Great War

From Jerripedia

The Great War

A Jersey corporal returns home from the front, a hero to all, and certainly his young daughter. Sadly we do not know their names, nor how such an intimate family photograph could appear on a Continental auction site in 2019

The temporary wooden Cenotaph erected in the Parade to commemorate the war and its casualties. It was later replaced by a permanent granite memorial

The First World War, from 1914-1918, universally known as the Great War, did not affect the Channel Islands in the same way as the second global conflict which followed 21 years later. Then the islands were invaded by the Germans and occupied for over five years. In the Great War the front was many hundreds of miles distant in Eastern France, but many islanders fought there.

With a death toll much greater than that of the Second World War, this was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Sadly it failed miserably in that respect, but it did end the lives of many Channel Islanders, fighting not only in France but as far afield as the Middle East and East Africa.

Roll of Honour of Jersey casualties

Nearly 100 years after the First World War ended research continues into those Channel Islanders who fought in the conflict and those born in, living in or with close associations with the islands who lost their lives. The initial Roll of Honour commissioned by the States of Jersey after the war ended contained the names of 862 men who were killed in action or died from their wounds or disease, among them 100 officers. But in addition to the 6292 islanders who are estimated to have participated in the war, more than 2,300 Frenchmen who were resident in Jersey when war broke out left the island to enlist in their country's forces. It is now believed that some 1500 men who were born and/or lived in Jersey, or had close family connections, lost their lives. Follow this link to a Jerripedia index of the updated Roll of Honour.

Our family pages contain lists of Jerseymen and women who served during the Great War. We acknowledge the valued work of The Channel Islands Great War Study Group website, the website dedicated to every aspect of that war, and Jersey Pals which documents the 326 Jerseyman who left the island to join the UK Army as the Jersey Contingent, on which these lists, and those linked from this page, are based.

Memorial in France to Jersey Contingent casualties, particularly on the Somme in 1916

The Jersey Overseas Contingent

When war broke out Jersey was heavily defended but by late 1914 it was clear that there was no threat to the island. Some 18 months after the start of the war the United Kingdom government called on Jersey and Guernsey to in introduce compulsory military service for all men between 18 and 41. It was not until February 1917 that the Jersey States passed the Military Service Act and the Royal Militia Island of Jersey was suspended for the remainder of the war.

Members of the Militia volunteered to form a contingent to go off to fight in the war. By February 1915 an infantry company of 230 officers and men was ready to embark, later joined by another 96. Read their story.

It was still necessary to guard the island's coast lines, harbours and facilities, and two new units were formed to perform the role, the Royal Jersey Garrison Battalion (RJGB), and 110th Company, Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA).

These are the names recorded as members of the RJGB:

Guernsey's horrific losses

Although Guernsey's Militia entered the war after Jersey's, it was to suffer much greater casualties. At the end of 1916 the island's Militia was disbanded and the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Regiment formed from its members and conscripts. After a period of training they were sent to the front line near Ypres and in November 1917 went into action in the Battle of Cambrai. By 3 December the 1200 officers and men of the RGLI had been reduced to just 501. Further action as Passchendaele the following month saw that number reduced to 55 men and two officers.

Life in the island

Whereas the Second World War and German Occupation had a dramatic effect on life in Jersey, the same was not true for the earlier conflict. The outbreak of war in summer 1914 had an immediate impact on the island's tourism and agriculture industries as German hotel staff and French workers left to join their respective countries' armies. Initially islanders did not know what to expect from the war and the militia guarded the coastline. Although there were naval skirmishes in the Channel, none were in sight of the Channel Islands and life went on much as normal.

The departure of over 2000 French farm workers put an enormous strain on the industry and farmers appealed against conscription orders so that their sons could stay and help them with the potato crops and dairy cattle. This led to bad feeling between town families whose sons left the island to fight and die, and country families which remained intact.

Ladies of the Red Cross sewing at La Hougue Boete in 1915

Newspapers and mail arrived in the island daily throughout the war and only sugar and petrol were rationed. Inflation grew rapidly as the war progressed and some goods were in short supply. The departure of so many men to fight in the war led to an increasing number of women joining the workforce to replace them.

Stories of heroism during the war: A series of articles on the lives of some of Jersey's war heroes
Life in Jersey during the Great War: A series of articles based on newspaper reports and archived documents Added 2018
Mobilisation of French reservists
Life in the Great War
The Cenotaph
War memorials
World War 1 recipients of the Military Cross ...
... and NCOs and other ranks who were awarded the DCM and MM
Pigeon Officer Added 2022

Prisoner of war camp

The prisoner of war camp under construction in 1915

The fighting may have been taking place a long way from Jersey but it soon became very apparent that Britain was at war when the War Office ordered the construction of a prisoner-of-war camp at Les Blanches Banques, which received its first prisoners in March 1915 and was eventually to house 1,500. Numbers dwindled later in the war as prisoners were sent to England where there was more work for them to undertake. The camp finally closed in October 1919.

Most islanders were curious about the enemy prisoners, but many people’s feeling towards their camp in St Ouen’s Bay has been one of envy. Local contractors employed in its building and fitting out reported that camp was a model construction. There were very well equipped kitchens, wash rooms and laundry facilities. The huts were heated, and supplied with quality mattresses and bedding. What’s more, the whole facility was lit by electricity – at a time when most people in the Island had no access to such modern power.

After weeks of excited speculation, the first German prisoners of war arrived in Jersey on 20 March 1915. A ship bearing just under 600 of them arrived in St Helier Harbour. Two days later another batch of around 400 joined them.

In the days beforehand, the local authorities had tried to keep the date and time of the prisoner’s arrival secret. But it was obvious from the preparations underway both in the camp and at the Brighton Road military hospital that something was imminent. As a result, a crowd of onlookers was present when the prisoners arrived, despite the early hour.

The newly arrived enemy prisoners attracted considerable interest. Curious islanders approached the camp. Their presence highlighted an ongoing dispute between the military and parish authorities. This relatef to uncertainty over responsibility for policing the road that runs from St Peter’s Barracks past the Blanches Banques site. In a response to queries, the Lieut-Governor confirmed that the road was under Army control, as was the entire area immediately surrounding the camp. General Rochfort asked for the Honorary Police’s cooperation, however, in arresting anyone who tried to approach the camp.

One enterprising company even organised motor bus tours from St Helier to the camp.

The funeral procession arrives at the church

There was indignation at an apparent campaign to raise funds for helping the prisoners. A letter appeared in a local newspaper asking for donations towards buying a piano for the camp. It led to a number of other correspondents condemning the plan, and an investigation by the authorities. This failed to find out who was behind the idea but did discover that one local woman, who was German by birth, had approached the camp with an offer to buy cigarettes for the inmates. The offer was declined.

Funeral

Islanders may have become used to the sight of military funerals, but one held in St Peter in August 1915 attracted special attention. The deceased was a German sailor, one the prisoners of war held in St Ouen’s Bay.

Karl Brundig, a 21-year-old captured in 1914 following the sinking of the cruiser Mainz, died at the camp on 24 August after a reported epileptic fit. With permission of the camp commander, Lt-Colonel Haines, the young man’s remains were conveyed on a carriage accompanied by 50 of his comrades. The solemn cortege left St Peter’s Barracks, where the body was lying at rest, and made its way to St Peter’s Church.

Curious locals lined the route, some climbing on walls to get a better view. Following a ceremony in St Peter’s Church, the coffin was carried to a grave in the churchyard and lowered into the ground to the sound of rifle volleys fired overhead.

The story of the camp's construction, by the man who oversaw the project

French village adopted

Soyecourt and Jersey:A tale of adoption after the Great War

War diary

Clarence Ahier's Great War diary, a Jersey soldier's account of life in the trenches
Clarence Ahier's Great War diary - Part 2 - 1917, the second part of his diary

Home on leave

An aspect of the First World War which was not to be repeated in the second conflict 25 years later was the ability of Jerseymen serving in the forces to return home on leave.

This picture shows brothers Georges and Henri Langlois, sergeants in the intelligence department of the Jersey Contingent who were able to return to Jersey briefly in 1917. They are pictured with their father Alfred and mother Victorine and sister Madeleine on the right. George Langlois' wife Berthe (nee Le Miere) is seated on the left and their children Yvonne (3) and Alfred (5) are either side of their grandmother.
A wounded soldier is given a lift in a sidecar after returning home in 1914

Gallery

Life in Jersey during the War

A special album of Great War photographs

This postcard was sent to his parents in Jersey in 1916 by Louis Mars, who was serving with the French Army at Verdun. When he sent it he could scarcely have known that Battle of Verdun, the longest, and one of the bloodiest of the war, would be over in five weeks, the French ultimately victorious. He would also have no idea that the war would still have another two years to run, to the day, from when he sent his love to his parents and assured them that he was well. Louis was born in Lille in the north of France in 1893, the second son of Augustin and Adelphine Mars, also born in Lille, and married there in 1889. The family, including Louis' elder brother Jules, moved to Jersey in the 1890s and lived in Le Geyt Street, where Augustin and his wife ran a grocery in a corner shop in 1901. By 1911 they had moved to De La Rocque Farm, Mont au Pretre. Augustin was the farmer and Jules worked for him. Adelphine still ran the grocer's shop, assisted by Louis. When the war broke out in 1914 it is likely that both brothers would have travelled to France to join the French Army, but neither is listed in Jersey's Roll of Service

The Ibex crowded with volunteers for the Army leaves St Helier Harbour in 1914

The Viscount, Mr R R Lempriere, reads the proclamation of the declaration of war, in the Royal Square
States Members arrive for a special sitting after the declaration of war in 1914 - picture by Percival Dunham
A creche was established at Beaulieu for the children of mothers who had to go out to work when their husbands joined the army
Another picture of the creche by Percival Dunham, dated 1914
Declaration of War in 1914
Peace march in 1914
Peace march 1914
A World War 1 soldier in uniform
Revolver practice for coastguards at Grouville Common in June 1914, picture by Percival Dunham
Injured in the First World War, Lt Beaufort is married in Jersey, picture by Percival Dunham
St Martin's Peace Fete, 1919
Training with a gun at South Hill in World War 1
St Ouen ex-Servicemen 1914-18
St Ouen ex-Servicemen 1914-18
Soldiers about to leave Jersey to participate in the war
French reservists
A Militia detachment ready for service
At a Militia camp

It is well documented that during the Second World War Jersey was occupied by the Germans, but not so well known that in the earlier conflict of 1914-1918 German prisoners of war were transported to Jersey. The main camp built to house them was on the sand dunes in St Ouen's Bay, but an early holiday camp at Grouville was also pressed into service and in an eerie foretaste of events to come in central Europe, it was described as a concentration camp

Leaving St Helier harbour
French reservists
Unknown officer
Hampshire Regiment in France in 1917
French reservists in Caledonia Place
Militia machine gun corps in France in 1917
French reservists on the Alberta
Alberta in 1917
Women were recruited by the Post Office to replace men who had gone to war
A 1918 victory parade
Nurses in a 1919 victory parade
Recruits parade in People's Park
Volunteers for battle
Parcels for prisoners of war are packed in Jersey
Dignitaries await a departure of men for the front on the Albert Pier
Volunteers about to leave the island, some of them never to return, in June 1917