20th March 1835

Guernsey guidebook pioneer Henry Inglis dies

Henry Inglis wrote one of the first guides to the Channel Islands. He was already a renowned travel writer when he arrived on Jersey in the 1830s to edit an English-language newspaper. While there, he wrote a respected guide to Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, called The Channel Islands, which was sold in two volumes.

The Globe reviewed Inglis’ guide to the Channel Islands on 8 May 1934.

We agree with Mr Inglis that more is generally known in Great Britain of the smallest of our colonies in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans than of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and the other Channel islands,” it wrote. “The public are indebted to him for two very agreeable and instructive volumes on the subject. He is a shrewd observer, and gives his opinions freely and candidly on the state of society in those islands; he has gathered besides a great deal of interesting matter relative to the history and statistics of the country. His volumes form an excellent guide-book for visitors to that quarter, and, in addition, are highly entertaining. There is also a chapter on health and disease in Jersey, by Dr Scholefield, which conveys some useful hints.

Life of a travel writer

Inglis was born in Edinburgh in 1795, and originally published books under the name Derwent Conway. He spent much of his life travelling, and writing about what he experienced. His first book took in the Ardennes, and was followed by volumes on Switzerland, the south of France, Norway, Spain, Germany, Denmark and Ireland.

Although his travel books were big sellers, his one attempt at fiction, a three-volume work called The New Gil Blas, wasn’t well received.

Inglis died on 20 March 1835, aged just 40. The cause of his surprisinly young death was said to be a disease of the brain cause by over-working.