Schools close due to infections...in 1920

Thursday 07 January 2021

Closed schools, epidemics and cases rising in the winter – these phrases might sound like something from a report from last week - but actually they come from over 100 years ago.

Jersey Heritage has recently opened more than 400 records, including a Hospital Admissions Register and Prison Admissions from 1920, after being closed to public from periods ranging from 30 to 100 years.

The Hospital Admissions show that in 1920, the diseases of note were measles and tuberculosis – a measles outbreak caused 1,123 infected cases, and 25 deaths.

Tuberculosis also contributed significantly to the 741 deaths recorded in the island that year, taking 48 lives.

Pictured: Hospital admissions showing the scale of epidemic in 1920.

Indeed, the measles epidemic got so bad that in January and February 1920, 18 schools in St. Helier were closed.

17 parish schools did the same between both January and March, and then August and September.

Instead of putting on PPE, however, disinfection was the key tool in the fight against disease, with 21 schools and 185 houses being disinfected across the year.

Pictured: Some of these archived records have had to remain closed for up to 100 years.

Outside of the hospital records, scandalous tales of gambling, defamation and blackmail have also been revealed in Honorary Police Records from 1918-1920.

One such story was of serial slanderer, Percy Tom Rollings Rendall - a man who counted amongst his crimes trying to exhort money from a local Reverend, and tarnish the names of the Le Quesne and Haffenden families. He was eventually sent to HMP Dorchester.

Another involved a group of 14 Englishmen, who were arrested for inciting the public to participate in a number of ‘games of hazard’, including Three Card Trick, Roulette and Banker. They were bailed for a sum of £20, and left the island the next morning.

Pictured: Percy Tom Rollings Rendall, a man described as "prowling about with a view of practicing blackmail for about 10 years."

On top of these records, documents now available also include alien registration cards from the 1940s and Prison Records from 1941-1945 during the Occupation.

Director of Archives and Collections, Linda Romeril, who will be giving an online talk on the records, said: “It is always fascinating to be able to study these documents and use them to tell the stories of individuals who lived in Jersey up to a century ago.

“In the case of the General Hospital’s Admissions Register and the Medical Officer’s report, they are a timely reminders that we are not the first to suffer from illnesses that sweep through the community.

“Even though 100 years separate us from what people went through in 1920, there are direct comparisons to be made with our experiences in 2020, such as the closure of schools.”