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Guernsey on the Front Line
(Anglo-French military rivalry over the Channel Islands from 1775 to 1904)
On the evening of the 3rd February 2012 your Committee and the staff at the Priaulx Library will be holding a military lecture for all Friends in the Lecture Theatre at Guernsey Museum and an associated exhibition in the Library.
The lecturers will address the key role the Channel Islands have played in the naval strategy of England and France, the former seeking advanced harbours of refuge and observation, bases for the gathering of intelligence and staging posts for continental expeditions. France has, on a number of occasions, temporarily occupied or attacked all four of our principal Channel Islands.
The subsequent imposition on both the Channel Islands and France in building impressive fortifications and coast defences to resist naval attack will also feature.
The two main lecturers will be-:
Professor Andrew Lambert,
A British naval historian who is currently Laughton Professor of Naval history in the Department of War Studies at King‟s College, London. His work focuses on the naval and strategic history of the British Empire between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, and the early development of naval historical writing. He lectures on his subjects around the world and is a noted author and television presenter on historical naval matters.
Monsieur Emmanuel Boulard,
He is currently completing a doctorate on French coastal defence and has in-depth-knowledge on French coastal defence and naval strategy from 1775 to 1904. In an e-mail in English he states “ I am able to give a 40 minute lecture in English. It would not be of the richest Shakespearian vocabulary, but it would be sufficiently fluent for your audience”.
Jurat Colin Partridge, a local military historian of note, is the co-ordinator of the two main speakers. The associated exhibition at the Priaulx Library, organised by Chief Librarian Amanda Bennett and her Deputy Sue Laker will not only exhibit original books and charts covering the lecturer‟s period but will also encompass the bi-centenary anniversaries in 2012 of General Le Marchant and Sir Isaac Brock.
Free admission for Friends and £10 for non-Friends. More details of this most important lecture can be found on the attached flyer which we would be pleased if you coule print out and display.