The will of Jean Moorhead, 1688/9
From the Ecclesiastical Court records, transcribed from the original (which can be seen on microfilm in the Library), by Edith Carey in her Wills and Legacies notebook.
Family History
Les Ollivier du Coin des Ecailles
From the Magasin Methodiste, LIV, 1880, pp. 28-9.
Nicolas De Garis, conscientious objector, 1805
By H D Olivier, from The Guernsey Free Churchman, March 1932, p. 23. 'Not honesty in the abstract but Honest is my name. And I want the kind of person I am to match what I am called.' The portrait is of a sympathizer, Etienne Gibert, Rector of St Andrew, the frontispiece of his biography, published in Toulouse in 1889, by Daniel Benoît, Les Frères Gibert, du désert et du refuge. This book includes the life of his brother Louis, also a Protestant minister, who emigrated to South Carolina.
Roll of honour: the last hours of Rifleman E S Gard, 1916
The Reverend J Gard has received the following letter from the Wesleyan Chaplain attached to the Hospital in which his son, Rifleman Ernest Stanley Gard, died last Thursday. The telegram here referred to was sent by the Reverend J Gard and was in the following terms: 'Loving sympathy Hearts best Love God's Blessing. Mother and Father.' From the Star, October 24th, 1916.
William Dobree, bankrupt, 1754
November the 2nd 1754 ex parte John de Sausmarez, Henry Brock, Matthew de Sausmarez: In the matter of William Dobrée a bankrupt. From Reports of cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery: in the time of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. [1736-1754], Volume 1. William's debts would today be in the region of, at the minimum, ten million pounds, but as he was in effect a banker, the amount could feasibly be multiplied by ten.
Lost things: Alexander's Hotel
Once one of the very favourite places to visit on a Sunday and eat pancakes, and subject of a poem in Guernsey French by George Métivier. The illustration, entitled 'Stacks of seaweed at Alexander's Hotel' is from R. Ellis' Rambles among the Channel Islands, by a Naturalist, 1854.
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.
Captain Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure
Circumstance and media frenzy made him one of the most famous men in the world in the 1850s and 1860s. But who remembers him now?
French emigres buried in St Peter Port, 1796
C. Hettier, Les Relations de la Normandie et de la Bretagne avec les Iles de la Manche pendant l'émigration, 1885.
John Le Mesurier's estate, 1558
A transcript of a part of the manuscript collection that belonged to Colonel De Garis of Sous L'Eglise. There is also a companion partage for Collas son of Pierre. Both can be found in the Library's Le Mesurier files. Another copy is held in the Library's folders of Colonel de Garis MSS. The image below is a copy of the original signature (Richard De Vyek: Richard de Vic, J(?) De Lyle: J de Lisle) on the document. The other copy is signed by 'Henry' and Richard De Vic.