Elizabeth Le Cocq of Alderney, paillarde, 1736
Elizabeth refused to appear before the Ecclesiastical Court to admit 'paillardise'—licentiousness—having given birth to an illegitimate child. From Peter Mollet's Notebook in the Library.
Women
The Journal of Jane Maria Barlow, 1833-38
Primary concern: Prettiness of self and other girls. Where are all the beaux? Were all the men really either tall or handsome in the 1830s? Obviously not: 'De Beauvoir De Lisle renewed his attentions which I am sorry for, I shall be obliged to draw a line.' A very annoyed Savery Brock bursts a blood vessel. Guernsey has very bad pavements. The photograph from the Library Collection shows a very benevolent-looking Jane in her old age, many years after this diary was written.
Some Brock Family Miniatures
Notes by Miss Mary Elizabeth Guille on some Brock portraits. Written November 29 1902, when she was aged 81. William Brock, Henry Brock, and Harriet Brock were children of William Brock (1725-1768) and Judith de Beauvoir. The leading portrait is of William Brock; it is signed P J, for Philip Jean, and dated 1786.
The death of Mary Saumarez, October 1812
A letter from the Library's Mann-Dobrée collection, edited by Julia de L. Mann: Anne Dobrée to Henry Routh, October 8, 1812. Nineteen-year-old Mary Dobrée Saumarez was the eldest daughter of Admiral James Saumarez and his wife, Martha Le Marchant; Anne was her cousin. Henry 'Harry' Le Mesurier, son of Havilland, had just lost his arm at the Battle of Salamanca.
A fast worker: Ozanne versus Peddle, February 1837
An appeal to the Royal Court. From the Comet, February 16, 1837.
The Yellow Dress
A surprising dark side to life at the Town Hospital is hinted at in this Royal Court case. Unmarried local girls who became pregnant and who sought help at the Hospital, although treated kindly, were nevertheless put under a great deal of pressure to disclose the name of the father, so that he would be responsible for the child's maintenance and not the parish, but the threat extended to this girl is another thing entirely and seems to have terrified her. It should be noted that the Star newspaper chose not to mention the dress and represented the trial somewhat differently.
Why Katherine Bertrand went though the roof
In her Report to the Folklore section of the Société Guernesiaise in 1928, Edith Carey drew attention to an interesting custom connected with suicides, based on an inquest held in 1580.
A variety of vicars
A list of the incumbents of Alderney covered in Ernest Bigg's chapter of the same name in An Alderney Scrapbook, pp. 118 ff., published by the Alderney Society in 1972, and snippets about other ministers of the island.
Matthew Herivel wastes his time and money, 1685
More amorous antics from the Acts of the Ecclesiastical Court, transcribed by Edith Carey, Library 41B. He got her in the end!
James Rougier and Jeanne Brouard, 1696; Samuel Le Mesurier and Elizabeth Brett, 1690
A case heard in the Ecclesiastical Court in May 1696 by the Rector, Jean Bonamy.