The research material held at the Priaulx Library
in Guernsey includes a microfilm of the surviving Constables records of
the Parish of St Peter Port. They include a list of the population of St
Peter Port (the capital) prepared in 1827 and a register of all passengers
landing in the Island from 1828 to 1832. Both are excellent finding aids
that predate the censuses for those whose family histories include the legend
that a member of the family may have visited the Island, married there or
maybe even lived there for a time.
On the 20th August 1827, in the presence of the Bailiff, Daniel de Lisle
Brock, an extraordinary assembly of the Royal Court was called "as
a consequence of recent thefts and attempted thefts on the public highways,
and the danger to life from firearms used in break ins and general complaints
received about the great number of suspicious strangers walking about in
the town and the country, many without anywhere to live." There were
also other complaints about "colporteurs", 19th Century travelling
salesmen who, on the pretext of offering their merchandise, were getting
into private homes and gathering information assumed to be used for future
burglaries.
The Court decided action was required and took the following steps:
1. All persons occupying houses, or part of a house, within eight days after
the publication of the present order, should give to the Constables of their
respective parishes a list of all those who occupy that house, or part of
a house.
2. This list should distinguish between Natives and non-Natives and children
who are under age, those born in the Island must be on the same list as
their fathers.
3. Any changes to the list must be reported within 24 hours. If someone
leaves and another moves in, the owner of the house must inform the Constables.
Those who do not adhere to these three clauses can be fined an amount not
exceeding 50 Livres Tournois.
4. The Constables of the Parishes will keep a book and go to each house,
with the list, to check that it is correct. The Constables will keep another
book for the non-natives only, strangers who have been living in the parish
more than a month, and another for strangers who have lived there less than
one month. After they have lived there for that month their names should
be transferred to the first list. All changes to the list must be reported
to the Constables and entered into the books with dates of the report.
5. All the Masters of Vessels, Barques or Boats arriving on this Island,
must provide on their arrival, or after 24 hours at the latest, the Constables
with an exact list of all passengers who have disembarked. Failure carried
the penalty of a 70 Livres Tournois fine per passenger disembarked, who
had not been reported.
6. It is forbidden to anybody, after the publication of the present law,
to to sell merchandise on the roads and public highways or to offer to sell
on the roads, houses or anywhere else, if they do not have a place to sell
these items. They can sell from premises, but those who break the law will
be liable to a fine not exceeding 50 Livres Tournois. Despite this order
it is possible for reputable tradesmen who wish to sell to ask permission
from the constable, but no further trading in the roads will be allowed.
This law will be presented in public and published so that no one can plead
ignorance.
The first set of records are organised by Vingtaine (district) beginning
with Vingtaine de la Grand Rue then the Pollet etc and contain the following
three headings: "Natives or Spouses of Natives who are Permanently
Established", "Strangers who Intend to Stay at a House or Lodgings
of their Own" and "Those Passing Through, Resident at Hotels or
Other Lodgings for Strangers."
Beneath each column males and females are separately listed and grouped
together by household. The houses are not named, but listed by the name
of the owner (i.e. Edouard Brouard's). Children are counted, but not named.
All the non-natives of Guernsey during this period of the 19th century are
here. After the statistics comes an indexed list of male strangers (abstracted
from the main list), each of whom has been allocated a number, making them
easy to locate. Coincidentally I was recently asked by a friend in America
to find someone who fitted the description of a "passer through"
and used this list to locate him. His entry looks like this:
NAME: Geo. Taylor (wife and 3 children)
AGE: 45
COUNTY OF ORIGIN: Cheriton, Devon
WHERE RESIDENT: Mansell Street
PROFESSION: Carpenter
LENGTH OF RESIDENCE: This section was unfortunately blank.
Whilst perusing this list I spotted one individual living a long way from
home !
NAME: Thos. Coke Isham (wife and child)
AGE: 22
COUNTY OF ORIGIN: Antigua
WHERE RESIDENT: At Mrs Baxter's, High Street
PROFESSION: Plasterer
LENGTH OF RESIDENCE: 6 years
Judging from the amount of information included in the last two sections,
when the survey was done, a lot more questions were asked than is indicated
by the main list; which must have been copied out into the bound book that
remains today.
Going on to the register of passengers landed, this book is not indexed
and contains five columns headed: List of Passengers, Where From, Date,
Profession, Ship's Master and Port (of departure). There will be some lucky
researchers with ancestors who came to Guernsey at this time, who will find
this list useful.
Also among the Constables records on these films are two Stranger Poor Lists,
one from 1848 which is indexed and the other from 1892, which also contains
the Constable's record of funds used to send them home, in some cases back
to England.