27th October 1887
Collapsing chimney kills a girl
The channel was struck by hurricane force winds at the end of October 1887. Boats broke free of their moorings in Cornwall and were washed out to sea, telegraph poles were blown down, trees uprooted, and homes flooded.
In Jersey, the hurricane reached its peak between one and three in the morning, at which point it blew down the chimney on a house in Bagot Road, which fell through the house to which it was attached and crushed Florence Ahier in her bed. She was killed instantly, and her two aunts, who were sleeping either side of her in the same bed, were seriously injured, according to reports in The Cornish Telegraph the following week.
That wasn’t the only chimney blown down. A schoolmaster was injured when buried beneath the rubble of his own stack, and several churches lost their roofs.
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Other events that occured in October
Hitler orders the Channel Islands’ fortification
- Hitler ordered that the islands be fortified as part of his plans for an Atlantic Wall. The defences would therefore include between 200 and 250 strongpoints on each of the larger islands
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Channel Islands’ king sails for the mainland
- William the Conqueror was already king of the Channel Islands, including Jersey, before he set sail for England.
- Read more…
Derren Brown plays Russian roulette on live TV
- Derren Brown came to Jersey to play Russian roulette in a live broadcast that was shown nationwide on Channel 4.
- Read more…
Channel 103 goes on the air
- Channel 103 won the licence to broadcast to Jersey in 1992. It had been one of several applicants for the licence.
- Read more…