Thomas Le Bailly, dressed as a peasant,
8 took a horse with a pannier of apples
on each side, the Bible in one pannier, his baby son in the other, his wife
behind him, and went through the gates of Caen to escape in a fishing boat to
Jersey. As they passed through the gates a suspicious guard thrust his sword
into one of the panniers, and struck the one with the Bible—not the child!
By now, as ‘enemies’ of France, the Huguenots were welcomed here.
However, they could not escape the accusations always levelled at immigrants
—that their presence threatened jobs, standards of housing, public order,
morality, hygiene and that they ate strange foods! For at least half a century
they remained a recognisable minority, but they made their presence felt in
many professions such as banking, commerce, industry, the book trade, the
arts, the army, the stage and teaching. Although many retained their Calvinist
organisation and worship, by about 1760 they had ceased to stand out as
‘foreign’, even following the path of Anglican conformity in religion which
some had taken from the very beginning.
6
The Huguenot story ‘hangs well’ on the Le Rossignol family, and many
Huguenots named ‘Le Rossignol’ may well have arrived in Jersey via the
French exodus. A family of Huguenot provenance was one of French lineage
—possibly nobility—of protestant heritage, of literacy and a history of
hundreds of years. Much of this also fits Robert’s family, but that branch of
the ‘Le Rossignols’ to which Robert belonged had an entirely different
provenance. Family members
9 who still in live in Jersey vigorously dispute the
Huguenot line and point to their family tree in S. J. Le Rossignol’s Historical
Notes with special reference to the Le Rossignol Family,
10 published in 1917.
The book begins with the following quotation from Falle’s History of Jersey
11
;
In the Island there are many ancient families, not only among the Seigneurs
and Gentlemen of the first rank, but even amongst those of inferior quality,
several of whom can reckon a descent which in some other countries very good
gentlemen would be proud of.
Indeed, Robert’s family were both ancient and of ‘proud descent’. Their
name, ‘Le Rossignol’—literally ‘the nightingale’—clearly establishes their
French provenance, the prefix ‘Le’ often being regarded as ‘aristocratic’ in
Jersey. G. R. Balleine
12 in Some Jersey Surnames their Origin and Meaning
classifies this name as ‘descriptive’, originally being applied to someone who
may have been a ‘sweet singer’, or indeed a ‘chatterer’, for ‘rossignolerie’ in
old French meant ‘chattering’. According to the Historical Notes
10 the earliest
recorded Le Rossignol of Robert’s family—Guillaume or ‘Guille’ (‘William’),
6
D. Sheppard
8 took a horse with a pannier of apples
on each side, the Bible in one pannier, his baby son in the other, his wife
behind him, and went through the gates of Caen to escape in a fishing boat to
Jersey. As they passed through the gates a suspicious guard thrust his sword
into one of the panniers, and struck the one with the Bible—not the child!
By now, as ‘enemies’ of France, the Huguenots were welcomed here.
However, they could not escape the accusations always levelled at immigrants
—that their presence threatened jobs, standards of housing, public order,
morality, hygiene and that they ate strange foods! For at least half a century
they remained a recognisable minority, but they made their presence felt in
many professions such as banking, commerce, industry, the book trade, the
arts, the army, the stage and teaching. Although many retained their Calvinist
organisation and worship, by about 1760 they had ceased to stand out as
‘foreign’, even following the path of Anglican conformity in religion which
some had taken from the very beginning.
6
The Huguenot story ‘hangs well’ on the Le Rossignol family, and many
Huguenots named ‘Le Rossignol’ may well have arrived in Jersey via the
French exodus. A family of Huguenot provenance was one of French lineage
—possibly nobility—of protestant heritage, of literacy and a history of
hundreds of years. Much of this also fits Robert’s family, but that branch of
the ‘Le Rossignols’ to which Robert belonged had an entirely different
provenance. Family members
9 who still in live in Jersey vigorously dispute the
Huguenot line and point to their family tree in S. J. Le Rossignol’s Historical
Notes with special reference to the Le Rossignol Family,
10 published in 1917.
The book begins with the following quotation from Falle’s History of Jersey
11
;
In the Island there are many ancient families, not only among the Seigneurs
and Gentlemen of the first rank, but even amongst those of inferior quality,
several of whom can reckon a descent which in some other countries very good
gentlemen would be proud of.
Indeed, Robert’s family were both ancient and of ‘proud descent’. Their
name, ‘Le Rossignol’—literally ‘the nightingale’—clearly establishes their
French provenance, the prefix ‘Le’ often being regarded as ‘aristocratic’ in
Jersey. G. R. Balleine
12 in Some Jersey Surnames their Origin and Meaning
classifies this name as ‘descriptive’, originally being applied to someone who
may have been a ‘sweet singer’, or indeed a ‘chatterer’, for ‘rossignolerie’ in
old French meant ‘chattering’. According to the Historical Notes
10 the earliest
recorded Le Rossignol of Robert’s family—Guillaume or ‘Guille’ (‘William’),
6
D. Sheppard