Jersey Archives releases records from 1921

The latest Jersey Archive records to be opened to the public give an insight into life at the beginning of 1920s.

They include changes to the island's education system, details of arrests and admissions to Jersey General Hospital.

They also show the changes made as Jersey recovered from World War One.

The records are "stories of individuals and of wider social policies and attitudes", Jersey Heritage said.

The arrest registers from the Honorary Police provide an insight into crime and punishment in the island 100 years ago.

The crimes recorded range from youthful misdemeanours to more serious crimes of theft, assault and abandonment.

Four boys aged between 12 and 13, were accused of stealing goods from a number of shops in St Helier, including a pound of butter from a shop in Halkett Street and a pot of jam and some cigarette papers from John Tregear's shop in King Street.

While on 10 February 1921, a 51-year-old was arrested at the Mitre Hotel on Broad Street for obtaining a tiger skin for which he should have paid £2.

He was required to pay a fine of £2 or, in default of payment, to be sentenced to 15 days in prison. It is not clear what eventually happened to the tiger skin, Jersey Heritage said.

The records also give an insight into hospital admissions at the time, with the first 140 entries in the admission register for Jersey General Hospital showing that the greatest cause of admission in 1921 was Diphtheria.

Linda Romeril, Jersey Heritage's Director of Archives & Collections, said: "It is always fascinating to see the changes in our lives that have occurred over the past 100 years.

"The records released this year show the growing importance of education for all children, changing attitudes towards male and female wages, crime and punishment in the 1920s and, interestingly in our current climate, the impact of vaccination programmes on diseases such as Diphtheria."

Each year, new records are released to the public after the expiry of exemptions under Freedom of Information laws.

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