Captain Grinnell's testimony, October 1778
An extremely interesting account from the enemy—at this point the Americans—of their view of Guernsey and its defences in 1778.
18th century
June letters from Havilland Le Mesurier
Two letters by merchant and functionary Havilland Le Mesurier, one to his wife Elizabeth Dobree and the other to daughter Harriet Le Mesurier, from nearly 200 written while he was away working for the Army's Commissariat, in the Library collection.
John Banister to Elisha Tupper, July 11, 1775
John Banister of Virginia describes the Boston Tea Party and the growing disaffection between Britain and New England, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord, to update his business associate, shipping magnate Elisha Tupper. The illustration, from the Priaulx Library collection, is of a miniature of Elisha (1720-1802), in the background of which a date, possibly 1785, is just discernible. The photograph was taken by or on behalf of Edith Carey, c. 1920.
Capture of L'Epervier, Alderney, December 1797
Extract of a letter from Peter Le Mesurier, Governor of the Island of Alderney, to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, dated Alderney, the 25th of December 1797. From The European Magazine and London Review, Vol. 33.
A Guernsey decision abrogated: April 29, 1783
The case of a Russian ship, the Graf Nikita, from The Political Magazine and Parliamentary, Naval, Military, and Literary Journal, Volume 6, 1783; in which an independent judgment of Guernsey's Royal Court was overturned for British political expediency.
Not dead yet: the curious case of the Speedwell, on the hunt for Americans, March 1812
A report from New York, March 31, 1812, published in Niles' Weekly Register, March-September 1812, Vol. II.
Off to America with Jean De Jersey, 1752
From the Archives of the Town Hospital, 1752.
The fur trade in 1761
From the London Chronicle , Vol. 9. Guernsey and Jersey are accused of helping the French to put British fur traders in Canada out of business; the claim is denied.
Captain Knapp and the Mayflower, February 1762
From The London Chronicle.
Guernsey in the olden times, by Curio-Antique
From The Star 29 and 31 January 1878. With this fascinating document should be compared the Library's manuscript Notebook of Pierre Henry. Henry, whose ancient house in Berthelot Street is now a tourist attraction, was a wealthy merchant shipowner and ancestor of the Tupper family, through whom the notebook came to the Library.