The Fund for the Relief of Guernsey Prisoners in France, 1806

Supplement to the Gazette de Guernesey of 16 August 1806.

MESSIEURS,

[The names are listed with the amount they have subscribed, which for convenience are not transcribed here; for example, the Bailiff gave 3 guineas; Carteret Priaulx & Co., £5; Jean Carey, of High Street, £20, by far the largest donation.]

The Bailiff; the previous Bailiff; the Misses Le Marchant, his daughters; J. Dunière; Thomas Guignon; Rev. Nicolas Dobrée; Nicolas Maingy senior; Nicolas Maingy junior; F. Trachy; J. Arnold; Jean Tupper junior; Pierre Mourant senior; Pierre Mourant junior; Nicolas Maingy & Frères; William Le Lièvre; Price & Guerin; Miss Vardon; B. Dobrée; D. Naftel & Co.; Pierre Bardel; H. Durrell Jeremie; Pierre Arrivé; L'avocat Le Cocq; Jean Dufeu; Jean Harvey; Daniel De Lisle; Terrell & Société; W. Peter Price junior; Levy; George Bell; Henry Giffard; James Jeremie; Jean Jeremie junior; Pierre Lihou & Co.; Alexandre Agnew; Jean Le Mottée; André Agnew; Madame Marie Agnew; Jeffery; Capt. George Rawlins; Jean Mellis junior; Joseph Mauger; Nicolas Le Lièvre; François Giffard; Charles D'Auvergne; Pierre Mollet; Jean Lukis; A. M.; William Le Lièvre; Pierre Le Lièvre; André Cohu; Jean Collings, senior; Alexandre Thom; Antoine Isemonger; Captain King; Jean Murray; Captain Brown; Richard Le Lièvre senior; Capt. Nicolas Lauga; W. Collings, son of Edward; Edward Collings; Robert Cowan; Jean Carey, Grand'rue; A. Z.; Carteret Priaulx & Co.; Jean Mansell; Matthew Brock; Jean Allaire; Jean La Serre senior; Thomas Greenslade; Nicolas Giffard; Philippe Giffard; George Corbin; André Bonamy; William Le Marchant junior; Thomas Mansell senior; Pierre Maingy senior; P. N. Maingy; Nicolas Maingy; Jean La Serre junior; Thomas Le Lievre; Madame Susanne Price; Captain Benest; Hélier Carré; Joseph De Jersey; David Watson; Un Monsieur de Câtel; Reverend E. Gilbert; Nicolas Le Pelley du Câtel; Jean Rougier junior; Docteur Carey; William Corbin; Hélier Rougier; Charles Bishop. TOTAL: £147 10s 6d.

NB. The Constables will keep back the 10s 6d to avoid awkward divisions and to pay letter post and other expenses for which they have not yet provided. Thomas MACCULLOCH, Constable.

  • WE THE UNDERSIGNED, English POWs and natives of Guernsey, acknowledge having received from Messrs Anthony La Place and Teissier of Valenciennes, by order of Messrs Mallet Frères & Co., and to the account of Messieurs Brock & Le Mesurier, of London, 716 livres tournois, equivalent to £30 sterling.

    Valenciennes, 12 January 1806. Good for £30. Jean Lenfestey, Jean Thoume, Pierre Marche, Isaac De Jersey, Thomas de Putron, Nicolas de la Rue, Jean Herivel, Thomas Brache, Jean Le Fevre, Abraham Perchard, Jean Cameron, Jean Blade.
  • We the undersigned, English POWs and natives of Guernsey, acknowledge having received from Monsieur Gridonnet, by order of Messrs Mallet Frères & Co., and to the account of Messieurs Brock & Le Mesurier, of London, 716 livres tournois, equivalent to £30 sterling.

    Givet, 22 January 1806. Good for £30. Charles Rabey, W. Aplen, James Blondel, Thomas Robin, George Le Moignent [Le Moignan], Jean Mahy, James Le Noury, Alexandre Duncan, Jean Butler, Pierre Martel.
  • We the undersigned, English POWs and natives of Guernsey, acknowledge having received from Mr Fanart the Elder, by order of Messrs Mallet Frères & Co., and to the account of Messieurs Brock & Le Mesurier, of London, 716 livres tournois, equivalent to £30 sterling. 

    Verdun, 26 January 1806. Good for £30. Samuel Brown, Richard Brown, Nicolas Le Chamiant [Le Cheminant?], Abraham Simon, Pierre De Garis, James Le Ray, Daniel Dorey, Thomas Prios [Priaulx].
  • We the undersigned, English POWs at Sarrelibre and natives of Guernsey, acknowledge having received from Messrs Ganzinotte & Co., of Strasbourg, by order of Messrs Mallet Frères & Co., and to the account of Messieurs Brock & Le Mesurier, of London, 1359 livres tournois, equivalent to £57 sterling.

    Sarrelibre, 8 March 1806. Good for £57. Philippe Le Ruez, Job Le Prevost, Jean Tostevin, Charles Dufeu, Jean Bichard, Elias Tourtel.

The reason that the prisoners at Sarrelibre received more than the others is, that they had received nothing before this last subscription, and because we were under the impression that there were more of them there. Thomas MACCULLOCH, Constable.

Nicholas Le Bair. Died 1795 in prison at Toulon, a midshipman in the Berwick. [Recollections of James Anthony Gardner, RN, 1906, p. 153. 'Poor fellow! Was taken in the Berwick, and died in French prison.']


See also Prisoners of War, 1812; Prisoners of War, 1813; 'The Journal of John Robert', Report and Transactions of the Soc. Guernesiase, XIII (1946), pp. 22 ff. This was transcribed by J. P. Warren, and dated 1739. Jean Robert was taken prisoner by four French men-o'war including La Surveillante and La Perle, (frigates in the Blue Squadron of the Duke of Chartres) and gives a detailed account of his time as a prisoner, being taken through many of the locations that continued to be used later for Napoleonic prisoners-of-war. Jean Robert was apparently a brother of Lucas Robert and great-grandfather of a Nicholas Robert who died in 1938. See also Two letters of Charles De Havilland when prisoner in 1809, and for other earlier Guernsey POWs (1780s) see Glendinning, A., 'Guests of the French', Eye on the past in Guernsey, pp. 23 ff., and 'The Beginnings of Quakerism in Guernsey,' by Edith Carey, 1918, for Nicholas Naftel's memoirs of his time as a POW in 1779-1780, in Fougères and Angers (pp. 4-5).