8th December 1948
Jersey elects first woman to States Assembly
The election of 1948 was a momentous occasion for two reasons. Principally, it was the first election to take place after the Occupation. However, it was also the first at which a woman was elected to sit in the Chamber. The successful candidate was Ivy Forster.
The first woman to attempt to stand for election as a Deputy was Caroline Trachy, who was proposed and seconded for a seat for St Helier in December 1922, only to be disqualified purely on account of her gender. Thus, it was Ivy Forster, a quarter of a century later, who became the island’s first female deputy.
A long wait
Indeed, Forster had been encouraged to stand by the Bailiff after a successful spell as a public speaker in the aftermath of the occupation. She stood for election a further two times – in 1951 and 1954 – but, although she successfully defended her seat at the first of those, it was third time unlucky in 1954.
However, 1954 wasn’t entirely bad news for Jersey’s female representatives as Gwyneth Huelin was elected a Senator in St Brelade.
Ivy Forster will be remembered as more than just Jersey’s first female Deputy, though. During the occupation she and her sister Louisa Gould sheltered escaped Russian forced labourers. When Louisa was betrayed by a neighbour, Ivy took in Feodor Buryi, whom Gould had been sheltering, even though Ivy and her husband were already accommodating Grigori Koslov in their attic. Ivy, Louisa, and their brother, Harold Druillenac, all stood trial for having sheltered the escaped workers, and Louisa and Harold were both sent to concentration camps in mainland Europe. Ivy whom a doctor testified was suffering from tuberculosis at the time of her conviction, was allowed to serve her sentence in Jersey.
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Other events that occured in December
The States receives bad news about Queen’s Valley reservoir plan
- The company contracted to build the Queen's Valley reservoir was unable to complete the work, forcing the States to look elsewhere.
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St Helier brought to a standstill by 600 mourners
- Artist Ralph Elliott died in 2009, aged 47. His funeral in December attended hundreds of mourners who brought St Helier to a standstill.
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Last ever episode of Bergerac is broadcast
- The BBC's long running Jersey-set detective drama series, Bergerac, finally drew to a close on Boxing Day 1991.
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A motorist is killed on a Jersey level crossing
- When a car got stuck on a Jersey level crossing, it was sliced in half by an oncoming train, which also killed the driver.
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