17th February 1680
Man convicted of killing Charles I dies in Elizabeth Castle
James Temple had been one of the judges in the trial of Charles I, and his was one of the 59 signatures on the king’s death warrant. When the monarchy was restored following Cromwell’s death, he tried to leave the country, but was captured on his way to Ireland.
Despite his signature appearing on the king’s death warrant, he claimed at his own trial that he had begged Cromwell to spare the king’s life. Thus, Temple’s life was spared in return and he was sent to Jersey to be detained, first at Mont Orgueil, and latterly at Elizabeth Castle, where he died, 31 years to the day after Charles II had been declared king less than a mile away.
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Other events that occured in February
Surrealist artist Marcel Moore commits suicide
- Marcel Moore was born Suzanne Alberte Malherbe, in Nantes, in 1892. She moved to Jersey in 1937 with her partner, Claude Cahun.
- Read more…
The Channel Islands are cut off from the outside world
- The only communications link between Jersey and the mainland was severed, leaving the island isolated from the outside world.
- Read more…
The government of Jersey is unveiled
- The council of ministers adopted the ‘Government of Jersey’ as the island government’s official identity at home and abroad.
- Read more…
Jersey author John Lemprière dies
- Lempriere's Bibliotheca Classica, published in 1788, was considered a standard text and definitive reference on classical mythology.
- Read more…
