As the Channel Islands have long belonged to Great Britain it is
obviously incorrect to class them under the Frontier provinces of
France. And yet some mention must be made of them, for many book-plates
used there have a distinctly French character, whilst a list of the
names of some of the leading families (of French origin), will show that
a collector might easily be led to mistake their plates for French:
Allès, Le Patourel, Metivier, Mauger, Le Dieu, Bichard, Andros, Bonamy,
Brock, Blondel, Beauvoir or De Beauvoir, Carey, Cary, or Careye, De
Carteret, Effard, de Jersey, de Havilland or Haviland, Gosselin, Dobrée,
Perchard, Le Mesurier, Mesny, Millais, Milais, Milet, Priaulx, De
Sausmarez or Saumarez, Fautret, De Vie, Lihou, Guille, Le Marchant, Le
Febvre, Le Roy, Le Pelley, Tupper, Le Gros, Lemprière, De Lisle, Falla,
De Putron, Renouf, Le Gallienne, Naftel.
I give reproductions of three such plates, one a fine specimen of
engraving, of Peter Dobree, a family long settled in Guernsey, the other
a more modern plate of the Le Mesurier family, to which the fleur-de-lys
and the motto give a French appearance. The motto is the same as that
used on his book-plate by David Garrick, who was himself of Huguenot
descent. The third is a plate of Peter de Havilland, a member of a very
old Guernsey family, now represented by General de Havilland. There is a
plate of this family by Skinner, of Bath, dated 1742. (See pp. 159, 160,
161.)
There are several instances of ancient French titles being held by
residents in Great Britain, or our Colonies, which titles are also
recognized by our heraldic authorities. As their book-plates would
undoubtedly pass for French, a few explanatory notes about them may be
given.
The Barony du Bois de Ferrieres may be instanced. The Du Bois was a
Walloon family, whilst the De Ferrieres branch was of Huguenot descent,
which removed from France to Holland at the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. The family motto was _Tout par et pour Dieu_.
The Marquis de Lapasture was created a French nobleman in 1768; his
descendants settled in England.
The Baron de Teissier, created by French patent in 1819, was also
permitted by royal authority to use that title in Great Britain.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE DE VISME FAMILY.]
Another descendant of an ancient noble French family identified with
this country was the Marquis Ruault de Longueville de Bucy, who was
educated at Eton and Cambridge, and served in the Bechuanaland
Expedition with Methuen’s Horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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