FOR most people, the consequences of a drinking session taken too far would usually amount to a sore head and a moment of self-reflection – not a month in prison with hard labour.
But that was the sentence received by Leon Theodore Menier, who stole and drank bottles of champagne from Hamptonne a century ago.
His story is one of several highlighted by archive records recently released to the public.
At the start of each year, the team at Jersey Heritage open records that have been closed for up to 100 years under Freedom of Information exemptions.
Champagne Charlie
The latest batch includes a St Lawrence honorary police register, in which the arrest of Mr Menier on 2 January 1925 is recorded.
The then-38-year-old became known in the press as “Champagne Charlie”, because he was arrested for breaking into Hamptonne the month before and stealing six bottles of
champagne and an overcoat from the owner, Francis Philip Dutot.
Recounting the case, Jersey Heritage said that – when questioned in court – Menier insisted he had only had part of two of the bottles and said the overcoat had been returned to the police.
During the hearing, Mr Dutot testified that Hamptonne was not tenanted during the holidays as he stayed in town and that it must have been during this period that the house was broken into.
An eyewitness reportedly saw Mr Menier enter the kitchen with two bottles of champagne in hand and told him he had better put them back.
When Mr Dutot next visited the house, he discovered that seven or eight bottles of champagne had been drunk and carefully placed back on the rack empty – and that someone had been sick on the carpet.
The Married Women’s Property Act
The archive records now open to the public also include a letter dated 18 May 1925 from Caroline Trachy to then-Bailiff William Venables Vernon, relating to the Married Women’s Property Act.
The Act was passed by the States on 12 February that same year, giving married women in Jersey the same rights to acquire, hold and dispose of real or personal property in the same manner as if they were single – as had been introduced in England 43 years earlier.
Ms Trachy played a key role in establishing the Women’s Jersey Political Union, of which she was president.
A fierce campaigner, she helped push for women in Jersey to receive the vote, which they did in 1919.
In 1922, she sought to be elected as a Deputy for St Helier, but was not allowed to do so until years later – after the States changed the law so that women could stand as Deputies.
In her letter to the Bailiff, Ms Trachy asks him to make clear whether, following the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act, “it is now necessary that I should be separated to be eligible for the States?….Some of the members of the States, also legal men say Yes! Others say No!”
She put herself forward for election again in December 1925 but, despite the legislative progress since her previous attempt, she was again disqualified as she had not been to court to separate her property from her husband’s.
The campaigner stood for a final time in 1928 and was allowed to be nominated, ultimately coming last out of the four candidates, receiving 169 votes compared to poll-topping Deputy Le Masurier’s 579.
She later remarked that she was “defeated” but “not beaten”.
Ms Trachy never stood for election again, but did live to see the first female Deputy, Ivy Forster, win her election 20 years later.
Even more records to explore
Linda Romeril, Jersey Heritage’s director of archives and collections, said: “Each year, new records are released to the public after closures of up to 100 years under Freedom of Information exemptions.
“This year’s records include both stories of individuals and of wider social policies and
attitudes in the inter-war and post-Occupation periods.”
Ms Romeril continued: “Of particular interest this year is a letter from Caroline Trachy, who campaigned for women’s rights in Jersey.
“The letter highlights the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act in 1925 and the
impact this had on Caroline’s aspirations to become a Member of the States Assembly.”
Other notable records unveiled include a register showing that the hospital was still used as a poor house in 1925, as well as defence committee minutes from the late 1940s documenting requests from German nationals who had been part of the occupying forces but who wished to return to the Island.
