Huguenot Lives in Ireland
What activities and work were they involved in?
Huguenots brought new techniques to Ireland and were skilled in a wide variety of crafts. There were brewers, map makers, glass blowers, goldsmiths, horticulturalists, printers, bakers, silversmiths, tanners, watchmakers, linen makers and weavers. In addition, there were significant numbers of soldiers, seafarers, engineers, farmers, scientists, pastors, merchants, musicians and shopkeepers.
Famous Huguenots and Their Descendants in Ireland
Some well known Huguenots and their descendants in Ireland include:
Richard Gandon
The architect who designed the Four Courts and the Custom House
Richard Cassells
Who designed Leinster House, Powerscourt and Carton House
Gabriel Béranger and George Victor Du Noyer
Artists
The La Touche family
Who started the Bank of Ireland
Goldsmiths and Silversmiths
The D’Olier and Le Bas families
Linen manufacturers
the Crommelin and De La Cherois families in Lisburn
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Robert Maturin, Dion Lardner Boucicault and Samuel Beckett
Writers
William Dargan
The engineer who constructed Ireland’s first railway line
Mathew Fontaine Maury, Peter Mazière and Francis Beaufort, famous
worldwide for the Beaufort Windscale
Oceanographers
Leaving Their Mark
Many place names, street names and family names that sound quintessentially Irish now, are actually French Huguenot in origin such as Dublin’s D’Olier Street, and Digges Lane, Cork’s French Church Lane and Lavitt’s Quay.
Surnames like Champ, La Touche, Maury, Vignoles and Le Fanu no longer sound ‘foreign’ to the Irish ear, although they are all descendents of Huguenot refugees. Even the word ‘refugee’ is believed to trace its origin to the forced Huguenot migration from France (réfugier, to seek refuge).