William Le Bas Benest
William Le Bas Benest
From The Benests of Millbrook – One Hundred Years
by Jack Lawrence Benest, published 1988
Family
On 14 July 1875 William Le Bas Benest married Emily Bichard. There were three sons and three daughters of the marriage. Emily died on 22 December 1885, after the birth of her last child, Blanchie, on 13 December of that year.
William had the traumatic experience of a triple family bereavement, as his sister Anne died on 5 January 1886. He lost his daughter, wife and sister all within the space of 13 days. Following this family tragedy, William gave up the shop in Halkett Place, and his trade as a tailor, to which he was never to return. He retired into seclusion, withdrawing himself from the mainstream of life. He took up residence at a house in Georgetown called Weigelia a Victorian house, still standing, and I imagine still looking as it did all those years ago.
After the death of their mother, the children were looked after by relatives and friends. Sydney, the second son, and my father William, who at the time were only two years and one year old respectively, were cared for by Mr and Mrs Benest, of West Park Stores, Cheapside. The youngest daughter, Hilda, went to live with her aunt and uncle, who were also her godparents, at their residence in St Helier, Linden Villa, St Saviour’s Road. Hilda was to all intents adopted by them, and lived with them until her marriage.
New business
In 1888, a little over three years after the death of his wife, William decided to go back into business. There were two suitable businesses on the market at the time with sufficient living accommodation, one at St Ouen, and the other in St Lawrence. He finally decided to purchase the one nearer St Helier, and bought Lisbon House, in the Millbrook district of St Lawrence. The business conducted there was that of a family grocer and provision merchant, plus the sale of wines and spirits, coal, animal feeding stuff, farm implements, and other types of commodities associated with a village store of that time. The name over the shop would now be W Le Bas Benest, and would remain so for the next 23 years.
It is difficult to imagine what the thoughts of William Benest must have been when he took up residence at Lisbon House on a grey and dismal day in the late autumn of 1888. He most certainly could never have imagined that the firm to which he gave his name 100 years ago would expand from its original premises, absorb four other houses and shops, would extend into the eastern side of the island, and would become the only privately owned group of supermarkets in the Channel Islands.
Second marriage
Shortly after William went to live at Millbrook his children returned to live under his roof, except for Hilda. William married for the second time on 8 May 1888, to Louisa Margaret Le Sueur, daughter of a family from Trinity. There were four children of the marriage, one son and three daughters.
William supervised the running of the business, which continued to operate as a family grocery and general store. At the end of the last century labour was a cheap commodity. My grandfather had five men in his employ. Some worked in the shop and stores, and others saw to the deliveries and looked after the horses. In 1912 William retired from active participation in the business. He went to live in a house at First Tower, Tivoli Villa, which he rented. Some years later he purchased a small house in the same area, Vallum House.
He lived in this house with his wife and two unmarried daughters, Florence, his eldest daughter, and Jenny, a daughter by his second marriage. He died at his home on 21 May 1931, at the age of 83. Louisa, William’s wife, died in 1936. They are both buried at Mont-à-L’Abbé cemetery, where there is a tombstone to their memory, together with that of William’s first wife and three of his children.
Memories
My own memories of my grandfather are very sketchy. My family lived in Guernsey at this time, and so I only saw him on occasional visits when we went to visit my various grandparents and relatives. I remember him as a very dignified old gentleman, a man of few words. I can remember being told by one of his grandsons, who on occasion would walk into St Helier with him from his home at First Tower that he would pass the time of day, and they would walk into town and back without another word being exchanged.
He was always extremely punctual in the keeping of appointments. He would arrive five minutes before the appointed time. If the person with whom he had made the appointment did not arrive within five minutes of the agreed time, he would leave. He was a bit of a menace on the roads when he lived at Lisbon House, before the advent of motor cars. He would drive at speed into St Helier with his horse and trap, overtaking vehicles in front of him, passing them as near as he possibly could without actually touching their wheels. This practice was to be his undoing on more than one occasion, and he would be brought home on a stretcher much the worse for wear. In his will dated 24 July 1912 he left Horton William Benest 18 Queen Street, 29 Hill Street and a house in the west part of the property of George Philippe Benest, all in St Helier; Sydney George Benest, Lisbon House, St Lawrence; William Benest, Undercliff, St Aubin.
