In 1853 Charles Dickens published Elizabeth Gaskell’s article ‘Traits and Stories of the Huguenots’ in his magazine ‘Household Words’. In it Gaskell tells of the escape of the great-great grandmother of ‘A friend of mine, a descendant from some of the Huguenot refugees’. Dinah Winch will explore why Gaskell wrote this article and look at the growing interest in the Victorian period in the story of the Huguenots.

Dinah Winch is Director of the Huguenot Museum but was, until November 2016, Manager of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Manchester.