Societe Bienfaisance

Societe de Bienfaisance pour La Marine Marchande de Jersey This article by Philip Syvret was first published in the 1965 Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise

Seafarers were the first group of workers in England to pay a compulsory contribution towards a social security scheme; and they were also the first people in Jersey to do so.

Commencing in 1696, the year in which the foundation stone of Greenwich Hospital was laid, all English seamen, both Royal Navy and Merchant Service, had a compulsory deduction of 6d per month from their pay. Contributions from ships' officers ranged up to 2s 6d per month. At that time an ordinary merchant seaman's wages were of the order of twenty-five shillings a month in peace time and double or more in time of war.

For the first 50 years or so most of the money collected went towards the cost of maintaining Greenwich Hospital. This institution was used almost exclusively for naval pensioners; it provided little or no help to merchant seamen.

In the mid-18th Century, some of the merchant seamen's contributions were applied to the building of almshouses in the main seaports and paying pensions to seamen's widows. This levy remained generally unpopular and in 1829 the contributions from naval seamen were abolished, and early in 1835 merchant seamen also were relieved of further contributions.

Jersey seafarers were contributors to the English fund but it is not known when their contributions commenced.

With England's abolition of the levy, the States of Jersey felt constrained to act and in March 1835 they set up a committee to study the matter. This committee's report was presented to the States on 28 May 1835 and at the same time the Law setting up La Societe de Bienfaisance pour La Marine Marchande de Jersey (or as it is now familiarly known, The Jersey Merchant Seamen's Benefit Society) was presented and passed. It received the Royal Sanction in July and was registered by the Royal Court in August. Five hundred copies of the report were printed, but no copies can now be found.

Preamble

The Preamble to the Law reads as follows :-- Aux Etats de l'ile de Jersey, l'an mil huit cents trente cinq, le vingthuitieme jour de Mai : Sur la representation des negociants et armateurs de cette Ile, exposant que les droits pendus pour le benefice de Hopital Royale de Greenwich sont abolis, et considerant qu'il n'y a aucun fonds applicable au soulagement de marins malades, uses ou blesses, de veuves et enfants de marins, tues ou noyes au service de la Marine Marchande de cette Ile, les Etats ont autorise (moyennant la sanction de Sa Tres Excellente Majeste en Conseil) les Armateurs, Proprietaires et les maitres au long cours de batiments enregistres au Bureau de la Douane de cette Ile, et autres a former une Societe qui portera le nom de Societe de Bienfaisance pour la Marine Marchande de Jersey et afin de creer un fonds pour ladite Societe, les Etats ont ordonne qu'il sera preleve sur les gages de chaque marin servant au bord d'un batiment enregistre au Bureau de la Douane de cette Ile, la somme de sept pennys et demi chaque mois de service et les Etats ont en meme temps adopte la Loi suivante pour servir de Regles Fondementales a ladite Societe." The word batiment was defined as a vessel with a deck, and therefore included such fishing boats as had a deck. The monthly contribution of 7½d per month of service began on 1 July 1835. The duty of collecting it rested on the masters, who were authorised to deduct the amount from the seamen's pay at the expiration of the voyage or on discharge. There has never been any contribution to the Society from public funds.

Appointments

A Meeting of shipbuilders, owners and masters of ocean-going ships was called to elect five trustees and nine members of committee, who were elected for three years. The committee chose from among their number a president and a vice-president and appointed the secretary also the treasurer who had to supply a sufficient surety for the money he handled.

They also appointed a receiver, who in the first instance received as his remuneration a commission of five per cent on the money he collected, soon increased to 12½ per cent, then a year or two later to 15 per cent.

The first receiver was Peter Warne, who was succeeded by Peter Briard in 1846. The receiver, too, had to provide a surety.

A minimum of 60 months payment had to be made before a seaman or the widow of a seaman could obtain a pension, which initially was fixed at £2 per annum. A seaman having paid for 30 months was entitled to make up his subscriptions to 60 months on receipt of a first pension. If he had not paid the whole of the 30 months, the committee was authorised in cases of need to refund the amount which the seaman had paid, but this repayment deprived him of any further claim on the society. There were very few claims for special relief in the first five years of the society's existence.

Unpopular levy

Despite the relatively small compulsory contribution, there was a good deal of resistance by the seamen. Many 'old salts', when it was not possible to trace sufficient contributions recorded in the huge ledgers to entitle them to claim, suggested that the Captains had collected it alright, but had not paid it in."

Some force is given to this recrimination by the fact that in December 1847, a minute records that the committee decided to action Captain John Fauvel of the cutter General Don for non-payment of his dues. In 1848 a fine of £6 18s 6d was imposed on Philip Renouf and F Gottrell, Pilots, for nonpayment of dues. So great was the resistance that ship owners went to the length of reregistering their vessels in Guernsey (where there were no similar deductions) so as to make certain of being able to embark a full crew.

Also they engaged and discharged crews in English ports, but in 18S1 the committee of the Privy Council for Trade (Naval Department) issued instructions to shipping masters in English Ports sanctioning the 7½d per month deduction from the pay of all men employed in Jersey vessels.

Under the Law, a regular pension to a seafarer was payable only if the claimants were incapables de naviguer, soit par cause de caducite, de maladie, d'accident ou de blessures recues au service de la Marine Marchande de cette Ile. Widows received a pension only if their husbands had paid their contributions for 60 months and had died while serving, or from accident while serving.

Help was given to children up to 14 years of age if they were not able to earn their own living. There was not any benefit at all if help was already being received from other similar societies.

Unpaid seamen's wages not claimed within six months of death were held by the Society, and, if not claimed within ten years, became the property of the Society.

The money received by the Society's Treasurer was entered in a journal under ships' names, and it is possible to trace from these entries who sailed in each ship at any given time.

The items were then posted to large ledgers whose pages - 20in x 14in x 9in deep - were divided into nine seamen's accounts from which the amount contributed by any claimant can be identified.

The same name - both given and surname - appears very often, making it difficult to extricate the accounts of some seamen whose names had got mixed up by the treasurer of the time.

Rise and fall

The records show that in 1837 there were 2,302 contributors (including only two fishermen) and that their contributions amounted to £513 a year. From these figures it would seem that, on average, seamen appeared on crew lists for rather less than two-thirds of the year.

The number of men employed in Jersey's merchant marine at that time was probably somewhat higher when account is taken of the crews engaged and discharged outside Jersey, who may not have contributed to the society.

The committee then lamented the fact that more coastal fishermen had not become contributors, 'for there is not a class of our countrymen who are more exposed to danger than these, and their families in many cases depend solely on the precarious produce of their labour'. A later mention in the minutes says that coastal fishermen were 'more exposed to dangers than those employed in foreign voyages'.

The society's highest receipts from the levy on seamen were in 1859, when they totalled £689. Applying the 1837 employment factor, the number of seamen then contributing would have been 3,066. But for reasons explained earlier, the number of seamen serving in Jersey vessels was probably even higher.

The highest number of crew lists was received in 1860 and again in 1863 when 345 lists were handed in. After 1863 Jersey shipping began to decline and by 1873 the number of crew lists dropped to 207, and by 1883 to under 100. By 1893 the number was down to 50. Throughout, the average contribution to the society from each crew list was about £2.

There are no statistics of the loss of life at sea, but an indication of the heavy toll is given by the number of widows and children helped by the society. In the ten years 1846-55, 168 widows and 207 children were brought on to the books of the society. In the ensuing ten years the figures were lower, but in 1866-75 new pensioners included 175 widows and 227 children.

In 1863, the peak year of shipping activity, the society had 500 pensioners on its books. The longest pension list was in 1875 when the society had 650 beneficiaries, comprising 111 superannuated seamen, 315 widows and 224 children.

The number of beneficiaries remained at about 600 for the next ten years but by 1893 it declined to 450, including 267 widows. Throughout, the society also paid temporary relief to seamen, the highest number of recipients of this benefit being 66 in 1862. The annual average was about 50 during 1850-1870 but it dropped to fewer than 30 over the next 20 years.

The scale of pensions was by no means generous. The 650 beneficiaries in 1873 received a total of £795, whereas in 1853 the 435 beneficiaries had received a total of £833, which was the highest figure ever paid out in one year.

The Society had to face the fact that the number of pensioners was rising at a time when Jersey's shipping industry was declining. A cut of about a quarter in the rates of pension was made in 1875 and it was then also found necessary to reduce the pension to widows.

The Society's accumulated funds which then stood at about £7,300, began to diminish owing to the falling off in the receipts consequent on the great decrease in shipping, and the many registered vessels out of the Island.

The Report for 1888 also refers to the falling off of receipts which although chiefly due to the great decrease in shipping is also in great measure owing to the large number of vessels registered at other ports, while that for 1892 states that the Island shipping is getting reduced in numbers, very few vessels which were lost being replaced.

No quorum

In the very early days the members of committee were not very assiduous in their attendance, as is shown by the small number present at meetings. In 1836 a meeting had to be adjourned because there was no quorum. In several instances only two members were present, and, in March 1841, it was recorded that only Captain F Hocquard attended as the other members were busy preparing for the Queen's Visit. In October, 1846, no one seems to have turned up as it was the annual general meeting of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

The best attended annual meeting seems to have been that held on 17 March 1851, when the following attended.

Ship owners, masters of vessels: Francois Bertram, Francois Alexandre, Francis Le Bas, David de Quetteville, Frederick Alexandre, Gideon Le Bas, William Fruing, George Alexandre, John Le Brun, John Godfray, Philip Asplet, Edward Le Feuvre, Edward Jean, Frank Aubin, John Le Gresley, Nicholas Le Bas, Edward Briard, Thomas Le Gros, John Le Grand, Philip Briard, Thomas Le Huquet, Charles Le Quesne, James Craig, Philippe Le Rossignol, Mathew Le Rossignol, Philippe de Ste Croix, John Le Scelleur, Peter Le Vesconte, George du Heaume, Thomas Le Seelleur, Philip Luce, Peter Drelaud, Clement Noel, Charles Orange, John Fauvel, John Piton, George Orange, John Gallichan, Philip Rive, C W Robin, John Giffard, Philip Tocque, James Robin (president), John Hacquoil, Philip Weary, James Robin, John Huelin, William Weary, Philippe Thoreau and Philip Huelin.

The first widow to receive a pension was Mary Godel widow of Francis Le Sueur, late of Guernsey Lily. This was on 2 April 1841, after which date applications were quite regularly considered. They became so numerous that in 1843 the committee appointed Dr Alexander Leigh to medically examine claimants. The first return of contributions, as provided for in the law, was made to the widow of James Gaillard.

As was to be expected the Robin family, owners of many vessels at that time, took a great interest in the society from its inception. The first president was James Robin, of Petit Menage, St Saviour. He remained in that office until 1860, when he retired through failing health; he died in 1864.

He was the nephew of the Charles Robin who founded the firm of Robin and Company James Robin's successor as president was his son, Charles Robin, father of Charles Janvrin Robin of Steephill, St Saviour, whose sole surviving son, Capt Guy Robin, now lives at Petit Menage and is the only male surviving descendant of the shipping family in Jersey. Charles was president from 1861 to 1879 and was succeeded by his brother, Raulin Robin.

Slender public support

As already mentioned the mid-19th Century was a period of great progress for Jersey's merchant fleet but public interest in the society appears to have been conspicuous by its absence in the early days, so much so that in the annual report for 1836 the committee included the following:

"With reference to Article 12 of the original rules and regulations wherein it is stipulated that persons not shipowners or masters, subscribing £2 per annum may become members and entitled to vote, the committee recommend to the general meeting to reduce the qualifying sum for subscribers to £1 per annum, in the earnest hope that this reduction will induce many well-wishers to this establishment to become regular annual subscribers."

The minimum of £1 per annum is still the qualifying sum for subscribers to become entitled to vote at the annual general meeting, and to qualify for election as members of the committee. There have been several such members in past years, and two now figure on the committee.

The funds held at the end of the year 1865, at £8,151, were the highest ever held by the society. The funds on hand remained almost static for the next 20 years at about £7,500, but it then became necessary each year to draw on the accumulated funds and, as already shown, it was difficult to see how the increasing claims of elderly seamen, widows of seamen and orphans would be met out of a decreasing revenue.

At a special general meeting on 14 April 1894, it was agreed that a petition be addressed to the States of Jersey praying that a new law be passed. This culminated in the law passed by the States on 1 February 1895, sanctioned by Order-in-Council dated 4 May and registered before the Royal Court on 1 June, whereby compulsory contributions by seamen ceased.

The Society was still empowered to receive gifts and legacies for pursuing its aims of helping aged and incapacitated seamen on the same terms and conditions as those of the law of 1835. A further law simplifying the administrative arrangements was passed by the States on 25 January 1938, and registered by the Royal Court the same year.

Saved by benefactors

Had it not been for a legacy of several houses from Captain Charles Alexandre in 1894, the society would probably have ceased to exist at about this time, as not being capable of fulfilling its functions.

These houses were sold by auction and realised about £2,045, and £75 was received for land devolving to the society under the same will. The prices realised for the houses were:- Ashton House, Rouge Bouillon, £750; unfinished house in Trinity Road, £200; 2 and 6 Hautbois Terrace, with Coteau known as La Frotterie, £645; 7 Hautbois Terrace, £1100; 10 La Motte Street, £235. Stable at Ville es Nouaux, £45.

On the final settlement of Capt Alexandre's estate in 1895, the funds of the society amounted to £7,826. (In the meantime, the Society had become Incorporated to enable it to handle real property). Thanks to this legacy, coming at a time when funds were down to about £6,000 and there were 450 pensioners on the books, the Society was able to continue its good work.

It may be of interest to mention that under the will of Capt Alexandre, the society had an obligation to maintain the big monument on his grave in the centre of the old Mont a l'Abbe Cemetery. In 1937 the society came to an arrangement with the Parish of St Helier whereby on payment of the sum of £50, the parish relieved the society of that liability then costing an average of about £5 a year.

In 1935 when the society'S funds were at a very low ebb (under £400), it had another piece of good fortune. Paymaster-Rear-Admiral Sir Hamnet Share, who was visiting the Island, was attracted to the work of the society by the appeals in the Evening Post"and, as a member of the Council of King George's Fund for Sailors, he was instrumental in getting an annual grant from that body, made on condition that the whole amount be distributed in full on 1 December, and treated as additional to the usual amount distributed.

This enabled the committee to increase the pensions in December 1935 from £2 to £4 a year. The grant from this source was raised in 1936 to £125 and to £150 in 1937 and 1938, but in 1939, presumably owing to increased demands on the fund owing to the war, the grant was somewhat reduced, and ceased altogether with the Occupation of the Island by the Germans.

During the Occupation, the society was assisted by a contribution of £100 per annum from the local representative of T B Davis, who had subscribed this sum anonymously for some years. In addition, a loan, which was never reclaimed, was made from the same source and it was possible to continue the payment of pensions which, in 1940, had been increased to £12 per year.

In 1947 these were increased to £20 and in 1948 to £25. This amount was continued until 1957, when, thanks to the reversion from the estate of Ernest Le Cronier, the rate of pension was increased to £40 a year.

In 1959 the pensions, now paid quarterly, were increased to £52 and in 1960 to £65 a year. The committee felt that owing to the advancing years of the few pensioners left on the books (about a dozen) they would be able to distribute more and in 1961 pensions were increased to £100. This action of the committee has been fully vindicated by the generous gifts and legacies given to the society in recent years.

It may be added that there is only one mention in the records of pensioners' ages. In 1928 these were given as:

• 90 and over - 4
• 80 and over - 31
• 70 and over - 16
• 60 and over - 12
• 50 and over - 164

At the time of writing (1964) the average age of the 12 pensioners is 78 years and eight months, the oldest being 88 and the youngest 73.

Benefactors

It has been shown that the society has been greatly helped down the years by its numerous benefactors who, through gifts and legacies, have given a total of well over £21,000. The largest benefaction of all came as recently as 1961 from the estate of Miss E F Ahier, of La Chasserie St Lawrence.

Mention must also be made of the society's appeals during the years of Occupation, through the columns of the Evening Post which yielded over £ 1,100. The funds of the society now (1964) again total about £7,000 thus bringing them back to where they stood in 1895, when the reorganisation of the society took place. The society is in a position to continue pensions to its dozen or so pensioners at the rate of £100 a year for some years ahead.

It is impossible to give details and names of all those who have helped in administering the society down the years, but many were connected with well-known ship-owning and sea-faring families of the time. There are names such as Janvrin, Nicolle, Touzel and Le Rossignol, Abraham Le Ruez, Philip de Quetteville of the shipping firm, the first chairman of committee, Capt Edouard Le Feuvre of the Bolina, and Capt J V Le Grand, Capt Joshua Alexandre, one time Constable of St Brelade, Capt Clement de la Perrelle, of Millbrook, Capt John du Bois Le Couteur, long connected with the Jersey-St Brieuc-Plymouth tramp steamer Channel Queen, Nicholas Le Quesne, of the Town Mills family, Peter Briard, harbourmaster and later Jurat of the Royal Court; during this century Thomas Pugsley, Philip Barbier and W G Bellingham, three well-known ship brokers; Captains George Roy, George de Gruchy, John Wright, F J Grandin and Francis Le Sueur (vice-president for several years) and Captain Jurat Francis Ahier, Past-President of the Societe Jersiaise.

Officers

The Presidents of the society since the reorganisation in 1895 and the secretaries who have served it in an honorary capacity since 1925 have been: Presidents: Captain John Blampied (1895-1913); Captain Francis John Renouf (1913-1929); J P Tocque, (1930-1937); Captain Philip de Ste Croix (1937-1940); Philip Syvret (1941-1944); Capt Charles Alexandre (1944-1960); Capt Philip de Gruchy (1960- )

Secretaries: J J Le Sueur, (1894-1916); Percy Mollet (1916-1940); Captain R Webber (1941-1952); Edward Machon (1952-1965); G A Burt, (1965- ).