History Meeting Minutes - August 2008

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 19th August 2008, 5.15pm Members Room, Société Jersiaise

Present:
Frank Falle (Chairman), Jean Arthur, Marie-Louise Backhurst, Mary Billot, Bertram Brée, John Clarke, Francis & Anne Corbet, Sue Groves, Andy Harris, Christopher Harris, Nicolas Jouault, David Le Maistre, GeorgIa Le Maistre, Bob Le Sueur, Mike Lees, David Levitt, Pat Maindonald, Will Millow, Colin Russell (visitor), Doreen Schofield-Fost.
 
 
1.0 Apologies for absence:
Mervyn Billot, Sally Knight, Suzanne Le Feuvre, Ian Machin, Linda Romeril, Danny White.

2.0 Minutes of the meeting of 15th July 2008, and amendments
There were no amendments. The minutes were approved as a correct record.

3.0 Matters arising from the minutes not covered by the agenda
4.1 Nick Jouault said that he has told Geraint Jennings about George Cosens; Geraint still has the ‘Black history’ pages on his SJ web pages.
4.5 Jean Arthur said that she has researched Seafield House, Millbrook. Nick Jouault said that the intended visit would probably take place in the summer 2009. Bob Le Sueur asked about the printed programme of meetings that used to be mailed out. It ceased a few years and the calendar is now available on the SJ website, with all History Section meetings and talks.
4.6 Nick said that the walk around St Aubin is a joint outing with the History and Marine Biology Sections.
5.2 David Le Maistre said that the Moulin de Lecq Inn provided a very good supper.

4.0          Chairman’s communications
4.1 Frank Falle said that the July supper was a great success and asked whether another one should be arranged. The 2008 Tennerfest starts in October. After some discussion, it was agreed that Doreen Schofield-Fost would contact the Smugglers’ Inn at Ouaisné, the Pomme d’Or and others to ask about the use of a meetings room, followed by supper for up to twenty.
4.2 Frank said that £20,000 would pay for the creation of two flocks of pregnant multi-horned sheep from the UK for the National Trust for Jersey and a local veterinarian. They will be here by the end of 2008.
4.3 He has suggested that there should be sculptures of sheep in the Royal Square (formerly the Market) to emphasise their financial importance in the 17th century. The industry was of more monetary value than cattle and apples as stockings were knitted and exported. Sheep became rare after about 1700.
4.4 Pitcher VC : £110,000 has been received by Spink, which includes the commission. The UK VAT (£3,850) can be reclaimed and will go to the ‘Help for Heroes’ charity. Mrs Anne Allen-Stevens will give her share of £90,000 to the same charity. UK GiftAid will make up the sum to £115,000/£120,000.  Jonathan Voak will bring the medals to Jersey on September 8th 2008 for a celebration at St Martin’s Church, the location of the Pitcher memorial window. They will be given to the Island for posterity to be in the care of Jersey Heritage. The new local charity ‘Raising the Standard!’ has been formed to enable the purchase of similar military items of local importance.
4.5 The Autumn lecture series is ready.   < This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Please note that Mary Billot requires brief autobiographies and summaries of the talks from all five speakers for the press release.
4.6 Bertram Brée asked the participants on the Normandy trip to bring their cameras and take notes for the presentation at the 2008 Christmas gathering. The departure date of September 4th coincides with the birth date of Chateaubriand in St Malo in 1768. There will be lunch at Cancale on Sept. 8th with a visit to the Oyster Museum at 2pm.

5.0 Military History Group
5.1 Mike Lees has found another milestone (no.7 on the route to Grève de Lecq, near the mill). They are on the Godfray Map and the Ordnance Survey map of 1935. Milestone 6 by Milestone Cottage, Rozel, appears to have been moved from the Harbour at some point. Frank Falle said that the markers indicated the best routes for cannon and horses. They formed a network, which did not just radiate from the Royal Square. The first were those ordered by General Don; extra ones followed and a later set is from 1834.
5.2 Frank thanked Mike Lees and Bob Le Sueur for their talks at Le Câtel Fort.
5.3 Bob Le Sueur circulated his mother’s album, which includes two pen and ink drawings by Blanches Banques WW1 prisoners of war, which will be of interest to Ian Ronayne.

6.0 Local History Teaching Group
Francis Corbet said there had been no progress during the summer holidays. They will be able to obtain funds for any projects.

7.0 Members’ contributions
7.1 Visitor Colin Russell said that he was researching military interments, in particular two men who died at  the Battle of Zeebrugge (1918); he did not want the gravestones to fade from memory. Ian Ronayne  (WW1), Paul Nicolle (Militia), Sue Payn (war memorials), Mike Lees (Gunners) and Chris Aubin (war  grave photographs) were named as useful contacts.
7.2 Georgia Le Maistre said that the Vingtaine de la Ville had agreed to erect a plaque to Elias Le Gros (born 1781, died ca 1860) by the Royal Square sundial, his only surviving memorial. Other plaques will be put at La Comédie Theatre, Regent Road and La Corderie Rope Walk, off Green Street.
7.3 Christopher Harris said that he and Marie-Louise Backhurst could both recommend the Oxford University Advanced Diploma in Local History, studied via the internet at a cost of £1,500.
  Another useful course from Oxford’s Department of Continuing Education is on the Victorian censuses 
 www.conted.ox.ac.uk.
Christopher has completed a paper on Sark in 1841, which has been sent to a journal for possible publication. Sark’s population in 1841 was at a peak of 790 (it is now about 600) and included about 200 Cornish tin miners working in the silver mine. The local populus was very inbred with ten surnames; only eleven of those were born outside Sark. Migration was outward and Sarkees became merchants; inward migration was impossible given the fixed number of tenements (forty). He has studied the anglicization of the Christian names and suggests that this was caused by the introduction of Methodism to Sark.
7.4 Bob Le Sueur asked everyone to wear sensible shoes on the Seymour Tower walk on August 31st.  He asks anyone with a GPS device to bring it along.
7.5    Marie-Louise Backhurst has been asked to speak on Victor Hugo for a Mormon TV programme. She        speaks  on ‘What makes Jersey tick?’ in Granville on September 27th (in French). She will talk on St Aubin on the  walk on Sept. 27th and on its maritime history on Sept. 28th (a repeat of the Friends of  the Maritime Museum talk in March 2008).
 She said that research is needed into the 1916/1917 travel permits to Southampton, held at the Archive.
   She warned that the new Island Plan could jeopardise our historic buildings. Please fill in the  questionnaire online at <http://consult.gov.je/portal> to register your views.
7.5 Nick Jouault circulated an article ‘The sea-weed harvest in Jersey’ from The leisure hour, August 1st 1861. [Copy with official minutes].
7.6 John Clarke asked about the ordnance for a 2lb cannon ball. Mike Lees said that it would be for a 2lb cannon or cannonade. Georgia Le Maistre asked John about the proposed Hue Street dig, who replied that an archaeologist would do it.
7.7 David Le Maistre remarked on a Canadian website for ex-WW1 soldiers, many with Jersey connections.

8. Date of next meeting
 Tuesday 16th September 2008 at 5.15pm in the Members Room, Société Jersiaise if available, otherwise in the Arthur Mourant Room.   Sarah Jordan has kindly agreed to take the minutes.