The Battle of Jersey

Described as "15 minutes of mayhem" by historian Doug Ford, find out more about Jersey’s famous battle which took place in the Royal Square in St Helier, Jersey on 6 January 1781. Hosts, Mel and Perry are joined this month by Doug Ford, who’ll talk through the battle, how French forces, led by Baron de Rullecourt, landed at La Rocque in the early hours of the morning and tried to take the Island by force and how the battle was won, with the loss of Major Peirson.

If you want to discover the more of the story, then come to Jersey Museum.  The Battle of Jersey features in ‘La Terr’rie d’Jèrri’ our FREE exhibition at Jersey Museum.

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Transcript

The Jersey Heritage Podcast: The Small Island, Big Story Sessions
The Battle of Jersey with Doug Ford 
Perry (00:02):
Welcome to the Jersey Heritage Podcast,
Mel (00:05):
The Small Island Big Story Sessions.
Perry (00:08):
You are listening to Mel and Perry. In today's episode, we are joined by local historian Doug Ford, who'll be telling us the story of the Battle of Jersey.
Mel (00:18):
This was a conflict with a complex backstory, despite only lasting 15 minutes. Listen in as we discuss the French invasion jersey's defense and the aftermath. Well welcome back to today's episode, Doug. We're gonna talk all about the Battle of Jersey. Obviously the battles a really famous conflict in history. And I'm kind of gonna set you a bit of a tricky task. To begin with. I'm gonna, I'm gonna see if you can summarize the battle in two minutes. If you had two minutes, how would you summarize it?
Doug (00:51):
15 minutes of me, him,
Mel (00:55):
That's it. Just a one liner <laugh>.
Perry (00:57):
Done.
Mel (00:57):
Done. Wow. That was like a second
Doug (01:00):
<Laugh>. Well, the, the Battle of Jersey is interesting in that outside of Jersey it's very little known. It's the only battle of the American War of Independence fall on this side of the Atlantic. It's an awful lot of legend, if you like, or myth being built around it, largely because the main participants disappeared very quickly.
Perry (01:24):
What can you tell us then about the, the background of the, the entire conflict leading up to the battle then?
Doug (01:31):
It's, it's an interesting time because the American wove independence traditionally got the, the Declaration of Independence in 1774. At 70 76. But actually the hostility started before that. Just working on American Prite at the time. And there's attacks on British shipping in 1775. Quite he heavy ones, Jersey ships are being captured by New England Priers, and yet there's no state of war. So are the pirates are the pri I don't, you know, that's the interesting question. The turning point was, and its importance, was when the other nations joined in, because the interesting thing about the American war independence is it was the only war Britain fought in the entire 18th century without any allies, you know. So the, the British were fighting against initially the rebellious colonists. Then the French joined in 1778, then the Spanish joined in, and the Dutch sort of joined in the, have a trade embargo. So the northern nation stopped trading with Britain. There's conflict, mainly in the American colonies, which Britain's never gonna win. 'cause Britain never really considers a real war 'cause they're fighting us.
Perry (02:47):
Yeah.
Doug (02:48):
And Britain's strength is the Navy, but you can't blockade the other half of America 'cause it's the frontier. Yeah. In, in general, the British heart wasn't in the battle. What the French are trying to do, and the Spanish are trying to reclaim the losses from the 70 years war, which had ended about 15 years earlier, which you could almost describe as the first World War because, you know, Britain was fighting in the Caribbean and the Americas in, in India. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. So the, the other continental kingdoms are trying to reclaim their, their possessions in, in the moneymaking parts of the world. So that's why they, they decide to attack Britain under the, the guise of help in the American colonists. The interesting thing from my perspective, from this battle is that suddenly the prite activity in Jersey blows up for the first time. There's more pri operating outta jersey than Sey.
Doug (03:44):
The quite sizable numbers. At present, I've got about 120 jersey ships acting as priers. And it's this that causes the, first of all, the invasion, the attempted invasion in 1779, duke Nassau Invasion, which failed miserably. And then it's the catalyst for the 1781 invasion. They, that leads to the Battle of Jersey because the success of the Jersey Priers on the French economy is quite drastic. And so the Battle of Jersey was an attempt to or the invasion of Jersey in 1781, was an attempt to divert resources away from the Americas. It was an attempt to suppress the prite activity of the island. And I suppose the French had always wanted Jersey anyway, so as that. And it was a cheap option as well, because they used mercenaries. They didn't use proper soldiers, as it were. They were using a chancer, the Baro and his army of inverted volunteers had been basically drawn from the prisons of, of France.
Doug (05:02):
And there was a few professional soldiers in there as well. But it was a, a chance there's expedition back because they had nothing to lose, you know? Yeah. The French were quite won get rid of this lot, and if the, if they won happy days, if they lost, oops. And the way the the battle panned out, again, you see, it's interesting, the, the structure of a regiment, you know, you had your, your kernel, your left hand kernel, and a major or two majors, then captains, then left tenants, then incense, British army, you could buy a commission. Right. An investment would cost about 400 quid or something each, you know, first of all, you bought your ancy, then you paid another three, 400, but you could become a lefthand. Then you paid, well, three, 400, you become a captain. And the beauty about that system for the offset class was that when they finished, they had a settle commission and get their money back, or they went onto the half pay list, which was your pension.
Perry (06:05):
Right.
Doug (06:06):
In times of war was great because suddenly the number of regiments required blossomed or extra battalions were added to existing regimens. So you could get your, your promotion through being in the right place at the right time. And this is what happened with, with Pearson. Pearson bought his incense in, in a regiment, first of all. Then he would, he bought his left tenancy when he was a captain, though, he was promoted to major because he was a good recruiter. He'd never actually seen action. Right. He'd spent the previous years in Ireland on garrison duty. But when the new regiment, the 95th was, was set up, he basically said, I can recruit a hundred men if you make me the major.
Mel (06:49):
What, how did he do? Was, did he just have a very, was he just a charming person? Did he have what kind of, how to do that? What
Doug (06:55):
Was that stand recruit? You go around and you tell lies.
Mel (06:59):
Oh, okay.
Doug (06:59):
You get your recruiting party drummer in on the fancy uniform, and you spread money around pubs telling people what adventurous life it was and how much money they're gonna make. And
Mel (07:12):
So he is a good salesman.
Doug (07:13):
He was a good, yeah, he was a good salesman, basically. And he had a hundred men. And there's the regiment. His only real command after that was marching the men from Leeds down to the, the ferry in, in the south of England to bring them over here. And the come to Jersey, they put up at Lahar Manor, not in the man, but you know, in, in tents in the ground. And that's where they, they're here for the next year or so, before the battle starts Christmas 1780, the commanding officers of all three regiments are in England on the holidays. It's
Mel (07:48):
The one even here.
Doug (07:49):
All majors? No, all majors apart from Pearson are in England on the holidays. The guy who should have been the major, the one with the experience was captain Christie. But he was, he got the lip on. He didn't even come to Jersey. He sent his his servant over the, the black guy who is normally referred to as Pompy. He came over with his gear, with his thing.
Mel (08:14):
He's featured in the death of Major Pi and in Copley's painting. Yes,
Doug (08:17):
He is. There's a whole myth about him. Yeah. But yeah, Christy, he was in bath chasing and some, some woman who eventually married. Yeah.
Mel (08:26):
Okay.
Doug (08:27):
So he should, he he should have been here for the battle, but, but he wasn't as, most of them weren't.
Perry (08:33):
So what was the, what was like the feeling in Jersey? Do we know, like leading up to this? Because obviously as you said, it had been about 15 years since the last big war with France. So there's a little bit of a taste of maybe uneasy peace leading up to it. Were people sort of still had the feeling that they were on a sort of front line of war?
Doug (08:53):
Oh, yeah. The war of the, the Americas, you know, the, the, the Jersey fishing fleet had been in contact with American Priers for five, six years at this point. There'd been full scale declaration of, of war by the French three years earlier. There'd been Neva attempt in 1789. In 1779, there were invasion scares. If you read the newspapers, the, the British newspapers at the time is constantly this, or there's a threat of invasion near jerseys on a war. So people in Jersey would've been very aware of the position, or in most of the priers were at sea in January, 1781. So you've got a lot of like the more active fighting men away making, making money. Yeah. And then the, the fact that the, I put it bluntly, the French cheated, they came on 12th night. Yeah. You know, they should have been celebrating <laugh>. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Doug (09:54):
And they shouldn't have come through the rocks at, at the Rock for they should have come where invaded always come either ville Hell, it's an urban bay, or sent once. Yeah. Nice sweeping bay to land on. But they didn't, they snuck in, in a way, dead clever move, because Jersey wasn't expecting anybody to come through those rocks. And in another way, it was a bit tricky because about two thirds of the French invaders didn't make the landing. Mm. Yeah. Because either got hit hit rocks or got swept away with the current, 'cause they came in at night. So they're coming in six on the, the evening of the, the January in the dark through rocks.
Mel (10:42):
Yeah.
Doug (10:43):
To, which is in quite a narrow channel. There is suspicion that they had help inside help. And Pierre Jono is normally bless him. He, he, I think he's been stitched up.
Mel (10:57):
Really. Oh, really? Yeah. Because every source I read says mm-hmm. They're quite clear in saying that Jonno is, he's the catalyst to help making this battle happen. But you don't think, I
Doug (11:08):
Don't think he was, he had, he had four children. One was born in 1779 in Jersey. He supposedly, according to the stories, he was, he'd France. 'cause He'd murdered a man didn't do that until 1782, the year after the battle. Oh, interesting. His youngest son was born in Jersey in seventeen eighty four, three years after the battle. And he was never charged. Somebody's got a downer on the boy. The people who are mentioned are mille, and I think it was Edward Mille, who his name is, banded a about literally within days of the, the battle. And there's another guy called Bene was suspected and again, named in letters as being collaborator or a villain, villain of the peace. But Pierre Jono doesn't, doesn't just doesn't appear.
Perry (12:06):
So maybe a, a kind of later source has sort of stuck it on, twisted
Doug (12:10):
It. Yeah. Pier's granny probably Nick to somebody else's granny's care or something. It was down to, to that I suspect.
Mel (12:18):
Well, that's nice that you are, you know, cleaning his name <laugh>. Yeah.
Doug (12:22):
For always Jos out there. The boy wasn't,
Mel (12:24):
You can all sleep easy now. <Laugh>. It's not your fault. <Laugh>.
Doug (12:27):
Yeah. The, the fact that you, you've got this French fleet comes in in the early and the late hours of, of January the fifth in the dark through probably the most treacherous part of the Jersey Coast line lands at La Rock. And the militia are on duty. They're on watch. It's 12th night, and the eight guys are tucked up in the tower, all nice and happy. Yeah. When they're in, in the guardhouse there,
Mel (12:57):
They don't even notice.
Doug (12:59):
Oh, it's, it's said they were drunk having a little party nickel,
Mel (13:02):
Miss <laugh>.
Doug (13:04):
So they opened the door, probably nip nips out to have a relieve yourself. And suddenly it confronted like three or 400 Frenchmen. And so they're captured very quickly, you know, like as in knock knock who? That the French writer <laugh>.
Perry (13:18):
And they just captured them. They didn't No,
Doug (13:20):
No. Kill them or No, no. So the, the French make a landing a, a beach head at the Rock in the early hours of the 6th of January. And then they separate into two groups. One is the, the rear guard who see it to protect the landing spot. Pretty lousy. I'll pick better a landing spot to protect rather than that. Yeah, yeah. Haven't, haven't realized. They've lost most of the people coming in. And then there's about a hundred, 150 of the, those figures are very vague. And then the other five, 600 who managed to land progressed into town.
Mel (14:00):
Yeah. So they march their way into town. Yeah.
Perry (14:03):
Which seems really, really easy. As you said, it kind of showed a hole in the Def defense. Mm-Hmm. Jersey's defenses. And you Yeah. You know, if you walk around the island, you see these, this defense network Yeah. Of towers that were built everywhere, which seemed to have like little effects.
Doug (14:15):
The towers were planned. Most of 'em hadn't been built at, at this stage. Right. But there were guardhouse boulevards, the militia in times of war should have been on, on on watch. So there'd been a regular pattern for, for the militia to D turn. But nothing has happened. So they got a bit complacent, really. Mm-Hmm
Perry (14:35):
<Affirmative>.
Doug (14:36):
When year you're marching five, 600 men from the Rock, where do you go there? I suppose the, the way that you would go, they would go along the coast at Vic, and then to Pontac, and then they'd do a quick, what's the name of the, is it Ru Prince or something that head up towards St. Clement's Church. Right. Okay. By Jamar Lane. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. They, they take up that way and they send some people to, to St. Clement church, not because they need a sudden bit of religious sustenance to cut their ropes on the church bell warning, because Oh. They don't warn anything. The warning system in Jersey was for the church. Bells to, to be wrong, clever. So, cut the church bells march into town, I suppose, down the the pastor Rock <laugh>,
Speaker 4 (15:25):
The rocker school past,
Doug (15:27):
Past Sam, Sam Ray Manor. When they're approaching what becomes Georgetown, they seem to separate one lot heads up that what's gonna become the Howard Davis Park and Colum. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. Another lot go along the coast to the. Right. Because that's when they're noticed. They're walking down coloa, the marching down Colum a woman puts her head out the window to shout at 'em. 'cause They're making a noise. She, she thought it was a Scottish garrison from Ville coming for the market. And she suddenly, she slams the door shut. The other ones are where the white horses, they, they were noticed there as they were progressing towards town. It's almost like a pinching movement. Mm. The get to town roundabout, suppose about half five at the bottom of what's another snow hill steps. That's where the first casualty occurs, because a guy called VE comes out of his door, sees the fact that he gets beaded.
Doug (16:23):
Oh no. That'll teach 'em to get up early, won't it? <Laugh>. So, and the French are making for the royal square, the, the seat of power. And by six o'clock they're in the royal square. This is when Clement Heery notes, he's got a house where the Chamber of Commerce is next to the and bottle. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. As is now, looks out the window, sees the French army in the in the Royal square. And he sneaks out the back and he heads up to the go. The Governor Lefthand left hand Governor Moses Cobert, who is at his places bottom of Lamot Street there. And he warned him, the French is in somebody else has, has come to to warn the, the left hand governor of what's happening. And they're immediately sent. There's almost like, there's, there's a plan unfolding straight away. The governor doesn't get dressed.
Doug (17:21):
He stays in his night shirt. <Laugh>, of course dispatches Clement Henry off to warn the troops at Ville. 'cause They, they don't know that that's where the friendship landed. But he's gone to, to, to warn the 83rd there. And he dispatches the other guy to St. Peter to tell the 95th what's happening on the way. Message o obviously passed because the officers of the 83rd aren't with their men. The men are stationed in what's now the hospital and across the street. But some of the officers are in houses around town. Remember town's quite small at this stage. Mm-Hmm. And this is where the, the planning that's obviously happened, comes into play because immediately the officers join the men in the, they abandoned town and go onto the, onto West Mount onto Carlos Hill. They're securing the high ground to the to the understand what's happening.
Doug (18:25):
And that's when the, the alarm bells are, are sent out. Captain Mul caster, who's living in in town as well, jumps on his horse. He's an engineer. He's gonna go down. Lact realizes he, he can't 'cause of the French, and he scoots over to Elizabeth Castle. Not a lot happens when Henry gets to groove Ville because the five companies are already, they're prepared. And it's often said that the, the, the captain in charge of them did it. He wasn't dithering as the, as his men said, he was getting his intelligence. He didn't know where they were. He, we had to find out where the the enemy were before he could do anything. And that's what he was doing. So they were prepared, but just not running around like headless chickens. And then Heery was supposed to come back to town. And that was when he was captured by the, the French rear guard at the Rock.
Doug (19:22):
And in town, we got the French. In the Royal Square, we've got the 83rd Regiment on top of West Mount being joined by other members of the, the militia. So they come from all over the island, gathering up there, the ARDS fifth regiment there, they march in to to town. And with the, the St. Lawrence battalion of the town militia, they, they get there fairly quick. The Trinity guys come down and they're all gathering in the one place. So it's obviously it's an, it's a known plan and have been called by surprise parishes Unite. Yeah. <Laugh> almost. Because, and what they're doing is they're, they're gathering information all the time. How many people were the landed? What, what's the plan? French, on the other hand of the Royal Square holding the Royal square, the dispatch people to the governor's place on Lamont Street, where they catch him still in bed.
Doug (20:26):
Strange that still in his nightgown and demand that he accompanies them to meet and court the leader in the Royal Square at the seat of power. And, but of course, he's gotta get dressed, so, right. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he's taken more and more time and wasting time and all that, that time is happening. The militia, the British Army, are all gathering at West Mount ready to go into action. And when he does turn, he, he to rule court demands, he signs the the capitulation, which he does. The Attorney General doesn't. They've gathered a few of the, the politicians, they don't. And when this is presented to the British troops, effectively what Pearson's gonna say is, this was done under duress, therefore I'm not obliged to, to follow his orders. Hmm. Right. And that happens at, at both when the French go up to West Mount to demand the surrender.
Doug (21:27):
And when they, to actually take corbert out to Elizabeth Castle to demand the surrender before they had a chance to open the mouth, mul caster orders the calendar fire, and at them. And so they retreat. And it's all time wasting until something can happen. And when it does happen, that's when you have 15 minutes of bloody mayhem. Because once everybody's gathered on, on West Mount, the rule code sends his messenger with, with Covid, for them to re to surrender, he's captured the island. And the militia know that. Ha, that has napgra. They come from all over the island. The plan then goes under, into to foot. P Pearson sees that the French haven't enough men to occupy Monte Lave, where Fort Region's gonna be built. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And so he immediately sends the light companies from the 95th and the 83rd, along with the light.
Doug (22:28):
Any light company from the militia, the light company, were lightly armed fast moving troops. And so they skirt a town and take position on Olave. So they're looking down into the Royal Square. Mm-Hmm. And then when the French demands are basically re re repu said, no one's gonna surrender. They said, well, we will be, you know, 15 in, in 30 minutes, then we will start firing the town. That's when Pearson says that, basically. That's a shame. You've only got 10 minutes before we come in <laugh>. And so he actually did give them 10 minutes. And the French party were roundabout Gloucester Street. By the time the troops began to move off West Mount into town, the French are still in the marketplace. Their artillery had been lost at sea. So the only canon they've got access to is, are the three canon from the town church. But they've got no gunners.
Mel (23:33):
So they're gonna fail. They they're doomed already.
Doug (23:36):
Well, they actually put the, the, the cannon looking down Broad Street. Right. This is where the British troops are gonna come. The bottleneck in town is gonna be chairing cross because the old prison's still there. So, and it, it's got an arch basically from <inaudible> to the co-op there, you know? Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And so the bulk of the Army's gonna come through that way, led by the 83rd by the Highland, not by the seventh, the eighth, the Highlanders. They're coming through that way with the militia following them. The 95th do the sneaky one. They come around by Pitt Street onto what's now King Street, known as the Rooted Derre in those days. And then they march up King Street. They can't see what's going on. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. If any, you know, as soon as the, the Canon fire, they understand what, what's happened. The, the militia in the 78th are through, they're in Broad Street, the French panic, the fire, the guns first, and everything goes over the top.
Doug (24:43):
So there's no real, no casualties amongst the advancing British forces. What will will happen, 'cause this is how warfare happens. The British Army will march to within about 50 yards of the enemy, maybe it's even closer, and then they'll fire. Right. The French aren't as organized. They, they, they're shooting, they're frightened center too, too, too far away. And of course, the, the weapons at the time, the musket wasn't that accurate. It depended on V fire. And because there was such a tremendous amount of smoke came off the, each cannon each musket as well. People were blinded. So the, the, the best way to to, to operate this was effectively fire and then charge with their musket through, through the smoke before the enemy could react. And that's what the Scots did. So they'd fire and then charge, oh yeah, you are marching. And then when you're close, you would fire and you'd get maybe a hundred, 200 Muske balls shooting down that narrow gap into the royal square at the French.
Doug (25:59):
And then there's a billow smoke. And suddenly outta this billowing smoke, you've got all these crazy guys in frocks <laugh> with a muscular, with an 18 inch or whatever, the banet on the end charge, not you. Yeah. Well, that's going on Pearson all ER's noise. You've got the Light Infantry on Fort Regent, shoot on Monville shooting down into the Ma French in the Royal Square, 83rd. And the, and the 95th light companies leave, and they come down and they attack the Royal Square, while the militia light companies are still up there shooting down at the wrong square Pearson as the major, his position is on the left flank. And so he leads his grenadier, whose position's on the left flank through the, the gap outta King Street, into the Royal Square. And that's the first time he sees what's happening. And it's probably round about then that he gets shot.
Mel (27:03):
So he gets shot straight away.
Doug (27:05):
Well, as soon as he, there is bullets flying down from Fort Region, there's bullets flying or Muske bolt flying up from Broad Street. And he comes in and he literally, as soon as he clears leading his men doing his job at the front, he gets shot.
Perry (27:22):
And he would've been a target on his head really, wouldn't he? To shoot the
Doug (27:26):
He may have been. Yeah. but then again, it could have been friendly fire. Mm. It could have been a scotchman, it could have been a militia man. There's bullets whiz all over, and he emerges and gets shot. The, the Grenadiers carry on, see what's happening. And then the withdrawal. Now if you read the, the, the panicked and fled, actually they got out the way. You got bullets flying left, right in the center. They cleared, waited in in in King Street. And then they, they went back in when they knew it was not safe, but when they knew it was the right time. These guys are professionals. Yeah. They're led by a professionals. There is the story of the, of the Jersey Militiamen coming up to the cowering British soldier and rallying them. These guys were like yorkshiremen. They wouldn't take any note. It was some feet French sounding officer. They were frightened of the Sergeant Major. He's the guy who there fo following, not some
Perry (28:23):
Local militia unit kind of. Yeah.
Doug (28:26):
They, they go in and that, that's the battle more or less over.
Mel (28:30):
Does Pearson die straight away? Virtually?
Doug (28:32):
Yeah. As soon as he merges the, the battle may have been going on five or six minutes before he go, gets into the, into the Royal Square.
Mel (28:39):
So no one tries to come and like, help him or like, try and fix it. He's just done. That's it. Game over.
Doug (28:47):
Well, that's it. Yeah.
Perry (28:48):
Sounds like the, the Square was quite an unwise place to try and hold, to be honest.
Doug (28:52):
Not the cleverest place. No, because he is, is Bottlenecked, and they didn't have artillery. They weren't that well trained. They couldn't deploy. They were facing a, a well-trained army backed up by the militia. The death rate, if you actually look at the mortality rate amongst the British regiment, you can see who's dying, where the, well, you can see who's dying. If you're in the 83rd or the 70th elected company, we know that you've died or you've been killed between the Chamber of Commerce and the state of chamber, because that's the way they came in. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. So you can actually plot the deaths and you can see how the battle unfolds.
Perry (29:36):
And are there any sort of remains that we can still see today of the battle in the square, whereas
Doug (29:41):
It's the dodgy bullet holes in the, in the Pearson Pearl? How much, much of that is real? And how much is fanciful put up there? We don't, there would've been bits of the, the buildings blown out. You know, an ounce of lead doesn't have make a mess. Mm. The, the most obvious thing is the statue of George II in the Royal Square. He was stood there. Mm-Hmm.
Mel (30:05):
He's in, yeah. 'cause He's in the death of Major Pearson's painting. Yeah. What happens to the rule court? He gets killed too. The
Doug (30:12):
Rule court has his jaw blown off <laugh>. He comes out the Royal Court building with Moses Colbert, and two of them come out, I dunno about who's, who's using, who is, is his shelter. But we do know from the reports that Colbert had his hat blown off by ated ball or by a musk ball and Pierce. And the rule court was hitting the jaw. Ouch. And it took them probably just short as 24 hours to die.
Mel (30:44):
Oh, that's horrific.
Perry (30:45):
That's nasty, isn't
Doug (30:46):
It? But that was, that was it. So the French, they lose 78 killed, 74 wounded and folded, and 17 were captured. While this is going on in the Royal Square, once Pearson's dead, once the rule codes badly wounded, the battle is, is over effectively. And then the events at the same time which are happening out at LA Rock, it's a much more traditional type battle. Basically the, the Grenadier from the 83rd Regiment line up and they march towards the French and the French fire, and then the Grenadier's fire, and then the wrong with the Benets. So they battle the Plat rock, usually forgotten about much more of a traditional battle. Mm. And again, there, those guys, the, the six who are killed from the 83rd Regiment was another eight wounded. They're buried in Ville Church. Mm-Hmm. You know, there's the little monument there. So with their names on. So that is a, a tangible bit of the events of the Battle of Jersey that you can, you can go and see. Well,
Perry (32:08):
How many were fighting on the beach then around the Rock? Were they fighting on the beach or were they
Doug (32:13):
On the land? No, they've been fighting on the on the flat land by
Perry (32:17):
Right. And how many were sort of stationed from each side around there then?
Doug (32:21):
I think it was something like 230 in the 83rd regiment, and there would probably be a hundred, 150. The French rear guard that, and this is where the Reverend Lata comes in with his parish cannon. You know, you've heard of the church militant? Yeah. This is the guy. Wow. Because the cannon are, are kept in the church. So he comes down with the St. Martin's militia, and he almost failed with his canon.
Perry (32:45):
A modern sort of modern day warrior priest in, in quotation marks
Mel (32:51):
Canon. Visit the Jersey Museum for free. We've got so much to explore. Our new exhibition, LA Terry Dije on the first floor, the Victorian House, and our Geo Park Visitor center. We look forward to welcoming you to our free museum. One of the aspects of the Battle of Story, the Battle of Jersey story that I find really interesting is this character, Mrs. Fiat.
Doug (33:18):
Mrs. Fiat. No,
Mel (33:20):
Theo. Yeah. There we go. So, so we actually have the bullet that hit her in our new Terry Digger exhibition. So she was hit, was she hit in the arm, hit,
Doug (33:30):
Hit in the shoulder was, it was a span bullet.
Mel (33:33):
So this woman literally opens her window. Yeah. She's like, there's a commotion outside. Yeah. She opens her window. Yes. Mm-Hmm. Pokes her head out, gets hit in the shoulder by this bullet. Yeah. Then she decides they get it out, and then she decides to wear it for the rest of her life. <Laugh>.
Doug (33:46):
Well, it wasn't long. She did die in 1784. Oh, okay.
Mel (33:49):
Right.
Doug (33:49):
Mrs. Fear she brought
Mel (33:50):
For three years <laugh>.
Perry (33:53):
I'd wear it. Well, I mean, it's pretty cool. Conversation piece isn't,
Mel (33:56):
There's like a little hole in the top where she wore it as appendant. Yeah. Which I think is so wild.
Doug (33:59):
Well, did she, or was her family? So
Mel (34:01):
I know I'm gonna romanticize the story and say that she wore it.
Doug (34:05):
Typically I'm,
Mel (34:05):
Since there's so much romanticism around this story,
Doug (34:08):
Romanticism,
Mel (34:10):
<Laugh>
Doug (34:12):
She was originally the girl Remo from St. Lawrence, as, as we all know, and she married Nicholas Fear, who was the senior of Molesh in 1772. He was a merchant and he actually owned Leho. Oh. In St. Peter where the 95th were or Billeted husband died the following year. You know, I mean, that's effectively, you know, she was living in town. You had a paddle gun out on outside. She put her head out the window. What did she expect?
Perry (34:41):
Yeah. <laugh>. Well, speaking, speaking of civilian casualties, we had, was it Phillipe?
Doug (34:46):
Which one? The,
Perry (34:47):
The, the guy got bayonet? 
Doug (34:49):
Yeah. 
Perry (34:50):
What did they paying him for? Was he, was he sort of
Doug (34:53):
Well, he could have shouted. He, it was basically he, they were closing down any alarm.
Perry (34:58):
Right. Okay. So he might have been a threat to the Yeah.
Doug (35:02):
To the, so, I mean, the, the whole Battle of Jersey thing was in 17 80, 17 81, the war was going badly for Britain.
Perry (35:11):
Yeah.
Doug (35:12):
Yorktown was under siege or about to be surrender. The French fleet was blocking Chesapeake Bay when the island was invaded. They had to divert in 1779. They, they diverted a fleet of 20 warships over here. That, that should have been out. We going out to Chesapeake. So the fact that they won this victory in a time of not a lot of victories, that was why it was, was regarded as such a, a big deal.
Perry (35:43):
And, and did the French after this one, did they go right. Let's stop trying to invade
Doug (35:48):
By this time by 17 81, 70 82, the winning in America, the British pri the Jersey Priers were continuing to be massively successful. The French economy was struggling. There were later threats and not attempts, but there were later threats. But nothing came to much. And you've got a peace treaty to negotiate. And what's intriguing, once the Peace treaty happens within six years, the French Revolution breaks out, which gives you a lot of an idea of the underlying tensions that the French administration are going under anywhere at this time.
Mel (36:34):
I wanted to go back to talk about Pompeii. 'cause He's, he's quite an interesting character in all of this didn't exist. Well, that's exactly what I thought. <Laugh>, because obviously in, in the death of Major Pearson in, in, in Copley's painting. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. He's depicted as a very central character. He's holding his musket. And the story goes that he shoots captain of Royal Court as a way of, I don't know, vindicating major Pearson's death. And he's supposed to be kind of a symbol of the relationship of the loyalty of the colonies to the British Empire. But he doesn't actually exist.
Doug (37:09):
He's a romantic figure. Copley's battle of Jersey painting. It's not a documentary. No. If you look at it, its structure is p years. It's, it's the, it's Christ off the cross.
Mel (37:26):
Yes. Yes it is. And
Doug (37:27):
Even to the position of the, of the, the flags above them, Pearson's draped over all his commanders who should be commanding, by the way, they shouldn't be there. <Laugh>. And one of them was actually out at Ville anyway, the militia man and the guy in the blue jacket. And so it's an and what, what was the two women in the baby run out the Royal Square? Four.
Mel (37:47):
So that was, I think from the interpretation of the art, it's, it's to show like the kind of who, who that, who the battle's fighting for is the people of the island. So he's
Doug (37:56):
Opposed to cop his wife and his son.
Mel (37:57):
Well, 'cause that isn't his, his son is that is his, he's depict his son in the image. Does he like immortalizes his sons and the son's, his son's face. It's the only person looking at the viewer of the painting. It's, which is quite, it's quite an interesting composition
Doug (38:13):
Of that. It's very interesting. It's, it's a composition. It, so you've got the romantic image of Pompe wearing a uni fanciful uniform from the Americas. Mm-Hmm. And which I suppose hints at the, the, the colonial, the, the size of the empire. You've got the two women and the chil and the child running out of the royal square, which supposedly is how these nasty French were attacking civilians. Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. You've got Bernie's picture of the, the black figure shooting a very obvious Barron Deco. But then when you look at the history, Pearson didn't have a black servant. He was, he was pocketing the money for one a servant. But he wasn't using, he, he didn't have one himself. He was using Maj captain Christie's body servant. So Poy, well, he didn't get called Poy until sort of the late 19th, early 20th century.
Doug (39:19):
We, we got no name until that point. There's two references to him. One is rather the fancy, full thing. How he turned about another Mr. Fears shop in in London. And claimant to be, have been present at the Battle of Jersey. But he was dismissed from being in Corio drunkard. And then in 1790, another black guy turns up in York at the parents of Major Pearson with him claiming to be famous, reported black man at this stage who was with Pierce and give a fanciful story about how he'd been press ganged in Portmouth on the hm s barer. But the captain had, had heard his story, took pity on him and released him. Navy captains didn't release anybody who'd be impressed. And why did it take him best partner nine years to walk from Portmouth to to York? Yeah. So there's a story going on about this myth, black man in the Battle of Jersey. But there's no claim to have, you know,
Mel (40:22):
There's no like evidence, solid
Doug (40:24):
Evidence. Yeah. We can't say he was in the battle. It's unlikely he was in the battle. Mm. And he's one of the early myths I think of, and it's made famous by the picture.
Mel (40:32):
Yes. I do think it's one of the most interesting parts of, of the painting, I have to admit. That is one of my favorite, even though it's a myth and <laugh>. But it's, it's, it's interesting to see what it actually is representing.
Doug (40:45):
Julia Wellington said that the Battle of Jersey was one of his favorite paintings of a, of a battle because of how little you could see, which is true of a battle. Right. There's so much smoke you can't see, you know, so many battles were were quite fanciful about who, who was going where. Mm-Hmm.
Mel (41:04):
I've actually been to see the original at the, at the Tate Britain in London. And it is absolutely beautiful. It's huge. But the, the way that Copley's depicted the light in it is phenomenal. How he's done that with paint is unreal. Well,
Doug (41:18):
Copley was an interesting character anyway. 'cause He was a Boston loyalist. Yes.
Mel (41:22):
And he had never come to Jersey. He
Doug (41:23):
Never came to Jersey. But he obviously had people here who were sending him sketches. 'cause The, the imagery of the Royal Square is very accurate.
Mel (41:30):
It is. I think it was his brother that sent him sketches that I've read.
Doug (41:34):
And the model for Pompey in the painting is actually Christie the auctioneer, who was his next door neighbor. It was his servant. It's very interesting. Remember at this stage, there's no slavery in England. You've got the judgment. Well, yeah. In England you've got the Mansfield judgment. In 1781, I think that it was where I said it was impossible for a, an English person to be a slave. Not true in Scotland, by the way, you could still be a slave in Scotland till 1786. If you happen to be a Collier or a Salter, you are owned by the business owner.
Mel (42:09):
Well, thank you very much for your time today, Doug. My
Doug (42:11):
Pleasure. Thanks
Mel (42:12):
Very much. It's been great hearing your storytelling. If you enjoy today's episode, don't forget to click on the subscribe button for more. If you found today's episode interesting, please come along to La Terry Deje at the Jazz Museum, where you can see Mrs. Theo's bullet along with a little portrait of her. But you can also come and see the two portraits on display of Major Pearson and Captain de Royal Court alongside a very cool drum used in the battle.