Carey Violet - The Second World War Diaries of Violet Carey: Guernsey Under Occupation

Violet Carey, late 1940s.

First published by Phillimore & Co. Ltd in 2009

This ebook edition first published in 2016 by

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucetsershire, GL5 2QG

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Alice Evans, 2009

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A number of people have given me their assistance or expertise and have helped to bring this work to publication. Firstly, I am grateful to the committee of the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund at the University of Warwick who sponsored my first research trip to Guernsey in 1999. Secondly, Professor Carolyn Steedman, my supervisor for my Masters degree who directed my research and helped me formulate my argument. I would also like to mention Kate Chilton who presented with me a joint paper about the Occupation at a conference in Liverpool in 2001.

Thank you to the many people (too many to mention individually) who were willing to talk to me about the Occupation and Violet Carey; these conversations were inspiring and deepened my understanding of the subject in a way no book can. I am also grateful to the individuals in Guernsey who shared valuable knowledge and resources. In particular my thanks go to Dr Darryl Ogier and the staff at the Island Archives. Mr Richard Heaume of the German Occupation Museum in Guernsey has also been helpful and generous, allowing me to include in the book photographs from his collection. Similarly, I would like to thank Sir de Vic Carey for his encouragement and also for permission to use pictures.

This work would probably never have begun without the assistance of my parents, Ross and Pat Paxton; thank you for your help, encouragement, funding and nagging! Finally, I would like to remember Violet Careys daughter, my Granny Guernsey, who was an inspiration to me. She would have been delighted to see these diaries in print.

Guernsey, from Ward and Lock 1881.

G uernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands. It forms a triangle of 24 square miles and lies approximately 75 miles from its nearest English seaport, Weymouth. The Channel Islands are neither a part of the United Kingdom nor are they colonies. Their relationship with Britain is derived from their integration into the Duchy of Normandy in the mid-tenth century; they became linked to England when William the Conqueror came to the throne in 1066. Although England lost Normandy in the 13th century, the Channel Islands have remained loyal to the Crown to the present day. However, they have never been incorporated into the Kingdom of England.

Due to its Norman origin, Guernsey has always maintained a certain level of independence and has kept many of its own laws, customs and names. In particular it remains free from English taxation. Guernsey has an independent system of government based on the ancient Norman Law. The Bailiff of the Island holds a unique position as the President of the Island Parliament and the senior Judge in its Courts.

In 1939 the system of government in Guernsey was administered through the States of Deliberation and the Royal Court. The States usually met at monthly intervals to consider proposals made by the committees responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Island.

However, the government bodies within the Islands were subject to a degree of intervention from the Privy Council. This body was responsible for actual legislation that made or modified the law of the Island. A further role of Her Majestys Government was to take responsibility for the Islands defence and international relations.

The inhabitants of Guernsey, amounting to some 40,000 in 1939, have traditionally been staunchly independent. The great majority of the population at this time were natives of the Island whose families could be traced back for centuries. Many families still spoke the local patois, Guernsey-French. Writing of the Channel Islanders in 1904, Edith Carey described an attitude among native Islanders that exists to this day:

There still lingers a certain individuality about the thoroughbred Channel Islander; to the world in general he asserts himself an Englishman, but in the presence of the English he boasts of being a Jerseyman or a Guernseyman.

Many of these native Islanders were descended from medieval farming communities and still based their livelihoods on the traditional trades of farming and fishing. However, there were increasing numbers of settlers from Britain who came to live in the Island. Furthermore, due to the increasing popularity of Guernsey as a tourist resort, there was a seasonal influx of people of other nationalities who came to the Island to work.

By 1939 tourism had become an important source of income for the Island and many Guernsey residents were financially dependent on visitors from the UK. Traditional forms of farming had also gradually given way to a thriving economy based on agriculture and horticulture, consisting mainly of exporting Guernsey cattle, flowers, fruit and vegetables, particularly the famous Guernsey tomato for which the Island was highly reputed. Thus, in 1939, the Island was not self-sufficient and was dependent on the UK for supplies and to support trade.

The Channel Islands (from J.P. Warren, Our Own Island, Guernsey 1926, p.3).

Charles Cruickshank gives an admirable summary of the situation of the Channel Islands at the outbreak of the Second World War in The German Occupation of the Channel Islands:

So it was that the Channel Islands awaited the Second World War. Two densely-populated bailiwicks, close to France, still using French for some purposes, and patois in the country districts, but loyal to the United Kingdom for a thousand years; virtually self-governing, except for the King in Council standing benevolently in the wings, and taking the stage only to consider the wishes of the Island legislature; each with the machinery of an independent state, but sometimes incapable of making quick decisions because of their relationship with the Privy Council; dependent on selling their produce to Britain, and on visitors from Britain.

With the exception of some men and women of military age who left to join the Armed Forces, the approach and outbreak of the war made little impact on Guernsey, and the Island was only disrupted by wartime precautions. However, in May 1940 Hitlers successes in Europe and his rapid advances towards the Normandy coast posed a great threat to the Channel Islands, the closest of which (Alderney) was less than ten miles away. On 16 June the Home Office withdrew the Lieutenant-Governor from the Island and his powers and duties, except those relating to military matters, were conferred on the Bailiff. In spite of the opportunity to leave, however, many Islanders, aided by an unofficial anti-evacuation campaign, preferred to stick firmly to their roots.