron.
The 1851 Census found him residing at Laurel Cottage, Hampton, Middlesex with his wife Elizabeth. He followed into his father’s profession and was employed as a trumpeter in the 16th (The Queen’s) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons with the rank of Private.
Frederic married again in 1861 in Norwich to Fanny Forster giving his profession as ‘military instructor’.