Come along for this fascinating talk by Mary Schoeser, on the history of Spitalfields silk and the Huguenot weavers fight for survival in the 19th century. Powered by Eventbrite

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…

Join us for a talk as part of the Battle of Medway Commemorations. Migrants from the Low Countries came in large numbers bringing craft skills and knowledge. The largest number came as Protestant refugees during Elizabeth I’s reign, and established communities and churches in this country. Many of us trace our ancestors to these Dutch refugees. Silke Muylaert has finished her doctoral studies concerning Dutch and Walloon Protestant refugees in Elizabethan England at the University of Kent. Powered by Eventbrite

Take a tour of the Huguenot Museum and French Hospital with the Museum's trustee Leslie Du Cane and hear about his family's story. Powered by Eventbrite

Liz Trenow will talk about how she came to write her new novel The Silk Weaver inspired by the life of Anna Maria Garthwaite, one of the most important textile designers of the 18th century. Garthwaite lived in Spitalfields, working with Huguenot silk weavers to create exquisite, luxury patterned fabrics, but despite her importance, very little is known about her. Spitalfields is also the place where Liz’s ancestors had started a silk weaving company 300 years ago. Liz writes ‘It…

With Amanda Thomas from Friends of Medway Archives. Nonconformist and Protestant thinking shaped the development of Great Britain following the Reformation. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain was at the forefront of innovation, an achievement in which Huguenot migrants played a significant part.   From as early as the Middle Ages, migrants from France and the Low Countries fine-tuned techniques which helped establish many of Britain’s ground-breaking  industries, such as weaving, and the production of iron and glass.  By the eighteenth…

Dr Kathy Chater is well known to many of our visitors for her regular talks on tracing Huguenot ancestry, but she returns in November with a different subject, The Legacy of the Huguenots in France in World War II. Many years ago she discovered that one branch of her Huguenot ancestors came from Dieulefit, a small town that in 2008 was awarded the title ‘Righteous Among The Nations’by Yad Veshem, the Holocaust Research Centre. Another town, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, has the…

This event is sold out. We have other tour dates on 27th July and 2nd November. Visit the Museum and take a behind the scenes tour of the French Hospital, the Huguenot almshouses on Rochester High Street, which are not usually open to the public. The French Hospital was founded in 1718 in London to support the large numbers of Protestants escaping persecution in France, and celebrates its 300th anniversary this year. It was one of the earliest institutions to…