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Birth

Migration
Following the dragonnades, forced conversions to Catholicism which began in 1681, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 which outlawed the practice of Protestantism in France, hundreds of thousands of men and women were forced to flee to the Netherlands and America, and as far afield as the Cape of Good Hope. Between 50,000 and 80,000 of these committed Calvinists settled in England, with perhaps half this number eventually finding a home in the Greater London area. Because emigration was illegal under French law, many came with few resources, buoyed up only by strongly felt religious conviction. At the same time many of the refugees possessed skilled trades associated with weaving, clockmaking and financial services. There was also a large number of intellectuals.
On arrival in London, French refugees found two already well-established French churches. The first was in Threadneedle Street in the City, where a strict and continental Calvinist form of worship was practiced, and the other at the Savoy, in the West End, where an Anglican form of worship was followed. These two churches became the focus for the growing number of refugees, and the centres of two largely coherent communities. These two early churches were then followed by others. By 1700 there were nine French churches in the East End (all of which practiced a Calvinist form of worship), and twelve in the West End (six of which celebrated Anglican communion, and six a Calvinist liturgy).