The Huguenots
Their Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland

In this 1867 book, Samuel Smiles describes the history of the Huguenots and discusses some of their famous British descendants.

Samuel Smiles (Author)

9781108079822, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 March 2015

552 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3.1 cm, 0.69 kg

One of the most popular Victorian writers, Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) made his name in 1859 with the original self-improvement manual, Self-Help. His highly successful multi-volume Lives of the Engineers contained biographies of men who had, like him, achieved greatness not through privilege but through hard work. In this 1867 book, Smiles examines the part played in British society and economic life by the Protestants who either left France to escape religious persecution or were expelled after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The appeal of the topic to Smiles probably lay in the proverbial industry and hard work of these refugees, who arrived penniless but rapidly made their way to prosperity, to social acceptance, and, in only two or three generations, to some of the highest positions in the land. This fascinating work covers the history of the Huguenots and discusses some of their famous descendants.

Preface
1. Invention of printing and rise of the Huguenots
2. Episode in the life of Bernard Palissy
3. Persecutions of the reformed in France and Flanders
4. Relations of England with France and Spain
5. Settlements and industries of the Protestant refugees in Britain
6. Early Walloon and French churches in England
7. Renewal of the persecutions in France, and revocation of the Edict of Nantes
8. Renewed flight of the Huguenots from France
9. The Huguenots and the English revolution of 1688
10. Dumont de Bostaquet and his escape from France into Holland
11. De Bostaquet in England, and the Irish campaigns of 1689–90
12. Huguenot officers in the British service
13. Huguenot settlers in England, men of science and learning
14. Huguenot settlements in England, and men of industry
15. The Huguenot churches in England
16. Huguenot settlements in Ireland
17. Descendants of the refugees
18. Conclusion, and the French Revolution
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]