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Family Focus
John Gaspard Le Marchant was born on 9 February, 1766, in Amiens, France, at the family home of his maternal grandfather, Count Heinrich Justus Hirzel de St Gratien. The Count’s family were Protestant, originating in Switzerland, and acquired the French element of their title through marriage. He himself was a distinguished officer in the French army and John Gaspard received the name of one of his ancestors, the Huguenot commander Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, which he seems to have used as his chosen name.
Gaspard’s father was John Le Marchant, son of the Lieutenant-Bailiff of Guernsey. His father had been one of the first Guernseymen to hold a commission in the army. His mother, [Marie] Catherine Hirzel, was fairly well-off and they had houses in Bath, Guernsey, and at 10, Hanover Square in London; this last had been left to her by her aunt, Margaret Hirzel, who as the wife of Thomas Le Marchant had been the first to marry into the Le Marchant family. Gaspard had a younger brother, James, who unfortunately did not turn out quite as well. Of Gaspard’s school career in Exeter, his headmaster would only say that he could not remember a greater dunce. He was then tutored at home until at sixteen he became determined to join the army, ending up in the 1st Regiment of Foot in Gibraltar, where there was little to do.
He became well-known for his hot temper, at the same time developing a real talent for watercolour painting. He caught yellow fever and was sent to convalesce in Guernsey, where he met Mary Carey, daughter of Jean Carey of La Bigoterie in St Peter Port, a jurat and landowner.
R. H. Thoumine in his definitive biography¹ quotes a little poem written by one of their acquaintances:
Mary Carey’s a Heart’s Ease, and long may her swain
Live content with his choice nor have cause to complain.
Gas. Le Marchant’s the Thorn whose flower is such
That tho’ pleasing to view is dangerous to touch.
Sir George Yonge, the Secretary at War, showed Gaspard’s watercolours to the King, who was extremely impressed and from that moment on Le Marchant never looked back, Yonge helping him wherever he could. He married Mary Carey in 1789 and in 1781 their first child, Carey, was born. He went on to have ten children, but sadly Mary died in 1811 at their house in High Wycombe, having given birth to the last of them.
From these beginnings, Gaspard Le Marchant went on to pursue one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the the British Army, founding the Royal Military College and revolutionising the training of officers; he died a glorious if unnecessary death in 1812 at the Battle of Salamanca, following which a monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral at public expense. The Gazette de Guernesey of 29 August 1812 reported thus on its front page:
Le Général Le Marchant, dont nous avons annoncé la mort la semaine dernier, étoit natif de cette île; il étoit un des fondateurs du Collège Royal Militaire, de Wycombe, et en a été le Gouverneur jusqu'à son départ pour le Portugal, il y a environ un an. Son épouse, Dlle. Carey, fille du feu Jean Carey, éc. de la Grand'rue, de cette ville, mourut en couche quelques semaines après son départ, et laissa neuf orphelins, avec un propriété peu considérable. L'aîné a environ 17 ans, il étoit l'aide-du-camp de son père lorsqu'il fut tué. Le général Le Marchant étoit universellement réputé pour un officier distingué, ayant dévoué tout son temps à la pratique de sa profession.
As mentioned above, his son Carey took part in the battle with him.
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Carey was born in Guernsey at La Bigoterie in Berthelot Street (see picture). Having received a classical education at Eton, he attended the royal military college, where he obtained the highest testimonial awarded to students. He undertook a Grand Tour with an Austrian officer, Count Ludolf, son of the Neapolitan Ambassador (during which they stayed with Lady Esther Stanhope, at her Turkish villa) and joined the First Foot, 
being, to his great delight, attached to his father's staff as aide-de-camp, and receiving many commendations for his bravery and enthusiasm. After Salamanca he showed exemplary courage at the Battle of Vittoria and in the Pyrenees, and, as the war was coming to an end, at the siege of San Sebastian. But he received a bullet wound to his instep at the Battle of the Nive, on 13th December, 1813, in an attempt to rally a regiment which had fallen into confusion.
His gallantry — to use the expression of Sir William Stewart, in a letter written at the time — was the admiration of the field, and appears to have attracted the notice of the enemy, as his cloak and saddle were perforated with bullets at the same moment that he himself was struck in two places.
The doctor in St. Jean de Luz gave him a hopeful prognosis, but despite having graduated to crutches, he died of gangrene poisoning at the age of 23 on 12 March, 1814, and was buried in the ramparts of the fortress.
Few young men have left a more enviable reputation. His courteous and prepossessing deportment was in unison with the excellence of his heart. Neither the elegance of his person, his accomplishments, nor his success in his profession could alter the simplicity of his character. He was truly mourned by those with whom he served, and in his own family, in which he had sought to supply a father's place, his loss was irreparable.²
The Priaulx Library has an affectionate letter from him to his sister Kate, written from Castello Branco.
At the death of their mother, the other Le Marchant children – five girls and three boys, the eldest, Denis, sixteen - were left alone in their house at High Wycombe. However, their mother’s brother, Colonel Tom Carey, did not want Gaspard’s career to suffer, so he had proposed a solution: the three eldest would finish their education in England and the other five, Mary, aged 13, Caroline, aged 11, Helen, 8, Anna Maria, 7, and the baby boy, Thomas, were to be taken in by their mother’s sister, Sophy, wife of Peter Mourant, of Candie, who had no children of her own. The La Marchant family had always returned to Guernsey for holidays twice a year, staying at La Bigoterie or at Candie House – now home to the Priaulx Library. When their father died, they were truly orphaned; The Duke of Norfolk brought this to the attention of the House of Lords, and they were granted an annual pension of £1200.
Denis, born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 3 July 1795, attended Eton and Trinity, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1823. When his old college friend, William Lord Brougham, became Lord Chancellor in 1830, he appointed Le Marchant to be his Principal Secretary. After various other appointments he was made a baronet by Lord Melbourne in 1841. He entered the House of Commons as M.P. for Worcester, 8 July 1846, but retired in the following year. In 1850 he was appointed Chief Clerk to the House of Commons, retiring with the thanks of the House in 1871. He died on 30 October 1874 in London. He published privately in 1841 a memoir of his father, and in 1845 edited Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III. He bought Chobham Place, in Surrey, where, although it was not his residence, he created a well-known woodland garden.
John-Gaspard, born in 1803, was a career soldier who never quite matched up to his father. In all he spent £10,000 to purchase commissions and was one of the youngest officers in the British army to command a regiment. In 1852 he was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia, where he was instrumental in founding the railway, donating the land known as Governor’s Farm at Richmond as the site of the terminus; one of the first locomotives on the line was named in his honour. He left Nova Scotia in 1859. He had also been Governor of Newfoundland at a time of political upheaval – a great fire, potato famine, tax rebellions and liberal agitation. He went on to be Governor of Malta and commander-in-chief of Madras. He married Margaret Anne Taylor in 1839 and had several children. A watercolourist like his father, painting well-known views of Bermuda in particular, he died in London in 1874.
The Lieutenant-Governor [of Nova Scotia], Sir J. Gaspard le Marchant, is said to be a severe disciplinarian. He served in the wars of the Peninsula, and is now being rewarded for his distinguished services as Governor of this Province. He reviews his troops twice a week upon the Common, and is very strict. The evolutions of the rank and file are the most perfect exhibitions of the kind I have ever witnessed. During one of these reviews I took occasion to remark to a citizen that they were almost equal to the Seventh Regiment of New York. The bystanders laughed incredulously. The bands are as perfect 320 in movement as the troops. The whole affair passes off literally like clock-work, a pendulum being kept in sight of the reviewing officers, by which to measure the music of the bands, and step of the soldiers. Each review concludes with a presentation of the royal standard — the identical colours which were first unfurled upon the Redan by this regiment at the fall of Sebastopol. The ceremony is impressive, an almost superstitious reverence being paid to the triumphant bunting. The review ended, the band remains for a half hour to play for the entertainment of the citizens, who generally attend in large numbers.³
The Priaulx Library has some of the letters that Gaspard wrote from Spain to his daughter, Katherine (1796-1881). Her grandaughter says of her in a letter that she was like a mother to the younger children. She went on to marry a parson, Basil Fanshawe, and lived in Essex. Gaspard took great care over her education at Mrs de Minibus’ establishment, especially her musical education, and the end of his last letter to her, written on 5 July 1812, about two weeks before his death at Salamanca, reads thus:
God bless you, my dear girl. I often think of you in my busiest moments. Looking forward to the pleasures of our meeting. Believing me the ever most affectionate father J G Le Marchant.
Guernsey, and this family in particular, has a long and honourable history of service. As just one example, Gaspard’s great-grandson, Captain Gaspard de Coligny Le Marchant of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed in action at Boschbult, Kleinhardt's River, March 31st, 1902, during the Boer War. Born in Guernsey in 1879 and educated at Elizabeth College, he was the only son of Seymour Le Marchant (son of Lieut.-Gen. John Gaspard). He went to South Africa from Malta with the Mounted Infantry in December of 1901, and was severely wounded at Klip River, on February 12th 1902. He was sent to Elandsfontein Hospital, and at his urgent request was allowed on March 24th to return to duty, only to die seven days later. A biography and photograph of another military member of the family, Gaspard Le Marchant Tupper of the Royal Artillery (born in Guernsey and educated at Elizabeth College, the son of Gaspard’s daughter Anna Maria), may be found here. He was also a watercolorist who is known for his views of such places as Bermuda, the Crimea, and Puerto Rico; the Library has photographs of him and his brothers, who were also in the army, one of whom appears to have exhibited at the Royal Academy.
Should you wish to find out more about this family or view any of the material, please contact a librarian.
¹Thoumine, R. H., Scientific Soldier, A Life of General Le Marchant, OUP, London, 1968, p. 8
²Duncan, Jonathan, The history of Guernsey; with occasional notices of Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, and biographical sketches (1841), Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, pp. 610-11.
³Undated letter from the New York Times
Other items of interest:
Le Marchant, Denis, Memoirs of the Late Major General Le Marchant, Spellmount Ltd, Staplehurst, 1997 (reprint)
J. Gaspard Le Marchant and others, Peninsular Letters: Letters to Katherine Le Marchant, 1811-1812, original documents, Priaulx Library
http://www.fortified-places.com/socoa.html
Old Court
A Case Study
An enquiry into the Parker family of St. Peter Port led to an interesting line of enquiry into the history of their house – Old Court.
The Parker family are described as living in “Old Court” in the 1851 census, but the researcher was unable to tell the client where it was, or anything about it – no-one on the staff had ever heard of it before.
A search of the Priaulx Library’s photographs of St. Peter Port discovered the following photograph:
“Old Court House, demolished 1873”.
Which explains why no-one had heard of it!
But where exactly was it, and why was it demolished? The proximity of Elizabeth College is a huge clue to the location, but camera angles can be deceptive, so one of the library assistants, armed the library digital camera, went off to see if he could get a similar shot. The results are below:
It would appear by comparing the two that the Old Court was once somewhere in the region of the junction of St. Julian’s Avenue and Candie road.
Just to double-check this hypothesis, the photographs were compared to an 1843 map of St. Peter Port:
Could the Old Court house be on this map? To modern eyes, the map looks strange and out of orientation, partly because St. Julian’s avenue was not built until 1874, and the major route to the North Esplanade was Le Truchot. However, neither Hospital Lane or College Street have moved and the approximate location of St. Julian’s avenue can be guessed at. There seem to be two candidates for Old Court house in the land between the Cemetery des Freres and Hospital Lane, with the house adjoining Candie Road being definitely the preferred. Was the house therefore demolished to make way for St. Julian’s Avenue? An article in The Comet newspaper for April 2nd, 1873 has the following to say:
“A little more than a year ago, the site of the New Avenue was a terra incognita, except to the occupants of the ‘dingy’ houses now demolished. But one respectable dwelling, Old Court, was on the line of road.”
Which does seem to imply that the house was demolished. The staff wondered if there were any traces left. The digital camera was sent out again to investigate the wall that separates Candie Road and St. Julian’s Avenue:
Were these strange features once part of Old Court House? It would certainly be tempting to speculate that they were.
Just to finish off the project, the following description of the house was found:
From The Star newspaper, dated May 27th, 1856. The Old Court was described as “New” in 1856, yet had been demolished by 1874, a sad end to an interesting family house that until now, very few people had ever known of before.