Dead cats and horsewhips: August 1825 in the Royal Court
Two unusual court cases from the Gazette de l'Isle de Guernesey, August 1825 [from the French].
Women
A bachelor's paradise: Guernsey ladies, October 1825
An extract from an article published in the Star of October 18, 1825. 'The observations that follow have been copied from The Morning Herald. They will tend to show what views some strangers are apt to form of our local peculiarities; if, indeed, they can be taken as the real views of the writer, which, from the incorrectness of his statements, and the exaggerated description he has given of advantages and disadvantages, beauties and defects, we more than doubt.' The young lady in the portrait is Anne Priaulx.1
21 December: A Love-Spell for St Thomas' Eve
'The night of 21 December was thought in Guernsey to be a night when spirits walked abroad, when it was dangerous to be outside; but this made it a very auspicious night for magic.' From Guernsey Folk Lore, p. 408.
Servants in Silks
From The Sarnian Monthly Magazine, July, 1815. The illustration is from My Sketch Book, part of the Library's extensive collection of works illustrated by George Cruikshank, which can be viewed on request.
Fountain Street celebrates the peace of 1763
Fountain Street is decorated for a celebration in unusual style; by George Métivier, writing in the Elizabeth College Magazine of 1842. The illustration is of a painting depicting a view looking towards Fountain Street and the Town Church in 1799, the notoriously narrow part being at the end.
How to bring up your daughters: tongue-in-cheek advice from 1811
From the Gazette de L'Isle de Guernesey, March 30, 1811. Outrageous! The illustration is a detail from a fashion plate of July 1807, and is in the Library Collection.
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
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.
Maria Rosetti
From St Peter Port to revolution. A request from Angela Jianu* of Warwick University for some research into the birth data of Marie Grant of St Peter Port has revealed the extraordinary history of a Romantic heroine, born here in Guernsey in 1819, daughter of Marie Le Lacheur, descendant of the Le Lacheurs of the Forest, and known today to all Romanians through her depiction as Revolutionary Romania, and because one of the main streets in Bucharest bears her name: Strada Maria Rosetti.
Ralph Durand
Ralph Durand (1876-45) came from an important Guernsey Huguenot family and was the Librarian at the Priaulx before and during the Second War. He was an explorer and author whose family history, described here, is full of interest, and includes refugees, soldiers, ministers, a provost of Eton, an actor-manager, and politicians.