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
Channel 103 goes on the air
- Channel 103 won the licence to broadcast to Jersey in 1992. It had been one of several applicants for the licence.
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Thomas Waite is buried at St Saviour
- Thomas Waite, Member of Parliament for Rutland, was one of the 59 men who sat as judges at the trial of King Charles I, which convicted the king and sentenced him to death. Waite’s signature was on the death warrant.
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Jersey mosquito trap inventor dies
- The inventor of the mosquito trap traveled widely but spent many years living and working in the island of Jersey.
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Hitler orders the Channel Islands’ fortification
- Hitler ordered that the islands be fortified as part of his plans for an Atlantic Wall. The defences would therefore include between 200 and 250 strongpoints on each of the larger islands
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