Guernsey coffee pioneer turned Costa Rican hero honoured by local artist and schools

Sunday 13 January 2019

We may not as easily be able to grab a latte today if it were not for one Guernseyman who lived in the 19th century, but the people of Costa Rica have far more to thank him for and this year a local artist is travelling to the country to be in a commemorative residency.

William Le Lacheur (1802-1863) was famed in his day for bringing coffee beans straight into the UK from the Americas but the role he played in Costa Rican independence 200 years ago has not been forgotten.

Pictured: Local artist Frances Lemmon

Frances Lemmon, who recently featured on Sky Arts' Landscape Artist of the Year sets off to the country today, where she'll work with local families discovering the tradesman's lasting legacy ahead of the bicentenary of Costa Rica's independence in 2021.

Frances has been working with Beechwood School creating art pieces based on the theme ‘what is unique to Guernsey?’ and will facilitate a similar project with children in San Ramón, including a question and answer document to enable a cultural exchange to take place. She will also be undertaking a series of paintings that will reflect her impressions of Costa Rica.

 

Pictured: Beechwood students work on their 'what makes Guernsey unique?' project with Frances Lemmon.

Le Lacheur’s philanthropic work involved the distribution of over 3,500 bibles across the country. In 1843 he established a route shipping coffee from Puntarenas to London, loading his first cargo of nearly 5,000 bags of coffee. Le Lacheur was able to bring trade between London and Costa Rica and consequently enabled a better standard of living to be achieved for the coffee-growing families and improving local employment in Guernsey. 

In 1856 Le Lacheur allowed one of his fleet to be used by the army to defend the northern border of the country, successfully repelling the American filibusters, for which he is still honoured and celebrated in Costa Rica to this day. His legacy includes a memorial at the Church of the Good Shepherd in San Jose and his image on the country's bank notes and stamps from the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Pictured: The Good Shepherd church in San Jose Costa Rica, the site of a memorial to William Le Lacheur.

Anyone with any historical artefacts or documents about William Le Lacheur is being encouraged to contact Frances Lemmon via email.

Russ Fossey, from the Guernsey Arts Commission said:

“We are pleased to be supporting this project as it develops and builds on cultural links with Costa Rica. Frances’ project reminds us of the significant impact of Le Lacheur’s presence on the world stage, and uses art to educate and celebrate a significant global entrepreneur.” 

Ms Lemon’s project in Costa Rica will feed into Art in Schools initiative, run by David Ummels, which this year will also focus on William Le Lacheur. 

On her return to Guernsey she'll be working towards her solo exhibition in October at the Guernsey Arts Commission’s Greenhouse Gallery in Candie Museum, and the Art in Schools Exhibition in June in the Inner Market in conjunction with local schools.

Pictured top: Frances Lemon.