19th century

Experiment with Diving Dress, 1833

JOHN and JOSEPH ORCHARD having constructed a DIVING DRESS for the purpose of searching the Bottom of the sea in a moderate depth of water, beg leave to inform the public that they will, on TUESDAY MORNING at 10 o'clock, go down at the pier head and walk underwater towards Castle Cornet. This being the first thing of the kind ever made in this island, they invite the attention of the public to the above trial.

Mansell versus Robin: Brandy smuggling, 1833

Cadic's shop in 1845, Priaulx Library Collection

Lots of trouble over French brandy. The illustration is a detail from one of the earliest photographs in the Library's collection, dating from 1845, showing Cadic's 'inn near the South Pier,' not far away at all from Cow Lane, the scene of the crime. Next door to his establishment was the inn, the 'Three Tuns,' proprietor Mrs Simon.

Irving Brock and the Huron chiefs: a most chimerical idea

Huron chiefs 1825 Copyright Library & Archives Canada

'The most interesting characters I ever saw—whose appearance here has been more beneficial than if volumes had been printed on Indian civilization.' By Dinah Bott, Priaulx Library.

August, two hundred years ago

Forgery; Street-cleaning; Miss Le Breton and Captain Arwe; Maingay and Collings; Daniel Guille; Williamson's French brigade; Maingy & Dunière and the Rebecca; Buying horse dung and dollars; Alderney public school.

More about Fountain Street: 1916

Detail of a photograph of Fountain Street c. 1870 from the Priaulx Library Collection

The Star, September 27, 1916. The detail is from a photograph of Fountain Street c. 1870, from the Library Collection.

November 1824: A Review of the High Street

Detail from print, High Street in the 1830s, Priaulx Library Collection

From Dumaresq and Mauger's Monthly Selection for 1825. Part One, by 'Ergo.'

November 1834: Wrecks and Wickedness

Detail from Cecila Montgomery's ink sketch Pier, Castle Cornet, Priaulx Library colelction

From the newspapers of November 1834. The illustration is a detail from Cecilia Montgomery's ink and gouache sketch, Pier, Castle Cornet, in the Library Collection.

7 February 1854: Thomas Falla writes from Guernsey to Victor Hugo in Jersey

Hugo's daughter Adèle kept a diary while the family were in Jersey. The original is in the Morgan Library in New York and the Maison Victor Hugo in Paris. In it she records conversations with Hugo during the Tapner affair. Here is a translation of the entry for the 9 February, 1854, a letter from Thomas Falla, John Charles Tapner's advocate during his trial for murder: [By Dinah Bott]

April 1809 and 1819

From local newspapers.

March 1820

Guernsey newspapers of 1820. Cemeteries, magicians, orang-utans and hot baths.

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