HENRI DE PORTAL
From the days when the young son of Charles the
Simple was smuggled out of Laon, hidden in a truss
of straw, and brought to Athelstan's Court at
Winchester, Hampshire has given refuge to many a
fugitive from France. The founder of the Laverstoke
paper mill was one of these. He was a descendant of
a Castilian noble in the train of Elvira, daughter
of Alphonso IV, on her coming to France at the close
of the eleventh century, who became the ancestor of
a powerful family in Languedoc and Dauphine. The de
Portals for over two centuries were Capitols of
Toulouse, but when the Reformation of the Christian
faith, like its inception, brought "not peace but a
sword", they were among the first of the French
noblesse who suffered for their convictions.
A century completed their overthrow, for Louis XIV
broke the Charter which protected what little
liberties they might enjoy. There-with the Huguenot
de Portals lost lands and lives, but three of the
family escaped from torture and death to find
eventual refuge in England. Of Jean Francois de
Portal's escape and after adventures there is no
record beyond that he died in London years later,
but the tale has been handed down how, when ruin
came on the Chateau de la Portalerie, an old nurse
concealed the children in an oven, and when this
homely refuge had baffled the searching of the angry
soldiery, young Henri de Portal and his brother,
Guillaume, were hidden in wine casks and were safely
smuggled by faithful friends and servitors on board
a lugger. Their perilous journey ended safely, and
it is believed the friendly port at which they
landed was Southampton. Friendly, that is, for
refugees who counted freedom of faith a dearer
possession than lands and country, for there was
little friendly feeling towards France in the
seaport her navy had so often attacked.
THE
PAPER MILL
To
Southampton, at any rate, young Henri eventually
came, and there found already established the
Huguenot colony that centered round the French
church of St. Julian. With the aid of his fellow
emigrants the lad obtained employment in one of the
mills at South Stoneham, run by those of his
tonfrires who were skilled in the manufacture of
paper. There he learnt his trade and, more
important still for the fortunes of himself and his
family, met Sir William Heathcote, then, like
himself, a young man. Report tells how the charm of
the clever young Huguenot won him the friendship of
his influential neighbour; at any rate, we find the
Squire of Hursley actively forwarding the
Frenchman's fortunes, and when the tenant of Bere
Mill, near Whitchurch, died in 1710 Sir William
offered the lease to his friend, the widowed Madame
Deane being very thankful to be quit of it.
To Bere Mill accordingly came de Portal with a
contingent of French workmen. Later it was to this
quaint old mill-house of yellow-washed brick Henry
Portal brought his bride Dorothy, the daughter of
Mr. Henry Hasker of Overton.
The paper mill proved a successful venture, and
commercial papers of all kinds were supplied from it
so largely that in 1718 a lease was taken of the
neighbouring mill of Laverstoke, in order to extend
the business. In 1727 Henry Portal obtained the
privilege of making the notes of the Bank of
England, in addition to his other work. It was
doubtless a fortunate circumstance for him that at
this juncture Sir Gilbert Heathcote, the uncle of
his friend at Hursley, was Governor of the Bank of
England. So greatly did the business prosper that
Henry Portal built another mill at Laverstoke.
Thus for nearly 200 years the business has been
handed down from father to son, an almost unique
instance in the history of English manufactures.
Henri de Portal was naturalised at the Court of
Quarter Sessions in 1711; being described in the
document as "Henry Portall, of South Stoneham,
gentleman."
