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ESN
Louisa Boyce, benefactress to the Waldensians
and founder of Casa Valdese of Vallecrosia
The link between the Duke of Wellington and the Waldensian Church has
long been acknowledged – it was in 1827, while waiting in the Library of Apsley House in London for an appointment with the Duke, that General John
Charles Beckwith picked up and started reading a copy of Canon William
Stephen Gilly’s book Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piedmont.
The Duke himself continued to support the Waldensian cause by approving
the continuation of the Royal Grant for Vaudois Pastors, established in the
17th century, and in 1829 he also received a publication dedicated to him
from Count Ferdinando dal Pozzo of Genoa explaining the dire situation the
Waldensians found themselves in. Could there be another link between so
small a church and so important an English national figure?
About five years before Beckwith met with the Duke, on 24 April 1822
Louisa Georgiana Augusta Anna, the only daughter of Sir George Murray
and Lady Louisa Erskine (neé Paget) was born in Mitcham, Surrey. When she
was baptised, probably in London, Arthur Wellesley, who in 1814 had been
created the Duke of Wellington in recognition of his services to his country,
stood as her Godf ]\