The French in London

A History of the French in London from William the Conqueror to Charles de Gaulle.

'A beautiful and informative book, wonderfully illustrated' - Toute La Culture.

Ever since 1066, there has been a substantial French presence in London. It is now said to be the sixth most populous French city, and The French in London illustrates, explains, and exposes how this came about over more than a thousand years.

Full of individual stories and overlooked details covering a common history, from William the Conqueror, via the Huguenots (e.g., David Garrick's family), and the émigrés of the French Revolution (such as the families of Joseph Bazelgette, Augustus Pugin, and Isambard Brunel), and on to London, the capital of the Free French during WWII.

It is also a guidebook to those streets, museums, monuments, churches, and art dedicated to the French of London. Voltaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Foch, and dozens of others are all honoured by plaques or statues. Traces and stories of those escaping the French Revolution and the Commune are remembered. Talleyrand, Chateaubriand, and Madame de Staël all lived in London during those turbulent years.