Why Katherine Bertrand went though the roof
In her Report to the Folklore section of the Société Guernesiaise in 1928, Edith Carey drew attention to an interesting custom connected with suicides, based on an inquest held in 1580.
Views of James Saumarez in 1801
'A good deal of the grimace of a Frenchman'. A short biography from The European Magazine, and London Review, for October 1801; and a less kind opinion of the Admiral, written by Admiral Thomas Byam Martin, a veteran of his campaigns who had fallen out with him, parts of whose account are often regarded as at the least fanciful. Saumarez was prone to depression, however.
The Journal of Jane Maria Barlow, 1833-38
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 Doyle Cup
From the Library and Museum of Freemasonry.
Ship movements, 1762
A selection from the London Chronicle, 1762.
John Ingrouille, hangman, 1818
And executioners in general. An incomplete list of the Guernsey hangmen employed by the States, (convicts, for whom the office meant freedom and a small stipend), can be found in the Library: Lists of Bailiffs, Jurats &c, Staff. From L'Independance of 24 January 1818.
Lines, on the lamented death of Captain Dobree, R N
'Who lost his life in a humane attempt to save the lives of shipwrecked seamen on the coast of this island.' From L'Independance, March 14th, 1818; followed by excerpts from the sermon given at the Castel church on 15th March 1818 by Nicolas' young contemporary, the Reverend William Guille. The watercolour of the church is dated 1804 and is signed JM (for Dr John MacCulloch).
A melancholy pleasure: Nicolas Dobree and the heroes of Cobo
'But oh! what a tragic story we have to relate.' The bravery of a group of men from the Castel and their untimely deaths on the Gros Rock, March 9th, 1818; Nicolas Dobree, R.N., the two brothers Henry and George Le Tissier, Daniel Nicolle, and Captain Collenette. The photograph above shows the rock. 'Ils ont peri, meme en accomplissant un oeuvre de charite.'
Proper names from Livre des Jugements
Modernized list of people mentioned in legal cases, from a transcription of p. 223 of Livre des Jugements, Vol. I, in History of the Guernsey Churches scrapbook.
Lost things: Old Red House, St Saviour's, 1891
Letters from the Star, April 1891. Blondel and Andros, Brouard, Dumont, and Angel, at St Apolline. St Apolline's Chapel is first mentioned as belonging to Nicolas Henry in 1394; it was then called Notre Dame de la Perelle. The woodcut shows the chapel in use as a barn, from Bellamy's Pictorial Guide of 1843, in the Library collection.
Eleazar Le Marchant (1743-1832)
An excerpt from Guernsey in the Thirties: Remininscences of the late Rev. M. Gallienne, part V, in the Star, February 1901.
Isaac Brock: letters after his death, 1813
'Poor General Brock's high spirit would never descend to particulars.' Contemporary letters that vary in their opinon of Guernseyman Sir Isaac Brock, from A Documentary History of the Campaign upon the Niagara Frontier in 1813. 'Alas! my dear Colonel, we are now no longer commanded by Brock, and our situation is most materially changed for the worse. Confidence seems to have vanished from the land, and gloomy despondency has taken its place.' Brock's own voice can be heard in his letters, in The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B: interspersed with notices of the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh collected and edited by his star-struck nephew, Ferdinand Brock Tupper, copies of which are available in the Library.