The People of Gibraltar
1840s - Charlotte Paget – Sketches of Gibraltar


Charlotte Jemima Williams was the wife of Stewart Henry Paget (1811-69). During the 1840s according to a local amateur historian Andrew Schembri, Paget worked in the Police Office in Gibraltar. 

The couple seem to have had at least one daughter, Charlotte Julia who was born in 1837, perhaps in Gibraltar. Meanwhile, her mother seems to have developed an interest in sketching, and produced several of these of Gibraltar and the surrounding Spanish countryside. The following are a selection of these.


The Mount - Residence of the Naval Office in charge on the Rock


Governor's Cottage


The view from her terrace


Walk along the east side of the Alameda Gardens


The Rock from the Sea

This last sketch was a copy of a painting by David Roberts dated the 1830s and not one of his best in my opinion as shown below. I also notice she decided against tackling the rather complicated rowing boat on the bottom right of the original.



View from San Roque


View of the Rock from the Spanish coutryside


Paget's Asylum for distressed and Neglected Animals

I can find no record of any institution such as this in Gibraltar at the time. It is possibly wishful thinking on the part of an animal-loving English lady in Gibraltar - or perhaps just some sort of private joke