Here one Gaspard Vaillant, his wife, and her sister, who had landed in the year 1547, had established themselves.

They were among the first comers, but the French colony had grown, gradually, until it numbered several hundreds.

The Huguenots were well liked in the town, being pitied for their misfortunes, and admired for the courage with which they bore their losses; setting to work, each man at his trade if he had one, or if not, taking to the first work that came to hand.

They were quiet and God-fearing folk; very good towards each other, and to their poor countrymen on their way from the coast to London, entertaining them to the best of their power, and sending them forward on their way with letters to the Huguenot committee in London, and with sufficient money in their pockets to pay their expenses on the journey, and to maintain them for a while until some employment could be found for them.
Gaspard Vaillant had been a landowner near Civray, in Poitou.

He was connected by blood with several noble families in that district, and had been among the first to embrace the reformed religion.