13th May 1945
Traffic returns to the “right” side of the road
Throughout the occupation, the Channel Islands had been moved to German time and traffic had been switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. On 13 May 1945, less than a week after liberation, churches in Jersey held thanksgiving celebrations and traffic returned to what most would have considered the “right” side of the road: the left.
“Every church and chapel was filled by men, women and children, many of them wearing rosettes in the national colours,” The Times reported two days later. “A hymn written and composed for the occasion by two Jersey men was sung at many of the services. Thereafter crowds watched the unloading and dispersal of the military and civil stores until midnight, when all traffic on the streets once again changed to the left hand side.”
FREE Jersey history newsletter
Don't miss our weekly update on Jersey's fascinating history. We promise never to sell your data to anyone else, and there's a super-easy unsubscribe link on the bottom of each email so you can leave whenever you want.
Other events that occured in May
A marriage mix-up means marrying twice
- When the registrar recorded that a marriage had happened in the wrong church it was declared void and had to be repeated.
- Read more…
Father commits suicide by slashing his own throat
- John Moignard was determined to kill himself. He drank a bottle of ammonia before slashing his throat with a razor blade.
- Read more…
Princess Royal opens Zoo’s visitor centre
- As a patron of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Princess Anne visited Jersey to open the zoo’s new visitors centre.
- Read more…
US mayor John Bailhache is born in Jersey
- Although John Bailhache was born in Jersey, at St Ouen, he’ll be better remembered as the Mayor of Columbus after his appointment in 1835.
- Read more…
