Benezet family

Claude Benezet and his father, James, were descendants of Huguenot refugees who had made a considerable fortune as merchants in London. During the mid-18th century, they remained active in mercantile pursuits, establishing trading connections with British colonial possessions in south Asia and the Far East. Today, however, the family is best remembered through a first cousin of Claude's, Anthony Benezet, who converted to the Society of Friends, emigrated to America, and became one of the earliest and most successful antislavery and antiwar activists.