Boomer family

The golfing
Boomer family

Aubrey Boomer

A Jersey family descended from an Irish soldier dominated European golf in the 1920-30s

The founder of La Moye Golf Club was George Boomer, who in 1901 was appointed the first master of the new La Moye School.

Denied access to the prestigious Royal Jersey Golf Club Boomer resolved to make his own course close to his school, using empty tinned fruit cans, biscuit boxes and a second-hand mower. His rudimentary course layout among the sand dunes attracted other golfers and his club developed, although always in the shadow of the Royal Jersey.

He turned professional himself after retiring from La Moye School at the age of 60.

Family

The family's presence in Jersey dates back to about 1817, when Irish soldier George (1776-1832) arrived with his wife Elizabeth and daughters Elizabeth, born in Ireland, and Mary, born in Kent. The couple then had a son, also named George, born in St Martin in 1818. In 1839 he married Virginia Ferguson, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth, nee Kerslake.

They had seven children, six daughters born between 1841 and 1854, followed by son George William, born in St Helier in 1857. He became a teacher and was appointed headmaster of Grouville School. In 1878 he married Emma Ann Jacobs, daughter of William. They had two sons, Percy Hugh, born in 1884, and Aubrey Basil, born in 1897.

George William Boomer had a passion for golf and while at Grouville School he encouraged his pupils to caddy and play on the recently opened links course. These pupils included Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, who would both become Open and US Open champions.

Boomer's pupils also included eventual professionals, the Gaudins and Renoufs. In due course both his sons would become professionals, although Percy spent some time as a teacher in Jersey.

Aubrey

Aubrey acquired his golfing skills on his father's La Moye course and turned professional when he left Victoria College at the age of 17, joining his brother Percy at the Saint Cloud Club in Paris. The Great War then broke out and Aubrey served in the Royal Navy in fast boats, returning to Saint Cloud at the end of the war, before moving to the Waterloo Club in Belgium.

Although his best performance in the British Open was second, he achieved spectacular success in Europe, winning the French Open five times, and coming second on three further occasions. Only the great Spanish golfer of the late 20th century, Seve Ballesteros, has come close to that, winning on four occasions. Boomer won the Belgian Open twice, the Dutch Open three times and the Italian Open once.

He represented Britain in the first two Ryder Cup competitions against the United States in 1927 and 1929.

He first won the French Open in 1921 at Le Touquet, with a 72-hole score of 284, followed by another victory the following year at La Boulie, with a score of 286. After this victory he was described in the New York Times report as a 'French golfing star'.

Boomer was to win again at Saint-Cloud in 1929 with a score of 280; Fourqueux in 1930 with a score of 283; and Deauville in 1931 with a score of 291.