Huguenots

Huguenots, a term of uncertain origin, were French‐speaking (and some Walloon‐speaking) protestants of Calvinistic temper, who fled from two centuries of persecution to seek asylum in countries more sympathetic to Reformation practices. After the St Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572), the first wave of refugees to Britain were received at already established French churches in London, Canterbury, and Norwich. Relative quiet in France lasted only until 1661, when there commenced a steady erosion of privileges, culminating in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), after which the trickle of émigrés became a flood, then a raging torrent. Some 40,000–50,000 Huguenots are estimated to have settled in England, the majority in London. They proved highly motivated, productive, and a considerable economic asset to their new host nation. Today only one French church remains in London, but Huguenot names such as Courtauld and Olivier are familiar to all.