French Emigration to Jersey: 1850-1950

Between 1850 and 1950 the island of Jerset saw the arrival of a substantial number of emigrants from the west of France. This movement in population was associated in particular with the fact that Jersey had specialised in farm produce that required a sizeable level of seasonal labour. The influx of craftsmen, domestic servants and especially Norman and breton farm workers led to a certain number of the settling in Jersey permanently. 

The present study of this immigrant French population, based on a large number of unpublished documents obtained in both France and Jersey, makes it possible to bring the fore the nature of this emigration to Jersey and to reveal its unique characteristics when compared with the historic movements of French people to other English-speaking territories. 

This translation from the French is by Glyn S. Burgess, Emeritus Professor of French in the University of Liverpool, and Rory A.D. Hill, doctoral student of geography in the University of Oxford.