Élie (or Elias) Bouhéreau (1643 – 19 March 1719) was a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the first librarian of Marsh's Library in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Career

Bouhéreau, according to the burial register of the Conformist Huguenot churches in Dublin, was a "distinguished medical doctor and zealous

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

, very knowledgeable and very highly regarded."Newport B. White, ''An Account of Archbishop Marsh's Library, Dublin'' (Dublin, 1926), p. 15 He was also a scholar, and published a French translation of the third century Christian work '' Contra Celsus''. After the

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (18 October 1685, published 22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to pra ...

Bouhéreau fled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He travelled in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

between 1689 and 1692 as personal secretary of Thomas Coxe, the king's envoy to the Swiss cantons, and again between 1694 and 1696 as personal secretary to the Marquis de Ruvigny, commander-in-chief of English forces in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. He served in Ireland with Ruvigny (then earl of Galway) when the latter was Lord Justice of Ireland, 1697-1701. In 1701 he was made librarian of Marsh's Library. From the time of his first journey in 1689 to his death he kept a

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

, which is kept in the Library.

Conservation work

Bouhéreau had with him documents from the Reformed Church of France, which he had brought from

to save them from destruction. They were deposited at Marsh's library, the governors stipulating "that they were to be kept until such time as the same shall be demanded by the said Reformed Church." In 1760 John Wynne, the third librarian, expressed himself "apprehensive lest the papists might have access to make bad use of or destroy them." They were finally returned to the Consistory of La Rochelle in 1862. There are still many works in Bouhéreau's collection in the library that deal with French Huguenot history, including the manuscript of Joseph Guillaudeau's ''Journal of What Passed at La Rochelle 1584-1643''.

Personal life

Bouhéreau was married to a cousin, Marguerite Massiot. They had ten children, of whom eight survived.Whelan, 'Marsh's Library and the French Calvinist tradition', p. 219 His son John was ordained a minister, became a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

and was the first assistant librarian of Marsh's Library. Marguerite died on 22 May 1704. Her death occasioned an emotional entry in an otherwise factual diary. One of the sons, Richard was Town Major (police chief) of Dublin. His son Richard changed his surname to Borough. That Richard's son, of the same name, was the first of the Borough baronets, from 1813.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouhereau, Elie 1643 births 1719 deaths People from La Rochelle Irish librarians French emigrants to Ireland