Lieutenant Governor of Jersey

Representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey

The lieutenant governor of Jersey (Jèrriais: Gouvèrneux d'Jèrri, "Governor of Jersey"), properly styled the lieutenant-governor of Jersey[2] (French: Lieutenant-Gouverneur de Jersey), is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a dependency of the British Crown.

Quick Facts Style, Residence ...
Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
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Flag of the lieutenant governor of Jersey
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Incumbent
Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd
since 8 October 2022
StyleHis Excellency
ResidenceGovernment House
AppointerThe Monarch
Term lengthFive years[1]
Formation1502
First holderSir Hugh Vaughan
(as Governor of Jersey)
Websitewww.governmenthouse.gov.je
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Presently, there is no governor of Jersey (French: Gouverneur de Jersey), the role having devolved its responsibilities onto the lieutenant governors and then been discontinued in 1854. The position of lieutenant governor is now itself largely ceremonial, with day-to-day responsibility over most functions of government overseen by the Chief Minister of Jersey and judicial and certain other official matters overseen by the Bailiff of Jersey.

Duties

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The Bailiff greeting Lt Governor Andrew Ridgway in the Royal Square of St Helier on Liberation Day, 2010.

The lieutenant governor serves as the Viceroy of the Monarch in Jersey, performing various ceremonial functions and liaising between the Governments of Jersey and the United Kingdom. The lieutenant governor also exercises certain executive functions relating broadly to citizenship, including involvement with passports, deportation, and nationality. Jersey passports are British passports issued on behalf of the lieutenant governor, in the exercise of the royal prerogative, through the Passport Office which the States fund and from which the States retain any revenue generated. Deportation from Jersey is formally ordered by the lieutenant governor. Certificates of naturalization as a British citizen are issued by the lieutenant governor.[3]

Ex officio, the lieutenant governor is a member of the States of Jersey but may not vote and, by convention, speaks in the Chamber only on appointment and on departure from post.

History

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Bailiff Jean Hammond greeting Lt Governor William Norcott in an 1873 caricature.
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Lt Governor Ridgway on Liberation Day, 2010

The unusual position of the lieutenant governor is a product of the unusual situation created when the once-Viking dukes of Normandy, vassals of the kings of France, became kings of England and subsequently claimed the French throne itself. Despite the loss of Normandy and failure of the First and main Hundred Years' Wars, the situation caused the terms of the 1259 Treaty of Paris to be generally maintained and the Channel Islands were organized separately from the Kingdom of England and its successor states and held directly under the Crown.[4]

From 933,[5] the dukes of Normandy and then kings of England held the islands directly.[4] Beginning with Prince John on 8 February 1198,[6] they began to be delegated to a series of princes and royal favourites like Peter de Preaux as feudal lords of the isles (Latin: dominus insularum; French: seigneur des îles).[4] Actual administrative control was separately placed with a warden of the isles (custos insularum; gardien des îles), at first typically a member of the king's household knights or the royal council.[4] This post was given wide autonomy in command and judgment alongside 12 sworn coroners (coronatores juratos) charged to preserve and clarify the local traditions, obligations, and freedoms and some of its holders were greatly enriched by the provision of terra Normannorum, lands seized from previous owners obliged to swear fealty to the Capetian king of France to preserve their other holdings on the Continent.[4] The wardens were initially appointed by the islands' lords but, particularly under the long and neglectful rule of Edward I's favourite Otto de Grandson, some were appointed directly by the king to ensure the islands' allegiance and protection during times of hostility with France.[7] This became standard after the lordship became hereditary in the line of Henry Beauchamp and then ceased to be awarded upon the line's extinguishment. As early as 1201, the lords and wardens were both sometimes described as the bailiff of the islands (ballivus insularum; bailli des îles),[8] but this gradually became a separate position held by a separate agent.

Following the capture of Mont Orgueil and Jersey's occupation by the French from 14611468 owing to the support of Pierre de Brézé, seneschal of Normandy, to the Lancastrian cause of his cousin Margaret of Anjou during the Wars of the Roses, greater attention was paid to the islands' organisation and defense. Upon its reconquest by Richard Harliston, he was named captain of the isles (capitaine des îles) or captain-in-chief (capitaine en chef).[9] Shortly thereafter in 1473, the previous captains or subwardens (subcustos) at Jersey and Guernsey were replaced by separate captains or governors (gouverneur) overseeing the local garrisons.[10] Jurisdictional friction with the islands' bailiffs culminated in legal disputes between the captain John Peyton and the bailiff Jean Hérault, who was attempting to usurp the title of "governor". A series of rulings by the Privy Council from 1616 to 1618 determined that Jersey's captain would be formally styled its governor but largely restricted to military matters, while the bailiff would exercise most civil and judicial responsibilities without his oversight; Guernsey's officials followed suit shortly thereafter.[10][11]

After the Stuart Restoration, King Charles IIwho had previously escaped to France via Jerseyrewarded the island with the power to levy customs duties. The post of governor of Jersey thereafter became a sinecure chiefly used for its incomes, with its responsibilities discharged after 1806 by lieutenant governors. Following the long and entirely absent "service" of William Beresford as governor, the post was left vacant. Since his death in 1856, the Crown has been formally and constitutionally represented in Jersey by lieutenant governors.[12] The lieutenant governors have gradually lost various powers of their office. Jersey's custom dutiespreviously levied by an assembly consisting of the governor, bailiff, and juratshas been controlled by the States of Jersey since 1921, removing most control over the island's finances by the lieutenant governor; the States of Jersey Law 2005 abolished the lieutenant governor's previous ability to veto resolutions of the States;[13] and the recommendation of future lieutenant governors was announced in 2010[needs update] to be the responsibility of a panel on Jersey rather than of the ministers of the United Kingdom.[14][15]

List of governors of Jersey

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Governors have been:[16]

More information Date, Governor ...
DateGovernor
1470–1483Richard Harliston (Captain in Chief of Jersey)
1486–1494Matthew Baker
1494–1500Thomas Overay
1500–1502Jean Lempriere
1502–1531Sir Hugh Vaughan (first to be known as Governor)[dubious discuss]
1532–1534Sir Anthony Ughtred
1534–1536Sir Arthur Darcy
1536–1537Sir Thomas Vaux, Lord Vaux
1537–1550Sir Edward Seymour
1550–1574Sir Hugh Paulet
1547–1590Sir Amyas Paulet
1590–1600Sir Anthony Paulet
1600–1603Sir Walter Raleigh
1603–1630Sir John Peyton
1631–1643Sir Thomas Jermyn
1644–1651Sir Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans
1651–1654Colonel James Heane
1655–1659Colonel Robert Gibbon
1659–1660Colonel John Mason
1660Colonel Carew Raleigh
1660–1665Sir Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans
1665–1679Sir Thomas Morgan, 1st Baronet
1679–1684Sir John Lanier[17]
1684–1703Thomas Jermyn
1704–1722General Henry Lumley
1723–1749Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham
1749–1761Lieutenant General John Huske
1761–1772George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle
1772–1795Field Marshal Henry Seymour Conway[18]
1795–1796Field Marshal Sir George Howard[19]
1796–1807George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend
1807–1820John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
1820–1854William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford (Last Governor)
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List of lieutenant governors of Jersey

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Lieutenant Governors of Jersey have been:[16][dubious discuss]

More information Title, Appointed ...
TitleAppointedName
 1634Sir Philippe de Carteret (Royalist)
 26 August 1643Major Lydcott (Parliament)
 24 November 1643Sir George Carteret (Royalist)
at least by 1689 Edward Harris[20]:164
 3 March 1695Col. Thomas Collier[21]
 29 July 1715Robert Wilson[22]
 1723Magnus Kempenfelt
 23 October 1727Col. George Howard[23]
 1732Peter Bettesworth
 1738Maj-Gen. Jean Cavalier
 1741Francis Best
 1747Gregory Beake
 12 August 1749William Deane[24]
 26 June 1753George Colingwood[25]
Lieutenant Governor and Colonel on Staff:7 July 1770Lt-Col. Rudolph Bentinck (acting)
 4 April 1771Major Moses Corbet
 6 January 1781Major Francis Peirson (acting) (killed in action, 6 January 1781)
 5 October 1797Lt-Gen. Andrew Gordon
 21 June 1806Gen. Sir George Don[26]
 8 October 1814Gen. Sir Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner
 9 May 1816Lt-Gen. Hugh Mackay Gordon
 23 July 1821Gen. Sir Colin Halkett
 26 November 1830Lt-Gen. Sir William Thornton
 22 April 1835Maj-Gen. Archibald Campbell
 14 September 1838Lt-Gen. Sir Edward Gibbs
 16 January 1847Maj-Gen. Sir James Henry Reynett
 30 April 1852Gen. Sir James Frederick Love
 30 January 1857Maj-Gen. Godfrey Charles Mundy
 18 September 1860Maj-Gen. Sir Robert Percy Douglas
 5 October 1862B. Loch (acting)
 23 October 1863Lt-Gen. Sir Burke Douglas Cuppage
 1 October 1868Maj-Gen. Philip Melmoth Nelson Guy
 1 October 1873Lt-Gen. Sir William Sherbrooke Ramsay Norcott
 1 October 1878Lt-Gen. Lothian Nicholson
 1 October 1883Maj-Gen. Henry Wray
 1 November 1887Lt-Gen. Charles Brisbane Ewart
Lieutenant Governor and Commanding the Troops:1 November 1892Lt-Gen. Sir Edwin Markham
 10 May 1895Lt-Gen. Sir Edward Hopton
 1 November 1900Maj-Gen. Henry Richard Abadie
 1904Maj-Gen. Hugh Sutlej Gough
 16 June 1910Maj-Gen. Sir Alexander Nelson Rochfort
 7 October 1916Maj-Gen. Sir Alexander Wilson
 29 October 1920Maj-Gen. Sir William Douglas Smith
 1924Maj-Gen. Sir Francis Richard Bingham
 28 May 1929Maj-Gen. Edward Henry Willis
 28 May 1934Maj-Gen. Sir Horace de Courcy Martelli
 1939Maj-Gen. James Murray Robert Harrison
(German Occupation 1940–1945)  
Head of the British Military Government:12 May 1945L.A. Freeman
Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief:25 August 1945Lt-Gen. Sir Arthur Edward Grasett
 16 October 1953Adm. Sir Randolph Stewart Gresham Nicholson
 15 November 1958Gen. Sir George Erskine
 15 January 1964Vice-Adm. Sir John Michael Villiers
 30 June 1969Air Chf Mshl Sir John Gilbert Davis
 2 September 1974Gen. Sir Geoffrey Richard Desmond Fitzpatrick
 26 November 1979Gen. Sir Peter John Frederick Whiteley
 9 January 1985Adm. Sir William Thomas Pillar
 1990Air Mshl Sir John Matthias Dobson Sutton
 September 1995Gen. Sir Michael John Wilkes
 24 January 2001Air Chf Mshl Sir John Cheshire
 1 April 2006Lt-Gen Sir Andrew Ridgway
 26 September 2011Gen. Sir John McColl
 13 March 2017Air Chf Mshl Sir Stephen Dalton
 8 October 2022Vce Adm Jerry Kyd
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Flag

The lieutenant governor has his own flag in Jersey, the Union Flag defaced with the bailiwick's coat of arms.

Residence

The official residence of the lieutenant governor is Government House in St Saviour, Jersey. It was depicted on the Jersey £50 note during the period 1989–2010.

See also

References

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