| Huguenots, (like the Walloons a century before them) were Protestants who fled France for their very lives, due to religious persecution. Nearly two million converted to the Protestant Reformation movement. They were the victims of brutal measures of government-sponsored massacres (St Bartholomew's Day, siege at La Rochelle and etc), imprisonment, torture, property seizures and more. Over 50,000 of them sought religious freedom, after 1685, in the British Isles, with roughly 5000 to as many as 10,000 who went to Ireland. Over time, most Huguenots easily assimilated themselves into the Church of Ireland or other Protestant religions such as the Presbyterian Church. | | Huguenots were Protestants who fled France due to religious persecution. Nearly two million converted to the Protestant Reformation movement. Over 50,000 of them sought religious freedom, after 1685, in the British Isles, with roughly 5000 to as many as 10,000 who went to Ireland. Over time, most Huguenots easily assimilated themselves into the Church of Ireland or other Protestant religions such as the Presbyterian Church. |
| Ireland's ruling (Protestants) welcomed these refugees and provided them lands and a safe haven. Some came to Dublin where a small chapel within St Patrick’s Cathedral, was provided them for a place to worship; also a French church was built at Portarlington in County Laois (who were mostly from the City of La Rochelle, France). Still others settled in the townships of Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Limerick, Lisburn, Louth, Monaghan, Killeshandra, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and Youghal.
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| Some of the French (Huguenot) surnames include: Balaguiere, Barbier, Barré, Beaufort, Besnard, Blanc, Borough (derived from Boroher), Busse, Chaigneau, Champ, Cobbe, Cromelin, D’Olier (in Dublin), De Durande, Degaliniere, De la Douespe, Delamain, De La Roche, De La Sara, Desminieres, De St Ferreol, De St Paul, Des Voeux, Deverell, De Villette, Droz, Ducasse, Dumas, Durassus, Espinasse, Fleury, Gardie, Gandon, Gillette, Guerin, Hierome, Larminie, Laspois, Le Clerc, Le Fanu, L'Estrange, Lefroy, Le Nauze, La Touche, Lemass, Maturin, Millet, Pellatreaux, Perrin, Pons, Quartier, Ranson, Ruvigny, Rossel, Saurin, Scoffier, Severin, Trench, and Viridet.
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