WW1 and life in Jersey – 1 Prelude to war
Life in Jersey
during the Great War:
Prelude to war
News of the Declaration of War on Germany in August 1914 was officially announced in the Royal Square by the Viscount
This is one of a series of articles on various aspects of life in Jersey during the 1914-1918 war which is based on newspaper reports and archived documents. We acknowledge the valuable resource of a weekly series of articles by historian Ian Ronayne which was published on the Jersey Heritage website from 2014 to 2018 to mark the centenary of the conflict
In the weeks before the declaration of war the columns of the newspapers were full of items concerning the growing tension in Europe, but life in the island continued much as usual, with nothing to suggest any fears that Jersey might be affected by events far away.
Warm summer
It was a warm summer in 1914, ideal for evening performances on the bandstand in St Helier's Triangle Park, and for boosting the potato crop, with substantial exports continuing well into June.
One unwelcome side effect of this was the number of accidents on the roads, often involving farmers' horse-drawn vans and the motor vehicles which were growing in numbers.
Militia annual camps continued as usual in June and July, but with nobody giving a thought to a future which would pitch so many of the men into real battles, for which the training they received at Les Quennevais would prove to be so useful.
The assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo had little meaning to the men who would, in just a few weeks, be mobilised and required to guard the island's coasts and key locations.
Battle of Flowers
In those intervening weeks preparations continued for the annual Battle of Flowers, followed by the inaugural evening fete. And plans were in hand to publicise the events as widely as possible to attract more visitors to the island to view the spectacle in 1915.
The organisers had no idea that there would be no Battle in 1914, nor for several years to come, but tickets were on sale at the Beresford Street Library, priced from 1s to 5s a seat.
By the end of July war seemed inevitable, and on the 29th the Lieut-Governor, Sir Alexander Rochfort, issued an order to mobilise the Militia. Three days later the French armed forces were mobilised and thousands of reservists working and living in Jersey began a mass exodus to return to their regiments.
Germany declared war on France on 4 August, followed immediately by the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Germany. British reservists immediately began to leave for the UK to join their units, followed by hundreds of holidaymakers, leading to the cancellation of the Bttle of Flowers.
There was an inevitable air of uncertainty in the island and the Lieut-Governor asked the States to grant him wartime powers to take control of a number of areas and calm the turmoil. This gave him control over imports and exports of essential goods, food and fuel pricing and deportation of any undesirable aliens.
