The Chamber of Commerce is normally associated with sober-suited businessmen, but its origins were maritime – in the period of the Newfoundland fishing industry and privateering.
Anna Plunkett-Cole takes a look at the early years of the Chamber, as revealed by records recently deposited with the Jersey Archive.
THESE days Jersey’s best-known industry is finance but long before this was the case a robust business community was making itself felt in the Island and making attempts to protect its interests.
At that time Jersey’s predominant interests were maritime and it was with this in mind that the first meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held on 24 February 1768 at Peter Lys’s King’s Head – a fact recorded in the Chamber’s records, which have recently been deposited with the Jersey Archive.
The 240 years of its existence make the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, whose purpose is to promote trade, commerce and general prosperity in Jersey, the oldest in the English-speaking world. Intriguingly and despite French being Jersey’s legal language of the time, the Chamber’s minutes were always recorded in English.
It was formed because the Island’s merchants felt that they were not adequately represented by the ruling elite in the States and wanted to group together to protect and advance the interests of the maritime trade.
The scope of interests represented by the modern Chamber is now considerably broader, as diverse businesses have begun contributing to the economy, but in the early years much of its energy was concentrated on the maritime trade, specifically the Newfoundland fishing trade, which was proving incredibly lucrative for Islanders.
In the late 1700s as war with France became an ever more imminent prospect the Chamber faced the challenge of taking measures which would protect the trade of the Island.
In February 1793 the Chamber resolved to write to their friends in London asking them to apply to the Lords of the Treasury to provide a convoy to Newfoundland that March and to petition the States locally to ask for a regular convoy between Jersey and Southampton to ensure that supplies kept coming for the extra troops who would be garrisoned here.
However, the Island’s position remained vulnerable throughout the war and the archived material shows that trading without danger was difficult for Island merchants. As a result of sailing without a convoy Islanders were captured and the Chamber petitioned for a prisoner exchange with Frenchmen being held in Jersey.
The war was a blow to the Newfoundland fishing trade – a gap which the resourceful tried to fill with cash and goods brought in by privateering. The records passed to the Jersey Archive have proved to be an interesting source of information about the history of privateering in Jersey.
It turns out that equipping privateers – generally known as corsairs within the Island – was a major source of income for the Jersey Chamber. Privateering simply meant that a private ship equipped with a letter of marque was able to attack enemy shipping.
The state benefited from the disruption of enemy trade during wartime and, of course, private investors stood to make a great deal of money out of the cash and goods captured.
The Chamber of Commerce’s articles of 1785 stated that a charge of half a per cent of all proceeds captured in this way by subscribing members should be paid into the Chamber’s accounts.
Privateering proved so lucrative that in July 1798 the Chamber wrote to the then Lieutenant-Governor, Major-General Andrew Gordon, to request that they be allowed to lodge the prisoners of war captured during such forays.
The Chamber were, therefore, more than a little upset in 1800 when they received the news that prisoners of war captured by local vessels had to be taken to a port in England. They protested strongly in the vein that they relied on the money brought in by privateering and that transporting prisoners to England was both dangerous and costly.
Unsurprisingly they were met with the intractable response from the Admiralty to transport their prisoners forthwith or risk the recall of their commissions.
This was not the last time that the Island’s privateers would be admonished. They were also accused – along with their fellows from Guernsey – of committing ‘violent depredations on the defenceless inhabitants’ of the Isle Dieu (Ile d’Yeu).
Perhaps, however, the greatest achievement of the Chamber of Commerce was to press for the improvement of the Island’s harbours. As early as 1768 the Chamber resolved to write petitions ‘to the Governor, Lieut’t Bailiff, Jurates, the States or Committee for the Pier, which of them may be most proper’ about the need for improvement for the good of trade within the Island.
The States may have been dragging their heels on the matter but the businessmen of the Chamber were determined that progress be made.
Work on the project continued to be slow and it also suffered from a lack of public funding. At the end of 1790 the States put forward the idea of a public lottery in order to raise funds. However, frustrated at the lack of speed being exercised in the regard, the Chamber decided to take over and risk the sale of the whole 6,000 tickets of the lottery at an advance of 40 sols on each ticket, on condition that half of the profits would be used towards the work on St Helier’s and St Aubin’s harbours.
The Chamber kept up their pressure over the years and in 1839 sent a petition to the Englsih Crown in order to bring the parlous state of the St Helier harbour to royal attention. In September 1841 the foundation stone of what was to be the new harbour was finally laid.
Over the years, the Chamber have also been instrumental in pursuing the set-up of a post office in order to address the issue of communication. The Chamber assisted in issuing guidelines for establishing a post office.
The records now housed at the Jersey Archive prove that Jersey has had, for many years, a thriving and vital business community determined to progress its needs.
The Chamber of Commerce now
• The Chamber is the largest employer representative body in the Island.
• It is completely self-funded by its membership, autonomous of government and able to express an independent view
• The Chamber pursues matters on behalf of its membership at a high level with local government and all new or proposed legislation is monitored to ensure that members’ interests are represented
• The Chamber has an executive council comprising the president, vice-president and the chairman of each of the committees which represent the main industry sectors on the Island
• The Chamber communicates with members via a monthly online newsletter, Chamber Online
• The Chamber launched a tri-annual government survey earlier this year, giving members the opportunity to express their views on different issues
• The organisation also holds a number of lunches and seminars and offers sponsorship opportunities for members
• Jersey Chamber’s offices are located at 25 Pier Road, St Helier
• The Chamber offers a certification service, handling certificates of origin and invoices which require certification prior to use in another country and other documents which require verification or certification by a recognised authority in the Channel Islands. Jersey Chamber is affiliated with the British Chamber of Commerce, who administrate the certification scheme under authority from the Department of Trade & Industry
• Contact Jersey Chamber on 01534 724536 or email: admin@jerseychamber.com
• Picture: Archivist Stuart Nicolle looks at a book on loan from the Jersey Chamber of Commerce dating back to when the Chamber was formed. Picture by Rob Currienextpage
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Sketch of proposed inner harbour and roads presented to the Chamber in 1860nextpage
The former Chamber building which adjoined the Royal Squarenextpage
The former Chamber building which adjoined the Royal Squarenextpage
Archivist Stuart Nicolle looks at the Chamber’s records
