This post by Fellow Joyce Hampton examines the background to the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694, and the role played by the Walloon Houblon family, particularly Sir John Houblon, the Bank's first Director. Among the original subscribers to Bank stock were many Huguenots...

In the Georgian period, an unusual lake side cottage in Hatfield Forest, decorated with shells by a young member of the Houblon family, became the setting for convivial picnics on the Hallingbury Place estate in rural Essex....