One of Guernsey’s famous sons

Thomas de la Rue was born in the Forest in 1793. His childhood home is now demolished but there is a blue plaque on the corner of the Forest Stores next to where the house was.
At the age of 10 he was apprenticed to a printer in St Peter Port.
He went into business with Tom Greenslade and together they launched the newspaper Le Publiciste  but that partnership wasn’t long lasting and he launched his own publication, Le Miroir politique, first published on 6 February 1813.
In 1816 he moved to London and started by making straw hats.
In 1831 he was granted the right to print playing cards; the first company to do so. In 1858 he retired from the de la Rue business, handing it over to his sons. The business continued to flourish printing among other things, currency and British passports. When Brexit meant the passport design would change the contract was awarded to a French firm.
You will note that this is a bust of de la Rue. For some reason (or maybe no reason) there isn’t a single statue of a Guernsey person in Guernsey. We do have statues, Victoria, Albert, Victor Hugo to name a few.