Edmond de Laquaine

Edmond de Laquaine

Edmond Joseph de Laquaine (1880-1962) was the youngest editor of Les Chroniques de Jersey'

Born of Norman parents, in Jersey, on 17 June 1880, Edmond de Laquaine was educated in Granville. His French origins are commemorated in nearby Portbail, where a square has borne his name since 1960

In 1893 he joined the staff of the newspaper La Chronique de Jersey and became the youngest editor of a newspaper in the British Isles on his appointment to that office in 1902. In the same year he was made foreman of the Inquest Jury, a post which he held for sixty years.

He served in the French Army from 1914 to 1918 and, after being severely wounded in the Gallipoli campaign, was seconded as a warrant-officer interpreter to the British Second Army.

Two days after demobilisation in February 1919 he returned to his editorial post, the paper having merged with La Nouvelle Chronique in 1917, and later renamed Les Chroniques de Jersey.

From 1919 onwards he was also secretary and manager of the company. He continued to report on local events and was renowned for the quality of his law court reports. He became well-known throughout the island, seen walking the roads to report on cattle shows and parish assemblies, refusing lifts when they were offered.

Ph'lip et Merrienne

Les Chroniques was de Laquaine's series of Jerriais articles Ph'lip et Merrienne, which were feared to be subversive by the German occupying forces, but on examination by experts in Paris, declared to be quite innocent.

After 1945 as doyen of Jersey journalists, Edmond participated in many official visits to Normandy and Brittany. He was president of La Societe Amicale des Anciens Combattants de Jersey, vice-president of La Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance, and a lifelong member of St Thomas' Church.

1959 saw the last publication of Les Chroniques as economic pressures, reflecting a dramatic drop in circulation with the decline of the French language in Jersey, forced its closure. Edmond de Laquaine retired after 57 years as editor.

He died in 1962, leaving a son, Francis, who had also worked on the newspaper, and two daughters. His wife, Louise Huet, whom he married in 1910, had predeceased him in 1958.

He was honoured by the French Government with the Order of Officier de l'Academie, in December 1930, in recognition of his work for Jerriais.