The History Section

Minutes of the meeting held Tuesday January 16th 2001 at 5.15pm

Arthur Mourant Room

1. Members present :

Yvonne Aston, Marie-Louise Backhurst, Joy Bell (new member), Mary Billot (Secretary), Mervyn Billot, Gavin Booth, Roger de Carteret, Guy Dixon, Frank Falle, Derek Gray, Sue Hardy, Sally Knight, Sarah Jordan, Geraint Jennings, Nicolas Jouault, David Le Maistre (Chairman), Georgia Le Maistre, Bob Le Sueur, Alec Podger.

Apologies :

Elizabeth Clapshaw, Sally Coffin, Francis & Anne Corbet, Douglas Hooke, Tertius Hutt, Frank Le Blancq, David Levitt, John & Rosemary Speller, Pauline Taylor.

2. Election of Officers and Committee for 2001

Chairman : Frank Falle. Nominated by David Le Maistre and seconded by Roger de Carteret

Secretary : Mary Billot

Correspondence Secretary : Roger de Carteret

Committee members : Jean Arthur, Gavin Booth, Geraint Jennings, Sally Knight

All were elected 'en bloc'. Roger de Carteret is willing to deputise for the Chairman in any absence.

3. Minutes of the meeting of December 19th 2000 and amendments.

Mervyn Billot had been omitted from the list of those present. David Levitt had been recorded twice (he had sent his apologies).

5.9 Alec Podger said that seafarers probably returned to sea because of the agricultural depression and and that employees in the shipyards may have gone back to sea.

4. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered by the agenda

5.1 Geraint Jennings reported the website address of the Société Guernesiaise www.societe.org.gg.

5.2 Frank Falle has 104 swabs from Jersey people for the UCL genetic study of Viking influence. Guernsey has promised 40.

5.7 Fish strandings : Guernsey has more records than Jersey.

5. Chairman's announcements

David Le Maistre welcomed Joy Bell to her first meeting.

Wednesday January 24th 2001, Members' Meeting, 8pm : Philip Le Brocq, President : Bouncing into self-awareness - the Société revitalized.

David reminded the meeting that four Section lecturers will be needed for the 2001 series of Autumn lunch-time lectures. He also asked members to fill in the questionnaire issued with their 2001 membership card. He reported that the corridor from the Weighbridge was open until 5.15pm and that members can exit from the Members' Room. The JHT needs three days notice if access to the corridor is needed after 5.15pm so that overtime can be arranged.

The photographs of Chateau des Roches (St Brelade) have been passed to the Photographic Archive.

6 Members' contributions

6.1 Sue Hardy gave a short talk on Lady Otway, (ca 1830 England-1910 England), a well known socialite in St Helier. Her portrait is in the SJ art collection. Sue's next project will be on the Westaway family.

6.2 Roger de Carteret reported that Glenys Lawrence (NZ) has located the Rev. Francis Perrot letters in Auckland. There are 61 mostly in English from David Bogue (Gosport Theological Academy) to Perrot, ca 1805-1815. He hopes that copies will go to the SJ Library. [For e-mail see file]

6.3 Yvonne Aston said that Martine Schenk is writing up her history of the Mormons in Jersey. A missionary, Carl Le Sueur, is in Jersey from the USA. Marie-Louise Backhurst reminded members that the de La Mare family emigrated to Utah in 1852 to set up a sugar mill taken out in parts. Mervyn Billot said that ships were exported in parts from England.

6.4 Georgia Le Maistre circulated an item from the Daily Mail Weekend, 30/12/2000, which mentioned Lillie Langtry and Edward VIII. She also spoke about a postcard (postmark 7/8/1906?) sent to Miss Gibaut, Egypt Farm, Trinity; it showed the F.J. Grandin shop in Burrard St.

6.5 Marie-Louise Backhurst said that a statement on 1204 was needed in order to correct misconceptions. There were earthworks and walls at Mont Orgueil Castle in the 7/8th centuries; major development started in 1207.

She has recently explored the Rouen archives and confirmed that the Patriarches were Protestants. David, son of Jean Patriarche, marchand de blé, was baptised as a Protestant in Rouen, 1580.

6.6 Gavin Booth addressed the CI Occupation Society on January 9th 2001 on his father's wartime experiences; this included an Army reconnaisance landing at Portelet Bay in September 1940. The Channel 4 Time Team programme mentioned Wace (and King Arthur).

6.7 Geraint Jennings reported that the Section de la Langue Jerriaise is compiling an anthology this year similar to the Lebarbenchon volumes. A list of pseudonyms and initials of authors will be included.

6.8 Nick Jouault referred to the sale of church bells for £171 in 1551 to pay for fortifications. Philip Ahier gives an account in Stories of Jersey seas, part 3.

6.9 Bob Le Sueur asked about primary source material on Mont Orgueil Castle; Marie-Louise Backhurst replied that a document search of the PRO was done by the University of Nottingham Heritage Projects in 1998. [Copy in Library]. Further research is needed in the Bouillon papers in the PRO and in French archives.

7. Any other business

The Section's annual report will be submitted on disk by 31/01/2001.

Frank Falle thanked David Le Maistre for all his efforts as Chairman in the last two years.

8. Date of next meeting

Tuesday February 20th 2001 at 5.15 pm, Arthur Mourant Room, 3rd floor