Lewis Vaslet 1666-1731

Lewis or Louis VASLET 1666-1731

Biographical Note

Born in France, Vaslet moved to London as a Huguenot refugee in the 1680s where he established himself as a successful tutor and schoolmaster. He ran a school at Fulham and was naturalised as British in 1702. He published a French translation of a Latin work by Christoph Cellarius on Roman antiquities at The Hague in 1723, and a trilingual dictionary in London in 1731. His will shows that he had prospered in Fulham, leaving an extensive estate and family; his grandson of the same name (1742-1808) achieved success as a pastel painter.

Books

In his will, Vaslet directed that his books, together with the rest of his household goods, be given to his daughter Catherine. His library was auctioned in London, beginning 15 November 1731; no catalogue survives, but the sale was advertised in several newspapers as comprising "a collection of the most capital books in Greek, Latin and French, consisting in history, geography, antiquity, philology, and especially the belles lettres".

Sources

• Will of Lewis Vaslet, The National Archives PROB 11/645/128.
• N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800.
• Protestant exiles from France.
• Alston, R. C., Inventory of sale catalogues ... 1676-1800, St Philip, 2010.]