Nicolas Lawrence, 1753
22nd May 2015
28 May 1753 Nicolas Lawrence, probably Nicolas Laurens [Old Bailey].
18th century
John Shipp, 1798
22nd May 2015
Memoirs of the extraordinary military career of John Shipp, late a lieut. in His Majesty's 87th regiment. Shipp (1784-1834) twice won a commission from the ranks before the age of thirty-two, and his memoirs were extremely popular, being published in four editions. He writes about his time at Guernsey as a young man in Chapter III. He was fourteen or so, and lead fifer in the 22nd Cheshire Regiment of Foot at the time; the regiment was in the island from 1798 to 1799 (they were inspected here on 14 August 1799.)
Pierre Silvieux, 1705
15th April 2015
'How Alderney lost its minister in 1705.' From A N Le Cheminant's A Christmas Box of Channel Gems, in the Library's Channel Islands' Pamphlets XIV (Goss.-LeFebvre), pp. 29 ff. This 1700 law remained unrepealed, in Sark at least, and continued to have repercussions into the 20th century!
Grow up
23rd March 2015
From Chefs Plaids, Jugements, Ordonnances &c, Staff, in the Library. 'People who can't control themselves may find they are forced to behave.'
The Mystery of the Ostrich-feather Hat
9th March 2015
Judy and Brian Harden of Gloucestershire, specialists in portrait miniatures, approached the Library for advice as to the identity of the sitters for a pair of miniatures by the Jersey artist Philip Jean, bearing the date of 1785. While researching these we noticed some striking similarities between them and other local miniatures we were familiar with.
The Good Intent, June 1777
A letter from Governor Le Mesurier to Mr Stephens, dated Alderney June 7 1777. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams considered Guernsey men as 'artful enemies.' The French, however, called the Channel Islands 'nids de guêpes'—'wasps' nests,' used in the sense they were a trap, a hornet's nest that one should not kick ...
Mutiny in St Peter's, 1704
From the Library's militia collection. A transcript by Edith Carey of a letter in French from a worried Lieutenant-Bailiff, Eléazar Le Marchant, to the absent Lieut.-Governor, Sir Edmund Andros, (here translated), and a contemporary copy of a petition concerning the same mutiny from William De Lisle in the St Peter's militia, to the Privy Council. Complicated family ties and nepotism, and a reflection of the bitter factional resentment felt towards Edmund Andros.
Smuggling , April 1759
Plymouth, April 18th 1759, from Owen's Weekly Chronicle; and 1763, from the London Chronicle.
Strangers, vagabonds, and other disreputable characters
From an Order of the Royal Court of Easter 1726.
The plan for recruiting the forces for the East Indies, March 1771
From The Scots Magazine, ed. James Boswell, Vol. 33.