Library Document Collection

An Eternal Stranger: Harman Blennerhasset

Town Church Guernsey 1870 in Priaulx Library Collection

'Like mournful echo from the silent tomb, That pines away upon the midnight air, Whilst the pale moon breaks out with fitful gloom, Fond memory turns, with sad but welcome care, To scenes of desolation and despair, Once bright with all that beauty could bestow, That peace could shed, or youthful fancy know.' From The Deserted Isle, by Margaret Blennerhassett. Harman Blennerhassett was a clever but eccentric Irish republican who 'married' his niece, became involved in an abortive but notorious plot to make Texas independent, and ended up buried in Guernsey. The photograph above is from the Library Collection and shows the Cimitière des Soeurs, or Sisters' Cemetery, in 1870. The modern photographs in the article are of the Strangers' Cemetery as it is today.

Lost things: Les Maindonnaux, 1901

Les Maindonnaux, Priaaulx Library Collection

View from the North-east.

Elizabeth Le Cocq of Alderney, paillarde, 1736

Elizabeth refused to appear before the Ecclesiastical Court to admit 'paillardise'—licentiousness—having given birth to an illegitimate child. From Peter Mollet's Notebook in the Library.

The Journal of Jane Maria Barlow, 1833-38

Jane Saumarez nee Barlow as an old lady from the Priaulx Library Collection

Primary concern: Prettiness of self and other girls. Where are all the beaux? Were all the men really either tall or handsome in the 1830s? Obviously not: 'De Beauvoir De Lisle renewed his attentions which I am sorry for, I shall be obliged to draw a line.' A very annoyed Savery Brock bursts a blood vessel. Guernsey has very bad pavements. The photograph from the Library Collection shows a very benevolent-looking Jane in her old age, many years after this diary was written.

The Grand Bosq: Fautrart, Martin, Le Marchant

The Grand Bosq from Berry's Hisotry of Guernsey, in the Priaulx Library Colleciton

Le Bosq and the Royal Hotel: the Grand Bosq. The illustration is a plate from Berry's 1815 History of Guernsey.

The Will of Etienne Falla, 1667

The will of Etienne Falla, son of Etienne. Transcription by Edith Carey in the annotated Pedigree of the Falla Family. With references to the Lainé family.

A sorry tale: the duel between Thomas Andros and Kenneth Beauvais, 1780

A duel mentioned by Elisha Dobrée in his Diary (which covers the years 1753-1789). Kenneth Beauvais was mortally wounded, though it was considered a duel 'with general good consequences.'

Jacques Le Batard

The cage and pillory from Lukis memoirs in Priaulx Library Collection

The Gazette de L'Isle de Guernesey, of which the Priaulx Library has copies to view, published an unusual announcement in July of 1795. The newspaper reproduced in its entirety the sentence passed in the Royal Court upon a Frenchman from St Germain in Normandy, called Jacques Le Batard. The results of criminal trials were not normally published in the early Gazettes. Why this one? The sketch of the pillory and cage in 1795 are from the Lukis memoirs in Edith Carey's Scrapbooks in the Library.

Some Brock Family Miniatures

William Brock by Philip Jean, 1796, Priaulx Library Collection

Notes by Miss Mary Elizabeth Guille on some Brock portraits. Written November 29 1902, when she was aged 81. William Brock, Henry Brock, and Harriet Brock were children of William Brock (1725-1768) and Judith de Beauvoir. The leading portrait is of William Brock; it is signed P J, for Philip Jean, and dated 1786.

The death of Mary Saumarez, October 1812

A letter from the Library's Mann-Dobrée collection, edited by Julia de L. Mann: Anne Dobrée to Henry Routh, October 8, 1812. Nineteen-year-old Mary Dobrée Saumarez was the eldest daughter of Admiral James Saumarez and his wife, Martha Le Marchant; Anne was her cousin. Henry 'Harry' Le Mesurier, son of Havilland, had just lost his arm at the Battle of Salamanca.

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