Guernsey Newspapers
An overview from Duncan's Guernsey and Jersey Magazine, Vol. II, 1836. The Library has an extensive collection of these unique newspapers, many of which have been very kindly presented to the Library over the years, which can be viewed on request.
Our last number contained a brief review of the former and present mode of communication between the Channel Islands and England, and a similar sketch of the newspapers published in Guernsey will, doubtless, prove equally interesting.
The first newspaper printed here appeared in 1789, under the title of Gazette de L'Ile de Guernesey; it was published every Saturday, in French, and its size was that of a small sheet of letter paper. In 1791, its publication was discontinued for a short time, but it re-appeared in 1792, under the same title. We have a number before us of the 25th February, 1792, which is chiefly filled with extracts from the Paris journals, and contains only seven advertisements, the last in English, with a French translation, and the former is subjoined as a contrast to the charges of a school in England at the present day.
AT J. CROUCH'S SCHOOL, SWATHLING, Young Gentlemen are Boarded and Educated in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, (Washing included,) at £13 13s. per annum. Entrance, £1 1s. Merchants' Accounts, (completing in) One Guinea. Geometry and Stereometry, per quarter extra, 10s. 6d. Short-hand Writing, (the whole) One Guinea. Pupils remaining at School during the Vacations, One Guinea each tune. N.B.—Swathling is a pleasant healthy village, distant from Southampton three miles.
In 1800, scarcely two hundred and fifty copies of the Gazette were printed, although it was the only newspaper published in the island. In 1802, its size was nearly doubled, and it is now exactly four times its original dimensions, exclusive of a great improvement in the paper, type, and intelligence. In 1803, about five hundred copies were printed; in 1806, seven hundred copies; in 1812, nearly nine hundred copies; and from 1820 to 1830, the number of its subscribers was from eleven to twelve hundred, but it is now at least fourteen hundred. It has always been and is still published weekly, on a Saturday, and under nearly the same title, its present one being Gazette de Guernesey, while the annual subscription is only four shillings.
In 1806, another newspaper, in French, the Mercure de Guernesey, appeared, as have since that period Le Publiciste, Le Miroir Politique, and L'Indépendance; the two first were merged into the last four or five years ago, but in October, 1835, L'Indépendance ceased also to exist, and the Gazette is now the only newspaper in French.
The first newspaper in English appeared in 1803, under the title of the Guernsey Evening Post, but it was discontinued in a few months. In 1813, The Star was published weekly, and although much smaller than at present, its price was 2½d. in single copies. Since that time the Globe, British Press, Telegraph, and Sarnian Journal, have been attempted and failed. In 1830, The Star commenced issuing two numbers weekly—on Monday and Thursday evenings—and now three newspapers are published in English on those days.
The Star, Comet, and Channel Islands' Gazette. The Comet appeared first in 1828, but was then published only once a week, and The Channel Islands' Gazette in 1835. Their annual subscriptions are as follows: Star, sixteen shillings; Comet, fourteen shillings; and The Channel Islands' Gazette, twenty shillings, owing to its immense size. It may be remarked that there is no stamp or other duty on newspapers in the Channel Islands. These journals do great credit to the publishers, and when it is remembered that this island did not boast of a single newspaper less than fifty years ago, no better proof can be adduced of the wonderful advance which Guernsey has made in civilization within the present century.
For Alderney newspapers, see Victor Coysh, 'Some amusing old-time Alderney publications,' Alderney Society and Museum Quarterly Bulletin, December 1969, pp. 21-2, in the Library.