Library Book Collection

Memories of Peter Perchard

Anecdotes of Alderman Peter (Pierre) Perchard, from The Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1832, following a request for information by John Jacob, author of the Annals, and from April, 1834. Guernsey privateers at work, and how to get rich quick.

Sark names

A list of Sark surnames, from Cachemaille's The Island of Sark, originally published in 1874-76, ed. Laura Hale, 1928.

The Musee Dobree in Nantes

There is now an interesting website for this museum, with audio and video tours of the building and collections and a great deal of background information to this branch of the Dobrée family. The Priaulx Library has the standard guide to the museum in its collection, Aptel, Claire, et al., Thomas Dobrée 1810-1895: un homme un musée, France, Fonds Dobrée, 1997 .

A Herm tragedy: the drowning of the teenaged Walter St John, August 1597

Inscription from memorial at Lydiard Tregoze courtesy of Lydiard Tregoze house

An inquest into the death of the eldest son of Sir John St John, of Lydiard Tregoze, in Wiltshire, and his young tutor, who died trying to rescue his charge. They were swept away by the current, probably off Belvoir Bay, 18 August, 1597. Walter St John was under the protection of the Governor, Sir Thomas Leighton, and living at Castle Cornet. It is extremely unusual for evidence in a case like this to survive; this was retained because Walter's family connections meant an account of the inquest had to be sent to Chancery. The French text is given in the Second Report of the Commissioners into Criminal Law in the Channel Islands of 1848.

The Grange in 1826

The Grange in 1870 from the Priaulx Library Collection

From Cochrane's Guide to the Island of Guernsey, published by the author in Market-Street, Guernsey, in 1826.

Merchants and Traders of 1711

A list of the names of the merchants operating in Guernsey who voluntarily paid tax towards expenses incurred by members of a States' Deputation to the King, in 1711, with the amount of tax they paid reflecting their income.

John Williams

John Williams, seaman, aged 25 years, five feet five inches high, dark complexion, black hair, slender made; has a scar on the back part of his head; is tatowed, and a native of Guernsey; speaks French.

French Dirt is the Worst

An amusing anecdote from a Methodist pioneer in the island.

Thomas Andros' Commonplace Book

Thomas Andros' Commonplace Book, by the Seigneur of Saumarez Manor, from a family 'whose penmanship was far from good;' a handwritten pamphlet of herbal medicine and fruit-growing, dated 1589, Guernsey, and an exploration of other texts quoted in it.

Guernsey enterprises, 1830

Chapter XVII of Jacob's Annals, 1830, pp. 465 ff.

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