Georgian

Isaac Brock: letters after his death, 1813

'Poor General Brock's high spirit would never descend to particulars.' Contemporary letters that vary in their opinon of Guernseyman Sir Isaac Brock, from A Documentary History of the Campaign upon the Niagara Frontier in 1813. 'Alas! my dear Colonel, we are now no longer commanded by Brock, and our situation is most materially changed for the worse. Confidence seems to have vanished from the land, and gloomy despondency has taken its place.' Brock's own voice can be heard in his letters, in The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B: interspersed with notices of the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh collected and edited by his star-struck nephew, Ferdinand Brock Tupper, copies of which are available in the Library.

One brave soldier: the death of Thomas Falla, aged 18

From the Diary of Colonel Bayly (1796-1830), of the 12th Regiment, p. 87. Thomas Falla was the son of the late Daniel Falla and Susanne Le Pelley, of the Maisons au Compte. His memorial is in St Sampson's Church. The picture above shows 'The Storming of Seringapatam, 4th May 1799 (Sutherland Highlanders),' from the Library Collection, and below is a photograph of the posthumous medal awarded to Thomas.

The will of Eleazar Le Marchant, 1832

Eleazar was Lieutenant-Bailiff. From the French. On microfilm in the Library. The picture is from a photograph of a watercolour of what is said to be Eléazar around 1780, sitting outside the arch known as Sous La Porte. Still much as it was then, it formed the entrance to a Le Marchant property, now the Constables' Office. He is seated upon the bench nicknamed the 'Seat of the Idlers,' people-watching, as the residents of St Peter Port liked to do, next to his uncle, the Reverend Josué Le Marchant. The original is at Saumarez Manor.

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