Lord Coutanche

Bailiff of Jersey 1935-1961
Lord Coutanche

Alexander Moncrieff Coutanche, Baron Coutanche, was Bailiff of Jersey from 1935 to 1961, including the German Occupation years

Early life and education

Coutanche was born in Saint Saviour in 1892, the younger son and third child of Adolphus Arnold Coutanche (1856-1921) and Jane Alexandrina Finlayson ( -1909). His Christian names were chosen in honour of his mother's Scottish ancestry.

He was educated at La Chasse preparatory school, Jersey High School and Victoria College before going to study law at the University of Caen. He then attended Carlisle and Gregson's London Academy with the intention of entering the Indian Civil Service. However, although he passed the entrance examination he was rejected on health grounds due to the discovery of a systolic heart murmur.

Family tree

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Early career

Having studied law before attempting to enter the civil service, Coutanche entered the chambers of John Beaumont at the Middle Temple in 1912. He aimed to practise at the Chancery bar, but was instead called to the Jersey bar in 1913. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Coutanche served as an assistant to a government secretary in Jersey. He was ineligible to join the Inns of Court regiment due to his previously discovered heart murmur, so went to work at a munitions factory, rising from a worker through to management level. He was called to the English bar in 1915.

In 1917 he volunteered for work with the War Claims Commission and was posted to Belgium with the rank of Lieutenant. During his time in Belgium he won the Belgian Croix de Guerre and was appointed chevalier of the Order of the Crown. He left the army in 1920 with the rank of Captain. He returned to his chambers in London, but then had to return to work at the Jersey chambers due to the illness of his father.

He was elected a Deputy of Saint Helier in 1922, and married Ruth Sophia Joan Gore in 1924. Their son John Alexander was born the following year.

Public Service

In 1925 Coutanche was appointed Solicitor-General, and went on to reform the Law Officers Department and the States Greffe. He was promoted to Attorney-General in 1931. He did much to reform and update court proceedings, including the introduction of English as the court language. He was the first Attorney-General to make an address for the prosecution in English. In 1935, the Bailiff, Charles de Carteret, retired and Coutanche succeeded him. He was the last Bailiff appointed for life and the last under the sole prerogative of the Crown without the obligation to consult the States of Jersey.

Coutanche took on the additional role of Governor when the island was demilitarised in 1940. He was knighted in 1946.He was made a life peer in the Birthday Honours of 1961 taking the title of Baron Coutanche, of St Brelade in the Island of Jersey and of the City of Westminster. He retired as Bailiff in 1961. During the period when he was simultaneously a member of the legislatures of Jersey and the United Kingdom he sat as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords; upon his retirement as Bailiff he took the Conservative whip.

Lord Coutanche in 1961

Occupation

Before the German Occupation the importance of the Bailiff in legislative and administrative matters had been gradually diminishing as the States of Jersey began to exercise greater control. However, the need for centralised administration during the Occupation from 1940 to 1945 made the Bailiff a commanding figure in the circumstances of trying to maintain the life of the island.

Although he continued in his role for another 16 years after the war ended, the constitutional reforms of 1948 which removed the Jurats from the States, replacing them with Senators, separated more clearly legislature and judiciary. Political leadership now rested more clearly with the Senators as purely political senior elected representatives.

He was an honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple and Doctor of Laws of the University of Caen.

Links

• A Jerseyman's view of change 1873-1963 a talk by Lord Coutanche to La Société Jersiaise

A maquette for a sculpture of a horse, by Edmund Blampied, owned by Lord Coutanche and sold at auction by his family in 2022

A page from Coutanche's photograph album, recording the first visit of the Red Cross ship Vega to Jersey

1945 letter from Chamber of Commerce president

Edwin Hettich was president of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce when he wrote this letter to the Bailiff, Alexander Coutanche, thanking him for his role during the German Occupation

Gallery

Click on any image to see a full-size version

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  Coutanche in playful mood at a Government House garden party
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  Lord Coutanche on a Liberation anniversary stamp
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  1970 portrait
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  1961
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  1940
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  1936
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  Greeting Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in 1947
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  Presiding over the States in 1957
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  Alexander Coutanche photographed with German officials on 3 January 1945
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  Along with all other islanders over the age of 14, Alexander Coutanche was required to have an identity card issued by the Germans during the Occupation

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  During his time in office Coutanche welcomed many members of the Royal Family and other dignitaries to the island. He is pictured here in about 1960, on the left, next the Home Secretary, R A Butler, Lieut-Governor General Sir George Erskine, and Frank Le Boutillier
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  An outing to Gorey Regatta with his wife and children weeks after his appointment in 1935 - Picture Jersey Leader

In the States Chamber in 1954

1946 photographs

These photographs of Alexander Coutanche at home and at work were taken in 1946 by Pierre Roughol during an assignment to Jersey and the other Channel Islands.

At the dinner table with his wife and Lt-Colonel James Taylor, head of the Army's Civil Affairs Unit, the senior officer responsible for the interim administration of the island after the war's end.

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  In the Bailiff's Chambers
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  In the Royal Court

Notes and references

Bailiffs of Jersey
Predecessor		Successor
Charles Malet de Carteret 1931-1935	Lord Coutanche 1935-1961	Cecil Stanley Harrison 1961-1962