Was your ancestor a troublemaker, a victim of hard times, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Between 1817 and 1877, hundreds of individuals passed through the doors of Guernsey’s Public Prison, their names recorded in the prison registers alongside details of their offences. Some were locked up for petty disorder, theft, or vagrancy, while others faced more serious accusations like robbery or desertion from a ship. For family historians, these records offer a rare glimpse into the struggles, misfortunes, and sometimes desperate choices of those who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Was your ancestor a troublemaker, a victim of hard times, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Between 1817 and 1877, hundreds of individuals passed through the doors of Guernsey’s Public Prison, their names recorded in the prison registers alongside details of their offences. Some were locked up for petty disorder, theft, or vagrancy, while others faced more serious accusations like robbery or desertion from a ship. For family historians, these records offer a rare glimpse into the struggles, misfortunes, and sometimes desperate choices of those who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Delve into these prison registers and discover your ancestors criminal past. We have digitised the prison registers held in Guernsey’s Island Archives. We have created transcripts of the vital details including:
We always encourage you to view the record. Additional information can be found in the records including officers who arrested them, cause, and event.
You can explore two of the Guernsey Public Prison registers dated from 1817 to 1877. The Guernsey Public Prison was built in 1815. From Tudor Times, prisoners were held in a small facility in Castle Cornet. By the early 19th century this was no longer suitable. A new prison was built on St James Street near the Royal Court House at the cost of £11,000. The new building did not bring with it modern conditions for the prisoners. The goal was built without a sick bay, chapel, kitchen or dayroom and only one privy. Gradully conditions improved in the 1850s and 1860s with improvements to the prisoners’ diet, sanitation condition and work programs. A new prison, and the facility still used today, was built in 1878 at Les Nicolles.
Structure of the Volumes
The early Guernsey Public Prison registers have a set structure with column headers. The register was recorded in French and translations are provided below. The second volume, 1834-1877, started with individual entries for each person until 1838. Then the register skipped the years 1838 to 1857. From 1857 onwards, the register was organised into columns with headers and recorded in English.
Most of the prison registers were recorded in French. Below is a list of the column headers you will find and their English translations. We have also included general criminal terms to assist you with reading the registers.
**Column headers: **
**Specific Crimes **
**Criminal Acts & Related Terms **