A Heritage Overlooked?

It is unsurprising that when acquaintances discover that I am from Jersey and being

of a certain age, questions invariably come around to the topic of the German Occupation. What was it like? Do you remember any of it? You know the sort of thing. Of course I very politely answer those questions, elaborating on the defences in terms of the bunkers and gun positions, the underground hospital, the near starvation rations and then the Red Cross parcels, and so on. There is, as most of us know, so much to talk about on the subject, and if we are stuck for something to say, we will undoubtedly leap to a nearby bookshelf and take down our copy of Islands in Danger, A Peculiar Occupation, Jersey under the Swastika or some such similar title to jog a failing memory. The German Occupation has, understandably, become a major piece of Jersey's rich patchwork of heritage, and is tangibly visible through the continued existence of the concrete structures already mentioned and the many books that have been written and which continue to be.

However, can we not say that, in remembering the impact, the horrors and consequences that the Second World War had for us, we have also somehow forgotten the Great War as it affected Jersey? When could we buy a book that discusses Jersey and the events of 90 years ago?

Yet, if we again leap to our bookshelf and open RCF Maugham's Jersey under the Jackboot, we can read early on in Chapter One that, 'Those of us who had lived in Jersey during the 1914-18 war regarded the future with almost complete equanimity. They recalled that at no time during those years was the life of the Island in any material manner disturbed or affected', even though there were, undoubtedly, also many who chose to forget, having suffered bereavement, pain and injury.

As someone once said, 'Things happen!' This was certainly the case in Jersey with some 2,400 French residents being mobilised, more than 1,500 German prisoners incarcerated at Les Blanches Banques POW Camp, the Militia and Victoria College Officers' Training Corps providing 24-hour guards around the Island's coast, the emotionally-charged effort seeking to balance the conscription needs of the Military Service Act while still seeking to retain people to maintain essential services and the supply of food such as potatoes to the Army. There is much more, and one cannot regard surely Maugham's recollection of this period as truly accurate, while there would be few families that did not have a relative serving with His Majesty's Forces or with those of the Allies.

As can be deduced, the Group also looks at the Bailiwick of Guernsey, whose own Great War involvement does at least have some literature to refer to. The Group is still small, with members in Jersey, Guernsey, New Zealand and the UK, but has virtually quadrupled since its formation, and we now publish our research on a website which can be found at: www.greatwarci.net

Over time the intention is to develop the Islands' Rolls of Honour and Service into pictorial records of those who served and died, along with as much biographical detail as we can acquire. In that task we are fortunate that more and more data is becoming available in National Archives in the UK, Australia and Canada for example. While the Rolls are the cornerstone of the website, research and information into other topics such as the POW Camp and the OTC referred to above are also being included along with Guernsey's French Anti-Submarine Seaplane base and personal stories such as the demise of Jersey-woman, Nellie Rault.

With the intervening gap between 1919 and now, there may be the suggestion that we should have considered the construction of a well-known phrase from the words —'door, horse, closing, bolted, stable' and not bothered because it is too late to achieve anything. So far, our research efforts have proved that the opposite is true with individuals contacting the Group with information and photographs and, very slowly, we are capturing details of the Islands' heritage and starting to grow the website, although there is still some way to go.

In writing this piece, I hope that I can bring the Group's existence to the notice of the Jersey Society in London (I am a member but residence in the north of England unfortunately prevents attendance) and the wider expatriate Island community, and would hope that our website can be added to members' list of favourites on their PCs and laptops. However, we would welcome any material, no matter how small, that would add to our fund of knowledge and to help promote a part of Jersey's heritage that seems to have been overlooked!