That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
St Helier grew most rapidly during the Victorian era. Many of its public buildings date from this time, including the markets, the States Chamber, Royal Court and the Old Library. The population grew, and roads were constructed and improved. In 1800, the population of the town (rather than the parish) was given as 8,000. By 1891 the parish population had increased to over 29,000.
| Census year | Island population | St Helier population |
| 1821 | 28,600 | |
| 1831 | 36,582 | |
| 1841 | 47,544 | |
| 1851 | 57,020 | |
| 1861 | 55,613 | |
| 1871 | 56,627 | |
| 1881 | 52,445 | 28,020 |
| 1891 | 54,518 | 29,133 |
| 1901 | 52,276 | 27,866 |
These town plans show many of the new roads and areas of town that had been developed. The map on the left dates from 1862; the key in the top right corner is a useful guide to public buildings, and shows especially the concentration of new churches and chapels in the area around the south end of Val Plaisant. The centre map shows more detail of town in 1874. It is possible to pick out some key buildings from the enlarged version. The map on the right is dated 1899.
To understand the growth of the town, the Townscape page gives dates of some key buildings.
Advertisements can tell us a lot about the people living at that time. There are some familiar names amongst the advertisements in Victorian publications. Just a few examples are given here.
The Victorian era also saw a huge increase in publications, many of them with advertisements that are today sometimes of more interest to us than the main content. Much of the reason behind this was the British Empire, with improved communications worldwide, more reliable imports and exports, and the engineering skills which mechanised and streamlined so many processes.
In spite of developments in photography, other forms of visual art (etchings, engravings and paintings) were all much in use to portray events. This illustration is from an early Victorian book showing the Royal Square.
