Hello
The Larchers pop up also in my family tree, albeit breifly, my 8x great grandfather Pierre Mollet acted as godfather to one of them in London.
From what I can see the name first appears in West London , when a Jacques Larcher, of Poitou, married Marie Haquen St James, Duke's Place, Aldgate 1 Nov 1691 and had his son Abraham baptised at the Liecester Fields Huguenot congregation, Westminster in April 1692. This Abraham on reaching adulthood married a Judith Soulis and had two children, the first Jacques baptised in East London at the Crispin Street, Church, Spitalfields 1715, the second Abraham baptised back in West London at the West Street congregation, Westminster 1717.
This is signifianct as there are three more couples, Pierre Larcher and his wife Esther, Josue Larcher and his wife Esther, Jacques Larcher and his wife Elizabeth , around the same time, using the same churches, East and West.
The first Pierre married his wife Esther Des Jardins, at Threadneedle Street, in the City, 11 October 1696. He described himself as of 'Sedan' and the son of Francois Larcher and Elizabeth Piet. I cannot find any baptisms for them but they had at least one daughter Elizabeth, as she married Jean Goglin, in the Liecester Fields Church, Westminster, 1719. Pierre, his wife, and three of their Goglin grandchildren recieved charitable assistance from the Spitalfields 'Soup' during the arctic winter of 1739-41. They were living in East London Balls Alley Spitalfields. Pierre was 69 at that time, his wife 67. He was admitted to the French Hospital London January 1749 aged 78, giving an origin of Sedan in Champagne, and died 3 weeks later.
The second couple Josue and Esther, I cannot find a marriage for, but they had two children at least, Moise Larcher, baptised at Crispin Street, Spitalfields, East London 1701 and a daughter Esther Larcher baptised at West Street Church, Westminster, West London 1708. This is exactly the same baptimal pattern as Jacques son, Abraham. Further evidence of a link, Josue also stood as a witness to a marriage in the Leicester Fields church in 1793 same time Jacques was using it . Josue was certainly originally from Poitou too. He was a Merchant Distiller, and was admitted into the French Hospital London, where he died 1777. He gives the info he was the son of a Phillip Larcher of La Mothe, Poitou. Phillipe his father must have been in London too as he also died in the hospital 35 years earlier, 1743, aged 69. Phillipe was described as a member of the Huguenot congregation at Wandsworth, which I think is very significant and will come back to later.
The third couple Jacques Larcher and Elizabeth Pouveau were married in the Crispin Street Church, Spitalfields on 14 April 1707 and had two children Izaac Larcher 1708 and Salemon Larcher 1709 baptised there. There is then a gap, before they reappear baptising five children, Valentine Elizabeth 1716, Jean Jacques 1720, Susanne 1722, Abraham 1725 and Elizabeth 1727 at The Artillery Huguenot Church Spitalfields. Jacques also has a link to the West London congregations mentioned above, as he stood as witness to a marriage at Crispin Street in 1708, where both parties were described as being of the congregation of West Street Church, Westminster. Jacques also received assistance from the Spitalfields 'Soup' in the arctic winters 1739-41, at which time he was living at Brick Lane, Spitalfields, and was aged 61. He was admitted to the French Hospital same year, described as of 'Poitou' and died there Jan 29 1749/50 the hospital paying for the funeral.
Were all four of these familes related? With the exception perhaps of Pierre, it seems quite likely, a lot of links.
Another Jacques Larcher, who like Josue gives an origin as La Mothe, Poitou appears around same time too.
He married Marie Bellet 22 July 1716 at La Patente Spitalfields:
"Jacques Larcher son of the Late Jacque Larcher and Jeanne Doucet of La Mothe, Poitou and Marie Bellet, dau of Jacque Bellet and late Marie Marchand of Harfleur, Normandy."
They had four children Anne 1717, Jacques 1718, Marie 1722, and Pierre 1726, all baptised at the Wheeler Street Chapel, Spitalfields.
The entries for the surname then seem to dry up in the French records.
A Jacques Larcher (possibly one of the baptised sons to one of the families already mentioned above), had with his wife Ann Malherbe two children baptised in the French churches, a Jacques 1742 at La Patente Spitalfields and a Marie Marthe 1750 at Threadneedle Street. There are no more French Huguenot baptisms after this.
This more or less matches with the pattern of the Huguenots who came over 1680-1700, most of the children and grandchildren assimilated into the Anglican community, especially after the opening of Christchurch Spitalfields in the late 1720's and St Matthews Bethnal Green in mid 1740's.
There is one exception and that is a Pierre Larcher who joined the St Jean Chapel in Spitalfields in 1768 by Reconnaissence, having at one time been a Deacon of the Roman Catholic Church back in France. He was described as a native of Foligney in Low Normandy. A new persecutuon raged there roughly 1750-1765 so again matches known pattern. (Incidently as a Deacon he may have been an educated man, I think he would be a good candidate for Julie's Peter Larcher, that turned up in Saffron Walden as a teacher 1780's)
