'Benis cette maison, Que ta Providence a preparee pour nos affliges'
This
plea lies at the heart of the prayer which has opened every meeting of
the Court of The French Hospital since September 1718. In translation
it reads 'Bless this habitation,which Thy good Providence hath prepared
for those among us who are in distress'; both its meaning and the continuity
of its use perhaps symbolise most effectively the long and fascinating
history here condensed into a few paragraphs.
France's
persecution of her Protestant people, or Huguenots as they came to be
called,brought the first refugees to England in the mid 16th century.
The Edict of Nantes of 1598 allowed them tolerance and they were left
in comparative peace by Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin; however, this
was but the lull before the storm, for Mazarin's death in 1661 marked
the beginning of Louis XIV's plan for the cruel and systematic elimination
of the French Protestants. The King's Revocation of the Edict in 1685
was the climax of his campaign of persecution, and for the Huguenots,
escape to a Protestant country was their only hope. In the end, as is
well known, France's loss was Britain's gain, for these Huguenots were
the possessors of highly-developed skills in finance, industry and the
arts, particularly metal working and textile manufacture, and they were
to make a major contribution to the rise of Britain's industry and trade.
But, of course, there would be some who would not succeed, for whom the
terrors left behind and the flight to life in a strange land would be
too much, and it was for these people that the French Hospital was founded.
The
Huguenots were sympathetically received in an England that was seeking
her own Protestant affirmation, which was to be marked by the Glorious
Revolution of 1688. Charles II had ordered funds for the refugees to be
collected in every parish, and it was William III's Queen Mary who founded
the Royal Bounty for refugees' aid. The fund was administered as part
of a self-help scheme by the Huguenot community, whereby those already
established here helped to find homes and work for the new arrivals and
cared for the old and sick. In 1708, Jacques de Gastigny, a gentleman
of kind heart, sometime Master of the Buckhounds to William III, left
£1000 in his Will to be of benefit to the refugees he had seen in
pitiable conditions at the old Pest House 'in the parish of St Giles'
Cripplegate'. It was his executor and friend, the Rev. Philippe Ménard,
a Minister at St James's Chapel Royal, who worked to bring these wishes
and means to a beneficial end with the building of the first Hospital
and its incorporation by a Royal Charter from George I in 1718.
The
first La Providence, as it soon became affectionately known, was in Bath
Street in the parish of St Luke's, Finsbury, very near to the place where
Old Street and City Road meet today. It was built on the 'Golden Acre'
near a local landmark, the 'Peerless Pool'; old prints show a three-storey
building in plainest Georgian style set around two quadrangles. The garden
was surrounded by the orchards and market gardens which lined the 'green
lane' to Islington.
It
was not difficult to find people in need of the Hospital, and there were
125 residents by 1723; the number rose steadily and was maintained between
220 and 230 for the next 70 years. Money and care were still distributed
into the Huguenot community at large, and the records show that temporary
treatment was given to the young and sick, as well as the old and poor.
Several children, like 10-year old Nathaniel Bobin, were cared for, and
the Hospital also accommodated the mentally ill - 'distracted persons'
as they were called - one of whom was Jacques Ray, a goldsmith, who had
taken to 'running about the streets like a madman forsaking his business
and crying Oranges and Lemons.....'. There is a wealth of detail in the
Hospital's records, now, with its library, in University College, London,
merged with the library of the Huguenot Society. These records present
a sad catalogue of human failings and misfortunes (though not completely
devoid of touches of humour): a vivid reminder that there was a darker
side to that elegantly housed and landscaped world that we like to remember
as Georgian England..
At
the opening of the 19th Century the French Hospital at Bath Street is
seen in decline. The city had spread, the rural surroundings were gone,
the Huguenots themselves had become absorbed into English society, and
perhaps war with France made them judiciously keep a low profile - whatever
the reasons, there was no great celebration of the first 100 years in
1818.
However,
the work of the Hospital was carried on in a minor key until it was possible
to find a new home. In 1862 three acres of land at Victoria Park in the
'salubrious village' of Hackney, were bought for £3,600, and one
of the Directors, Robert Louis Roumieu F.R.I.B.A., designed the new building.
It is typical of the goodwill that surrounds this story that he would
not take a fee for doing so. The new Hospital was much praised. It was
a fashionable Victorian Gothic version of a small French chateau, and
it was opened in June 1865 with accommodation for 40 women and 20 men,
a steward and his wife and nurses and servants, besides a Chapel, a Library
and spacious dayrooms. It seems that the Directors were happy to ignore
past criticisms from the Charity Commissioners that their inmates were
treated too well! They were certainly not allowed to be idle, for the
routine at Victoria Park recognised a basic need - that though one was
living on charity it was still necessary for most people to make themselves
useful in the community and 'help towards the general economy' of the
Hospital was part of daily life. To mark the Jubilee of 1887 the residents
presented Queen Victoria with a black silk dress made by the 12 weaveresses
among their number.
So,
life at Victoria Park ran smoothly until 1934, when the Hospital's Treasurer,
Arthur Hervé Browning, had to report in his Presidential Address
to the Huguenot Society that the London County Council had 'set envious
eyes on our little Naboth's vineyard' which was threatened with compulsory
purchase. The War intervened, the residents were sent out of London, and
the much-loved Hospital was requisitioned for the war effort and damaged
by bombing.
After
the War, faced with difficulty in re-possessing Victoria Park and the
looming compulsory purchase order, the Directors reconsidered the situation
and decided to buy a large country house, Comptons Lea near Horsham in
Sussex, as a residential home. However, Comptons Lea proved to be too
isolated and inconvenient for elderly people, and they reconsidered again
- was there even a need for their Hospital in the welfare state? It was
decided that the wishes of countless past enefactors and the needs of
present applicants would be best served by the provision of sheltered
housing.
In
order to qualify for residence within La Providence or benefit from its
outside care, applicants must be able to satisfy the Directors of their
direct descent from a French Protestant family and themselves be resident
in Great Britain. Anyone wishing to be considered for help, or knowing
a Huguenot descendant in need, should apply in the first instance to The
Clerk, 41, La Providence, Rochester, Kent ME1 1NB.
(Registered Charity No: 219318)
