Editing History of Jersey (section)

=== Victorian Era (1837–1901) ===
[[File:Jersey, 1851 - 1-13 shillings, Victoria.jpg|thumb|A Victorian 1/13 shilling coin issued in 1851]]
[[Queen Victoria]] was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom in the right of Jersey in 1837. The first notable event of the Victorian era for Jersey was the change in currency. The ''[[livre tournois]]'' had been used as the legal [[currency]] for centuries, however it had been abolished during the [[French Revolution]]ary period. Although the coins were no longer minted, they remained the legal currency in Jersey until 1837, when dwindling supplies and consequent difficulties in trade and payment obliged the adoption of the [[Jersey pound|pound sterling]] as [[legal tender]]. Keen to prevent a repeat of the ''Six-sou'' Revolt, the authorities wanted to ensure a fair exchange rate; 520 sous would be the equivalent of one Pound sterling.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|244}} Jersey issued its first coins in 1841,<ref name="RL" />{{rp|178–185}} including the 1/13 shilling coin, which was closer in value to the old ''sou'' than the English penny.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|244}}[[File:Grand'_Rue,_Jersey.jpg|left|thumb|192x192px|The obelisk to Le Sueur]]
In the 1840s, the Rose leader Pierre Le Sueur was elected as Connétable of St Helier. From 1845, he orchestrated the construction of a complete sewer system for the town. He remained in office for 15 years and on his death an obelisk was erected in the Broad Street square.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|249}}

The population of Jersey rose rapidly, from 47,544 in 1841 to 56,078 20 years later, despite a 20% mortality rate amongst new born children. Life expectancy was 35 years. Both immigration and emigration increased.<ref name="RL"/>{{rp|186}} In 1851, the English immigrant population numbered around 12,000, compared with a total island population of 57,000 people. In St Helier, they constituted 7,000 of the parish's 30,000 residents. As with in England, the English community in Jersey was not coherent, but divided by social class. At the top of the social ladder were those of independent means, who chose to retire in the island: they did not participate much in the local lifestyle or politics, instead creating a mini-English social life for themselves. While at the bottom, there was the English-born working class, who often lacked basic rights such as accessing welfare.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|268}}
[[File:Le Rocher de l'Ermitage.jpg|thumb|The Hermitage Rock, St. Helier, Jersey amidst a fantastic landscape – by Victor Hugo (1855)]]
In 1852, the French author and poet [[Victor Hugo]] arrived to seek refuge in Jersey, as had many other revolutionaries and socialists from the Continent, facing exile from France and Belgium. If any of these ''proscrits'' died on the island, they were buried in Macpela cemetery in Sion, [[Saint John, Jersey|St John]]. In 1855, these refugees republished in their weekly paper {{Lang|fr|L'Homme}} an open letter from a number of French socialists living in London, which stated 'You have sacrificed your dignity as a Queen, your fastidiousness as a woman, your pride as an aristocrat, even your honour.' The Lieutenant-Governor banished the three editors two days later. Although Hugo had disapproved of the letter, he joined a protest against the expulsion, and hence too was exiled from the island. He and his family left for Guernsey.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|251}}

The Theatre Royal was built, as were [[Victoria College, Jersey|Victoria College]] in 1852 and exhibited 34 items at [[The Great Exhibition]] in 1851, the world's first ever [[Pillar box]] was installed in 1852 and a paid police force was created in 1854.<ref name="RL" />{{rp|178–185}}<ref name="RL" />{{rp|181–5}}

[[File:Jersey Railway map.png|thumb|250px|Map of the former railway lines of Jersey]]
This century saw Jersey develop a public transport network. Towards the end of the last century, omnibuses came into use for the first time in the island. Two railways, the [[Jersey Railway|Jersey Western Railway]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Jersey_Western_Railway|title=Jersey Western Railway - theislandwiki|website=www.theislandwiki.org|access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref> in 1870, and the [[Jersey Eastern Railway]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Jersey_Eastern_Railway|title=Jersey Eastern Railway - theislandwiki|website=www.theislandwiki.org|access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref> in 1874, were opened. The western railway from {{rws|St Helier (Weighbridge)}} to [[La Corbière]] and the eastern railway from {{rws|St Helier (Snow Hill)}} to [[Gorey, Jersey|Gorey]] Pier. The two railways were never connected.

Jersey was the fourth-largest shipbuilding area in the 19th-century [[British Isles]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/3345299.stm|title=Tourism schooner plans unveiled|date=24 December 2003|access-date=24 February 2018|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> building over 900 vessels around the island. Shipbuilding declined with the coming of iron ships and steam. A number of banks on Jersey, guarantors of an industry both onshore and off, failed in 1873<ref name=RL/>{{rp|193}} and 1886, even causing strife and discord in far-flung societies. The population fell slightly in the twenty years to 1881.

In the late 19th century, as the former thriving [[cider]] and wool industries declined, island farmers benefited from the development of two luxury products – [[Jersey cattle]] and [[Jersey Royal]] potatoes. The former was the product of careful and selective breeding programmes; the latter was a total fluke.

The anarchist philosopher, [[Peter Kropotkin]], who visited the Channel Islands in 1890, 1896, and 1903, described the agriculture of Jersey in ''[[The Conquest of Bread]]''.

The 19th century also saw the rise of [[tourism]] as an important industry (linked with the improvement in passenger ships)<ref name=RL/>{{rp|196}} which reached its climax in the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s.