History Section
The History Section
La Section d'l'Histouaithe
Arthur Mourant Room
Jean Arthur, Marie-Louise Backhurst, Don Bell, Mary Billot (Secretary), Mervyn Billot, Bertram Brée, Roy Dobin, Frank Falle (Chairman), Mary Gibb, Derek Gray, Sue Groves, Douglas Hooke, Nicolas Jouault, Frank Le Blancq, Suzanne Le Feuvre, Georgia Le Maistre, Bob Le Sueur, David Levitt, Winston Pinel, Alec Podger, Bill Tower.
Apologies :
Jean Bell, Francis & Anne Corbet, John & Pam Denize, Guy Dixon, Gerry France, Sue Hardy, Geraint Jennings, Sally Knight, George Langlois, David Le Maistre.
2. Minutes of the meeting of December 17th 2002, and amendments
The minutes were confirmed as a correct record.
- 5Frank Falle confirmed the date of the 10th century in the title of his 2003 lunchtime lecture.
- Matters arising from the minutes not covered by the agenda
- 1Sue Groves, Head of Archives and Collections, JHT, invited the Section to hold its next meeting on February 18th 2003 at the Jersey Archive so that members can be shown round and learn about recent developments. Frank accepted her kind invitation and thanked her on behalf of the Section.
- 2Frank has not yet written his letter to the SJ Executive about the Prison façade.
- 3Marie-Louise Backhurst has received an interesting letter from Mrs Florence Wilson, who was born in 1914 at the Chelsea Hotel.
- 4Georgia Le Maistre reminded the meeting that the booklet about the Mont de La Ville dolmen by James Hibbs is still in print; it is a reprint of an article from the SJ Bulletin. The dolmen was going to be levelled for the Fort Regent parade ground. David Levitt said that the dolmen is now only a collection of stones in Henley-on-Thames; he is not convinced that their return is of any historical worth. Alec Podger also queried its return to Jersey as it cannot be re-erected on the original site. Frank said that models and sketches survive so there is a fairly clear idea of its original appearance; however there is a missing kist.
- 5The 2003 autumn lunch-time lectures -
- Derek Gray wants more photographs of Ronez Quarry; Nelson Fauvel and Graham Harris were suggested as contacts.
- Georgia Le Maistre said that she had a difficulty with the Mont de La Ville archive because it is mostly in French. Jean Arthur offered to speak instead as she has already made notes from the papers; Georgia accepted with alacrity.
- Bob Le Sueur will talk on La Rocco Tower, rather than Seymour Tower.
- Nick Jouault has the text of a French paper on vraic; practices are similar in Jersey.
- Election of Section Officers and Committee
- Hon. Chairman : Frank Falle; Hon. Secretary : Mary Billot; Correspondence Secretary : Nick Jouault (Internet queries). Committee : Jean Arthur, Geraint Jennings (our Web pages), Georgia Le Maistre, Bob Le Sueur.
- Derek Gray and David Levitt proposed the re-election of the Officers and Committee en bloc; Mervyn Billot and Georgia Le Maistre seconded the proposal. The meeting agreed unanimously.
- Frank will call a committee meeting but he felt that it was difficult to separate administration from the history content (cf. the programme of lectures). Mary Billot said that she was very grateful to Geraint for loading Section minutes and other items on our Web pages.
- Chairman's announcements
- 1The 2004 Autumn lunch-time lectures will be a special series for the 1204-2004 island-wide celebrations. Provisional programme as follows -
· Alec Podger will investigate the maritime situation in the early 1200s
· David Levitt will discuss Eustace the Monk and hostage taking
· Frank Falle will cover ' The development of the parochial system including vingtaines'
· A speaker is needed to talk on the development of the castles and fortifications caused by the parting from France - a volunteer please
There will also be the Wace conference, (hopefully) the Joan Stevens lecture for 2004, and the JHT events including the launch of Sir James Holt's book.
- 2The study group to North Finistère in 2003 : to reiterate arrangements so far -
· Dates : Thursday September 11 to Sunday September 14th 2003 (3 nights)
· Hotel : Hotel de l'Europe, Morlaix (2 star with 60 rooms and a restaurant); Go France is the agent
· Travel via Emeraude to St Malo where the coach will meet the party
· Cost £143.00 per person for 3 nights bed and breakfast and the return ferry fare
· Extras to be costed are the coach hire, 4 lunches (Prof. M-J will group book as he did for the Dinan trip). Travel insurance and evening meals (3) are not included
· Size of party : upto 30 people. History Section members have priority; then those who went to Pirou. It will be announced in the Spring 2003 newsletter and also to the 'Down your way' walks mailing list
· Please let Mary Billot know if you are interested; she has 20 names already and will need to ask for a deposit soon so that Go France can reserve the hotel rooms
· Prof. M-J is in Brittany now to discuss the programme with Mme Laurent. He will report back in February
- Members' contributions and any other business
- 1Marie-Louise has seen a new book on the later Stuarts, which include mention of a marriage to a d'Auvergne. She is researching 19th century criminal statistics for an extended essay. BBC Radio 4 is running a series called Mapping the town presented by Julian Richards; she will write suggesting that St Helier would make a suitable subject.
- 2Mary Gibb reported on Le Colombier Manor, St Lawrence, which has had its 20th century additions removed. Jean Arthur, Neil Molyneux, Brian Phillips and Mary have surveyed the house and wonder whether there was a tourelle. Mary said that the new owner is following the highest standards of restoration.
- 3Alec Podger has compiled a list of interesting statistics from the JMSBS shipping records (1835-ca 1860): 6,000 crew (3,000 Jerseymen with parish of birth) about 2,000 ships covering 28,000 voyages. 198 (3.5%) drowned and 540 used aliases. He asked for more volunteers to input from the ledgers.
- 4David Levitt asked if anyone was willing to research the honorary police; Marie-Louise said that she has material, gathered whilst she was on the Holland Enquiry Panel.
- 5Bob Le Sueur said that Earl and Countess Poulett lived at Lille Hus, St Martin; Earl Poulett was the last to hold the 17th century title (from the Paulets). Judge Roy Bean named Langtry, Texas, after Lillie Langtry (population 60); he was infatuated with her, though they never met. A third of the current issue of Current archaeology is about Mont Orgueil Castle.
- 6Nick Jouault said that William Le Fevre built bridges in Prague and the UK. He was also in charge of the relief fund for the loss of the Normandy in 1865.
6.7 Frank Le Blancq said that the 1831 census reported that Jersey's population was 35,000 (Yvonne Aston's query at the November 2002 meeting).He asked about Maison St Louis : (quote) La maison fut placée sous le patronage du Sacré-Coeur, et l'on choisit pour patron secondaire saint Louis de Gonzague : L'Imperial Hotel devint Maison St Louis'. What/where is Gonzague or Gonzago? Is he/it Spanish?
- 8Bertram Brée said that he met M. Hubert at the Maison de Normandie, and is in touch with Mme Lallin and M. F. Neveux on the 1204 links. He will report at the March meeting on the significance of the three leopards in Jersey's coat of arms.
- 9Roy Dobin said that the CIOS meetings in the SJ Members Room are - March 12th on German weaponry; April 9th Mr Kemp on D-Day.
- 10Georgia Le Maistre said that Goodwood House (Duke of Richmond & Gordon) has Guernsey granite. She asked about piracy and the capture of Jerseymen (cf. Salou in North Africa and George de Carteret's raid).
Date of next meeting
Tuesday February 18th 2003, 5.15pm : please note change of venue to Louise Rose Room, Jersey Archive, Clarence Road, St Helier.
The main business of the meeting will be a tour of the Archive. Parking is available.