10th November 1919
MP worries about Jersey’s butter consumption
Frederick Macquisten was the MP for Argyll, but that didn’t stop him showing considerable interest in the Jersey butter situation – and the fact that Jersey might be getting more than its fair share. Standing in the House of Commons on 10 November 1919 he claimed that Jersey had more than enough of its own butter, with considerably more than 10,000 cattle and a population of just 40,000 people. Yet, he claimed, despite this the mainland was exporting its own butter to Jersey, which was then being sold on in France. The only sensible course of action, in his view, was for the Minister of Food Control, Charles McCurdy, to “prohibit the export of butter from England to the Channel Islands”.
With the relevant stats to hand, McCurdy refuted Macquisten’s claim that Jersey had more butter than it knew what to do with, and there was no evidence that butter imported to the mainland was subsequently exported to Jersey. Perhaps hoping to call Macquisten’s bluff, he asked for proof that British butter was ending up on French bread.
Whether Macquisten was ever able to obtain the data he required is unclear; there is no further mention of Jersey’s butter consumption in Hansard, the official record of proceedings in the Houses of Parliament.
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Other events that occured in November
Bailiff Cecil Stanley Harrison is born
- Cecil Stanley Harrison was Bailiff of Jersey and had earlier played a role in the trial that had resulted in the island's last execution.
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Spy Philippe d’Auvergne is born in Jersey
- Philippe d’Auvergne was a mariner who was on the cusp of inheriting a fortune and a title when France put its foot down and said 'no'.
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Jack Higgins’ Night of the Fox is broadcast
- Jack Higgins' Jersey-set story, Night of the Fox, was broadcast on television in 1990, starring George Peppard.
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Liberty Wharf shopping centre opens
- St Helier’s £40m Liberty Wharf occupies a former Victorian abattoir, and retains many of the listed building’s original features.
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