To the Bagot Manor born – but which one?

Friday 20 September 2024

For many years, two properties have claimed to be 'Bagot Manor' but which is the right one? And which is connected to an infamous banking crash?

Archivist and Digital Access Manager Harry Le Feuvre has been delving into the history of properties in Longueville and Bagot for the latest installation of ‘Your Home, Your Story’ talks from Jersey Heritage.

Ahead of his talk taking place at Jersey Archive tomorrow morning (Saturday 21 September), he shared part of his research...

In 1895, Laura Adèle Le Boutillier sold ‘Le Manoir de Bagot’, including ‘the farmhouse’ – or Bagot Manor Farm – to Philippe Jean Picot, whose family owned the property until 1927 when it was sold to Walter Philip Mourant. How then, is there also a contract dated May 1901 which records George Edward Bashford inheriting ‘Bagot Manor’ from his late father, George William Bashford?

The answer is that for a time there were two properties named ‘Bagot Manor’, located less than 300 metres away from each other on opposite sides of Longueville Road. The ‘real’ manor, which is thought to have stood in some form from the 15^th century until the manor house was demolished in 1935, was ‘Le Manoir de Bagot’, while the other ‘Bagot Manor’ was not a manor in the real sense of the word, but rather a name given to a property formerly known as ‘Petit Bagot’ at some point after 1851.

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, one, or both, of the Bagot Manors were at the centre of two controversies. In 1923, an unspecified ‘Bagot Manor’ was picked as the fictional address of a fake filmmaking company known as Victoria Photoplays which scammed Islanders into giving up their money for a (non-existent) chance to appear on the silver screen (a story covered in detail for Looking Back in March earlier this year).

The second involved the ‘other’ Bagot Manor, when ownership of the property changed hands in the aftermath of the infamous Jersey banking crash of 1886. Philippe Gosset, who had inherited ‘Bagot Manor’ from his grandfather Isaac Gosset in 1854, was the Manager of the Jersey Banking Company when it failed. 

Gosset was also the Treasurer of the States at this time, and in 1886 it transpired that he abused the powers afforded to him in this dual role. Gosset is reported to have speculated with States money, bought stocks unwisely and made false loans through another company, directly resulting in the bank’s failure. 

Pictured: An extract from the court case against Philippe Gosset between March and May 1886 (Jersey Heritage)

The collapse of the Jersey Banking Company had international ramifications, affecting not only people in Jersey, but also those involved in the cod trade in the Gaspé, Canada. One of the larger companies involved in this trade, Robin and Company, established by Jerseyman Charles Robin, was bankrupted as a result.

Gosset was arrested on 14 January 1886 along with his Under Manager, Charles Sorel. The trial, which began on 31 March, lasted six weeks. On 8 May, Gosset was found guilty of ‘embezzlement of public monies and fraudulently disposing of securities left in his custody’ and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

His crime was considered serious enough that the Bailiff signed a warrant for Gosset’s transfer from the prison in St Helier to one in the UK. On 10 May 1886, he was transported to the infamous Wormwood Scrubs.

Pictured: The warrant signed by the Bailiff authorising Philippe Gosset's transfer from prison in Jersey to Wormwood Scrubs in 1886 (Jersey Heritage)

As a result of his imprisonment, Gosset’s vast estate of movable property, which included crystal glasses, an oak study table and a chest, was liquidated and converted to cash.  Liquidation also applied to a person’s immovable assets and on 26 March 1887, the authorities passed a contract for the sale  of ‘Bagot Manor’, a cottage, gardens and land, to Joseph Hornby.

Hornby sold ‘Bagot Manor’ in January 1891, along with the cottage and land, to George William Bashford. Originally a photographer, Bashford had started buying land in this area in 1870, and described himself as a horticulturist on the 1891 census.

Sadly, Bashford died in October that year and his eldest son and principal heir, George Edward Bashford, inherited the property in a contract recorded ten years later in 1901. In 1906, George junior sold ‘Bagot Manor’ and land to the family company, Bashfords Limited, while his siblings also sold other properties and land in the surrounding area on the south of Longueville Road. It was on this land that ‘Bashford Vineries’, also known as ‘Bagot Manor Vineries’, was established.

In 1967, George Wakeham, as director of Bashfords, sold ‘Bagot Manor’ and surrounding lands to the Public of Jersey. Much of the land was later developed for housing estates, including Le Clos Gosset, named in recognition of the family who for many years throughout the 19^th century owned and lived at the ‘other’ Bagot Manor which once stood on the site.

Pictured: A portrait of Philippe Gosset taken by Henry Mullins in 1869 (Société Jersiaise)

In the run up to the development of this area, the proposed compulsory purchase of part of what was agricultural land to the north of Longueville Road came up against strong objections from the two men who owned the land in question: Captain Guy Janvrin Robin, of Petit Menage, and Walter Philip Mourant, of Bagot Manor Farm, the farmhouse associated with the ‘real’ Bagot Manor.

Arguing that the plans would see the potential loss of nearly 20 vergées of grazing land, the disposal of valuable herd of cattle, and the rendering of extensive outbuildings and stables as useless, Robin and Mourant presented a petition to the States in the form of a memorandum approved by the Council of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society on 19 June 1961. 

Robin and Mourant argued that agriculture was the fundamental industry of the Island, and of paramount importance to its economic long-term stability. The pair put forward an impassioned argument against the development, stating that they viewed ‘with the utmost horror, alarm and dismay the proposed indiscriminate dismemberment and merciless mutilation of their Island-famed and long-established farms’.

Robin, who had been one of those caught up in the filmmaking scam in 1923, eventually sold his land to the States in May 1969. Bagot Manor Farm, one of the four properties in the area of Longueville and Bagot nominated for this month’s talk, was not sold by Walter Mourant, and subsequently passed down through the family.

LEARN MORE...

This article only touches on some of the research into the Longueville and Bagot area for the 'Your Home, Your Story' (YHYS) series, sponsored by Antony Gibb Historic Buildings Consultants.

If you would like to hear more stories, Jersey Archive is hosting a free talk this Saturday (21 September) at 10am.

To book a place for the talk, call 833300 or email archives@jerseyheritage.org. The Archive will also be open from 9am-1pm for general research.