Born in Saumur in 1818, Felix Benoist was a french painter and lithographer who visited Jersey before 1870 and made a number of detailed drawings of local views, which was published as a book of lithographs in 1870
West Park today is dominated by traffic. Sandwiched between the Esplanade on one side - the main gateway to St Helier from the west - and St Aubin's Road and Victoria Avenue on the other, carrying thousands of vehicles a day in either direction, it is undoubtedly the island's busiest crossroads. A century and a half ago things were very different, as this coloured lithograph which had the place of honour on the cover of the special bulletin published to mark the centenary of La Société Jersiaise in 1973, shows so vividly. The original drawing was made by Felix Benoist, and published in 1870 as part of Album de l'Ile de Jersey, and shows the area in much greater detail than any of the photographs which survive from that era. The view is from the summit of westmount, where a Victorian family is shown enjoying the outlook. Below them horses graze among rocky outcrops, long since levelled . But it is the scene along the coast which is most fascinating. No sea wall has yet been built, and a large shipyard occupies the shoreline on the right, smoke belching out of its chimney. There are further similar chimneys to the left, one standing next to the site now occupied by the Grand Hotel, which would not appear for another two decades. Benoist shows clearly how the town of St Helier has already spread to what remains its western boundary to this day, the Triangle Park and People's Park providing a valuable open space. This painting, which was in the collection of John Blench at the time of the centenary, is one of the best overall views of the island's capital town to survive from Victorian times. But there is something missing from the picture which suggests that Benoist's drawing was made some time before 1870, as suggested in the Société anniversary bulletin. A year earlier the States had agreed to the establishment of Jersey's first railway, from the Weighbridge to Saint Aubin. The lines were laid and test runs were taking place in September of 1870. So, although the lithograph, along with those shown below, appeared in a book published in 1870, Benoist must have made his drawing at least a year earlier. And judging by the lack of a sea wall to the east of the shipyard, probably around 1865
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File:S16StBBay1870Benoist.jpg|St Brelade's Bay
File:W16BenoistStAubin1870.jpg|Saint Aubin
File:W16BouleyBayBenoist1870.jpg|Bouley Bay
File:W16HermitageBenoist1872.jpg|The Hermitage
File:W16PlemontBenoist1870.jpg|Plemont
File:W16StCatherineBenoist1870.jpg|St Catherine
File:W16VCJBenoist1870.jpg|Victoria College
File:W16VictoriaPierBenoist1870.jpg|Victoria Pier
File:W16WestParkBenoist1870.jpg|West Park
File:W17BenoistPrince'sTower.jpg|Prince's Tower, La Hougue Bie
File:W17BenoistGrottesDeLecq.jpg|Grottes de Lecq
File:W17BenoistStPeterPort.jpg|St Peter Port, Guernsey
File:W17BenoistCherbourg.jpg|Cherbourg, Normandy
File:W17BenoistGranville.jpg|Granville, Normandy
File:W17BenoistAvranches.jpg|Avranches, Normandy
File:W17BenoistMontStMichel.jpg|Mont St Michel
File:W17BenoistStMalo.jpg|St Malo, Brittany
File:W17BenoistStMalo2.jpg|St Malo
