Pollet Fountain, 1861
Drinking fountains. From The Star of July 16. The Pollet fountain was moved farther North to make way for the new States Offices, now used as an Information Centre.
Regatta, January 1952
From the Guernsey Press, 5 January 1952; the projected revival of the Town Regatta.
Herm is blown up by a mine, 4 January 1952
In view of the recent spectacular controlled detonation of a WWII bomb off Guernsey, here is a rather less controlled episode from 1952, in which the 28 inhabitants of Herm were incredibly lucky to escape injury or worse. 'Will you tell your husband when you go ashore that there is a mine somewhere off the Herm coast. Tell him to try and get a rope round it and pull it in; it will be quite harmless. It's been in the sea since the war and the firing mechanism will be rusted up.' Insurance did not cover damage by rogue mine, but the States stepped in to do the repairs, which were considerable.
Mr Trengrouse's Rocket Apparatus, June 1836
As reported in the Comet of July 4th, 1836. Henry Trengrouse (1772-1854), from Cornwall, was the inventor in 1808 of an early form of the Breeches buoy. As he first presented his invention, however, in 1818, versions of it had long been in use by the time he demonstrated it in Guernsey, despite the Comet's misgivings.
A diplomatic incident, July 1836
Necessity demanded that a gang of Alderney smugglers kidnap a French customs officer on the French coast and take him back to Alderney, then leave him to make his own way home. The authorities in Alderney smiled indulgently on the miscreants, but French Ambassador Count Sebastiani made angry representations to the UK Government for action. The Comet is indignant, pointing out that the French are quite happy for their nationals to smuggle gin to England.
St Barnabas and the Plateau, June 1932
The philanthropic Reverend Mignot and his Plateau, from the Guernsey Evening Press of June 13, 1932.
Not dead yet: the curious case of the Speedwell, on the hunt for Americans, March 1812
A report from New York, March 31, 1812, published in Niles' Weekly Register, March-September 1812, Vol. II.
A prince of their own choosing: the proclamation of George I, 16 August 1714
A translation of part of Laurent Carey's manuscript On the Customary Law of Guernsey, from the Guernsey and Jersey Magazine, Vol. V, 1838, edited by F. B. Tupper. Carey's Essai, written around the 1750s, formed the day-to-day reference for the proceedings of the Royal Court, under whose auspices it was eventually published in 1889. Here he was illustrating the fact that the inhabitants of Guernsey can choose to accept the proposed sovereign or not, who, once accepted, becomes 'un prince de leur propre choix'—and display absolute loyalty when they do so. The photograph below shows the proclamation of George V in Guernsey in 1910. The letter above is an invitation from the Governor to the constables to attend the proclamation of 1714. Library collection.
April 1896: the Cemeteries
From St Peter Port Parish Chronicle, in History of the Guernsey Churches, Scrapbook MS in the Library. The Strangers and the Brothers' Cemeteries and their parlous state of preservation.
Sarnia
A poem from the Mercure newspaper, 20 October 1810.
Diving Experiment III; the Orchard brothers make progress
From the Star of July 21, 1834. A year after they made their first trial of their proprietary suit, one of the Orchards walks under water, and the brothers receive some encouragement.
A letter to his aunt: April 1834
From the Star of April 28th, 1834. A light-hearted letter to the Editor, purportedly to his aunt, from a frequent correspondent to the newspaper, a military officer resident on the island who went by the name of 'Time-Killer,' with his observations on houses, high society, and the behaviour and looks of Guernsey ladies and gentlemen. The illustration is from Cruikshank's 1834 My Sketchbook, part of the extensive collection held by the Library.