Most people have to be content with a distant view of Jethou as it is not open to the public. Along with Herm and Sark it forms a backdrop to St Peter Port harbour, A closer view is available for those who take a boat trip from Guernsey to Herm or Sark.
Jethou is about half a mile long, around 90 acres of which 20 are the central plateau. There are two smaller islands, Crevichon to the north and Grande Fauconniere to the south,Petit Fauconniere is basically nothing more than a bunch of rocks.
Before the Norman Conquest, Duke Robert of Normandy granted Jethou to his Admiral Restald, from him it became a monastic retreat until the monks were kicked off the island in 1540. The island became a possession of the Crown in 1091, which didn’t seem to do a lot to the situation.
After 1540 Jethou became a hunting ground for deer, rabbits and pheasants until the middle of the 19th century when the States of Guernsey began quarrying the granite on Crevichon and Jethou, some of which could have been used in the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames Embankment.
During the last couple of hundred years several Tenants have rented the island from the Crown, reasons for doing so in the 19th century included smuggling opportunities, more recently tax avoidance of a more legal kind is an attraction along with the peace and quiet.
Excursions were run in the early 1900s when postcards were sold, there were two cachets, one from 1907 and one from 1909.
Jethou was first opened to the public by Lt. Col. Withycombe who was Tenant from 1948-1955. The next two Tenants Philip Watkins 1955-7 and Herman Stockey 1957-8 closed the island and it was opened once again by Grp. Cpt. William Hedley Cliff, Tenant from Dec. 1948-1964. His intention was to make the island a financial success by developing farming and tourism, with a regular ferry service, re-opened cafe-gift shop and the issue of Jethou’s first postage stamps.
Mrs. Susan Faed took over the lease in 1964 and continued with the issuing of the islands postage stamps and other commercial developments until the Faed family returned to Jersey in 1971.
There was a new Tenant in 1971 and after his death in 1983 subsequently another Tenant took over in 1984. A further change of Tenant followed in 1991.
In 1995 The States of Guernsey took over the Tenancy of Jethou and the incumbent Tenants became Sub-Tenants.
The island has a Manor house, a couple of cottages, outbuildings, a garage for the quad bikes and tractors, a boat house and the former cafe-gift shop.
The Postal Service.
There has never been an official postal service to Jethou. With such a small resident population, such a service would never be financially viable. Official posts delivered inward mail to PO Box 5, St Peter Port where it was collected by the Tenant who posted any outgoing mail in St Peter Port.
The success of the Wood family’s ventures in Herm undoubtedly influenced the decision to issue Jethou’s first set of postage stamps on 14th July 1960. They were sold at the island’s cafe-gift shop and a post box was added later.
The carriage of mail to St Peter Port was a little erratic, during the holiday season the idea was that the post box would be emptied and the letters cancelled prior to the departure of the last boat of the day back to Guernsey where the boatman would post the mail into a convenient post box. In winter these deliveries were at the mercy of the weather and the desire of the Tenant to go to Guernsey.
The MV ‘Typhoon’ carried the mail during the Cliff tenancy, and the MV ‘Clacton Gazelle’ during the Faed tenancy when a cafe employee posted the mail in St Peter Port on her way home.
The First Definitives.
The design of the first definitive stamps was entrusted by Grp. Cpt Cliff to Charles H Coker, who, as he had with the Herm stamps, produced a wonderful set of artist’s sketches for approval. One was similar to Herm’s ‘Chart’ stamps, which may have been the precursor for a set of a common design, an idea which wasn’t adopted, but the two lower values do have similarities to the Herm design, arms, maps and the values in a seashell being common with both sets.
The artist’s sketches (above) show values of 2d., 4d., 9d., 15d. And 18d. At an early stage it appears that the decision was taken to reduce the charge for carrying postcards from 2d to 1½d as all the trials are in that value. There are essays for a 15d stamp, but presumably it was considered that the set would be too expensive for collectors and casual purchases, so the 15 was replaced with a solid black 6 rather than the outlined numerals of the rest of the set. A variety of trials and proofs exist. The essays show that the coloured background of the 1½d stamp was removed to make it clearer and more pleasing to look at.
