Henry Esmond relates his own history in memoir fashion, mainly in the third person but occasionally dropping into the first person. Henry, born about 1678, is an orphan and lives near London in the care of French Huguenot refugees. When Henry is about ten years old, Thomas Esmond, third Viscount Castlewood, removes him from his caretakers and takes him to Castlewood; Henry lives at Castlewood as a servant, and it is generally assumed that he is the viscount's illegitimate son.