27th April 1949
Race car crash kills driver and spectators
A leading light in the world of motor racing was killed when he skidded and crashed his Bugatti into a house at Marquand’s Corner. Kenneth Wilfred Bear had been practicing for the 176-mile Jersey International Road Race at the time. The car collided with six people at the side of the road. A doctor died on the spot and a policeman died the following morning. The other four injured were kept in hospital. Bear’s funeral took place in Jersey.
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Other events that occured in April
Jersey tries to abolish church pews sale
- Your seat in church once said a great deal about your social standing, so many wanted to bequeath their pews to offspring when they died.
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Draft law introduced to give women the vote
- The fight for Jersey women's right to vote began in October 1918, when Caroline Trachy called for women's involvement in running the island.
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Channel Islanders liberated from prisons across Germany
- Channel Islanders who had been sent to prisons in Germany during the Occupation were liberated in April 1945.
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Jersey benefactor Thomas Davis is born
- Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis was born in St Helier, and died, aged 75, in Durban, South Africa. He left behind a considerable fortune and a yacht once owned by the Kaiser.
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