The Bulteels The Story of a Huguenot Family Vivien Allen Size: 245x168 Binding: Hardback Pages: 208 Number of Illustrations: 39 B\W Published: 2004 ISBN: 978 1 86077 276 4 RRP: £35.00
	THE BULTEELS arrived in London in the 16th century, among the earliest of the immigrants known as Huguenots. They were French-speaking Protestant refugees from a Flanders newly conquered by Catholic Spain. This first full account of the family traces them from the earliest reference to the name, in 1205, to the end of the 20th century. From their early battles with Elizabethan discrimination against ‘straungers’ through their complete absorption into English society, helped by hard work and a knack for making good marriages, the entertaining narrative introduces the reader to the family black sheep, the emigrants who moved on from Britain, two ladies in waiting to two English queens, a famous Grand National winner: and to their service in wars, from 15th-century Flanders through the Civil War, when they backed the King, to World War II. While based on years of sound genealogical research, this is a lively family history which puts flesh on the skeleton of the family tree. Enlivened by family letters and legends, it is unusually well illustrated, with pictures of Bulteels and their homes, from Jean-Baptiste Bulteel, Seigneur of Reningelst in the 17th century, and his château, to a family of Bulteel brothers and sisters in England in 1990. The author, Vivien Allen, is particularly well qualified for her task. Not only a very competent genealogist, she is also a professional writer whose career began in journalism in South Africa, where she lived for ten years. A weekly column in The Pretoria News led to her first book, Kruger’s Pretoria. Returning to England in 1976 she continued writing books, along with family history research. She lives in the Isle of Man and keeps in touch with her Bulteel cousins around the world. Her definitive account will be widely welcomed, worldwide, by Bulteels and their connections and, indeed, by the entire Huguenot community. 'She documents a wide range of branches with skill and fluency... a model family history' Proceedings of the Huguenot Society 'a classic of its kind... a meticulously reserched, well written account... a good, readable family history.' Family History Monthly