History of Jersey

History

Jersey is a small island with a fascinating history, which has included an influence throughout the world totally out of proportion to its size. Follow the links on this page to the largest history of Jersey available on the Web, and undoubtedly the most comprehensive ever published. This history is growing all the time and Jerripedia users are encouraged to add their own tales of the island's past. Just click on User contributions in the box in the left column and follow the instructions to becoming a Jerripedia contributor

Main subjects

• Pre-history
• When did Jersey become an island?
• How Jersey got its name
• St Helier and Viking raiders
• The Viking era onwards

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• Norman times
• 1204
• 1204 to 1217
• The English Civil War
• Edward IV and a French invasion
• 1769 corn riots
• Invasions and defences
• Laws, customs and privileges
• The Battle of Jersey
• The 19th century in newspaper cuttings
• The Great War
• German Occupation
• Development of Government
• Population growth
• Royal visits and celebrations
• Witchcraft
• Historians
• Maps
• Jersey and the slave trade
• Popular History of Jersey: A 19th century book reproduced in full
• Over 400 Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise historical articles

A timeline of the past

Our Jersey Chronology is a brief history of the island from the arrival of Neanderthal Man in 100,000BC (or thereabouts) to the present day. From the martyrdom of St Helier to the split with Normandy; from the construction of Mont Orgueil Castle to its capture by French invaders; from the establishment of the States to the arrival of Huguenot refugees; from the colonisation of Sark to currency devaluation and riots; from the Battle of Jersey to the opening of Jersey Airport, German occupation and a law permitting divorce - read a potted history of a fascinating island.

A summary of Jersey history in four articles:

• Pre-Civil War
• Post-Civil War
• Economic history and legislative control
• Population and Social system

Newspaper articles

Follow the history of Jersey and its families through our carefully selected articles from newspapers of the past. This section of the site was introduced in 2019, starting with articles from the Jersey Times newspaper from 1848.

Assembled into our own special news page format, these articles show a fascinating picture of life in the island in years gone by. We have added explanatory notes wherever possible and there are links to other associated articles elsewhere in the website. You can access our index of these news selections here:

Newspaper articles index

You will also find a selection of articles about Jersey taken from UK magazines of the 20th century

The Jersey Times selections were supplemented in 2020 by articles from the 19th century Jersey Independent and Evening Posts from 100 years ago. The articles were suspended during the Covid lockdown period and resumed in September 2020 with weekly articles alternating between 1848 and 1920. A further break in 2021 ended with the resumption of fortnightly digests of the news in 1921. The whole project has been suspended since 2022 but we hope to resume it when time and resources permit.