A STATUE of an Occupation heroine would help commemorate the ‘great women’ of Jersey, according to a Reform Jersey Deputy.
Montfort Tadier has led calls for many ‘worthy candidates’ to be celebrated, naming Louisa Gould as one of these. The St Ouen shopkeeper was deported in 1944 after sheltering a Russian slaveworker for 18 months and was ultimately murdered in a gas chamber in Ravensbrück concentration camp.
During yesterday’s States Assembly, Deputy Tadier queried whether work could take place on future memorials ‘to great women in the Island’.
He asked if a Louisa Gould statue could coincide with the 80th Liberation celebrations in 2025.
International Development Minister Carolyn Labey said: ‘I think that would be an excellent idea, if we looked to commemorate her and other women.’
She added that Deputy Tadier was ‘pushing against an open door’ when it came to calling for more statues of women in the Island.
Deputy Labey said: ‘I would welcome any cultural additions to our public realm, especially if they acknowledge the vast contributions women have made to our community.
‘There are a lot of them and I don’t see any of them out there in our public realm, not obviously so anyway.
‘If it were a case of acknowledging Louisa Gould, who I know made great efforts during the Occupation and in fact lost her life over it, I think it is something we should very much consider.’
Assistant Economic Development Minister Lucy Stephenson told the JEP: ‘I certainly think we could do with more public tributes to women in Jersey.
‘A statue would be an excellent place to start.’
Posting on Twitter recently, Deputy Tadier wrote: ‘If we are to have statues, there are many more worthy candidates to be truly celebrated: Louisa Gould for one.
‘Imagine that: instead of having a statue to a slave trader [Sir George Carteret], have one to someone who sacrificed her life to hide and save a slave worker.’
