| Description | Cover title: 'Copie des actes concernant la donation de [Mme] de la Barre, autrement de la Taille'. There is also a paste-on title in a later hand, and under it: 'Judith de la Barre's legacy'. On spine, a paste-on label 'Castle St. Fr. Cap. 1727'; underneath, 'Berwick St'. In front of the manuscript is pasted an abstract of the contents.
Contents:
1) Title
2) Copy of the will, 3 January 1724
3) Resolution of the joint vestry, 18 May 1726
4) Copy of M. de Tascher's deed nominating the joint ministry of the two churches, 19 May 1726
5) Copy of the decree in Chancery relating to the bequest, 4 August 1726
6) Resolutions of the joint vestry, 19 October 1726
7) Joint vestry's indemnification of M de Tascher, 20 December 1726
8) Resolutions of the joint vestry regarding the ministry, 13 December 1727-21 June 1752.
In 1724, Mme. de la Barre who died in Paris in that year made sundry bequests from her property and effects in Great Britain. These included one of £1,000 to the French Hospital, and another for £2,000 for the support of the ministry of a French church chosen at the discretion of her executor and cousin-german, M. Pierre de Tascher, Ministre. The ministry appointed was the joint ministry of Castle Street and Berwick Street. Joint consistories appear to have been held sometimes in Castle Street and sometimes in Berwick Street. From an entry under 23 August 1733 it would appear that this manuscript was the record of meeting held in Berwick Street and much of the business appears relevant to the administration of the de la Barre legacy. Similarly HUGUENOT LIBRARY/J/12 appear to have been intended initially to record meeting of the join consistory in Castle Street, and much of the business up to, and after 1762 is relevant to the same legacy. |
| AdminHistory | The congregation of the church later known as Le Quarré or Le Carré first met in the Chapel of Monmouth House, Kings Square (later Soho Square) in 1690, which was granted for the use of refugees by William and Mary in 1689. On 1 September 1690 a pastoral union was formed between Le Quarré, St James's Square, Jewin Street and Hungerford Market. On 26 January 1691 this union became an absolute one for all church matters. On 19 July 1694 the vestry decided to move the chapel in Berwick Street. On 3 May 1727 a Committee was appointed to obtain a lease of land between Berwick Street and Warwick Street to build a chapel. However, according to G B Beeman in 'Notes on the sites and history of the French Churches in London', in Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, vol. VIII (1909), the congregation continued to meet in Berwick Street until 1769, when its members moved into a small church built in Little Dean Street. This church was closed in 1853 when it was absorbed by La Savoie.
On 4 June 1762 the Congregation in Castle Street was absorbed by Le Quarré and on 21 May the church of Leicester Fields was united with it.
The registers, with historical introductory notes, have been printed in William and Susan Minet, eds., 'Register of the Church of Le Carré and Berwick Street 1690-1788', Huguenot Society Quarto Series, vol. XXV (London, 1921).
Many Le Quarré volumes have titles on covers and spines in a distinctive hand. This appear to be attributable to François Deschamps, Elder in 1766, Treasurer in 1783, Secretary and Treasurer in 1791-1807 ( J/12, p. 309v and his handwriting and signature are in J/12, J/14, pp. 228-380, and J/22, pp. 1-12). |