Military

John Shipp, 1798

22nd May 2015

John Shipp, Memoirs &c, London: T Fisher Unwin, 1890, Priaulx Library Collection

Memoirs of the extraordinary military career of John Shipp, late a lieut. in His Majesty's 87th regiment. Shipp (1784-1834) twice won a commission from the ranks before the age of thirty-two, and his memoirs were extremely popular, being published in four editions. He writes about his time at Guernsey as a young man in Chapter III. He was fourteen or so, and lead fifer in the 22nd Cheshire Regiment of Foot at the time; the regiment was in the island from 1798 to 1799 (they were inspected here on 14 August 1799.)

Book of General Orders, Anglo-Spanish Legion, 1836/7

18th May 2015

Gaspard Le Marchant as Governor of Nova Scotia. Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-2996 Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana

The Friends of the Priaulx Library generously contributed the money needed to buy this Order Book at a local auction. The Anglo-Spanish Legion was a voluntary force of the British Army, raised specifically to aid the Spanish during the Carlist Civil Wars of the 1830s. The Library is very grateful to all those who contributed towards the Friends' donation of this important material.

Report concerning the propositions of the Earl of Danbie Governor of Garnsey, 1627

12th May 2015

State Paper Office, December 18, 1627. Present: Earl of Totnes, Earl of Dorset, Lord Viscount Conway, Mr Treasurer, Mr Secretary Coke. From De Guérin's MSS notes in the Library's Forts and Fortifications file.

Guernsey Affairs: Extract from a Private Letter

8th May 2015

More moaning about Governor Napier, following on from The Affairs of Guernsey, June 1884. The Morning Post, July 22, 1844.

The Affairs of Guernsey (From a Private Letter)

8th May 2015

The trouble with Napier. From the Morning Post, June 19 1844.

Guernsey Gossip portraits 1907 and 1908

1st April 2015

A list of photographs in the magazine Guernsey Gossip and Visitors' List, which ran weekly during 1907/8; it was based at 42, the Pollet, and was printed by Frederick Watts of the Manor Printing Works. Please contact the Library for further information. The staff photographer seems to have been A Laurens, of 19 the Pollet, and of Jersey, where the magazine (known there as Jersey Week by Week) had its main offices. The 'Weekly Portrait' of an island worthy was accompanied by a biography.

Mutiny in St Peter's, 1704

From the Library's militia collection. A transcript by Edith Carey of a letter in French from a worried Lieutenant-Bailiff, Eléazar Le Marchant, to the absent Lieut.-Governor, Sir Edmund Andros, (here translated), and a contemporary copy of a petition concerning the same mutiny from William De Lisle in the St Peter's militia, to the Privy Council. Complicated family ties and nepotism, and a reflection of the bitter factional resentment felt towards Edmund Andros.

Don't kid yourself: mines, shells, bombs, November 1947

'Mines, shells, bombs, flung from dump: work of hooligans.' From the Star.

Winter 1916

From the local newspapers.

A letter from the front; by a Guernsey City Imperial, June 1900

From the Star, June 7 1900. Sent from Wynburg, Orange Free State, and dated May 5, 1900. The author of this and other letters was Roland W. Mourant, of the City Imperial Volunteers (C.I.V.). He was son of James Mourant, of Gloucester House, High Street, a funeral director.

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