Ernest le Pelley, 16th Seigneur of Sark (1801–1849) was

Seigneur of Sark The Seigneur of Sark is the head of Sark in the Channel Islands. "Seigneur" is the French word for "lord", and a female head of Sark is called Dame of Sark, of which there have been three. The husband of a female ruler of Sark is not a consort b ...

from 1839 to 1849. In 1844, desperate for funds to continue the operation of the silver

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

on the island, he obtained crown permission to mortgage the

Fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

of Sark for £4,000 to John Allaire, a local

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. In 1845 the ceiling of the mine's deepest gallery collapsed. The company was uninsured for this, and was finally closed in 1847. Le Pelley's heir,

Pierre Carey le Pelley Pierre Carey le Pelley was Seigneur of Sark from 1849 to 1852. In 1844, desperate for funds to continue the operation of the silver Mining, mine on the island, le Pelley's father Ernest le Pelley had obtained The Crown#Crown Dependencies, crown pe ...

was unable to keep up his mortgage payments and was forced to sell the seigneurie of Sark to

Marie Collings Marie Collings (née Allaire; 1791–1853), sometimes referred to as Mary Collings, was a wealthy Guernsey heiress who ruled as Dame of Sark (island) from 1852 to 1853, being the island's second female ruler and the first holder of the fief from ...

, John Allaire's daughter and heiress, for £6,000.F.Cohen and N. Bird ''Silver in the Channel Islands''. Jersey Heritage Trust. pp. 85-86

References

1801 births 1849 deaths Seigneurs of Sark

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...

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