Strangers' Newsletter
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Huguenots of Spitalfields Strangers' Newsletter - Issue 20
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Newsletter 20 Spring 2019 |
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Treat yourself and a friend to a personalised walk Private Walking Tours are an ideal birthday or anniversary gift, wherever possible they are tailor-made to your own requirements - you can stroll at your own pace and stop for a coffee en-route. One visitor commented “ What an informative, interesting walk – I can’t believe how much the guide managed to pack in!”. |
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During Huguenot Month, one of the most enjoyable events was the two-hour ‘Walk and Draw’ with Piero D’Angelo, where people of all ages and all levels of talent drew in crayons and pastels the Huguenot traces in Spitalfields. As a result, we plan to repeat this on Saturday 17th August. Photographing Spitalfields and the wine tasting at the atmospheric Town House were also well received. We may repeat these if enough interest is shown, so if you would be interested, please email us info@huguenotsofspitalfields.org |
'Walk & Draw' with Piero D’Angelo |
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Dates for your diary |
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Wednesday 1st May - Huguenot Silver: Turtles, Taste and Tureens There will be an opportunity to immerse yourself in Huguenot Heritage with a six-week course running on Wednesday mornings at the V&A starting on 1st May, encompassing visits to the Soho streets where Huguenot craftsmen lived and worked, to view Huguenot silver at the French Church, Soho Square and Goldsmiths’ Hall and hear leading experts Robin Gwynn, author of Huguenot Heritage; Sasha Gerstein from the Courtauld Institute on the Courtauld dynasty of goldsmiths, Marc Meltonville from Historic Royal Palaces on Huguenot cooks and confectioners and Dinah Winch from the Huguenot Museum. If you are a member of the Huguenot Society there is a 25% discount. Please quote HUGUENOT295 https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/XO9EkKOl/huguenot-silver-turtles-taste-and-tureens |
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We welcomed the invitation from London Metropolitan Archives to join the ‘Word on the Street: Ordinary People’ festival. Saturday 11th May at 1.30pm a free talk at the London Metropolitan Archives entitled ‘Journeymen Weavers’ by Julian Woodford who turns the spotlight on the poor, struggling refugee weavers. Tuesday 21st May at 2.30pm, another free talk and document viewing at London Metropolitan Archives: ‘Feeding the Poor of London: Soup Kitchens in the Nineteenth Century’ by Philip Carstairs who tells us that if the soup kitchen was not invented in London it was perfected in Spitalfields, where Huguenots established the first for distressed silk-weavers. |
![]() Julian Woodford |
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If you haven’t been to Greenwich or heard the story of the Huguenots who settled there, join Huguenot guide, Kate Boyle, on Saturday 18th May for a 90-minute walking tour. Kate will be waiting by Sir Walter Raleigh’s statue at 11am to reveal the fascinating story of the Huguenots of Greenwich. £10 donation. |
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Writing your family history can be a daunting exercise. Here are two events with The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life which may help you on your way: a creative writing workshop: ‘Present your Huguenot Family History’ on Wednesday 15th May at 6pm, at London Metropolitan Archives. The session is free but booking essential. And ‘Learn to write a blog’ from Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th May Topics include how to write pen portraits and what a online writing can achieve. A special reduced rate of £250 is available to you, our supporters, many of whom are Huguenot descendants. Visit: http://spitalfieldslife.com/the-course-2/ |
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For details of all events, visit http://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/walks-events.html for times, prices and meeting places. Huguenot Footsteps walks in Spitalfields, which take place on the last Sunday of the month, starting on Sunday 28th April and run until 27th October, meeting outside Christ Church at 12 noon. £10 donation. |
![]() Huguenot Guide/Lecturer - Tim Kidd |
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Coming soon (details on website) |
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Saturday 8th June - Spitalfields Open Gardens £15 https://www.ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/garden/29826/ |
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Saturday 15th June - ‘The Journeymen Weavers’ Story,’ a walk led by Julian Woodford. Journeymen were jobbing weavers who lived in north Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. The few remaining houses where they lived and worked have great significance because they are the first live/work buildings and the first to be designed for a specific trade. This walk will visit some of these buildings, bringing to life the area’s turbulent history. This event is part of 'Fantastic Feats' organised by the City of London Corporation |
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Friday 28th June – talk by Dr Robin Gwynn, the authority on Huguenots in Britain, at the Bank of England Museum, on the Huguenot founders of the Bank of England. Free. |
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Thursday 11th July - see artisans at work during a Private Visit to The Goldmiths’ Centre. Spaces are always limited so do book early. The visit is preceded by Huguenots of Clerkenwell walk at 11am, conducted by Neil Sinclair, meeting outside Farringdon station. |
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April to November - Christ Church, Spitalfields, Organ Recitals. A wonderful oportunity to hear the superb Richard Bridges organ. For more information visit: www.organrecitals.com Peter Prelleur, appointed organist at Christ Church in 1735 and renowned author of The Modern Musicke-Master (1731), was born a Hugeunot in France but spent most of his life in England. |
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Saturday 7th September – Silk Festival, Sudbury, where speakers include the remarkable textile experts, Mary Schoeser and Kate Wigley. Mary has written a special feature dispelling the myth of why the Huguenot silk weavers left Spitalfields: click here to read it. |
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Wednesday 30th October - We are delighted to announce that Lesley Miller will be the speaker at the 7th V&A Huguenot Lecture | |||||||||||
We were asked... |
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Huguenots in Oswestry |
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Support needed |
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Randolph Vigne, who died in 2016, was a leading figure in the Huguenot world. The Huguenot Museum would like to thank everyone who contributed to the fundraising campaign to purchase a silver sauce boat, made in 1727, by Anne Tanqueray, in his memory. The sauce boat will soon be on display in the Museum alongside information about Randolph. Keep eye on the Museum’s website, or sign up for their email updates info@huguenotmuseum.org |
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A campaign has been launched to save the Bethnal Green Mulberry tree. To support the campaign, click here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-bethnal-green-mulberry/ |
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Palm Sunday in Spitalfields, 1844 The excerpt from the image reads "In the neighbourhood of London, too, "palming' is still a practice on the Sunday before Easter. The weavers of Spitalfields, leaving their murky workshops, customarily ramble into the fields and lowlands of Essex, on this day, to gather "palm," and inhale a better atmosphere. Our artist has depicted a scene of the return of one of these parties. The yellow catkins, or male-flowers, are more highly prized than the white, or female-flowers." |
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We were told... |
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New silk at Brighton Pavilion |
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Huguenot Town - Erlangen |
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New Site for Museum of London |
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St Julien’s Church, Southampton |
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Genealogy Genealogist Dr Kathy Chater alerted us to three useful websites: |
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Huguenots in Wandsworth A booklet entitled ‘Huguenots in Wandsworth’ by Anthony Shaw is available at £1.50 from Wandsworth Heritage Centre. Contact heritage@gll.org
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The Huguenot Museum has a shop selling a range of jewellery, books and other gifts including Huguenot cross jewellery and a number of Huguenot Society publications. These can be purchased by mail order by getting in touch with the museum on info@huguenotmuseum.org or 01634 789347. The French Hospital in England: Its Huguenot History and Collections, by Tessa Murdoch and Randolph Vigne can be purchased directly through the website www.huguenotmuseum.org |
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Huguenots in Wilton |
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Three books |
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Thank you to… https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/elizabethan-treasures/exhibition/ If you know of any other people or artefacts in museums or stately homes connected to the Huguenots please let us know. Contact: info@huguenotsofspitalfields.org …Adam Pollock. We know that there were Huguenots in Greenwich but we were surprised when Greenwich resident, Adam Pollock, told us how many lived in one street! Throughout the 18th century, the houses in Crooms Hill were nearly all inhabited by wealthy Huguenots. At No. 6, a Beauchamp was followed by an Arduvin, and then a Savary and at No. 16/18, a Delamotte moved in after Thomas Lanier, and so it goes on and on. …Robin Nash, of the Huguenot Society of Australia, who corrected us to the fact that the Huguenots of Picardy had suffered persecution in France from 1716 onwards and so were eager to emigrate when the Scottish Board for Fisheries and Manufactures made their invitation for weavers to settle in 1727. |
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We warmly appreciate all the support and help that you give to the Huguenots of Spitalfields Charity. |
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The views and opinions expressed in these article are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Huguenots of Spitalfields charity. Please contact info@huguenotsofspitalfields.org with your comments, views and contributions or requests for previous issues of the Strangers' Newsletter. The charity is currently led by volunteers so do bear with us if there is a delay in the reply to your message. Visit the Huguenots of Spitalfields website at http://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/ |
