The East Wing in 1999
by Alex Glendinning
The Journals are now in the care of the States
of Guernsey Island Archives Service and are almost totally intact
from the 18th century onwards. They have been indexed from 1743 to 1856
with work continuing up to 1900.
Until 1990 the Archives were housed in a ward at St Peter Port Hospital,
which was otherwise more or less deserted (except for a prison exercise
area) and has now been converted to a police station.
The East Wing in 1999
Built in 1741 and extended in 1824, in it's time it has served as both
a place of healing and a poor house. The first sight that greets the visitor
inside the front entrance is a window at ground level, covered in bars,
with the legend "Solitary Cells" emblazoned on the wall above
it. These cells were once used to punish runaways from the poorhouse .
The Journals were one of the first records the Archives were asked to look
after. As well as recording details of the inmates and patients, the books
also contain lists of purchases of food and raw materials.
Example Entries
30 June 1838: "Samson Toy (Note 1), born in the Parish (of St
Peter Port), son of an Englishman, a drunk, aged about 50 was admitted to
the Hospital after being recommended by the Douzaine." Clearly they
had got fed up with fishing him off the pavement ! He must have been freed
at some stage because on 14 November 1839, " Samson Toy - ivroque et
fainéant (lazy and a drunkard) was arrested by the police and sent
to the House of Separation." Out he went and back again! 15 June 1840
- " readmitted after living a life of debauchery".
On 11 September 1840 Samson Toy and William Bell were sent to Plymouth to
serve in the Royal Navy. They got drunk at the first opportunity, sneaked
aboard the Man O'War San Joseph and slept there overnight. Both were
arrested and sent back to Guernsey unwanted on the 18th !
On 26 October 1842 he was sent to the House of Separation for 3 months for
breaking out and going on the run for 15 days and given remission on 30
January 1843. He was freed on 9 December 1843 and 16 days later, on the
25th, was "found in need and brought in, just in time for his Christmas
dinner". Sampson was freed again on 22 July 1844, but ended up back
in the House of Separation by 8th August.
The House of Separation
A vivid description of appears in a letter to the Treasurer of the Hospital
from Mons. M.A. Bazille Corbin - surgeon, dated 6 January 1845: "Gentlemen,
I beg to direct your attention to the crowded and offensive state of the
House of Separation. This building was intended for the reception of 24
persons; but, of late upwards of 30 have often been crowded into it; many
of these are obliged to remain night and day in the same rooms, whilst the
sewers, which have been constructed immediately under the lodges omit exhalations
which frequently cause an almost insupportable stench.
I therefore submit to your consideration whether it be not expedient to
enlarge the premises, so as to render them proportionate to the number of
inmates; and also whether it be not necessary so to alter the disposition
of the sewers, that those confined in the House of Separation be not subjected
to the additional and unjustifiable punishment of living in a stinking and
unhealthy atmosphere.
Another and a most important motive for enlarging the premises is, that
at present there is no room for classification. The young offenders, and
those but little advanced in the career of vice, are crowded together in
the same apartments with old and hardened criminals and generally leave
the place more demoralised and vicious then they entered it; thus rendering
the establishment a house of deterioration and corruption, rather than a
house of correction".
Emigrants
By 1846 Samson's daughter had been picked up 'off the streets' unable
to make a living any other way than prostitution. 10th September - Elizabeth
Toy (Note 2) , aged 22, the daughter of Sampson Toy, described as
a "prostituée", was admitted suffering from "la maladie
vinerienne".
Many of the poor emigrated to Canada, the UK and Australia, if their fares
could be paid by the trustees of the hospital . Sampson and Elizabeth both
took advantage of the scheme. He left Guernsey on 21 April 1845 to go to
the Gaspé and Elizabeth on 27 August 1847, boarded a ship to Demerara
in British Guiana, South America.
Other emigrants included Julia Easterbrook, Susanne Kendricks and her baby
daughter. They, along with 16 others all went on the same ship (the Onyx,
under Captain Jones) to the same destination, Adelaide, South Australia
on 26 June 1848 "of their own free will, having been equipped with
money and everything necessary for such a long journey" (Note 3).
Julia was a charge of the Constable. On 7th November 1847, aged 15, she
was "received by the Treasurer and admitted provisionally - daughter
of Jean Easterbrook who has returned to England"; so she began her
time in the Poorhouse as a charge on the Parish. I discovered one other
entry for her, on the 11th January 1848 "Julia Easterbrook aged 16,
daugher of an Englishman, returned from service due to bad behaviour".
Susanne was first admitted on 31st December 1847 aged 22, "native of
St Peter Port, daughter of the deceased Mr Jean Kendrick who was from Brixham
and had resided 26 years on the Island, was pregnant and admitted at her
own request." On 26th February 1848 the Journals record "an illegitimate
daughter born" - the baby, also named Susanne, was baptised at the
Hospital Chapel on 15 March the same year. So, when she began her journey
to Australia she was but 3 months old.
Note 1. Samson (b. circa 1787) was the son of another Samson Toy
(bap. 11.9.1757 at Illogan in Cornwall - son of John Toy and Elizabeth Stone)
and Jane Furze, whose only record I have is a burial in St Peter Port on
17.9.1828.
Note 2. Samson married Margaret Le Lievre of Alderney 5.11.1812 at
St Peter Port Parish Church and had seven children. Elizabeth was the sixth,
baptised there 10.7.1825. Before the Poorhouse he was a shoemaker. His son
Joseph established a family in Alderney, but the line is now extinct there.
Note 3. These folk and others are also recorded in "Guernsey
Emigrants to Australia 1828-1899" by David W. Kreckler. Published by
La Société Guernsiaise, Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey
GY1 1UG. ISBN 0 9518075 5 2 . Price £ 12.50 plus p&p.
Review from the Channel Islands Family History Journal No. 71 (May 1996)
I have to admit to jumping on this book with some enthusiasm when it arrived
for review, having had a long term interest in the Cohu family of
Guernsey, who have spread all over the world. This publication does not
disappoint. David Kreckler has been collecting references to emigrants from
Guernsey newspapers for some years but this is much more than just an alphabetical
list of them. He has made an effort to trace the immediate origins of each
person recorded and to find out what happened to them on arrival, both from
local and Australian sources. When two emigrants married in Australia, or
came at a different time from other relatives, there are cross references.
Ships' names are recorded, their dates and places of departure and arrival
and the master's name.
Referring to Andrew Cohu, we learn that he was 28 and the master of an English
registered vessel, the Fame, in 1853. She was the smallest ship to
make the run, at 61 tons, departing from Guernsey on August 12 1853 and
arriving in Adelaide January 26 1854. He settled in Melbourne and his place
of origin (Kings Mills, Castel), subsequent marriage, the birth of his first
child and his death are all noted, culled from notices in the Guernsey Comet
and the Gazette. His wife was Eva Le Page of Guernsey and the entry refers
us to her arrival (aboard the Secret in 1854). Her entry then introduces
us to her brothers: Charles, who was on the same ship, and Peter and George,
who arrived the previous year aboard another vessel. Their dates of birth,
parents' names and appearances in the census of 1851 are also given.
It is a fair bet that most Guernsey families will have at least one entry
in this book, others have many (there are 16 Le Pages) and it is a useful
addition to the growing number of research sources devoted to family history.
Alex Glendinning.