Local History

The strong room in the basement of the Royal Court holds a huge number of documents; birth records, court cases, weddings, deaths and more spanning the island's history.

Her Majesty's Greffier is responsible for overseeing the island's record keeping and especially that clear records are kept of all court decisions.

The current Greffier, Ken Tough, showed us that one former Greffier was ordered to amend the records to write a prominent English figure out of the island's history.

Minutes with names crossed out

Oliver Cromwell was one of those responsible for overthrowing Charles I and later as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland ruled as king in all but name.

After the Restoration King Charles II ordered that his name, along with his son Richard and the other regicides would be stricken from all official records.

A previous Royal Court clerk went through Guernsey's Chief Pleas minute books carefully crossing out the names, but they can still easily be read whether by accident or design.