Language; An Original Refugee

Given my appalling French language skills it is somewhat ironic that I am descended from a French couple who were two of the first group of people to be referred to as 'refugees'. They were French Huguenot, or French Calvinist Protestants, who were the first refugees; refugee being a word coming from the old French word 'refugie', meaning 'one seeking shelter'. It was only after the arrival of French Huguenots in England, from 1685, that the word 'refugee' was used in English language, to refer specifically to members of this protestant community from France. French Huguenots sought refuge, not just in England, but in many other Protestant countries, such as the Netherlands, and Germany, as well as parts of the New World, settling in what came to be the USA and Canada.

Emigration of the Huguenots by Jan Antoon- Nuehays

The origin of the name Huguenot is not known but it is thought by some to have come from combining a Flemish word 'huisgenooten', meaning house fellows, and a German word 'eidgenosen', meaning confederates bound by an oath. It is also thought that the spelling 'Hugue' is perhaps connected to a Besancon Hugues who was connected to the Geneva Movement of Calvinism. Lucy Schofield gives more excellent suggestions about the origin of the name here. As Schofield says in her article, the Huguenots, whatever the origin of the name, represented great danger to the stability of the catholic community, faith, and way of life. 

John Calvin

French Huguenot refugees started arriving in England following the St Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572, when up to 70,000 Huguenot's were killed by order of Catherine de Medici, the Catholic regent queen. The exodus of French protestants from France continued but at a slower pace, after the signing of the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which allowed Huguenot Protestants a certain amount of religious freedom. After Louis XIV took to the French throne, however, the allowances that Huguenots had been promised through the Edict of Nantes were slowly chipped away.  Increasing pressure was put on Huguenots to renounce their version of the Christian faith, and to convert to Catholicism. Many Huguenot families had soldiers, named Dragonnades, billeted in their homes; sent there to make the family's lives difficult, in the hope that the pressure would force them to convert to Catholicism.

St Bartholemew's Day Massacre, by Franice Dupois (a Huguenot painter)

Eventually in October 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, by signing the Edict of Fountainebleau, which basically made practicing the Huguenot faith illegal. From this point Huguenots were intensely persecuted, and life became unbearable. Many Huguenots were jailed for refusing to convert. Some Huguenot children were taken from their protestant parents and placed in convents, to be raised by catholic nuns, and clergy. Over 200,000 French Huguenots fled France in an attempt to live a life free of religious persecution, and the few who remained either converted to Catholicism under duress, or were continually persecuted. The persecution of protestants officially ended with the signing of the Edict of Versailles, in 1787, but it was just two years later, with the French Revolution, that protestants won equal rights as citizens of France. Today, just 3% of the population of France identifies as Protestant Christian. It is claimed that, due to the fact that so many Huguenots were wealthy, educated bourgeoise, who took important places in society, France experienced a 'brain drain' as a result of the persecution of protestants. The loss of the Huguenots was also economically disastrous for France. In some cities half the workforce was lost due to the exodus of the Huguenot community.

A Protestant engraving satirizing Louis XIV, and his dragonnades, by Godefroy Englemann (1686)

Nicolas Gambier was my 7x great grandfather. He was born in Caen, Calvados, in northern France, circa 1650. Whilst his parentage seems to be lost in the mist of time it's likely that his father was named Nicolas also. The earliest record I have found that mentions a Nicolas Gambier, in that region of France, is from a summary of records from the Calvados Archives. The record from Courseulles (on the Normandy coast), dated 1637 mentions a purchase of a piece of land by Nicolas Gambier. The next, from the same record, dated 1639, refers to a 'bastard daughter of Anne Millon, out of the works of Nicolas Gambier, sieur de la Champaigne.' Presumably there are some very distant Millon cousins out there some place! Champaigne was a piece of land in  Cruelly, a little south of Courseulles, Normandy. (By complete chance, or perhaps some sort of fate, we recently booked a holiday for this summer, in a beautiful house by the sea, in Courseulles!) Later records from 1645 show that a Nicolas Gambier 'sieur de la Champaigne, & bourgeois de Caen' won a case whereby he was reimbursed for parish taxes. In 1652 Nicolas Gambier bought a piece of land from the Croisiers of Caen (presumably no relation to our Grossets; see previous blog!). Finally, in 1661 his widow was exempted from paying tax. Presumably Nicolas Gambier (senior) died sometime in the intervening decade. Considering he was referred to as a member of the bourgeoise, it is likely that he was a man of some wealth.

In the previous century before Nicolas' birth around 1650, Caen had been a city with a large protestant community. From 1560-68 it was a mainly protestant city. Whilst Caen had been a seat of Protestant power, by 1650 the community was somewhat depleted. A direct result of that chipping away of tolerance described above!

The Protestant Bourg-l'Abbe near Caen no longer stands.
The local catholics mockingly referred to it as the 'force meat pie' or 'pie crust'.

It is believed that Nicolas made the move to England, most likely in the late 1680s; after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Some books refer to him escaping France around 1690, but we know he was in London in January 1690, as he and Esther (sometimes referred to as Hester) Le Heup were married in St Mary Magdalene church, Old Fish Street, City of London on the 20th January 1690. At the time of their marriage Nicolas was 40 years old, and Esther was 20. St Mary Magdalene was an ancient London church, located in the shadow of today's St Paul's Cathedral. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, but its rebuilding would have just been completed when Nicolas and Esther married. 

St Mary Magdalene of Old Fish Street burned down in 1886.
After WWII the land on which it once stood was built over.

Although they were married at St Mary Magdalene, Nicolas' parish church was St Martin in the Fields, London. The church that he and Esther knew would have been rather different to the building we see now, at the north east corner of Trafalgar Square. The building in which their 9 children were baptised, and where some of them were also married, was rebuilt in the 1720s.

Today St Martin in the Fields plays an important role
in supporting the homeless community of London.

Nicolas and Esther had, as already mentioned, 9 children; 6 sons (James, Henry, Peter, John, Michael, and David) and 3 daughters (Esther Anne, Anne Mary, and Susanna Magdalen). Peter and Anne Mary both died in childhood, at the age of 3 or 4. I can't find much in the way of records pertaining to David so he may also have died in infancy. All their children were British born, and so were by birth, British citizens. Nicolas and Esther achieved the status of 'denizen' on the 29th September, 1698. A denizen was a quick and relatively cheap alternative to naturalisation. It is a defunct term these days, but would have been similar to permanent residency status.

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England & Ireland, 1603-1700, page 288

I'm not clear on what Nicolas Gambier's profession or occupation was but its unlikely that he was a silk weaver, as were so many French Huguenots in London at the time. He was most likely a business man, or perhaps a lawyer. Either way, he had wealth and was clearly connected since his son James was to become Warden of the Fleet Prison, and later a governor of St Thomas' Hospital, London. (Perhaps more on him another time!)

Fleet Prison was a debtors prison, and was famously in operation from 1197- 1846.

Nicolas died in 1724, and was buried at St Mary le Bow, the second church in his story that is named and famed in the nursery rhyme, Oranges and Lemons. St Mary le Bow was another London city church frequented by French Huguenot refugees.

To be born within the sound of Bow bells, is the definition of 'cockney'.

In his will, Nicolas left ten pounds stirling to each of his remaining children, to be distributed to them after his 'dear' wife Esther's passing.

Click here to see the document on Ancestry.

I am very much looking forward to our trip to the Normandy coast next summer, when I hope to do some mooching around graveyards, looking for fading names on ancient stones, and perhaps enjoy a sip or two of Calvados, to toast our original refugee, Nicolas Gambier.

The east beach at Courseulles-sur-mer, Calvados, Normandy.

#Newell

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https://archive.org/details/inventairesomm0102archuoft/page/n279/mode/2up?view=theater&q=%22Nicolas+Gambier%22

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gambier-41#_ref-1\

https://books.google.ca/books?id=PfwUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA387&dq=%22Nicholas+Gambier%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Nicholas%20Gambier%22&f=false

https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/caen-calvados/

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/huguenots

https://huguenotmuseum.org/about/news/where-did-the-huguenots-get-their-name/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/origin-and-meaning-of-refugee

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gambier-41#_note-3

https://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/history.html

https://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/our-first-refugees/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenots

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes#Revocation

https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/le-protestantisme-en-normandie/#:~:text=Between%201560%20and%201568%2C%20Caen,and%20Pont%2Dl'Ev%C3%AAque.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonnades

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Martin-in-the-Fields

https://wtlh18.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/oranges-and-lemons-city-of-london-churches/