31st July 2015
The good citizens of St Martin's are asked to give evidence in this tragic case. Transcribed in the original French by Edith Carey into her notebook, Jehanne Becquet's trial for child murder, with her annotations, it is translated here into modern English. From Sir E MacCulloch's MSS. Livre ès Crimes I 60. Jehanne would have known that it was essential for her to show her baby to witnesses, even if it had been stillborn, but she was unable or unwilling to do so. Make your own mind up about her. Do you agree with the court's verdict?
28th July 2015
The Société Guernesiaise tried its hardest to persuade the authorities to preserve this ancient structure, but to no avail. From the Star, January 1933. The photograph is from the Library Collection. It was taken by Edith Carey in 1929 and shows the water pump in Cornet Street which drew from the well of the Tour Beauregard, and which was demolished along with the water tower in 1933.
27th July 2015
The 1850s gold rush in Australia attracted thousand of immigrants and would-be prospectors, and Guernsey was by no means immune to gold fever. 18-year old William Francis Nicolle recorded his voyage to Melbourne in the summer of 1852 in his Journal, which was generously donated to the Library by Stephen Foote. Nicolle followed this with an account of his return from Australia in the freezing cold on board the Avon. His Journal also includes a substantial amount of family history material (Nicolle, De Garis, Lainé, Lamble &c.), as well as other accounts of later voyages made on board cargo ships. He was a carpenter by trade, and the book also includes carefully written instructions for calculations, presumably for reference purposes. Finally, his poem in memory of Nicholas de Mouilpied, who died on the voyage out, aged 22.
23rd July 2015
From the Star, July 1944. Funeral cheese and scarlet eggs, Granny Ogier, and a leopard and a Lamb. The illustration shows the Arcade around 1903; the shops are Roger's the jewellers and Cox's bootmakers.
23rd July 2015
Old Court House again. From the Star, June 20, 1944. The photograph, from the Library collection, shows the house in 1861, ten years before the construction of the Avenue led to its demolition.
20th July 2015
Letter to Monsieur de Pontaumont, archivist of the Société académique de Cherbourg.'My dear friend, I am taking the liberty of sending you a copy of a document which you might think appropriate to present to our colleagues at the Society. I feel it provides interesting evidence of the relationship between the people of Alderney and those of Basse-Normandie at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries. It is a document of safe-conduct from the French admiral, Louis Malet, Seigneur de Graville, dated 20 April 1513. We were then at war with England, but, as had long been the case with the people of Alderney, even though they were subjects of the English Crown, they were very keen not to be treated as enemies by French soldiers and sailors.'[The portrait above is of Louis Malet de Graville.]
9th July 2015
The contents of the Library's Brock family file: includes cuttings, articles, MSS and original documents. There is also a separate collection dedicated to documents concerning Sir Isaac Brock. Please contact the Library for further information.
26th June 2015
From La Gazette de Guernesey, 15 February 1913. The Primary School and the Infants'; the spelling of the names is a little variable!
26th June 2015
The observations of a French legal expert published in La Gazette de Guernesey, 28 June 1913. 'One can never be quick enough to put right an injustice, and it is unjust to exclude women from undertaking public duties.' Jurat F J Jeremie's was but a lone voice, and duly ignored.
25th June 2015
Winston Churchill visits the island. From La Gazette de Guernesey, 30 August 1913. The photograph from the Star shows him landing at the White Rock and in conversation with Colonel Macartney, Government Secretary.
17th June 2015
A poem about love, a proposal and marriage, by 'Nannon.' Love conquers all. First published in The Star of June 18, 1881, which provided Guernsey French vocabulary help for readers who might need it. The photograph is a carte de visite style portrait of an unidentified young lady, photographed by Maguire of the Grange, from the Library collection. If you can tell us who this 'Nannon' was, please let us know!
17th June 2015
From The Star, 18 June 1881.
