The Le Marchant’s Town House

This is now the St Peter Port Constables Office which I have blipped before but it was built for the Le Marchant family.
Today you have the life of an important military Guernseyman.


Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant (1766-1812)

The dunce who founded the Royal Military College
Gaspard Le Marchant was another who was a victim of Guernsey’s lack of educational facilities so was sent to a boarding school in Bath, where he was adjudged by his schoolmaster to be the greatest dunce he had ever met!. 

In 1781 at the age of 15 Le Marchant was appointed an ensign in the Wiltshire Militia. 
Eventually he transferred to the Queens Bays. Here he attracted the notice of George III with whom he became a great favourite. After serving in the Bays of Flanders campaign of 1793-94 he was transferred yet again; this time to the 16th Lancers. 

Around this time he devised a system of cavalry sword exercises which, after approval by the Duke of York, were described by Le Marchant in his Cavalry Sword Exercises published in 1796. In 1797 he suggested a new sword pattern which was adopted by the Blues in 1797. He was presented with a sword (which I believe is still in Guernsey) in recognition of his efforts, and on the strength of which he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and transferred once more to the 7th Hussars quartered near Windsor.

It was at this juncture that Le Marchant made his main contribution whereby he earned military immortality, submitting plans to the Duke of York in 1799 for the establishment of the Royal Military College. This was ultimately founded in 1802 and Le Marchant became its first Lieutenant-Governor, where he remained for nine years. Originally the college had a senior department at High Wycombe and a junior one at Great Marlow, though both were later moved to Sandhurst.

In 1810 he was promoted to Major-General and given command of a brigade of heavy cavalry in the peninsula. On 22 July 1812 he led a charge of 800 horse against 5,000 infantry, scattering the enemy and taking 1,500 prisoners. At the climax of the engagement he was shot in the groin and died almost immediately, being hastily buried in a nearby olive grove. In recognition of his invaluable services a monument to his memory was set up in St Paul’s Cathedral and a pension of 1,200 settled on his family.