‘A Survival of a Distant Past’. J.A. Martin and the Victorian Revival of the French Church at Canterbury.* Andrew Spicer In October 1885, religious services and other events were held across the country to commemorate the bicentenary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 1 At Canterbury cathedral, the Dean preached on how the religious co-existence established by the Edict of Nantes ‘gave France peace for nearly a century’ after the conlicts that had divided the nation during the late sixteenth century. From his accession in 1661, Louis XIV had sought ‘to discourage and if possible to destroy Protestantism’, his actions culminating in the revoking of the Edict on 18 October 1685. While some French Protestants or Huguenots, as they were known, did convert to Catholicism … large numbers of these people left their country, left all behind them, proving their faith by giving up their property. Many came to this country, and their coming resulted in one of the greatest blessings that had ever happened to England for they brought with them not merely sturdy love of truth, but they brought with them also a great many trades which were unknown in England … Through the coming of these people, although so poor and destitute, a great many improvements resulted in this country and 1 See Andrew Spicer, ‘1885: French Protestantism and Huguenot Identity in Victorian Britain’, in Philip Benedict, Hughes Daussy, Pierre-Olivier Léchot (eds), Histoire, mémoire et identités en mutation. Les huguenots en France et en diaspora (XVIe–XXIe siècles) (Geneva: Droz, forthcoming). * I am grateful to Mr Michael Peters and the consistory of the Eglise Protestante Française de Cantorbéry for allowing me access to their nineteenth century archives and also for the assistance of Miss Lucy Gwynn at the Huguenot Library, University College London, and the archivists of Canterbury Cathedral. 100-138 SouthernHist34 Spicer.indd 100 10/07/2012 16:00