The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.2 | Sept 2023

Local Group Programmes

This was the first of a series of four talks dedicated to the history of Portsmouth that Andrew gives. The opinion was let us hear more! (May) The French Church – Dr Cheryl Butler Cheryl was able to fill in a lot of gaps of our knowledge about the Huguenots and Southampton. With regard to immigration in the 16th century Southampton's city walls ran for about one mile and the three streets within - High Street, English street and French Street. A distinction was made between "Foreigners" who were not from Southampton and "Aliens" who were proper foreigners. Denization started in the 1540's where aliens became naturalised - a sponsor was required and an oath of allegiance was taken. More than half of the denization letters were French. Many immigrants were French speaking Walloons who came from the Spanish Netherlands to escape the Spanish Inquisition. They were religious and economic migrants. They brought trades such as brewing, glass making gun and gunpowder making. In the first wave of immigrants 166 were from Holland, 16, from the Channel Islands and 10 from France. Many of the refugees staged through the Channel Islands. Once in Southampton they needed a place to worship and the Maison Dieu was founded which was also an alms house. The first service in the French Church in Southampton was in 1567 and was attended by the Bishop of Winchester and the Mayor of Soton. Refugees sent money back to Holland and also founded the "Sea Beggars" who were privateers/pirates and sailed from Southampton preying on French shipping. One of them, Jaques Sores, was responsible for razing Havana. The second wave of immigrants were Huguenots - Protestants and Calvinists who fled following the St Bartholomews Day massacre on 24th August 1572 when high ranking Protestants were killed having gathered in Paris for the wedding of the Kings sister to the Protestant King Henry III of Navarre. Subsequently 12-13,000 Protestants were murdered and goods were seized. With the influx of aliens Southampton was getting overcrowded which affected trade and health. Serge makers were unpopular as they made the streets smelly due to the dying process. They did however take on local apprentices. Huguenots were also resented by Brits as they weren't punished for not following trade laws. Elizabeth I was thanked by the Huguenots in 1591.They did mix in with Anglicans and Judith de la Motte who employed 150 wool spinners had a son who went on to be the Mayor. The Plague of 1604 saw population numbers decrease and an increase in intermarriage between the communities. There was more plague in 1665 which lasted for five months. The Revocaton of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (French Huguenots could either convert to Catholicism, face life in a prison or convent, or flee the country) brought in the third wave of refugees. They brought with them the skill of paper making. (June) India – JJ Heath Caldwell This talk was, a light overview of the English in India from 1600 to 1947. This opened eyes to

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