What's in Family Focus?





[Birth, Marriage, Death Certificates and Records, General]


The diary of Jane Maria Barlow, 1833-1838

Nicolas Dobree and the heroes of Cobo

A variety of vicars Alderney ministers

On the death of a young lady, aged 17 Martha Le Lièvre

Major Byng Died in a duel, 1795

The duel between Thomas Andros and Kenneth Beauvais, 1780

Osmond Priaulx

Edward Pope The governor of Anticosti

List of Subscribers to Fund for the Irish Poor, 1822

Muskets, 1744

John Le Mesurier's estate, 1558

Carteret Priaulx obituary

Isaac Brock: letters after his death, 1813

The Fund for the Relief of Guernsey Prisoners in France, 1806

John Hotton Captured by Bretons and dropped in it by his mates

Memories of Peter Perchard: Lord Mayor of London

Some Perchard memorial inscriptions

Dobrée, Le Mesurier, Perchard

Peter Paul Dobrée: classicist

Acts of the Ecclesiastical Court: Lists of names of those involved in cases (17th century)

One brave soldier: the death of Thomas Falla, aged 18

Scandal! Le Hardy vs Bonamy, 1697: a curious saga played out amongst the aristocracy.

Matthew Herivel wastes his time and money on a girl, 1685: he got her in the end, though.

James Rougier and Jeanne Brouard, 1696; Samuel Le Mesurier and Elizabeth Brett, 1690

The will of Eléazar Le Marchant, 1832

The will of Eléazar Le Merchant, 1716

Sark names

Lukis on Hutchesson

Captain Robert John Le Mesurier McClure: Arctic explorer.

The Guernsey Lily: De Beauvoir, Bonamy, and De Jersey

The Grange House sales: from Peter Mollet's Notebook, 1790/1.

Elizabeth Le Cocq of Alderney: a naughty girl.

Jean Bonamy's will, 1746

Tom Sticks: Thomas Le Marchant.

La Manie des sobriquets: 18th century nicknames (not all of them nice).

Matthew De Saumarez: a pompous man, some say.

Thomas De Saumarez: his brother; he had 28 children, but "never more than 14 alive at one time".

Des Caudeville and Heirs of Poulson v. Boyrenson, 1854

Frederick Le Page as St Andrew: A Cobo fisherman's portrait in a Suffolk church.

The Will of Etienne Falla, 1667: Henry De Jersey breathes a sigh of relief.

Jean Falla's Commission, 1663: Lord Hatton makes an appointment.

The Musée Dobrée in Nantes: a link

Francoise Archenaux, Poisoner: She got away with murder (or nearly).

The Grange in 1826: A nice description of an elegant road, from a tourist guidebook.

La Haie du Puits: 18th-19th century gossip from the Lukis memoirs, transcribed by Edith Carey.

Julia de Lacy Mann: Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and local historian who transcribed a fascinating collection of family letters from Guernsey held in the Priaulx Library. 

The Wedding of Margaret Baynes and Gother Mann, 1845: a very entertaining and immediate letter describing this marriage, which took place at the Town Church. Written by Louisa Routh to her mother; Margaret Mann wrote letters from Trinidad, which have recently been published and can be consulted in the Library.

A Herm Tragedy: The Drowning of Walter St John, aged 13, August 1597: poignant evidence from an inquest. A trip to Herm led by the Governor, Sir Thomas Leighton, ends in the death of one of a group of 13-year old boys and his young tutor, who attempted to rescue him from the current. This type of evidence has been only rarely retained in Guernsey.

Walter St John: a background to his family and others mentioned in the text of the inquest into his death.

The Diary of Harriet Brock Pengelley (1809-1836): the tragic writings and paintings of a passionate and unhappy Guernsey girl in Canada, with watercolours of local scenes

Merchants and Traders of 1711: a list of taxpayers and their contributions

Naftel and Tranter miniatures: a link to some lovely portraits now in Australia

John Williams and the Mutiny on the Bounty

The Grand Bosq and the Royal Hotel: the Fautrart, Martin and Le Marchant families were all associated with the history of this lovely house on the Front, which became a hotel and is now sadly lost to us

The Battle of Algeciras: what Sarah Fyers saw from the breakfast-room window: an eye-witness account of the battle in 1801 in which bride-to-be Sarah's relative, Sir James Saumarez, played a decisive role

Jacques Le Batard: ear today and gone tomorrow - punishment in uncertain times

French Dirt is the Worst: Adam Clarke preaches in Guernsey

An Eternal Stranger: Harman Blennerhassett. A history of the Strangers' Cemetery and the curious life of one of its occupants

The Escape of Avicia Lernaise: a 14th-century mother sentenced to death is let off on a technicality. Notes from Edith Carey's scrapbooks II

Some Brock Family Miniatures: Notes from Edith Carey's scrapbooks I

The English Butcher and the Brewer: class warfare in Napoleonic Guernsey

The Heaumes of Guernsey County: frontiersmen in the Appalachians

The Métivier Family: the vicissitudes of the family of our "national poet"

The Harvey Family: diarists extraordinaires

Maria Rosetti: from St Peter Port to Romanian Revolution

Ralph Durand: author, adventurer, librarian

The Family of Major-General J. Gaspard Le Marchant: hero and reformer, one of the greatest Guernseymen

For the Brehaut and Avard families in Canada see Case Study


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