Have you ever wondered what life in Jersey – and more particularly in St Helier – was like a hundred years ago, let alone in the mid-nineteenth century? According to our distinguished guest speaker, it was a very different place from today. There were thousands of rough-and-ready seamen, many of whom roamed the teeming and chaotic streets drinking, chasing loose women and gambling. It was the honorary police’s job -including the respected and feared Centenier George Le Cronier – to keep order. Within weeks of each other two murders occurred and then Le Cronier himself fell victim. This is the context of the talk.

ANTHONY DANIELS, who generally uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, is an accomplished English writer and retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in the East End of London.

Mr Daniels is a prolific author, essayist and blogger. A keen observer of human nature, he writes perceptively from a wealth of experience, having lived or visited dangerous environments in Africa, North Korea, Albania, Afghanistan and Indonesia. He has travelled extensively, both as a doctor and journalist. When visiting Jersey with time on his hands he decided to research the subject of his talk, and as a result produced the book, “The Policeman and The Brothel: A Victorian Murder”.

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