The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations, nor have they ever been in the European Union. They have a total population of about 171,916, and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively.
Guernsey is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
The history of Guernsey stretches back to evidence of prehistoric habitation and settlement and encompasses the development of its modern society.
Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, an island group in the English Channel near France. Although not geographically part of the archipelago of the British Isles, politically and culturally the islands are generally accepted as such. The Channel Islands are the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy that held sway in both France and England. The islands remained loyal to the English crown after the return of Normandy to France in 1204 and have enjoyed self-government since.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, was a British statesman, soldier and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.
Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey that overlooks the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and lé Vièr Châté by Jèrriais-speakers.
The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are two island countries and British Crown dependencies in the English Channel, near the coast of Normandy. The Channel Islands were the only de jure part of the British Empire to be occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. However, Germany's allies, Italy and Japan also had occupations in Africa and Asia, respectively.
Norman Le Brocq (1922–1996) was a communist, trade union activist, and leader of the Jersey resistance cells fighting against the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. Under his leadership, his resistance cell distributed anti-fascist propaganda throughout Jersey, blew up German ammunition caches, assassinated German soldiers, and successfully sheltered Jews and escaped Soviet POWs. By 1945, he had successfully convinced anti-Nazi German soldiers to plot a mutiny against their officers; however, the island was liberated by Allied forces before the mutiny could begin. After the war, he became a human rights activist, campaigning for a minimum wage, equitable divorce laws, compulsory school education and health insurance, and the introduction of a minimum wage. He also won several elections throughout the 1960s and 70s to serve as a Jersey State Deputy. Brocq was a life-long member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).
Alastair Layzell is an independent television producer who started his career as a reporter for Channel Television and later served nine years as a deputy of the States of Jersey, becoming President of the Home Affairs Committee, President of the Jersey Transport Authority and Vice-president of the Planning & Environment Committee.
SirVictor Gosselin Carey was born on 2 July 1871, in Guernsey, Channel Islands. He held the post of Bailiff of Guernsey from 1935 to 1946. Carey was a leading member of one of Guernsey's oldest families. In 1935, when incumbent Baliff Arthur William Bell died, Carey, who had been Receiver General from 1912 to 1935, replaced him because Procurer Ambrose Sherwill, to whom the role would have normally fallen, had only been in office a few weeks.
Paul Sanders, MA, DEA, PhD (Cambridge), FRHistS, is an Anglo-German historian and leadership scholar. He is a full-time professor in the Department of Strategy at NEOMA Business School, Reims, France. His teaching interests lie in the areas of leadership, ethics and international affairs, and he is a media commentator on Russian and European affairs.
Alexander Moncrieff Coutanche, Baron Coutanche was a former Bailiff of Jersey and member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
This is a list of books in the English language which deal with Jersey and its geography, history, inhabitants, culture, biota, etc.
Robert Woodward Hathaway was jure uxoris seigneur of Sark from 1929 until his death. An American by birth, his rule spanned the reigns of four monarchs: George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.
The history of the Jews in Guernsey dates back to well before the events of 1940–5. A London Jew named Abraham was described in 1277 as being from "La Gelnseye" (Guernsey). A converted Portuguese Jew, Edward Brampton, was appointed Governor of Guernsey in 1482.
During the German occupation of the Channel Islands, there was limited resistance. The islands had a very high number of German soldiers compared to the civilian population, one soldier for every 2-3 civilians, which reduced options; this linked to the severe penalties imposed by the occupiers meant that only forms of non-lethal resistance were used by the population. Even so, over twenty civilians died for resistance against the occupiers.
The evacuation of civilians from the Channel Islands in 1940 was an organised, partial, nautical evacuation of Crown dependencies in the Channel Islands, primarily from Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney to Great Britain during World War II. The evacuation occurred in phases, starting with school aged children, their teachers, and mother volunteers. The islands and the British military began the evacuation following the Allies' loss in the Battle of France, after which the British Army withdrew from the islands.
Louisa Eva Gould was a Jersey shopkeeper and a member of the British resistance movement in the Channel Islands during World War II. From 1942 until her arrest in 1944, Gould sheltered an escaped Soviet slave worker known as Feodor Polycarpovitch Burriy on the island of Jersey. Following a trial, she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was gassed to death in 1945. In 2010 she was posthumously named a British Hero of the Holocaust.
Edward Campbell (1890–1949) was a Jersey politician who won the 1940 Jersey local elections for Saint Ouen, Jersey parish.
During the five-year German occupation of the Channel Islands civilian life became much more difficult. During that time, the Channel Islanders had to live under and obey the laws of Nazi Germany and work with their occupiers in order to survive and reduce the impact of occupation. Given no guidance on how to behave by the British government, there were individuals who got close to the enemy and others who undertook resistance activities.
