500 years of historic reading - part 2

23 December 2024

Jersey Invasions and War

In this second article on the 500 years of minutes from the States Assembly, we discover that the Island has been invaded several times over the centuries—and not just by foreign soldiers!

Underground moles

Would you believe it that Islanders were called to arms against moles in 1675 – and we are talking the furry underground type, not foreign spies.

'Considering the great devastation and the considerable damage that the moles bring both to plowing and to grassland… The States today have ordered and are ordering that everyone must do their duty to take the Moles from their land…'

However, this clearly wasn’t enough because by 1785 there is an ‘infinite number of moles which infest the country,’ and by 1792 you could earn yourself 2 sous per mole that you turned into the Vingteniers. The Vingteniers were then required to remove the tails of the moles and keep them to be counted. A staggering thirty-six thousand, two hundred and forty-eight moles were caught, for which £6,348 and eight sous were paid out. Not a good result for the moles but some still lived on which is more than can be said for the Martens and Weasels which the States sought to ‘exterminate’ in 1649 and succeeded. (By the way, a sous was an old French copper coin equivalent to one shilling.)

Beetles and berries

Colorado Beetles, also referred to as ‘doryphora de la pomme de terre’ are another invasive species that unfortunately made it to Jersey and so into the Assembly minutes in 1925. They blew over from France in 1947 and beaches were ordered to be sprayed with insecticide after around 200 of them were found on the shoreline. The States Assembly also ordered that the carting of Vraic (seaweed used as fertiliser) was suspended. The fear of the Beetles continued with a further mass invasion in 1963 making it into the minutes.

It's not always just critters which get the States Assembly legislating, the humble Gooseberry was the object of the Assembly’s ire in 1908 when their import was banned, along with any gooseberry cuttings. It was due to the infectious American Gooseberry Mildew

'his zeal for the protection of the country, against the enterprises of the enemy'

Wars impact Jersey

Turning to human invaders, one of the most famous attacks on Jersey came in 1781 – the Battle of Jersey, when French forces attacked the Island. The Minutes of the States that are closest in time are from 22nd February 1781 and contain a rather gushing appreciation of the Commander, Major Peirson who lost his life, and his “his zeal for the protection of the country, against the enterprises of the enemy”. Later Meetings agreed to erect a monument in Major Peirson’s memory, and a letter that was sent by the States to his Father.

Not surprisingly, both World Wars are well represented in the States Assembly minutes, ranging from the banning of all agricultural exports in 1918 – excepting tomatoes, to conscription and prison of war camp construction. In the Second World War, once the Island had been demilitarised, the States Assembly decided to evacuate the Island, but many Members declared that they would be staying in their posts to carry on with their duties. On 1st July 1940, the Bailiff presented the Commander of the German Air Troops in Normandy’s address telling how he intended to ‘neutralize by occupation the military establishments of the island’.

During the Occupation years, some of the States Assembly Minutes featured German and the Minutes needed to be submitted to and approved by the German commandant, again reflecting the situation in the Island.

'The Lieutenant Governor and the Bailiff having taken into consideration that several of the inhabitants of this island have received great losses and damage because their vessels and goods were taken at sea by the rebels who fled from this island, who withdrew and made their lair in the island of Guernsey...'

Pirate neighbours

However, perhaps one of the most ‘amusing’ minutes—at least to us nowadays, was in 1648 when it was reported that rebels within the Island had fled to Guernsey and set themselves up as Pirates robbing ships en route to Jersey and so caused the Lieutenant Governor to raise a fleet of vessels and head off to get rid of them. Makes a difference to discussing inter-island ferry services!

2024 marked five hundred years since the States Assembly began to keep records of its meetings. These minutes can be found at the Jersey Archive, but until 1900 are in mostly handwritten French and Latin.
You can read the first article here.