As in the UK, the First World War was the catalyst that led to women’s suffrage in Jersey. In August 1914 the 1st Devonshire Regiment, including many Jerseymen, had marched from Mount Bingham to Victoria Pier and on to war. As men went to war, women started to replace men in the workplace and attitudes to the role of women in society began to shift.
Although the Votes for Women campaign was not as dramatic in Jersey as it was in the UK, the ladies' branch of the Jersey Political Association formed in October 1918, and Caroline Trachy, its first President, wasted no time at the end of the War to press for change. In an open letter, published on 11th November 1918, she said:
A draft law enabling women over 30 to vote was introduced in the States on 10 April 1919. Debated over several days, it was adopted on 22 May 1919 and came into force on 12 July 1919.
There was no opposition in the States to giving women the vote, but the decision not to empower younger women to vote was contested.
Connétables led the campaign for more radical change. The Connétable of St. Helier, supported by his counterpart from St. Mary, tried to amend the law to lower the voting age to 20 and the Connétable of St. Lawrence wanted the voting age for men and women to be set at 16. “Women of 21 were generally more intelligent and matured than the callow youths of the same age” argued Deputy Henderson. Separate legislation adopted in 1919 enabled women aged over 20 to be members of Parish Assemblies, if they were of independent means and met the property qualifications.
Jurat Lemprière was prominent in arguing against younger women being able to vote:
"A boy knew a great deal about politics from his early years, but with a girl it was very different, her attention being generally given to household duties. A young man who talked politics to the girl he walked out with would find the subject was not very well received."
The Deputy of Grouville made one of the more controversial speeches in the debate, saying:
“The Government should be run by both sexes, but the male sex should predominate because of the fact that all government was based on physical force in the last instance. If they were to give the vote to all women they would be able in the course of time owing to their numerical preponderance, to have a majority on the administration.”
The Evening Post recorded the following response to this remark:
Several Members: "All the better".
Deputy of Grouville: "Maybe, but I don’t think so".
The Deputy of St. Saviour: "That’s because of your ignorance".
The Assembly voted 18 to 13 against setting the voting age for women at 21.
During the debate on votes for women, it was assumed that women would soon be elected to the States. For example, the Rector of St. Martin, who wanted women under 30 to be given the vote, said “It would add considerably to the attractions of the House if some of the members were attractive young women.”
However, when Caroline Trachy attempted to stand for election in St. Helier in 1922 she was prevented from doing so. Although women could vote, it remained illegal for women to sit in the States. Mrs Trachy established the Women’s Jersey Political Union to campaign to end this injustice.
Mrs Trachy organised a petition in early 1924 calling for women who were able to vote to be allowed to sit in the States as deputies, which attracted 671 signatures. Another petition called for “women be granted full civil and political rights as now enjoyed by women in Great Britain and Guernsey”. On 21 March 1924 the Assembly agreed that women who were British subjects and aged over 30 could stand for election as Deputies. However, there was a further problem. Women had to be “sui juris”, which meant that their property affairs had to be separate from those of their husband.
The voting age for women was lowered to 21 in 1930 but there remained differences between men and women in terms of the property qualification for voting. Only in 1945 were men and women permitted to vote in Jersey on an equal basis.
Caroline Trachy attempted to stand for election in St. Helier in December 1922, but it remained illegal for women to sit in the States Assembly. Mrs Trachy established the Women’s Jersey Political Union on 9 April 1923 which aimed to obtain “full political and civil rights for women in Jersey, embracing legal and moral support to women in difficulties caused by present, unjust laws”. She also organised a petition in early 1924 calling for women who could vote to be able to sit in the States Assembly as Deputies, which attracted 671 signatures.
On 21 March 1924 the Assembly agreed that women who were British subjects and aged over 30 could stand for election as Deputies. However, women still had to be “sui juris”, which meant that their property affairs had to be separate from those of their husband.
In the wake of this change, Caroline stood again in the 1925 election. She was, however, disqualified by the Royal Court and the Bailiff on the grounds that her affairs were not separated from her husband’s. She said she would not “prejudice other married women by being separated” and would continue her fight.
The States Assembly went on to change the Law and, in April 1928, Caroline became an eligible candidate for the upcoming election. She was not elected by the people of Jersey, however, and ranked last in the poll.
In 1948, 30 years after women in Jersey had secured the right to vote, Ivy Forster became the first woman elected to the Assembly. She was elected as a Deputy of St Helier. During the Occupation, Ivy had helped escaped Russian slave workers and, for almost two years, sheltered Russian prisoner-of-war, Geigori Koslov, in her attic. After Jersey’s liberation, Ivy became an after-dinner speaker and was encouraged by the Bailiff to stand for election. She became the first woman to top the poll when she was re-elected in 1951, but her political career ended when she lost her seat in 1954.
During the Occupation, Ivy Forster’s sister, Louisa Gould, harboured a Russian clave worker— Feodor Polycarpovitch Buirry– who was also known as ‘Bill’.
In late May 1944, she was arrested by the Nazis for harbouring Russian prisoners of war after a local resident had informed on her sister’s activities. ‘Bill’ stayed with Ivy and her family for five days, before escaping to seek refuge with Bob Le Sueur. Louisa had been arrested a week earlier, charged with “abetting breach of the working peace and unauthorised removal” and for possessing a wireless radio.
Ivy received a sentence of five a half months, but fell ill and was transported to the General Hospital. Whilst there, Dr Raymond Osmont managed to convince the German’s that she had Tuberculosis by switching her medical samples and forging false papers with a Dr McKinstry, and should not travel. She served her sentence in the Island.
Louisa was sent to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, arriving on 4 September 1944. She was sent to the gas chambers in February 1945.
Louisa and Ivy’s brother Harold was sent to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and was the only British male to survive, suffering a complete loss of memory of pre-war life during his internment. He would testify at the Nuremberg trials in October 1945, the Neuengame in 1946, and Banterweg (Wilhelmshaven) in 1947.
In March 1966, Louisa Gould, Ivy Forster and Harold Le Druillenec were awarded gold watches to commemorate their experiences during the Occupation.
Gwyneth Huelin was born Gwyneth Locker on 11th October 1907 in Lichfield, Staffordshire. In 1934 she married Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) William Helier Huelin of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Rajputs in the Indian Army and, for the first few years of their marriage, the couple lived in India. During World War II her husband served in the Middle East and Burma and Gwyneth was a driver for the Red Cross Ambulance and ARP in the Isle of Wight, as well as Secretary to the Red Cross Hospital Supply Service in that island. For her services she was awarded the Civil Defence Medal in 1945.
The couple settled in Jersey after the War and Gwyneth Huelin became well-known for her work with the Women’s Institute and the Associated Country Women of the World. She was Chairman of the Island Federation of Women’s Institutes from 1950-1962 and represented Jersey at several national conferences.
She stood for the States in 1954 in her home parish of St Brelade, which at the time was a single constituency with 2 Deputies, and was elected unopposed, joining Deputy Phyllis Green of St Saviour No. 2 as the only two women in the Assembly.
She was a member of the Public Health Committee from 1954 until her retirement in 1981, being President of the Committee from 1963. Re-elected three times in St Brelade, in 1966 she stood successfully as Senator, being re-elected twice. She was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours in 1966 and in 1981 she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, at the time a unique honour for a politician to have received a second award of this kind.
Gwyneth Huelin will principally be remembered for her work as President of the Public Health Committee, a position she held for 18 years and during which time the foundations of a modern health service and hospital were laid. When she became President in 1963 she realised that the hospital facilities needed to be brought up to date and made capable of meeting future demand, being designed for a population of 50,000 at a time when the actual population was reaching 70,000. In addition the facilities at St Saviour’s Hospital were totally inadequate, over-crowded and with no privacy for patients. Under her leadership St Saviour’s was transformed into a modern facility conducive to the recovery of those suffering with mental health conditions. She also oversaw a £15 million project to transform the hospital with the new Gwyneth Huelin Wing opened in 1980 shortly before she retired from the States.
Iris Le Feuvre was born Iris Renouf in 1928 in St Martin. She attended the States Intermediate School in Brighton Road, St Helier where her contemporaries included Enid Querée (later Enid Quenault), who went on to become Deputy of St Brelade and later Connétable of that parish, and Bill Morvan who Iris succeeded in 1984 as Connétable of St Lawrence.
Coming from a poor background, her early interest in politics had been kindled when she would travel to school on the same bus on States’ days as Connétable John du Val of St Peter, Jurat Francis Le Feuvre and Deputy Philip Le Feuvre of St Mary. The three would sit at the back of the bus to discuss politics and the young Iris would sit as close as possible to overhear their conversation.
During the German Occupation her family sheltered an escaped Russian prisoner of war and, after the Liberation, she worked as a book-keeper. She married Eric Le Feuvre in 1948 and the couple had four sons.
Discouraged from joining the Honorary Police, as this was seen at the time as a man’s role, she became involved with the Communicare project and was appointed as Chairman of the Communicare Management Committee, in which role she argued strongly for the creation of a day centre for the elderly.
After her retirement from the States she was awarded an MBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours for services to the community. In 2003 she headed a group producing a report on Jersey's ageing population and she was also appointed to lead the Co-ordinating Committee for the Eradication of Poverty in Jersey.
Deputy Kristina Moore became Jersey’s first female Chief Minister in July 2022 after eleven years as a member of the States Assembly.
Prior to her political career, the Deputy spent over ten years working as a broadcast journalist in both the UK and the Channel Islands. This included a role as political correspondent for Channel Television (now ITV Jersey), before becoming its main anchor.
She is married with two children and was born in England, before moving to Jersey for the role at Channel Television.
She stood for Deputy in the Parish of St. Peter in the 2011 elections and was successfully voted in on 19 October. In 2013, Deputy Moore publicly shared her diagnosis of breast cancer to raise awareness of the disease. She received treatment and fully recovered.
Re-elected in October 2014, Deputy Moore served as Minister for Home Affairs. In the May 2018 elections, she stood as a Senator and was elected, coming second in the Senatorial polling. She didn’t get a Government Ministerial role, instead leading the Scrutiny Liaison Committee during this term.
In the 2022 elections, following the abolition of the role of Senator and the electoral reforms which saw constituencies being created to create more proportional representation across the Island, Kristina Moore stood as Deputy of St. Mary, St. Ouen, and St. Peter. She was elected on 22 June, topping the poll in that district, and then chosen as Chief Minister by her States Assembly colleagues, assuming the role on 11 July.
On 16 January 2024, Deputy Moore lost a Vote of No Confidence as Chief Minister in the States Assembly and has since taken up a role in Scrutiny.
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