The lieutenant governor of Jersey (Jèrriais:, "Governor of Jersey"), properly styled the lieutenant-governor of Jersey. (), is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a dependency of the British Crown.
Presently, there is no governor of 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
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.
, 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
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.
From 933, the dukes of Normandy and then kings of England held the islands directly. Beginning with Prince John on 8 February 1198, they began to be delegated to a series of princes and royal favourites like Peter de Preaux as feudal lords of the isles (; ). Actual administrative control was separately placed with a warden of the isles (; ), at first typically a member of the king's household knights or the royal council. This post was given wide autonomy in command and judgment alongside 12 sworn coroners () charged to preserve and clarify the local traditions, obligations, and freedoms and some of its holders were greatly enriched by the provision of , lands seized from previous owners obliged to swear fealty to the Capetian king of France to preserve their other holdings on the Continent. The wardens were initially appointed by the islands' lords but, particularly under the long and neglectful rule of EdwardI'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. 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 (; ), 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 () or captain-in-chief (). Shortly thereafter in 1473, the previous captains or subwardens () at Jersey and Guernsey were replaced by separate captains or governors () overseeing the local garrisons.. 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.
After the Stuart Restoration, King CharlesIIwho 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.. 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; and the recommendation of future lieutenant governors was announced in 2010 to be the responsibility of a panel on Jersey rather than of the ministers of the United Kingdom.Guernsey will choose its next Governor
List of governors of Jersey
DateGovernor1470–1483 Richard Harliston (Captain in Chief of Jersey)1486–1494 Matthew Baker1494–1500 Thomas Overay1500–1502 Jean Lempriere1502–1531 Sir Hugh Vaughan (first to be known as Governor)1532–1534 Sir Anthony Ughtred1534–1536 Sir Arthur Darcy1536–1537 Sir Thomas Vaux, Lord Vaux 1537–1550 Sir Edward Seymour1550–1574 Sir Hugh Paulet1574–1590 Sir Amyas Paulet1590–1600 Sir Anthony Paulet1600–1603 Sir Walter Raleigh1603–1630 Sir John Peyton1631–1643 Sir Thomas Jermyn 1644–1651 Sir Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans1651–1654 Colonel James Heane1655–1659 Colonel Robert Gibbon1659–1660 Colonel John Mason1660 Colonel Carew Raleigh1660–1665 Sir Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans1665–1679 Sir Thomas Morgan, 1st Baronet1679–1684 Sir John Lanier1684–1703 Thomas Jermyn, 2nd Baron Jermyn1704–1722 General Henry Lumley1723–1749 Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham1749–1761 Lieutenant General John Huske1761–1772 George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle1772–1795 Field Marshal Henry Seymour Conway1795–1796 Field Marshal Sir George Howard1796–1807 George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend1807–1820 John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham1820–1854 William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford (Last Governor)
List of lieutenant governors of Jersey Lieutenant Governors of Jersey have been:
TitleAppointedName 1634 Sir Philippe de Carteret (Royalist) 26 August 1643 Major Lydcott (Parliament) 24 November 1643Sir George Carteret (Royalist)at least by 1689Edward Harris 3 March 1695Col. Thomas CollierBertrand, J (1859) Armorial of Jersey : being an account, heraldic and antiquarian, of its chief native families, with pedigrees, biographical notices, and illustrative data; to which are added, a brief history of heraldry, and remarks on the mediæval antiquities of the island. Boston Public Library. p. 19 29 July 1715Robert Wilson 1723Magnus Kempenfelt 23 October 1727Col. George Howard 1732Peter Bettesworth 1738Maj-Gen. Jean Cavalier 1741Francis Best 1747Gregory Beake 12 August 1749William Deane 26 June 1753George ColingwoodLieutenant Governor and Colonel on Staff:7 July 1770 Lt-Col. Rudolph Bentinck (acting) 4 April 1771 Major Moses Corbet 6 January 1781 Major Francis Peirson (acting) (killed in action, 6 January 1781) 5 October 1797 Lt-Gen. Andrew Gordon 21 June 1806 Gen. Sir George Don 8 October 1814 Gen. Sir Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner 9 May 1816 Lt-Gen. Hugh Mackay Gordon 23 July 1821 Gen. Sir Colin Halkett 26 November 1830 Lt-Gen. Sir William Thornton 22 April 1835 Maj-Gen. Archibald Campbell 14 September 1838 Lt-Gen. Sir Edward Gibbs 16 January 1847 Maj-Gen. Sir James Henry Reynett 30 April 1852 Gen. Sir James Frederick Love 30 January 1857 Maj-Gen. Godfrey Charles Mundy 18 September 1860 Maj-Gen. Sir Robert Percy Douglas 5 October 1862 B. Loch (acting) 23 October 1863 Lt-Gen. Sir Burke Douglas Cuppage 1 October 1868 Maj-Gen. Philip Melmoth Nelson Guy 1 October 1873 Lt-Gen. Sir William Sherbrooke Ramsay Norcott 1 October 1878 Lt-Gen. Lothian Nicholson 1 October 1883 Maj-Gen. Henry Wray 1 November 1887 Lt-Gen. Charles Brisbane EwartLieutenant Governor and Commanding the Troops: 1 November 1892 Lt-Gen. Sir Edwin Markham 10 May 1895 Lt-Gen. Sir Edward Hopton 1 November 1900 Maj-Gen. Henry Richard Abadie 1904 Maj-Gen. Hugh Sutlej Gough 16 June 1910 Maj-Gen. Sir Alexander Nelson Rochfort 7 October 1916 Maj-Gen. Sir Alexander Wilson 29 October 1920 Maj-Gen. Sir William Douglas Smith 1924 Maj-Gen. Sir Francis Richard Bingham 28 May 1929 Maj-Gen. Edward Henry Willis 28 May 1934 Maj-Gen. Sir Horace de Courcy Martelli 1939 Maj-Gen. James Murray Robert Harrison(German Occupation 1940–1945) Head of the British Military Government:12 May 1945 L.A. FreemanLieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief:25 August 1945 Lt-Gen. Sir Arthur Edward Grasett 16 October 1953 Adm. Sir Randolph Stewart Gresham Nicholson 15 November 1958 Gen. Sir George Erskine 15 January 1964 Vice-Adm. Sir John Michael Villiers 30 June 1969 Air Chf Mshl Sir John Gilbert Davis 2 September 1974 Gen. Sir Geoffrey Richard Desmond Fitzpatrick 26 November 1979 Gen. Sir Peter John Frederick Whiteley 9 January 1985 Adm. Sir William Thomas Pillar 1990 Air Mshl Sir John Matthias Dobson Sutton September 1995 Gen. Sir Michael John Wilkes 24 January 2001 Air Chf Mshl Sir John Cheshire 1 April 2006 Lt-Gen Sir Andrew Ridgway 26 September 2011 Gen. Sir John McColl 13 March 2017Air Chf Mshl Sir Stephen Dalton 8 October 2022 Vce Adm Jerry Kyd
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 Bailiff of Jersey Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey
References Citations
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