Boots and shoes

Receipt made up in 1796 by the shoemaker John Edwards for the footwear of Carteret Priaulx and his brothers. Anthony Priaulx, a 'bad boy,' wore out his dancing shoes as he was 22 at the time. The brothers, sons of Thomas Priaulx and Rebecca Le Marchant, were: the oldest, Carteret (1758-1822), Thomas (1762-1844), John (1768-1829), and Anthony, the youngest (1774-1820). A J T Edwards was a shoemaker in the Commercial Arcade in Guernsey in 1841. He had a large family; the census gives him as being born in England c 1800, and his wife Charlotte, aged 33, as also born in England. From a Scrapbook of receipts in the Library.

New books 2013

Southampton Port Books; Festung Guernsey; Les Dicqs and the Rousse headland: an overview; Canadian biography; Livres de Perchage; Pugin and Guernsey; Maritime Normandy 1500-1650; Victor Hugo in Guernsey; Militia buttons; Basement hydrogeology and fortifications of the Channel Islands; German Tunnels in the Bailiwick.

New Books Winter 2012

Medicine and the five senses, ed. W. F. Bynum and Roy Porter; From our family albums, ed. Hargetion, J. and Vidamour, M.; Andrew Mitchell House: the beginning—creation of a hospice, text by Charlotte Barnes; Turner, Wesley B., The Astonishing General: The Life and Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock; Malcolmson, Robert, A very brilliant affair: the Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812: Begamudré, Ven, Isaac Brock—Larger than life; Borneman, W. B., 1812: the war that forged a nation; Symons, John: The Battle of Queenston Heights; Higginson, T.B., Major Richardson's 'Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and the 41st Regiment'; Marquis, T. B., Sir Isaac Brock, Toronto, 1929; Fryer, M.B., Bold, brave, and born to lead, 2004; Riley, Jonathon, A Matter of Honour: the life, campaigns and generalship of Sir Isaac Brock, 2011; Mawson, Gillian, The experiences of Guernsey evacuees in Northern England, 1940-1945; Titanic: Channel Island connections, by Alisdair Crosby, 2011

Finucania: the enigmatic Matthias Finucane

This overview of the artist Matthias Finucane consists of a biography researched by his descendant, the late Julia von Bertele, and a catalogue, created by Dinah Bott of the Priaulx Library, that aims to illustrate and provide information on all of his known works. It is intended that the catalogue grow organically to reflect further information that comes to light about both his life and his artistic output; he resided for most of his working life in the Channel islands and produced here both portrait miniatures and prints. The Priaulx Library is pleased to host this unique project of great local interest.  Contact a Librarian if you have any material to add or can help with any of the many questions that remain unsolved about Matthias' life. The images here reproduced are believed to be in the public domain unless expressly credited.

Daniel de Lisle Brock and the Corn Bill, 1835

'The depression in the price of agricultural produce may be ascribed to various causes: pretty certain it is, however, that neither legal or illegal importations of foreign corn are of the number and still more certain it is that the Channel Islands can have no connexion with any of these causes.'  From a Letter from the Deputies of Guernsey and Jersey to Lord Verulam, Colonnade Hotel, Charles Street, 6th May, 1835.

Matthias Finucane: a speculative life

'There has always been a mystery over Matt Finucane’s origin. His name does not appear on family trees, and I have never been able to find him anywhere else.' Matthias Finucane's descendant, Julia von Bertele, has devoted a great deal of time to trying to solve the mystery of the birth—and life—of the Channel Island miniaturist and printmaker, Matthias Finucane (d. 1810). This is part of the Finucania project.

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