September 6 1826: The loss of the Sir Francis Freeling packet
Gazette de Guernesey, 30 September 1826. From the French.
February 18th, 1836: Louis Marin
From the Star of February 18th, 1836. Another way in which Jersey differed from Guernsey—the justice system; the Petite and Grande Enquêtes. The Star's readers must have been assumed to be unfamiliar with legal procedure in the sister isle, as the newpaper explains it at length. Marin was sentenced to transportation for life.
Pierre Carey is under pressure at a States meeting, 1649
A report from The Guernsey and Jersey Magazine of 1837. Historical Notices of the Channel Islands, 8, taken from Pierre Carey's private papers. This Pierre [Peter] Carey is the Parliamentary Commissioner who later made a daring escape from imprisonment in Castle Cornet. A transcription of his letter book is in the Library.
January 1793: Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand finds a Guernsey guardian angel
The Romantic author and politician François-René de Chateaubriand, wounded and weakened by dysentery, became extremely ill on a crossing to Jersey, on the way to his native Brittany to join royalist rebels. Chateaubriand managed to make it to Jersey, where he was delivered into the care of his uncle, the Comte de Bédée, but remained very ill for several weeks. He eventually went into exile in London. This is an extract from his memoirs, Les Mémoires d'outre-tombe, Book 10, Chapter III. The 1808 portrait by Girodet-Trioson is in the Museum of Saint-Malo.
14 February 1814: A Guernseyman's golden Valentine
Dug from Lima's golden mine, We hail it as our Valentine. HMS Menelaus recaptured a very valuable French prize, the Spanish treasure-ship the St Juan Baptista. The master was a Guernseyman, and Guernsey people are often very careful with money. This one certainly was. The account is from The Life of a Sailor by Frederick Chamier (1796-1870), some of whose tales are probably rather tall.
Servants in Silks
From The Sarnian Monthly Magazine, July, 1815. The illustration is from My Sketch Book, part of the Library's extensive collection of works illustrated by George Cruikshank, which can be viewed on request.
The first flower show, July 1833
The Gardener's Magazine, Vol. 9, 1833, and other extracts from local newspapers.
June 1891: donated to the museum
Motley collections from the Guernsey and Jersey Magazine, June 1891, p. 362. 'The Guille-Alles Museum. The following objects have been added to the collection during the last three months:'
From Guernsey to Norwich, 1682-style
Another interesting letter from the physician Sir Thomas Browne to his son, describing his beloved daughter Elizabeth's voyage from Guernsey in May 1682 to visit him in Norwich, in the King's yacht Monmouth. Browne died later that year.
John Spicer Broughton Parker Hampton, 1721
From the Parish Registers of St Peter Port.
June 1811
From the Gazette de Guernesey, some translated from the original French. This was a very bad time for island banks, which had relied heavily on defaulting banks in London; the crash of the firm of Brock & Le Mesurier, operating out of London, took with it small local banks dependent on it.
Worse than Turks: Adrian Saravia on Guernsey, 1564
A letter from the first headmaster of Elizabeth College, a native of Artois, written in 1564/5 to the Secretary of State, William Cecil.