Petit Bot

11th September 2020
By Herbert Bird Tourtel, from The Coming of Ragnarök, Guernsey, F B Guerin, 1895.

Herbert Bird Tourtel

11th September 2020
This November it will be 100 years since the first publication of a Rupert Bear story in the Daily Express newspaper. The intrepid little bear made his debut on November 8 1920; not a comic-strip, not a cartoon, but a ‘drawing’. Newsprint was short, and his creators were limited to one frame a day, either one large panel or a row of four small drawings. Occasionally the story was written in prose with a little marginal decoration. Rupert Bear was the invention of Mary Tourtel, a book illustrator, who worked on Rupert until he was handed over to Alfred Bestall in 1935. She was born Mary Caldwell in Canterbury, Kent, in 1874. Her father and brother were celebrated stained-glass artists and stonemasons who were associated with Canterbury Cathedral for many years, while another brother moved to South Africa, where he became a well-known painter of animals. Mary went to art school and became a professional illustrator, producing her first books in 1897. She died in 1948 and is buried with her husband in Canterbury. It is through her husband, Herbert Bird Tourtel, that Rupert Bear comes to be linked to Guernsey.

Inventory of Thomas Tramaillier's papers

4th September 2020
It took four years and several appearances in Court for Thomas Tramallier (III) to force Pierre Carey to hand over papers concerning Thomas' grandfather, Thomas Tramallier Senior's (I) estate. Carey's wife was Thomas (I)'s cousin, the daughter of his uncle, the late William Tramallier, and an heir to her father's estate. William had been appointed Thomas Tramallier (II)'s guardian, and Carey had come into possession of the relevant papers on William's death. Carey was fined several times for non-appearance in Court; the Court had delayed sittings at his request, and grew noticeably exasperated. Eventually, on the 12 February 1719, Carey produced a set of books and documents before them. Thomas (II) had appointed his son to act for him.  These documents are listed and bound in a ledger entitled Copie de l'Inventaire de partie des Ecrits de la Succession du Sr Thomas Tramalier. 1715. [Note: the surname is written several ways in various documents: Tramallier, Tramailler, Tramaillier, even Tramalier.]

Guernsey in old photographs: an index

16th July 2020
Nick Machon's super book, Guernsey in old photographs, based on the Guernsey Press' collection, was published in 1988 by Alan Sutton Publishing. It went through several editions. This is a list of the photographs included in it, by page.

Pages