The French Hospital included Almshouses, so I would guess that is where the French Aunt lived. The Hospital is no longer in London but has relocated to Rochester, Kent.
There is a lot about it if you google. The records are very comprehensive - the following from familysearch:
The Huguenot Library has much more unpublished charity material as well.
Marmoy’s splendid series on the vast records of the French Protestant Hospital called La Providence, at Rochester in Kent was published in the Quarto Series as volumes 52 and 53. It has extracts relating to all inmates and unsuccessful applicants 1718-1957 as well as for the Coqueau Charity 1745-1901, with details such as appear below.
Sarah Elizabeth CLARKE, applicant Entered 31 Mar 1880, deceased 22 Jul 1880. Of 133 Columbia Square, Bethnal Green. Spinster d/o James and Sarah Clarke. Born 26 Oct 1823 in Busby Street, Bethnal Green. Mother was a d/o Elizabeth Vatin, a member of French Protestant church until her death. Petitioner is niece of Susannah Lawson (also in index) a former recipient of Coqueau Charity. Formerly a weaveress, now supported by waistcoat making, earns about 6/- weekly from the use of her needle. Failing health. In her file are copies of parish register entries for her birth/christening, parents’ marriage, mother Sarah Palmer’s birth/christening and grandparents Joseph Palmer and Elizabeth VATIN’s marriage.
It might be worth contacting the Hugueonot Society:
http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/library-and-archive/collectionsarchive.html
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From family writing, I am wondering if our name was Anglicised to May from either Mayern or Maçon when our family came from France as Huguenots. A very elderly relative of mine who passed on a long time ago wrote the following with the family crest which she sent to me from England:
"Tarquet de Mayene Louis de Macon. The May's Family Huguenot Crest. An old French Aunt lived in the French Hospital in London and gave Aunt Lydia May the crest before she died. The hospital was bombed in the second world war and is no more. Aunt Connie May, who lived at that time in Westcliff was given the crest by Aunt Lydia. She then moved to Baker Street London and when the war came in 1939, she brought the crest to sister, Evelyn at Chirpford Essex as thought it would be safer with us. After the wall, she told mother to keep it in our hall. Aunt Connie died. It came to Worthing with us in 1970 and I think you should have it to continue with the MAYS."
Although the hospital was bombed, apparently it is still there and operational. Connie and Lydia are there in my records, but I need to work out who the elderly French aunt was so that I can seek hospital records and find that connection to my French past. Aunt Lydia was one of Charles Croxton May's daughters. She was born in 1857 at Shoreditch, Middlesex. She never married, but lived with her sister. She lived to 100 years old and died blind in Rochford Hospital. She received a telegram from King George V on 100th birthday in 1957. The elderly French Aunt needs to have given Lydia the crest maybe some time between maybe 1870 and 1935 or thereabouts? This could have been one of her great aunts - Sophia 1776 - 1861, Henrietta 1787 - 1858, Charlotte 1789 - ? - so Sophia and Henrietta had families of their own, though I can't find out much about Charlotte. There was a record that somebody with her name marrying in West Middlesex when Charlotte would have been 44 years old. There is another one who may have married one of four men in 1839 actually in Shoreditch - but she would have been 50. Then again, it may not have been a French Aunt in her 80s or 90s, the French Aunt may have just been one of her father's sisters rather than one of her father's aunts... I have a puzzle to solve! hahaha
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London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 NameHenrietta May Record TypeBaptism Baptism Date17 May 1815 Father's NameDaniel May (Silversmith) Fink Street Mother's NameAnn May Parish or Poor Law UnionBethnal Green St Matthew BoroughTower Hamlets Register TypeParish Registers
England, Pallot's Marriage Index, 1780 - 1837 Name Henrietta May Spouse Wm Vanderstein Marriage Date1812 ParishStepney St Dunstan
1841 England Census NameHenrietta Vandersteen Age50 Estimated Birth Yearabt 1791 GenderFemale Where bornMiddlesex, England Civil parishBethnal Green HundredOssulstone (Tower Division) County/IslandMiddlesex CountryEngland Registration districtBethnal Green Sub-registration districtChurch
Family Members
William Vandersteen 55 Henrietta Vandersteen 50 William Vandersteen 30 Charles Vandersteen 25 George Vandersteen 15
1851 England Census
Name Henrietta Vandersteen Age 64 Estimated Birth Year abt 1787 Relation Head Gender Female Where born Bethnal Green Civil parish Bethnal Green Ecclesiastical parish St Andrew County/Island Middlesex Country England Registration district Bethnal Green Sub-registration district Church
Household Members
Henrietta Vandersteen 64 (Widow) Needlewoman William Vandersteen 40
(Res: 48 Seabright Street)
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 NameHenriatta Vandersteen Probate Date18 Mar 1858 RegistryPrincipal Registry Death Date10 Feb 1858 Death PlaceMiddlesex, England
Formerly of Seabright Street, Bethnal Green and late of Abernant Place. Died at Abernant Place 10th Feb 1858.
To William John Vandersteen of Abernant Place aforesaid House Agent one of the children of the said deceased.
Effects: Under £200.
Wlliam John Vandersteen in the London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 Name:Wlliam John Vandersteen Baptism Date:28 Apr 1811 Parish:St Matthew, Bethnal Green County:Middlesex Borough:Tower Hamlets Parent(s): William Vandersteen, Henretta Vandersteen
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from a tree on ancestry
Daniel May
2 Aug St Anne Blackfriars, London, England Register spelled Anne not Ann 2 Sources Baptism 1752 2 Aug St Anne Parish, Blackfriars, London, England "Daniel son of Daniel and Mary May" 2 Sources
Marriage Bond 1775 27 Feb Age: 22 London, Middlesex, England Daniel May of parish of St Sepulchre in London, silversmith, paid 200 # to Right Reverend Richard, Lord Bishop of London, for marriage bond between Daniel May, bachelor, of St Sepulchre, London; & Ann Croxton, spinster, of St Giles, Cripplegate, London 1 Source
Marriage to Ann Croxton * 1775 28 Feb Age: 22 Saint Giles Cripplegate,London,London,England "Appeared personally Daniel May & made oath that he is of the parish of St Sepulchre London aged upwards of 22 years & a bachelor & intendeth to marry Ann Croxton of the parish of St Giles Cripplegate London & aged upwards of 22 yrs & a spinster"
1 Source Marriage to Ann Croxton * 1775 28 Feb Age: 22 St Giles without Cripplegate, England "Daniel May a batchelor of St Sepulchre and Ann Croxton of this parish spinster were married in this church by license..." signed by both and witnessed by Sarah Shackleton* and Arthur Birch [* could she be a relation of Sarah Shackleton m H Haughton?] Photos (1) 2 Sources
Residence 1775 Age: 23 St Sepulchre Parish, London, England
Occupation 1775 Age: 23 London, Middlesex, England silversmith (per baptismal records of children Henrietta and Charles, as well as published information (Grimwade's Biographies)) Photos (1) Residence 1776 Age: 24 Barking Dog Walk (Hoxton), Shoreditch, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Sophia Ann
Residence 1782 Age: 30 Hoxton Town, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of son Daniel Residence 1789 Age: 37 Hare Street, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Charlotte
Residence 1815 Age: 63 Turk Street, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England per (adult) baptismal record of daughter Henrietta, at St Matthew's, Bethnal Green: "Daniel and Ann May of Turk Street, father's occup silversmith" [Daniel & 2+ subseq generations of Mays were recognized silversmiths & recorded as such in Grimwade's Biog]
Residence 1817 Age: 65 Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England per (adult) baptismal record of son Charles at St Anne and Agnes of Aldersgate: "son of Daniel and Ann May of Bethnal Green; father's occup silversmith" [Ann had died by now so unclear if Daniel still living--not noted as deceased]
Ann Birth 1753 Abt. England 2 Sources Civil 1775 27 Feb Age: 22 Surrey, England Age: 21
1 Source Marriage to Daniel May * 1775 28 Feb Age: 22 St Giles without Cripplegate, England "Daniel May a batchelor of St Sepulchre and Ann Croxton of this parish spinster were married in this church by license..." signed by both and witnessed by Sarah Shackleton* and Arthur Birch [* could she be a relation of Sarah Shackleton m H Haughton?] Photos (1) 1 Source Marriage to Daniel May * 1775 28 Feb Age: 22 Saint Giles Cripplegate,London,London,England "Appeared personally Daniel May & made oath that he is of the parish of St Sepulchre London aged upwards of 22 years & a bachelor & intendeth to marry Ann Croxton of the parish of St Giles Cripplegate London & aged upwards of 22 yrs & a spinster" 1 Source Residence 1775 Feb Age: 22 St Giles Cripplegate, London, England Residence 1789 Sep Age: 36 Hare Street, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England per birthplace of daughter Charlotte
children
Sophia Ann May * 1776 – 1861
Daniel May 1779 – 1779
Daniel May 1782 – 1846
Charles May 1784 –
Henrietta May 1787 – 1858
Charlotte May 1789 –
son Charles
1784 5 Dec London, England Registered at "St Ann Friars Lane", as per later baptismal record Marriage to Ann May nee Unknown 1817 before Age: 33 England Possibly Ann Brown (1811, Hackney St John) 2 Sources
Baptism 1817 9 Nov Age: 32 St Anne and St Agnes Aldersgate, England "I declare that previous to baptizing Charles May-I saw in his family Bible "Charles May b. Dec 5 1784. Registered St Ann Friar's, written, & w no marks of interlineation-& I believe the above record to be correct". Residence B Green, occup silversmith Occupation 1817 Age: 33 Tyssen Street, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England Silversmith, per baptismal record of son Charles Freedom of the City papers 1817 -1818 Age: 33 London, Middlesex, England father Daniel May; not sure this is correct as I believe it says he is a "taylor" or M Taylor" (master taylor?) Residence 1817 Age: 33 Tyssen Street, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of son Charles Croxton May; father's occup silversmith
grandparent
Daniel May
about England Several Daniel Mays in London at appropriate time: a clothworker, a baker (who was also a victualler and willed his effects to sons Daniel and John), and a "taylor". Marriage to Mary May nee Unknown * 1739 Age: 18 London, England Possible: Danl May, carpenter of St Geo, Southwark m Mary Pratton, 17 Jan 1739 [Mayfair clandestine marriage register] Residence 1741 Age: 20 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Mary Residence 1745 Age: 24 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of Daniel May Residence 1746 Age: 25 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Susanna 1 Source Residence 1749 Age: 28 St Ann's, Blackfriars, Farringdon Within, England Residence 1749 Age: 28 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of son Richard 1 Source Residence 1752 Age: 31 St Ann's, Blackfriars, Farringdon Within, England Residence 1752 Age: 31 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of son Daniel 1 Source Residence 1754 Age: 33 St Ann's, Blackfriars, Farringdon Within, England Residence 1754 Age: 33 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Hester Residence 1756 Age: 35 Blackfriars, Middlesex, England per baptismal record of daughter Anne Juror 1768 14 Jan Age: 47 Old Bailey Criminal Court, London, Middlesex, England Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 14 August 2014), January 1768 (f17680114-1). {NOTE: I do not have confirmation that this record pertains to this Daniel May; putative only] Stories (1) 1 Source Residence 1768 Age: 47 Holy Trinity of Minories parish, London, England "Poll of the livery of London for 4 citizens to represent said City in Parliament"; occup baker; Minories (Holy Trinity of Minories was a parish which eventually merged with St Botolph's, Bishopsgate) [? another Daniel May lived St Botolph's, m Eliz?]
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