As part of our popular Timelines series, Rob Batiste leafs through the family tree of one of Guernsey’s most prominent figures – and discovers a strong Westcountry connection …

GEOFFREY’S grandmother, Elsie Smith, was one of the 11 children of Charles James Smith. He had been born in Guernsey in 1855, the son of Thomas Smith, originally from Farnham, Surrey, and Rhoda Druce from Somerset.

GEOFF’S mother Muriel was born in 1921, the third of five children. The Bailiff’s Uncle Arthur is the only one of those children still alive.

HAD he not cracked it in law, you get a strong feeling Geoffrey Rowland would have dearly loved to enjoy the life of a top sportsman. A busy man he undoubtedly is, but our Bailiff wastes few chances to watch top sport and support the island’s teams everywhere and across all sports.

THE Marley family roots can also be traced back to the Westcountry – in this case to the hamlet of Bampton, near Tiverton in north Devon. John Marley was born there in 1748 and on 20 July 1783 married Sarah Brewer, also from Bampton.

RICHARD Samuel West Rowland, the Bailiff Geoffrey Rowland’s grandfather, was born in 1855 in Littleham, a parish forming part of Exmouth in south Devon.