Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 20 - Roumieu
Roumieu. — The famous surname of Romieu (of which I have spoken in my Volume I.) has in this country assumed the form of Roumieu, and seems to have done so in France before 1685. The excellent family, lineally descended from the refugee of the date just named, believe that he was noble not only in soul but also as one of the French noblesse, and the tradition is strong that he was the Comte de Roumieu. His name was the Sieur Jean Roumieu, or rather Seigneur, if (as believed) he held the seigneurie of Venci; and he had a chateau in the country near Aries. I am informed that the Roumieus of Orleans claimed the titles and estates which he forfeited both by adhering to Protestantism and by making his escape from France; and that, though the estates having been granted to the Church were not given to these Romanist claimants, they assumed the titles of Comte and Viscomte de Roumieu, and that they and their descendants have occasionally corresponded with the refugee and his descendants. I give the refugee’s adventures as handed down in his family. On abandoning his estate he passed some time in Marseilles, where he was the counseller of his fugitive brethren, and the custodier of their money, papers, plate, and jewels. On one occasion a young Romanist brought him some silver plate of the Forbin family, representing himself to be a Huguenot; Monsieur Roumieu, being on terms of friendship with that family, detected the imposture, and secured the restoration of the property to its owner. When persecution thickened, he obtained a passage to Plymouth, where he was reduced, for the sake of subsistence, to the rank of a servant. There Admirals Jean Bart and the Comte de Forbin were prisoners of war in 1689, and were plundered. The latter being an old friend, Roumieu visited him in durance. And though these naval commanders had been taken in the attempt to convey succours to King James and the Irish papists, the Huguenot refugees in Plymouth at once responded to his appeal for charitable donations to the prisoners. Our truly noble refugee afterwards settled in London, in the district of Soho. He must have been advanced in life, for Forbin wrote of him as ce bon vieillard. The refugees continued to trust him with valuable deposits, so that his son, John, commenced business as a banker and bullion merchant. It was in the same way (as we have already seen) that the bank of La Touche began; and to similar beginnings it is said that the banking businesses of the Pugets and Bosanquets can be traced. John Roumieu was twice churchwarden of St. Giles’s parish and of St. Mary’s, Paddington. Adam, his brother, was steward of the French Hospital. John’s son, Abraham Roumieu, was an architect (a pupil of Samuel Ware), father of John Roumieu, Esq., solicitor, of Lincoln’s Inn, who died in his eighty-first year. From the sons of the latter the present family springs. Robert Lewis Roumieu, Esq., director of the French Hospital, was the architect of its new and beautiful fabric near Victoria Park, and gave his professional services without charge. He was chosen Treasurer of the Hospital in 1876, but died, much beloved and regretted, in the following year; his two sons, Reginald-St. Aubyn and Raymond-Louis, were elected Directors in 1876 and 1878. Mr. R.L. Roumieu had a brother, Charles, whose son, Rev. John Joseph Roumieu, was elected a Director in 1869. A tablet was erected in the Chapel of the French Hospital, with the following epitaph:—
Robert Lewis Roumieu, Esqre,. — F.R.I. B.A.
Elected Director 1856, Honorary Architect 1860, Treasurer 1876.
Died on the 159th Anniversary of the Hospital, 28th June 1877.
In affectionate remembrance of his personal character, and in recognition of the talent and care which he gratuitously devoted to the interests of the French Protestant Hospital, particularly in the design and erection of this building, and in the management of the Hospital Estate, this tablet is dedicated and a memorial bust placed in the corridor by the General Court of Directors.