Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 12 - Section XVII
Reneu.
In my Historical Introduction I have the name of Mr. Hilary Reneu as the translator of Claude’s celebrated brochure Les Plaintes des Protestans cruellement oprimés dans le royaume de France. As a refugee he was Hillaire Reneu, a native of Bordeaux. He arrived in England in or about 1685, although the first known source of information regarding him is the Act of Naturalisation, dated 5th July 1698,[1] from which we learn that he was the son of Pierre Reneu, of Bordeaux, and that by his wife Marguerite, daughter of Jean Lupé, he had a son Pierre. His wife and son were refugees with him, also his widowed sister Marie, Madame Lassens. We may add that his daughter, Marie Reneu, was one of the refugees, though in 1698 she was not included in the home circle, because on 26th March 1695 she had been married to the Hecr Denis Dutry, a Dutch Protestant and naturalized Englishman. In 1708 he appears in the third edition of his translation of Claude as M. Hillaire Reneu, alias Mr Hilary Reneu. And in M. de Gastigny’s Will, dated 10th August 1708, where it is mentioned that he took an active interest in one of the Houses of Charity for French refugees, he is described as “Mr. Reneu, father-in-law of Mr. Dutry.” He had realised some wealth in PVance and had succeeded in bringing it with him. He was at the expense of printing two editions of the translation of Claude in the year 1707, and the bookseller, William Redmayne, brought out a third edition in 1708. Claude’s pamphlet had been bought up and all but destroyed by the Papists, so that (says M. Reneu), “the very children of the refugees themselves, who either came hither very young, or else are born here, do not know the cause of the exile and transmigration of their fathers and mothers.” In the reign of Queen Anne great efforts were made to disparage the refugees, and to prejudice the English nation against them. One false allegation was, that they were people of the lowest rank and intelligence. M. Reneu replied:—
“There came hither a Duke and Mareschal of France, some Generals of armies, a Duchess, several counts and countesses, marquises and marchionesses, Judges of Sovereign Courts, Viscounts, Barons, noblemen and gentlemen, ladies and gentlewomen, men of learning, lawyers, physicians, substantial merchants, tradesmen of all sorts, and many captains, masters mariners, gardeners, and husbandmen, besides the great number of ministers who were banished that kingdom, with orders to depart forthwith upon pain of the galleys.”
As for poverty, he declares that as a rule money was necessary for their escape; at least £20,000 sterling in specie was paid for passage money to the Masters of English ships. M. Reneu states the Report of the French Committee as to the sums paid for the relief of poor refugees, dated 26th July 1705, partly was due to the accusation of a man (who proved to be a Piedmontese priest) not only asserting that the Committee was unfaithful, but also presenting a petition to the Queen to suspend the charity of the nation.
Another false allegation was that after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, persecution had ceased. M. Reneu refers to refugees by name, who can tell Papists and others a very different and true tale:—
“Let them address themselves to Martha Guisard, living in Frith Street, Soho; she will tell them that she came out of France because John Guisard, her father, was burnt at Nerac. Let them speak to Mrs. Tinel, wife to a French Minister at Bristol, and to his sister-in-law; they will tell them that the Sieur Margueron, their father, was hanged at Ste. Foy for having held a religious assembly in his house (the history of his edifying death is to be sold at the Widow Baldwin in Warwick Lane); their mother with her head shaved by the hangman was condemned to make amende honorable, and afterwards to a perpetual imprisonment; they escaped the like severities by their flight into this kingdom, with their brother, since killed in the army. Let them ask of the Sieur Peyferie and his family what made them abandon a great estate to be reduced to great straits in Tower Street in Soho; he will answer, that being accused with some neighbours of his of having exercised his religion in his country house, he was condemned to be hanged, his house demolished and hij woods destroyed, but God of His mercy delivered him. Let them inquire of Mrs. Charlotte and Mary, daughters of the Sieur de la Ramiere, who died in the service of England; they will tell them that his castle was pulled down and his woods destroyed, because he held there a religious assembly. The SLurs Dupre and Moses Du Boust, now living upon the charity of the nation in the parish of St Giles-in-the-Fields (the one being eighty years old, and the other grown an invalid in our army), will testify that they were persecuted in their persons and estates. Martha Trapeau and Mary, living in Soho, will answer that being sick, they declared to a priest and magistrate that they would die in their religion, notwithstanding they had through their persecutions been forced to abjure it; but being recovered they were condemned to perpetual confinement to the ‘Manufacture(?) of Bourdeaux,’ from whence they escaped, as also did Olympe Passelaigne of Bergerac, Johan Darrac, and Johan her sister of Fangeroles, Johan Groux, Judith Chabot, Catherine Mulh, the two Mrs. Goriux, Martha Cove, and eighteen others now here. Mary Perreau, living in Spittlefields, will tell you that she was married at Plymouth to Peter Perreau, a French Pilot, who a month after their marriage having sailed for the Straits, was taken and carried into France where he was condemned to the galleys for 101 years.”
The above paragraph, abridged from his Preface to Claude, is a specimen of Mr. Reneu’s contribution to refugee literature. His daughter became Lady Dutry on 19th June 1716, when her husband was created a baronet. The name of Hilary Reneu would certainly have been among the Directors of the French Protestant Hospital at its foundation, if he had been alive in 1718. Peter Reneu, his son, appears on that list, and that is his last appearance. Lady Dutry ultimately was described as her father’s “only daughter and universal heiress.” In the autumn of 1728, Sir Denis took her to Bourdeaux, that she might again see her native city. He was sixty-five years of age at this date, and was unexpectedly seized with illness at Bourdeaux, and died there on the 5th November (1728).
Lady Dutry returned to London; Sir Denis was buried in the Dutch Church, with an epitaph, to which I am indebted for information. In October 1734 there was announced the marriage of Gerrard Van Neck, Esq., late Director of the East India Company, to Lady Dutry, £100,000. He died 17th August 1750. She lies buried in his grave in the Dutch Church of London.
*⁎* Sir Denis Dutry’s will and codicil, written in French, were dated, the former, “London, 20 March 1727 (n.s.)” and the latter, “Bordeaux, 2 Nov. 1728.” The executors were Sir Matthew Decker, Knight; John Girardot de Tillieux, Esq.; and Nathanael Torriano, merchant. Besides his legacies to the Dutch Church, he left £300 to the poor of the French Church in Threadneedle Street, and to the five ministers of that church, each £20; to the Hospital established by patent for the poor French Protestants and their descendants in Great Britain, £300; to the House of Charity called La Marmite, “for the soop of the poor French Protestant refugees,” situated in Spittlefields, £200; to the Directors of the House of Charity in Soho, for the use to the poor French Protestant refugees, £200; to the poor of the French Church of Wandsworth, £100; and to the two ministers of said church, each £20, and to the reader of said church, £10; to Mr. Matthew Testas, “who did formerly live with me,” £100; to my godson, James Frontin, £100; to my goddaughter, Madam Baignoux, £100; to Messrs Gerard and Joshua Van Neck, brothers, each £100.
- ↑ Peter, a brother of Mr. Hillary Reneu, was naturalised in 1677 (see vol. i. p. 39). Henrietta Reneu, of Putney, described in 1732 as “the youngest daughter of the late Mr. Peter Reneu, an eminent merchant of London,” was perhaps a daughter or grand-daughter of that refugee; she was married on 24th January 1732, to Rev. Mr. Comarque.