The English Butcher and the Brewer, April 1801
'Let me come at him, I will do for him, Damn him, a Butcher, I will do for him.'
The Metivier Family
Despite many advantages, the Métivier family, which included George Métivier (1790-1881), philologist and Guernsey's 'national' poet, suffered many ups and downs, and the collection of family letters held in the Library makes entertaining reading. The woodcut is by Dr Thomas Bellamy from his Pictorial Dirctory of 1843 in the Library collection.
The Harvey Family
Throughout the occupation of Guernsey (1940-45) Winifred Harvey (1888-1976) kept a diary, which has been edited and published under the title The Battle of Newlands, and which is still in print. In keeping her diary, she followed a family tradition; the Harveys have left behind them comprehensive records from the middle of the 19th century, so detailed that their lives could virtually be reconstructed from them, and much of that material is here at the Library. Their house, Newlands, is illustrated in the photograph above, from the Library Collection.
Maria Rosetti
From St Peter Port to revolution. A request from Angela Jianu* of Warwick University for some research into the birth data of Marie Grant of St Peter Port has revealed the extraordinary history of a Romantic heroine, born here in Guernsey in 1819, daughter of Marie Le Lacheur, descendant of the Le Lacheurs of the Forest, and known today to all Romanians through her depiction as Revolutionary Romania, and because one of the main streets in Bucharest bears her name: Strada Maria Rosetti.
Ralph Durand
Ralph Durand (1876-45) came from an important Guernsey Huguenot family and was the Librarian at the Priaulx before and during the Second War. He was an explorer and author whose family history, described here, is full of interest, and includes refugees, soldiers, ministers, a provost of Eton, an actor-manager, and politicians.
The Family of Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant
'I am determined to rise to the head of my profession and nothing but death will stop me.' J. Gaspard Le Marchant was born into one of the most influential and possibly the wealthiest family in Guernsey. His was one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the the British Army, in which he single-mindedly founded the Royal Military College and revolutionised the training of officers. Highly esteemed by Wellington, he died a glorious if unnecessary death in 1812 at the Battle of Salamanca, following which a monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral at public expense.
Obituary of John Guille, June 1843
Just fifty years and one month ago there presided over the Royal Court of Guernsey a gentleman who, throughout his whole life, proved himself to be a thorough Guernseyman, endowed with the highest principles of honour and integrity, but one also possessing a native intensity of purpose and independence of character.
Second Bill of Partage of Guillaume Henry's estate, 1512
Transcribed in Partages No. 1, Staff.
Partages
A list of the partages transcribed in the notebook Partages No. 1, Staff.
Walter Ollivier: They used to swallow the gunpowder
Ollivier the gunsmith, by Bernard Brett, from The Star November 1947. The business at 1, Tower Hill, was begun by his great-great grandfather in 1800.
Guille family contracts &c
From Guille family file in the Library. St Peter Port and St Martin 15th and 16th centuries. Typescript transcription.
Amelia Maria Hortensia Collings
'Medical jurisprudence in relation to insanity,' from The Journal of psychological medicine and mental pathology, Volume 1, 1848.