One of the most intriguing ancestral origins I’ve found is that of French Huguenot. Here’s some of what I’ve learned about the Huguenots and my connection to them.

Who were the Huguenots?

Huguenots were French Protestants. They believed in a new type of Christianity, which began with the Reformation, and was different to Catholicism. These different beliefs created philosophical conflict and led to physical conflict in the form of religious and civil wars over many years.

Intolerance of Huguenots in the reign of Louis XIII escalated with Louis XIV who forced conversion to Catholicism with a government policy known as dragonnades. This included enforced occupation and looting of Huguenot homes. The persecution of Huguenots continued under Louis XV.

The Huguenots were forced to pray in secret so that the Catholics couldn’t stop them. They found quiet places in the forest or in the mountain caves to pray. People could only go to these secret meetings if they had a special coin, called a ‘mereaux’ (ma-row). These small metal discs were given to the faithful after they had been examined as evidence that they were entitled to take communion.

When the Protestants travelled around the country, they showed their mereaux coin to prove who they were. This is how they found Protestant friends who would give them food and a place to stay. The mereaux coin was very important because it helped the Protestants to stay safe.

The Huguenots of Spitalfields, ‘Faith of the Huguenots’,
https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/faith-of-the-huguenots/,
accessed 17 March 2024.

Many Huguenots fled the religious persecution, and this exodus of réfugiés, which mostly took place in the 1680s, is generally agreed to have introduced the word refugee to the English-speaking world. Huguenots left France in large numbers, with more than 200,000 people believed to have escaped in a short period of time. Although the diaspora was wide-spread, about one quarter settled in England, many in London.

Huguenot relatives

Amongst the Huguenot refugees were the De Visme brothers, whose father died in 1687 when he was apparently burned to death as a result of religious persecution. One of the brothers, Pierre/Peter De Visme, is my 7x great-grandfather. He and his brother Phillippe/Philip went on to have successful lives in England and a large extended family.

With the arrival of so many French-speaking Huguenots, around thirty Huguenot churches were established in London alone, sometimes referred to as French Walloon, or simply French Protestant churches. First and second generation Huguenots worshipped in these churches. However, by the third generation they had mostly assimilated into English society and churches began to close. Only three Huguenot churches remained in London by the 1800s.

Pierre De Visme’s daughter Elizabeth was baptised in 1736 at London’s St Martin Orgar, a French Huguenot church. In 1757 she married Guillaume/William Sampson, also of Huguenot descent. It is their granddaughter Harriet Sampson, my 4x great-grandmother, who found herself transported to Australia in 1818. And it’s through one of Harriet’s daughters, Ellen Kennewell, that I’m connected to the French Huguenots.

Selected references

The Huguenots of Spitalfields, ‘Faith of the Huguenots’, https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/faith-of-the-huguenots/, accessed 17 March 2024.

The Huguenots of Spitalfields, ‘What is the meaning of the Huguenot cross?’, https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/faq/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-huguenot-cross/, accessed 17 March 2024.

The Huguenots of Spitalfields, ‘What is a Mereaux?’, https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/faq/what-is-a-mereaux/, accessed 17 March 2024.

World History Encyclopedia, ‘Protestant Reformation’, https://www.worldhistory.org/Protestant_Reformation/, accessed 17 March 2024.

The History of Parliament, ‘The Reformation’, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation, accessed 17 March 2024.

Dr Marcia Cameron, ‘Huguenot Descendants in New South Wales’, Descent, June/Winter, 2023, p. 46.

Huguenot Australia, ‘Who were the Huguenots?’, https://huguenotsaustralia.org.au/our-society/who-were-the-huguenots/, accessed 31 December 2023.

The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland, ‘Huguenot History’, https://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/history.html, accessed 31 December 2023.

Musée protestant, ‘The “Dragonnades” (1681-1685)’, https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-dragonnades-1681-1685/, accessed 22 March 2024.

Musée protestant, ‘The Huguenot Refuge in England’, https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-huguenot-refuge-in-england/, accessed 22 March 2024.

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, ‘Huguenot and French London’, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/about/huguenot, accessed 22 March 2024.

The National Archives, ‘Tracing Huguenot ancestors’, https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/tracing-huguenot-ancestors/, accessed 22 March 2024.