From the Strangers' Guide to Guernsey and Jersey, Guernsey: Barbet, 1833, pp. 39 ff. 'But it will answer no good purpose for the shell collector in Herm, to employ the language of science, in his research for shells; he must employ popular terms, inasmuch as the good people of Herm are utterly ignorant of the phraseology of the conchologist, and are in the habit of calling things by such names as strike their senses. They have their silver, pink, purple, yellow, rose, and blue shells. There are fine subjects on what the inhabitants call the 'best shell banks,' but which the native collectors pass over, because they do not consider them as shells. For instance, at times here, are very rich corals and corallines, cast up by the action of the sea, only to be discovered by those who are judges of the nature of their research.'
From The Terrific Record and Chronicle of Remarkable and Interesting Events , 1849. I was bound for Liverpool, says an American Captain, in a fine stout ship, of about four hundred tons burden, with a valuable cargo on board, and about ninety thousand dollars in specie. When we were about to sail, the mate informed me that he had shipped two foreigners as seamen, one a native of Guernsey, and the other a Frenchman from Brittany. I was pleased, however, with the appearance of the crew generally, and particularly with the foreigners. They were both stout and able-bodied men, and alert and…
From the Guernsey Free Churchman, November 1935, p. 80. Written originally in French by George Rabey.
We whose hands and seals are hereunto set, Commissioners, appointed by Your Majesty's Commission, bearing date the 16th day of May, in the ninth year of Your Majesty's reign, for inquiring in to the Criminal Laws in force in Your Majesty's Channel Islands and into the constitutions and powers of the Tribunals and Authorities charged with the execution of such laws, humbly certify to Your Majesty that, having completed our inquiry so far as the same related to the Island of Jersey, the result of which we have already laid before Your Majesty in our First Report, we forthwith proceeded, in further obedience to Your Majesty's gracious commands, to the Island of Guernsey.Second Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into The State of the Criminal Law in the Channel Islands: Guernsey: London, William Clowes and Son for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1848.
A fascinating collection of letters from Trinidad with strong Guernsey connections, that complement an important set of letters held in the Priaulx Library. The main families mentioned in the letters of local interest are: Baynes; Brock; Carey; Dalgairns; Darby; Davis; De Havilland; De Jersey; Dobree; Douglas; Durand; Edwards; Fitton; Freeman; Hardy; Hawtrey; Hayes; Hewer; Hutchesson; Kennedy; Lacy: Le Mesurier; Lenfestey; Le Maitre; Le Page; Le Sueur; Maingay; Mann; Mansell; McCrea; O'Brien; Powell; Powys; Priaulx; Routh; Saumarez; Selwyn; Tupper; Valpy; Wheeler (Anna Doyle); Whitchurch.'My dear Fanny, if you contemplate the bare possibility of marrying a soldier, take my advice and count the cost.'
This important book was published in 1494 in Basel.
Guernsey & Jersey Magazine, June 1836.
We asked the question—who or what were they?
How to get the best from Guernsey's unique church registers.
From Redstone's Royal Guide to Guernsey, written by Louisa Lane Clarke, who produced a new edition in 1856 following Queen Victoria's visit to Guernsey. A rather rosy description of vraicing—the gathering of wrack seaweed—which was in fact a highly competitive scramble for a valuable and free commodity, much prized by the islanders.
An excerpt from the Magasin Pittoresque, 17, of 1849: 'Les Iles Anglaises de la Manche.'
In 1885 was published the original French text of the Ecclesiastical Discipline for Guernsey, edited by the Reverend G.-E. Lee of the Town Church and published by Thomas Bichard of the Bordage. The Police et discipline ecclesiastique was a set of regulations for the management of the Church and its congregation in the island, established by consensus in 1576 and which, despite the severity of its rules, remained in force until the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II imposed a form of Anglicanism on the island.
