5th October 1812
Painter John Le Capelain is born in St Helier
There’s a debate over the birthplace of Jersey painter John (later Jean) Le Capelain. What is known is that the event occurred on 5 October 1812 and, as his father was the Jersey lithographer Samuel Le Capelain, he naturally became a renowned painter in his own right.
The States of Jersey commissioned an album of watercolours from Le Capelain to commemorate Queen Victoria’s visit in 1846, a copy of which was sent as a gift to the queen herself. She was so impressed that she commissioned Le Capelain to paint a series of views of the Isle of Wight where she frequently spent time living at Osborne House.
Le Capelain’s death in Jersey
Unfortunately, Le Capelain developed tuberculosis while working on the queen’s commission, and this would ultimately be the cause of his death in Jersey, aged 36, on 17 October 1848. He was buried in St Helier. The commission was incomplete at the time he died.
Le Capelain’s painting of Mont Orgueil, as viewed across the water, featured on the back of Jersey’s £20 note first issued in 1976.
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Other events that occured in October
Lillie Langtry is born
- Lillie Langtry was born in Jersey and became a socialite in London where she had affairs with several well known men.
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Prolific writer George d’La Forge dies
- George F Le Feuvre was born in St Ouen on 29 September 1891 and, over the next nine decades, did much to preserve the Jèrriais language, despite spending many years in Canada and America.
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Fort Regent construction approved
- Construction of the leisure and entertainment centre at Fort Regent was authorised in 1961 but it would take several years to complete.
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Parliamentarians land at St Ouen’s Bay
- Jersey was strongly in favour of the monarch during the English Civil War, which led to an invasion by 84 ships, that landed 3000 Parliamentarian forces at St Ouen’s Bay.
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