Library Document Collection

The Family of Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant

Elegiac verse from the Mercure, 1812, Priaulx Library Collection

'I am determined to rise to the head of my profession and nothing but death will stop me.' J. Gaspard Le Marchant was born into one of the most influential and possibly the wealthiest family in Guernsey. His was one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the the British Army, in which he single-mindedly founded the Royal Military College and revolutionised the training of officers. Highly esteemed by Wellington, he died a glorious if unnecessary death in 1812 at the Battle of Salamanca, following which a monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral at public expense.

Laine's warehouse in Berthelot Street

'MSS belonging to Mr Laine of High Street, respecting his store in Berthelot Street (behind and touching the present Savings Bank), and the Savings Bank itself, formerly 'La Maison Briard.' Names and dates; the transcriptions of these interesting vues de justice, where the jurats visited properties about which there was a dispute and sought witnesses, may be consulted at the Library. The photograph is from the Carel Toms' Collection in the Library and accompanied an article he wrote about the demolition and rebuilding of this house in 1950-51.

Le Pelley notes from Col. Ernest Le Pelley's MSS

Transcriptions of documents referring to the Le Pelley family, from Sark/Le Pelley file in the Library.

Partages

A list of the partages transcribed in the notebook Partages No. 1, Staff.

De La Mare partages

From the Le Hurel collection, donated by Esther Hatton.

Will of Thomas Le Conte, 1662

No. 1 in Edith Carey's transcriptions Wills and Legacies, [Staff].

Gagnepain, 15 December 1591

From Rev. George Lee's MSS, copied in [Staff] Inq. post mortem &c, XI, p. 66. The Gagnepains were a well-off family in Guernsey and Sark with extensive interests in England. Also a note concerning the Norman Mansel or Mancel family.

Will of Clair Blanche, 1663

No. 3 in Edith Carey's Wills and Legacies. The film of the original Ecclesiastical Court records may be consulted in the Library. Claire's death is recorded by Elie Brevint of Sark in his Notebooks I. 488; the Noel family had a significant presence in Sark.

The Harvey Family

Newlands, the Harvey house, from the Priaulx Library Collection

Throughout the occupation of Guernsey (1940-45) Winifred Harvey (1888-1976) kept a diary, which has been edited and published under the title The Battle of Newlands, and which is still in print. In keeping her diary, she followed a family tradition; the Harveys have left behind them comprehensive records from the middle of the 19th century, so detailed that their lives could virtually be reconstructed from them, and much of that material is here at the Library. Their house, Newlands, is illustrated in the photograph above, from the Library Collection.

Lost things: La Maison Bonamy of the Pomare

From Edith Carey's Report of the Folklore Section of the Société Guernesiaise, Rep. and Trans. 1931, p. 149. The photograph shows the overgrown ruins from the road before their recent redevelopment.

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