Meanwhile he received an appointment under Lord Digby, and on the outbreak of the civil wars returned to Jersey, where he took part, under Sir George de Carteret, in the defence of Elizabeth Castle against the parliamentarians. After the capitulation of this fortress in 1651 he went into voluntary exile until the Restoration. In January 1668–9 the bailiff of Jersey nominated him his lieutenant, and he also became jurat. In 1676, however, he resigned his appointment of lieutenant-bailiff in deference to complaints which were made of the unconstitutional way in which he had been appointed jurat, but he retained this latter post until his death. During the last years of his life he occupied himself chiefly in preparing various works relating to the history and laws of Jersey. He died in 1691.
Poingdestre's history of Jersey (‘Cæsarea, or a Discourse of the Island of Jersey’), written in 1682, and presented by the author to James II, is one of the most accurate works on the island, and forms the basis of all that is trustworthy in Falle's ‘History of Jersey.’ But it is as a commentator on the laws and customs of Jersey that Poingdestre deserves chief commendation; and his works on this subject are superior to those of Philip Le Geyt [q. v.] In so far as they relate to the law on real property his ‘Commentaires sur l'Ancienne Coûtume de Normandie,’ and ‘Commentaires sur la Coûtume Réformée de Normandie,’ are of the highest authority. In 1685 Poingdestre was nominated one of the committee commissioned to draw up an abstract of the charters granted by various monarchs to the inhabitants of Jersey, and this work, known as ‘Les Privilèges de l'Ile,’ is still extant in manuscript.
[Ahier's Tableaux Historiques de la Civilisation à Jersey, p. 342; Le Geyt's Works, Preface and vol. iv. p. 65 also MS.; Falle's Hist. of Jersey (Durell's ed.), p. 279; La Croix's Les Etats, p. 58; Payne's Armorial of Jersey; Commissioners' Report, Jersey, 1860; preface to ‘Cæsarea,’ Société Jersiaise, 1889.]
POINS. [See Poyntz.]
POINTER, JOHN (1668–1754), antiquary, born at Alkerton, Oxfordshire, on 19 May 1668, claimed to be descended from Sir William Pointer of Whitchurch, Hampshire. His father, also called John, was rector of Alkerton from 1663 till his death in 1710, and his mother was Elizabeth (d. 1709), daughter of John Hobel, a London merchant. He was educated first at Banbury grammar school, and then at Preston school, Northamptonshire, and matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, on 24 Jan. 1686–7. He graduated B.A. 1691, and M.A. 1694.
Pointer took holy orders, being ordained deacon on 24 Dec. 1693, and priest on 23 Sept. 1694, and from 1693 until he resigned the office in 1722 he was chaplain to his college. He was instituted in September 1694 to the rectory of Slapton, Northamptonshire, which he retained for his life. He was lord of the manor of Keresley in Warwickshire, and in December 1722 he came into other property in the parish. He died on 16 Jan. 1754 in the house of his niece, Mrs. Bradborne of Chesterton in Worfield, Shropshire, and was buried in the chancel of Worfield parish church on 19 Jan. A tablet, now in the north aisle, was erected to his memory.
Pointer was author of:
- ‘An Account of a Roman pavement lately found at Stunsfield, Oxfordshire,’ 1713; dedicated to Dr. Holland, warden of Merton College. When it was censured as ‘a mean performance,’ Pointer vindicated it in an advertisement containing laudatory references to it from Bishop White Kennett, Dr. Musgrave, and others.
- ‘Chronological History of England,’ 1714, 2 vols. Very complete in description of events occurring after 1660. It was intended that the narrative should end with the peace of Utrecht, and it was all printed, but the second volume was not published until after the death of Queen Anne, when the history was brought down to her death, although the index only ran to the earlier date. Six supplements, each containing the incidents of a year, and the last two with the name of ‘Mr. Brockwel’ on the title-page, carried it on to the close of July 1720. For his share in this compilation Pointer received from Lintot, on 24 Dec. 1713, the sum of 10l. 15s. (Nichols, Lit. Anecdotes, viii. 299).
- ‘Miscellanea in usum juventutis Academicæ,’ 1718. It contained the characters, chronology, and a catalogue of the classic authors with instructions for reading them, pagan mythology, Latin exercises, and the corrections of palpable mistakes by English historians.
- ‘A Rational Account of the Weather,’ 1723; 2nd ed. corrected and much enlarged, 1738. It was pointed out in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1748 (pp. 255–6), that this volume supplied the groundwork of ‘The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules to judge of the Weather, by John Claridge, shepherd.’
- ‘Britannia Romana, or Roman antiquities in Britain, viz., coins, camps, and public roads,’ 1724.
- ‘Britannia Triumphans, or an Historical Account of some of the most signal Naval Victories obtained by the English over
