J A Messervy

James Messervy was the pre-eminent Jersey historian at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. He was born in 1859, the son of the Rev Thomas George Messervy of Coie Terrace and Estelle Francoise Guillaume. He was educated at Victoria College from the ages of 10 to 18 and then went to a College in Vire, Calvados, and subsequently university in Caen. He followed his father in becoming a Minister in the Reformed Church in Normandy and in 1893, a year before returning to Jersey, he married Carolina Leonie Auguste Quirin, daughter of another Minister, Frederic Auguste Quirin. He is described in the 1901 census as a 'retired clergyman'.

He became Librarian of La Société Jersiaise and editor of its Bulletins and publications. He died in 1921 after becoming by far the most prolific historical researcher and writer in the early Société Bulletins. He worked very closely with his wife, who was known as Auguste, and continued publishing some of his work after his death in her own name, although the style of writing suggests strongly that he might have been the original writer of some of the publications.

Messervy wrote a series of Bulletin articles under the heading Notices sur Quelques Anciennes Familles Jersiaises. De la Rocque, de Soulemont, de Rue, de Carteret (1535 onwards), Journeaux, Le Breton, Romeril, Hue, Falle of Maufant, Fondan of St Peter, Robin, Jutize, Patriarche, Lemprieres of St John and Bisson. All except the last two, were gathered together in a bound book by G T Messervy (possibly a son or grandson) and eventually donated to the Société. The book also has the title Notices sur Quelques Anciennes Familles Jersiaises but the pages are simply extracted from original bulletins, not reprinted, and there may have been just the one family copy.

There are further separate booklets by Messervy, giving histories of the Lemprières of Dielament, the Payn family of St Lawrence and the de Gruchy famly.

Messervy’s many other articles include lists of rectors for various churches, lists of Bailiffs, Lieut-Biliffs and Juge Delegues, lists of Attorney-Generals and Jurats. These have been widely copied and versions can be found on the internet, with no attribution to Messervy. They form the basis for similar listings in Jerripedia, which have also reverted to Messervy's main source in the French archives.