Decarteret, A Family History

Part 2

First Seigneur

Helier was the son of Sir Edward de Carteret, the previous Seigneur of St Ouen, and a descendant of the long unbroken line of de Carterets of that famous Manor, who had first landed in Jersey in 950 AD. In 1563, still a comparatively young man, he had been married for several years to his first cousin, Margaret, the only daughter and heiress of his uncle, Helier de Carteret, Bailiff of Jersey.

By Margaret, who had previously been married to Clement Dumaresq, Seigneur of Samares, Helier had three children, all sons. Philippe, the oldest of these boys, was later to succeed his father as Seigneur of St Ouen and Sark. Born in 1552, he married, on 10 January 1580, Rachel, the only child of George Poulet, Bailiff of Jersey, at Mont Orgueil Castle.

The second son, Amias, was the founder of the line of de Carterets of Trinity. At Trinity Church, on 10 October 1578, he married Catherine, only child of Gilles Lempriere, Seigneur of Trinity. Catherine died at Castle Cornet, Guernsey, on 2 December 1610, and Amias erected a tablet to her memory in the Town Church at St Peter Port.

Amias has his own special place in the history of the Channel Islands, for, though a Jerseyman, he became Jurat of the Royal Court of Guernsey and later Lieut-Governor and Bailiff of that Island, being the only man ever to hold the two offices at the same time. He died in Guernsey and was buried in the Town Church on 16 April 1631. The third son, William, became a Jurat of the Royal Court of Jersey.

Well satisfied with his experiments on Sark, Helier left his Manor at St Ouen and crossed to the Island with his wife and family and a number of kindred spirits. There were no houses of any kind on Sark, and for shelter they established themselves temporarily in the ruins of St Magloire's monastery and in the chapel which stood on the present site of the old Manoir.

It seems that the ruins were not at all commodious, because the immigrants soon set about building for themselves rough shelters of bracken, stone and furze. This rough accommodation was all of a piece with the hard life which confronted them. Except for the small patch which Helier had cultivated for his experiment, the Island was overgrown with brambles and furze.

Everything they needed, horses, oxen, cattle, food, tools and seed, and building materials had to be brought to the Island from either Jersey or Guernsey. Roads had to be made, houses built and the land cleared and the depredations of wild animals which abounded in the Island had to be overcome.

Margaret de Carteret was a woman of her times. Even so, her courage in accompanying her husband to this desolate island must have been outstanding. Her presence among the colonists and the example she set them, contributed much to the success of the venture.

But Margaret was not the only woman in the company. Under the Letters Patent by which Queen Elizabeth granted Helier the concession, he was to take with him 40 men. Such men would naturally have to share de Carteret's own venturesome qualities and be hardy adventurers, willing to accept the arduous life and the strenuous work necessary to make a success of the new colony.

Many of those he chose were married men, who were prepared to take their wives and families with them. This was a wise and shrewd move, for with the women as homemakers the men would be more content, and the presence of their families would act as a spur. Of the original 40, 35 were Jerseymen and their families, the remaining five coming from Guernsey.