St Peter Port 1680-1830

Gregory Stevens Cox's immensely readable and meticulously researched history of St Peter Port in the eighteenth century provides a fascinating account of the town's place in the trading world of the Atlantic. He shows that it was trade, not privateering, which led to the growth of the town; and he shows how it was transformed from a `French' to an `English' community. He brings the town and its inhabitants alive, in all their various activities of work, family and sociability. MARTIN DAUNTON, Professor of Economic History, University of Cambridge For over a century St Peter Port, Guernsey, functioned as an international entrepot, handling millions of gallons of alcohol and large quantities of tobacco. This study examines the volume and value of the port trade. But this is more than a simple study of the port. Using a variety of analytic techniques the author considers the impact of the entrepot trade on the demographic, cultural and social structures of St Peter Port. He shows the consequences of migration and how a small, poor `French' town of some three thousand inhabitants was transformed into a wealthy `English' town with a population some five times greater. Dr GREGORY STEVENS COX is head of history, Blanchelande Girls' College, St Peter Port.