Daniel Watkins

Daniel Watkins was an eminent Judge and Jurist and presided over the Court of Assizes of and for the Island of Guernsey for many years. On his burial record for the Town Church in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Daniel is given the title of "Mons" (which is a French title of Honor given to persons of high birth or rank.)

Although Daniel Watkins was himself a bachelor, he educated his sisters grandchild, Richard Watkins Woolcock, to law. Daniel was also Godfather to some of his sisters children. The Burial Register at the Town Church, for the parish of St Peter Port in Guernsey records his death as Mons Daniel Watkins, 22 Sept 1791. He died at age 81.

Daniel Watkins father, was Jean Watkins (That is the French word for John). He married Judith Mahyel,29 July 1695 in the Catel Parish, Guernsey, Channel Islands, they had seven children. Channel Islands branch of the Watkins family are descendants of the sixteenth century refugee Hugenots who fled to the island to escape religious persecution in France. They earlier were adherents of Charles Stuarts who fled to France during his banishment.

Guernsey's long association with the English Crown began when the Duke of Normandy, know to us as William the Conqueror, became King of England in 1066. Later, after King John's loss of Normany in 1204, the town and harbour of St. Peter Port in Guernsey became an important haven being sheltered by the neighboring islands and guarded at the harbour by Castle Cornet. In 1279 Guernsey was granted its own seal and a Governor appointed by the King. But the island maintained the old Norman laws which were administered, as they still are today, by a Bailiff assisted by twelve Jurats.