Left Jersey during the occupation?

[arthurk]

A fairly distant cousin of mine, born 1919, was in the RAAF. Sadly he was killed in 1944, but according to the casualty papers his will mentioned someone called Betty J... B.... (I can't give her full name as there's a possibility she is still alive.) The will was written a few weeks before he died, and Betty was at an address in Bournemouth. I'm interested to know a bit more about her and what happened to her after he died.

I haven't been able to find a convincing match in the GRO births index, and it's possible she might have been a widow anyway. However, while googling yesterday I discovered someone of exactly the same name in an index to the 1941 registration documents held by the Jersey Heritage Trust. Would it have been possible for someone who was in Jersey in January 1941 to have left the island and turned up in Bournemouth in 1944?

The index gives me this person's address and date of birth, but would the actual papers tell me any more?

Arthur

[Marie C..]

Arthur,
To answer the last question.... the papers might well give valuable information.... and they might not. If you can get copies then it is surely worthwhile doing so.
(a bit like sending for birth certs where there is some doubt it is the person you are seeking. You take a chance)
As for whether this person got out of the Channel Islands during occupation.... well anything is possible.
So it might be the person you seek and it might not.
Marie

[Mutley]

There is quite a good piece in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Channel_Islands). It is very long and I just scanned through it but it does say that some islanders escaped.

[arthurk]

Thanks for these thoughts - I had seen that article, Mutley, but I suppose the question is how many managed to escape.

A slight spanner in the works is that after rereading the relevant papers, I think there may be some ambiguity with this woman's middle name, so she might not be this Jersey person at all. (But there again, what I have is only an abstract of the will and might itself have been mistranscribed.) And I found her as Betty, so of course she could be listed as Elizabeth somewhere.

Anyway, I'll keep looking - apparently I should be able to get hold of the cousin's full service record, and maybe that will include a full copy of the will.

Thanks again,
Arthur

[Stewart Hill]

Hi

A full list of those who escaped is held at the Jersey War Tunnels. (jerseywartunnels.com - put www. in front) Once the occupation started that was the only means of leaving the island.

However, before the occupation all non-Jersey born people had to leave island, so the Registration Card would only be relevant for a Jersey person.

I can go and look at the card if you want me to.

Stewart

[arthurk]

Many thanks for this offer. I probably should have mentioned that I've had some help behind the scenes, and taking this together with the uncertainty over the middle name, it's now looking rather unlikely that the woman in Jersey is the one I'm looking for. I think my best option at present is to keep looking elsewhere, but if I don't get anywhere I might take you up on the offer later.

Thanks again,
Arthur