Militia picture gallery

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Militia picture gallery


To facilitate loading of our extensive gallery of Militia photographs we have separated it from the main Militia page. It is divided into a number of sections covering Parades and official ceremonies; Annual camps; Training; Group photographs; Miscellany. Sorting of photographs on this page has yet to be completed.

Most photographs of St Peter's Barracks were taken from the air, because its position on the perimeter of Jersey Airport meant that it showed in many aerial photographs of the airfield, which was officially opened in 1937. Apart from occasional photographs of individual buildings in the barracks complex, this is the only one we have seen which shows activity at the barracks, which were home to the West Battalion of the Royal Militia Island of Jersey early in the 20th century. This superb photograph was taken at about the time of the Great War, and many of those on parade here would have fought in the conflict, and not a few would have lost their lives. We are not sure if these men are all from the West Battalion, but they may well have been. We estimate that there are well over 600 men on parade here. The actual barracks are out of view - the photographer was probably positioned high up on one of the buildings. They were unused for a period after the First World War, and then they were taken over and extensively developed by the British Army and used as a training establishment, which had to close abruptly in the lead-up to the German Occupation

Parades and official ceremonies

Militia parade - 1900
Militia Artillery unit on parade in front of one of the country arsenals in 1897
A large crowd watches the annual parade on the beach in St Aubin's Bay
A Regimental photograph on Grouville Common in 1897

Annual camps

A militia camp at St Peter's Barracks, photographed by Ernest Baudoux
Troops on parade at a 1906 camp
A militia camp on the East Glacis at Fort Regent
St Peter's Barracks, 1900
1910 Fort Regent camp photographed by Horace Hamon

Training

Group photographs

Members of the Militia Royal Artillery division
Militia officers pose informally for a group portrait
A Royal Square medal ceremony

Militia miscellany

RJLI 3rd Regiment, 1897 - it was the fashion at the time to pose informally for what was actually a formal photograph
There is a stark contrast between these two pictures taken only a few months apart. The top picture shows the Royal Jersey Militia marching through the streets of St Helier in 1939. Not many weeks had passed before the island had beeh occupied by German troops in the summer of 1940 and it was soldiers of the Wehrmacht who were marching through the streets of town. The upper picture was taken quite openly; the picture below was taken clandestinely through curtained windows. Discovery would have incurred a severe penalty for the photographer
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