Sydney George Benest

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Sydney George Benest


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From The Benests of Millbrook – One Hundred Years
by Jack Lawrence Benest, published 1988

Sydney and Mary's 1912 wedding

Family and education

Sydney George Benest the second son of William Le Bas Benest, was born in St Helier on 26 February 1883. His father decided not to send him to Oxenford House School where his elder brother had been educated, but to Burt's School in St Helier. The school was conducted from buildings now occupied by the Ritz Hotel in Colomberie [1]. He was one of the first pupils to enrol at this school. Sydney had a very adventurous early life. He was apprenticed to a shipping company (as his younger brother William was to be a year later) at the early age of 13. In January 1897 he set sail from Redcar Wharf, Midddlesbrough, on a three-masted barque bound for the port of Kobe, Japan.

Life at sea was very hard in those days. Voyages were long with poor food, the diet often consisting of only salt pork and ship's biscuits, usually full of maggots. I can well remember him fondly recounting stories of those early days in his life. He would recall the memory of his first voyage to Japan. The journey lasted the extraordinarily long time of 307 days before they arrived at their destination. As the vessel approached the Japanese port she was unable to enter, on account of hurricane force winds, which drove the windjammer into the China seas. It took them six weeks before they were able to make Kobe again.

He was also fond of recalling his voyage round Cape Horn, which the vessel had done on the longest day of the year. In that latitude the transition from night into day is very short. In this very short period of time, and in the very rough wather always prevailing in that region, as daylight returned, the lookout called from the crowsnest that the vessel was headed straight for the Diego Ramirez, a treacherous reef of rocks situted below the southernmost tip of South America. He was very relieved that he had rounded Cape Horn on the longest day of the year and not the shortest, as the outcome would have been very different. I have in my possession the sea chest that my uncle took with him on these sea voyages all those years ago, a poignant reminder of a way of life now long gone.

Boer War

After he left the sea he journeyed to other parts of the world. He went to South Africa, where, at the time of the Boer War, he joined the British army. I am not sure that he particularly enjoyed this period of his life, as he always took a somewhat jaundiced view of life in His or Her Majesty's Forces. While in South Africa the troops with whom he was serving were being sent to the front in dirty cattle trucks. To his disgust he observed Boer prisoners of war, captured at the front, being sent to prisoner-of-war camps behind the British lines. These men were being transported to their camps in first class railway carriges. I think this incident had a profound effect on his future attitude to service life.

Later he travelled to Canada, where he took up a quarter section of land, thinking of becoming a farmer. He told me that he had given this up as he did not think he could stand the lonelinees and isolation in the outback of Canada.

He went back to sea again, this time as a waiter on the Union Castle liners, journeying back and forth from Southampton, Capetown and Durban. I believe that it was on one of these voyages that he was given the opportunity of a job in South Africa, looking after a club for white settlers in a place called Kokstad. After being there for some time he had a desire to return to Jersey, not uncommon among natives of these isles. He asked his younger brother, William, my father, if he would like to take over the stewardship, which he did. A copy of a letter in my possession from the Royal Hotel, Kopkstad, East Griqualand, dated 24 February 1902, sent by a Jersey family residing in Kokstad, mentions that William was staying with them at the time, and that he had just started working at the club.

I am not sure exactly when Sydney achieved his desire to return to his native isle. I think it must have been some considerable time later than 1902. It is possible that he had no settled plans for his future at that time, and was probably unaware that he would eventually take over the family business.

Return to Jersey

When Sydney returned to Jersey after his world-wide travels, and decided to remain in the island permanently, he had to set about finding some employment. He eventually purchased a small business selling tea, mostly to farmers and residents in the western country parishes of the island. All he had to buy was the horse and cart, plus the stock, which consisted of various types and blends of tea. The connections that he built up and the large number of customers that he made among the farming community were eventually to form the basis of substantial country rounds for supplying families in the rural areas with groceries, wines and spirits, cattle feed, and similar items.

When Sydney took over the family business at Lisbon House, these country rounds were to be the mainstay of the business for many years. There are quite a number of descendants of these families who are regular customers at S G Benest's supermarkets today. After William Le Bas retired from business in 1912, Sydney took over the business from his father renting the property at an annual rental of £60. The name over the shop was changed from W Le Bas Benest to S G Benest. The business had been under William's direction from 1888 to 1912. Under its new management it was to continue under the name of S G Benest for the next 33 years.

On 14 March 1912, at St Lawrence Parish Church, Sydney married Mabel Nicolle, eldest daughter of John and Emma Nicolle, of China Ouarry Farm, St Lawrence. After their honeymoon in London, they set up home at Lisbon House. Mabel Nicolle was the elder sister of my mother, Helen Nicolle, who had married William Benest the previous year. The union of two brothers marrying two sisters was to establish the very close family connection that existed between myself and the family of Sydney George Benest.

The family business continued to be run on similar lines as previously, except that the large number of customers that Sydney had acquired all over the island were now added to it. The business had a very good local trade, plus an island-wide connection supplying groceries, wines and spirits, and cattle feed. ln those days all deliveries were made by horse and van. I think that it was some time after the First World War ended that the firm acquired its first motorised transport. a very large Ford van. I can remember as a small child being taken round the countryside in it when I visited Jersey from time to time.

Notes and references

  1. Since demolished for housing
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