March 2017 Newsletter - Issue 13

We are highlighting the plight of the few remaining journeymen weavers’ houses in north Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. Once there were thousands of looms in the area where jobbing weavers toiled in their homes working long hours, often for low pay. These are not ordinary houses. These were the first live/work buildings built for a specific trade. Many were for multi-occupancy, one room deep with the stairs to the upper floors located by the front door. The Borough of Tower Hamlets has invited suggestions regarding listing historic building and heritage assets. 

With the guidance from Spitalfields' Trust, eight journeymen weavers' houses have been identified as historically important.  SAVE, the Georgian Group, Historic England and SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) are all aware of this initiative.

Dates for your Diary

2nd May, 6th June, 4th July, 1st August, 5th September and 3rd October - Huguenot Footsteps Walks in Spitalfields.  Raising funds for the Educational Project these 90 minute walks take you around the historic areas of Spitalfields. Meet on the first Tuesday of the month from May to October at 2pm outside Christ Church Spitalfields.

4th May at 10.00am - Goldsmiths' Centre Clerkenwell. Limited spaces are available for a one-hour visit to the workshops to see the artisans at their craft.

4th May at 11.15am - Huguenots of Clerkenwell.  Meet outside Farringdon station. Hear from David Evans about the watch and clockmakers, engravers and silversmiths.

20th May at 2pm - Journeymens’ Houses Walk. Meet outside Shoreditch High Street Overground station. Walk round the area to see and hear about the lives of these hardworking weavers. You will need to bring your imagination with you as some of the houses are in a poor state of dilapidation – but they tell a story of Huguenot weavers whose contribution is not often recognised.

3rd June (Day Visit) - The Huguenots in Faversham.  Faversham is one of England’s most historic and picturesque towns with nearly 500 listed buildings. We will visit the Fleur de Lis Museum and also the Chart Gunpowder Mills - one of the first gunpowder mills in England and the oldest of its kind in the world.

17th June (Day Visit) - The Huguenots in Norwich.  Norwich was a major centre for Huguenots ever since the mid 16th century and it is remarkable and heart-warming that so many Huguenot and Walloon houses still remain. We will walk through the town, stop for an early lunch to allow time to visit Bridewell, where we will see a Jaquard loom and a pattern book.

17th July (Day Visit) - Silk: From Spitalfields to Sudbury

Many weavers left Spitalfields to set up homes in East Anglia and the last four remaining silk manufacturers are based in Sudbury. Our visit will include a walk to see the weavers’ houses by historian David Burnett, followed by a light lunch. Thomas Gainsborough was once a prominent member of the Huguenot Dupont family. We will visit Gainsborough House and see the special exhibition linking Spitalfields and Sudbury before returning to Liverpool Street station.

20th July at 6pm - The Forgotten Journeymens’ Houses. A talk by Peter Guillery at Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH to highlight the plight of the few that are left.

12th August - Huguenots in Greenwich. Meet outside the Tourist Information Centre at 11am. Guide Kate Boyle will fascinate you with the Huguenot history and characters that once lived here.

4th October - Talk at St Mellitus College, London.  2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. You may recall that Dr Graham Tomlin, now Bishop of Kensington and Chelsea, spoke about John Calvin at the Huguenot Summer Festival. There are a number of conferences and talks taking place throughout 2017 including one by Dr Tomlin. Visit the St Mellitus College website for more information.  The main commemorative national service is being held at Westminster Abbey on the 31st October - Reformation Day.

All walks are £10, donated to the Educational Fund. For details and costs of the Day Visits, please email bookings@huguenotsofspitalfields.org

Other events are being planned – visit our Diary Dates website page to view the latest information.

11th March - 'The Art of Drapery' with Eileen Wigley

24th March - study morning 'Velvet: 400 Years'

21st April - study day 'Turkey Red: Espionage, Trade and Fashion'

28th April - 'Coggeshall Lace' with Sara Impey.

For details visit www.schooloftextiles.co.uk

15th May 11 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.  A walk with Mulberry Tree expert, Peter Coles, who is researching London’s mulberries, will be conducting a walk.  Contact info@conservationfoundation.co.uk   

27th May to 4th June - London Tree Week. The Morus Londinium’s Mulberry Project  organised by the Conservation Foundation will include an installation during London Tree Week.

Huguenot Ancestry

We get many requests from people tracing their ancestry, but we do not have the resources to help - The Huguenot Society and the Genealogy Association and others do this so much better. What we can do is to include requests in Newsletters – since we started we have put several families together. If this will help, please supply the name of the family and your contact details. For example: Gerald Morley, a descendant of Dr John Jaggard (or Jacquard,) who was born in 1519. He was a Barber-Surgeon and a Citizen of London. There is a two-year gap between 1623 and 1625 that his descendants are trying to fill. If you can help or give advice please contact gandlmorley@btinternet.com.

Michael Dobson spied the surname Buteaux on the Huguenot Families section of our website and asked about his ancestor, Isaac Buteaux/ Buteux / Butteux who fled from Agnetz in Picardy and settled in Aldgate. Could be the same one? Contact Michael Dobson at drmdobson@icloud.com

Wonderful News

The V&A has recently made available Natalie Rothstein's thesis 'The silk industry in London, 1702-1766'.  It is a riveting and enlightening read for those interested in silk, weaving and Huguenots. This has been made possible by the generosity of the © Estate of Nathalie Rothstein. The following rights apply: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

On this Day

As part of the Huguenot awareness programme, the charity is committed to highlighting dates in the Huguenot calendar. Entitled On This Day – dates include April 13th 1598, when Henri of Navarre signed the Edict of Nantes and October 18th 1685 when King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau revoking the Edict. The Revd. Alan Carr, Rector of St-Giles-in-the-Fields dedicated his evening service on 16th October 2016 to the Huguenots as many lived in the area and worshipped at West Street in the parish. Use the following link to read Revd. Carr’s sermon.

We need your help

If you have visited the Famous Huguenots section on our website recently, you will see only a few people listed.

Can you help us expand the list? If you have time to write up to 250 words about a famous Huguenot for posting on the website please contact info@huguenotsofspitalfields.org.

We were told….

If you ever find yourself in Lyons, a visit to the Maison des Canuts is really rewarding. After 1685 some 6,000 Huguenots left Lyons, the main centre of the French silk industry, and found their way to Spitalfields. We are interested in finding out how many fleeing refugees from Tours, a much smaller silk making centre, also settled in Spitalfields.

The Huguenot Museum in Rochester is now open from Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm (last entry is 4.30pm) and on bank holidays from 10am to 4pm.  Prices are £4.00 for adults and £3.00 for concessions.

We have come across Samuel Hauduroy, who designed the West Front of Dyrham Park near Bath in 1692. Ireland’s greatest neoclassical architect, James Gandon, who designed the Dublin Custom House, Four Courts, King’s Inns, the Lords’ Entrance to the Parliament building, gave the city much of its distinctive appearance.  Whilst giving a talk to the Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society, we learnt about Robert Lewis Roumieu, architect of La Providence.  One of his descendants was a former cleric at St Martin’s Church, Ruislip.

Details of another outstanding Huguenot artisan have been sent in.  The Watts’ Gallery in Compton near Guildford is featuring the de Morgan Collection. This is a display of the foremost Huguenot ceramic designer of the Arts & Crafts’ Movement, and his influential artist wife, Evelyn.

The link between Huguenots and Macclesfield is tenuous. We were told the button makers of Macclesfield sent their buttons to the silk weavers in Spitalfields to cover.  When times became hard in London, some weavers moved up to Macclesfield and injected skills and energy into the town’s weaving sector.

Hermès – a Huguenot Family

2016 saw many highlights; one in particular was truly memorable. We were the guests of Hermès, a family company founded by Huguenots, and we were invited to see their silk fabric etching and production facilities.  It was truly staggering to see the sheer scale of a global brand production.  The artistry at one end and the sci-fi manufacturing techniques at the other, superb craftsmanship and mesmerising technology which operated in harmony. It was quite astounding.

One has to marvel, quite frankly, at the pure artistry and the sheer talent of the employees producing these most superb silk fabrics.

Known in past decades for their links with the horse, saddle and carriage industries, Hermès first started producing silk for the jockeys’ livery. The Hermès scarf was only launched in 1937. Taking two years to produce, with anything from two to forty colours, the scarves sell at one flat rate – whatever the complexity of its production.  We came across one website that captures the magic of this extraordinary, successful company and its scarf production  www.disneyrollergirl.net

"Thank you for such a fascinating morning! It more than exceeded our expectations, just fabulous!" These were the words of two Australian visitors exploring the places where their ancestors once lived and worked. If you would like details of a two hour bespoke private tour, please contact bookings@huguenotsofspitalfields.org

Thank you.

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 https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/