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THE HUGUENOTS

Druce is, in fact, a Huguenot name. The name is derived from a local name 'Dreux' (first element meaning 'fortress/strong') from the Gaulish Durocasses, a place in Eure-et-Loir, or 'of Rieux ("streams")' of various places in Northern France. Spelling variants of Druce are:- Drewes, Drews, Drewse, Druse. The name most certainly came into England during the Norman Invasion in 1066. There are several early known individuals mentioned in writings, most notably that being of Herman de Dreuues in Wiltshire mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Other examples are: Hugo le Droeis 1225 Pat (Wiltshire); Robert de Dreus 1230 P (Oxfordshire); William Drueys, Drois, le Droys, le Droes 1242 Fees (Wiltshire); Elias de Rewes, de Riueus, Driues, de Repariis, Droeys 1235, 1242 Fees (Buckinghamshire).

Research into the family name reveals substantial communities who have lived in Berkshire, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and London. The name is virtually absent in counties such as Devon and Cornwall.

Between the latter half of the sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century, over two million Huguenot refugees fled from France in search of a place where they were free to follow their Protestant faith. They were a skilled and educated people, who produced some amazing men and for such a small community they contributed an enormous amount to the growth of Britain. This influx of French exiles to Britain helped to change the course of British history.

The Huguenots did not just go to Britain. They settled in Holland, Germany and even America. Many residents can trace ancestors made the treacherous journey to freedom several centuries ago. What is interesting, though, is the way that the Huguenots decided to merge with their host countries, rather than forming separate and distinct communities, like the Dutch in South Africa or the Germans in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Many of the immigrants did not know their own background, and there was no fundamental documentation, as it was all done secretly over a number of years. Anyone caught leaving France could be executed, so there was never a mass exodus of people. Only where a strong French speaking community with Huguenot churches grew up (such as in London) is the task slightly easier. Many people are still unaware of the impact of the Huguenots on family history.

It was when Louis XIV (1638-1715) came to the throne that problems for the Huguenots really began. They had been persecuted before in the long battle against Catholic monarchs and many had already fled to other countries, but between 1629 and 1660, they had been left in relative peace. The Edict of Nantes, set up by Henry IV of Navarre, allowed Protestants in France the freedom to worship. Although many careers were closed to them, they put their energies into trade and business, many of them becoming very rich in the process. When Louis decided that he was going to try and wipe out the Protestants for good, his ministers realised that it could be devastating blow for France. Not only did they have money, but they were skilled craftsmen whose loss might mean the end of many of France's home-grown industries.

Louis was a staunch Catholic and began a regime of persecution which was to lead to the biggest exile yet seen from France. Alarm spread through the communities, and people like the wealthy Louis Crommelin were quick to get out, as they had foreseen what was going to happen. In England, Charles II and James II had been viewing the proceedings in France with dismay. They were trying to forge better relations with the French, whilst at the same time improving the condition of the English Catholics. The new influx of Protestants looked as if it might be a serious embarrassment to these policies. If they were allowed entry, relations with France might be soured, and if they were kept out, there would be outrage from the Protestant majority in England.

Charles II eventually had to concede defeat, and he issued a proclamation announcing that the Huguenots would be welcome in Britain. Immediately, the largest influx of immigrants that Britain had ever seen came swarming across the Channel. By the end of the century, it was thought that perhaps 80,000 to 100,000 had crossed the sea.

The English were greatly sympathetic to the plight of the Huguenots at first, and in 1686 £50,000 was raised from a huge collection to help them settle into their new country. "They made us welcome in their houses," said one French exile, 'and treated us with affectionate care. Thus God has given us fathers, mothers brothers, sisters in this strange land." This all seemed very strange from a country that only the previous century had made vicious and repeated attacks on the Flemish and Dutch Protestants who had fled to her shores for help, but there were several reasons for the sudden change in attitude. First, the political climate had changed radically. The Civil War and the growth of a more militant type of Protestantism had inculcated in the English a growing hate for the absolute Catholicism epitomised by Louis XIV's reign. The English sympathised with the French, whereas they had despised the earlier immigrants who began to take over jobs and homes in a very unstable era. It was also obvious that many of the Huguenots were only in England temporarily and were moving on to other countries. The knowledge that they weren't staying for good helped relations between the foreigners and the suspicious local traders, who feared or their livelihoods.

Another good. reason for the warm reception that the French received was that their arrival coincided with the English Revolution, when the Catholic James II was replaced with the Protestant regime of William of Orange, who became William III. This change was not only favourable to Huguenots, but to some extent established by them. Many had fled to Holland when they were first persecuted by France, and had entered into service with the Dutch government and armed services. In fact, 8,000 to 9,000 sailors, 12,000 soldiers and 500 trained officers left France and joined the Dutch army, pushing up its strength and capability enormously. This meant that when William of Orange landed in England in 1688, the backbone of his army was Huguenot. They later fought with distinction in the Battle of the Boyne, and were given prominent positions in William's government. Far from being shooed away by the English, they were very welcome.

But perhaps the biggest reason for their successful integration into Britain was that the country was much more prosperous than it had been at the end of the sixteenth century, when the Dutch and Flemish exiles came in for such a hard time. The English economy was now far more capable of absorbing all these extra people, and it was also acknowledged that their skills would be highly useful to England's rather primitive trades. Indeed if you had lived in England before the arrival of the French, you would have had to send abroad for laces, gloves, buttons, felt hats, ironmongery and cutlery, salt, wines, feathers, fans, girdles pins, needles, combs, and soap, to name but a few things. Now the artisans had come to England and all their trades came with them. 80,000 came flooding in from Rouen, Caen, Coutances, Elbeuf, Alencon, Caudebec, Le Havre, Nantes and many other oppressed places. The paper makers of Angoumois the silk-makers of Touraine, glass-blowers, fur-hat makers, ower-growers in short, craftsmen who made luxury goods spread themselves across Britain.

There was no attempt by the government to restrict their movements, so they went pretty much where they pleased. Although they were mainly concentrated in London, where there was an existing alien community a ready, they were also found on the east and south coasts, where those who had practised maritime crafts before the persecution could continue to pursue them. Some went as far as Scotland and Cornwall.

It's pointed out by the British Huguenot Society that almost every aspect of technology, finance and business was changed: in short, there was scarcely a branch of trade in Great Britain but at once felt the beneficial effects of the large influx of experienced workmen from France. Besides improving those manufactures which had already be en established, they introduced many entirely new branches of industry; and by their skill their intelligence and their laboriousness, they richly repaid England for the hospitality and the asylum which had been so generously extended to them in their time of need.'

For a good example of this, we only have to look at the clothing industry. Britain had always been a pastoral and agricultural island, supplying many countries with wool for clothing including France. However, the French would then spin the wool into garments which were sold back to the British at vastly inflated prices. The authorities realised that this was, of course, counterproductive, and they welcomed artisans with clothes-making skills. The glass industry had already been established in Britain but the new arrivals brought with them techniques for superior quality mirrors and crystal. The paper they brought was fine and white, unlike the coarse material that the British had been using, and most importantly, they brought over techniques for printing paper money.

London's industry mostly centred around quality clothes and textiles. In Wandsworth and Southwark the beaver hat trade flourished, a craft which up until then had only been practised in the Caudebec area of France. Richmond and Bromley produced fine tapestries and Soho and Spitalfields became centres for fine silks, brocades, satins, silk stockings and velvets.

The strong and hard-working Huguenots prospered and within a few years the Huguenot community was able to look after itself with very little help from its British hosts. Louis Crommelin, the Huguenot who had got out of France early on, was invited in 1698 to form a Royal corporation for the linen trade in Northern Ireland. A year before, an Act of Parliament had been passed to: "encourage the linen manufacture of Ireland and to flax and hemp into, and make sailcloth in this Kingdom." Crommelin invested £10,000 of his own money in the venture and employed many Huguenots who had moved to County Antrim in Ireland. They already knew the best methods of spinning, flax culture and working efficient looms, and by l705, 500 refugee families were established in Northern Ireland.

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