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Local women that have made indellible contributions to their community, professions and the world are being celebrated in a brand new set of stamps illustrated by a local artist.
Designed by Kiera Melville, the Jersey Women of Achievement stamp set showcases pioneering women from Jersey who led the way in the fields of politics, healthcare, the WWII war effort and who put Jersey on the map for seafaring and the West End.
Each stamp has been designed to depict each women’s personality and accomplishment.
Learn about each of them below...
During the occupation of Jersey in WWII, Ivy helped escaped slave workers who had been brought to the Island by the Nazis. After the island's liberation, she became a speaker, giving talks on her experiences during the war, which led her to be encouraged by the Bailiff to stand for election. In 1948, she became Jersey's first female politician and went on to become the first woman to top the poll when she was re-elected in 1951.
Caroline wanted to stand for Deputy in Jersey's 1922 election but was disallowed due to her gender. This led her to found the Jersey Women Political Union in April 1923 which led to changes in Jersey’s legislation, allowing women to be sworn into office in the States for the first time.
Sister of first Jersey female politician Ivy Forster Louisa Gould was a shopkeeper who harboured a Russian slave worker. Known as ‘Bill', Feodor Polycarpovitch Buirry was hidden for two years before she was reported by a neighbour. Luckily, she was able to gain enough time to relocate Bill before the investigation. Tragically, however, a Russian/English dictionary was discovered during the search of the family home and used as evidence to send her to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. Louisa was sent to her death in the gas chambers on the 13 February 1945, just two months before the camp was liberated.
Born in St Brelade in 1677, Marie Bartlett was the founder of the General Hospital and left 91,567 livres tournois (around £7 million today) to the General Hospital after she died in 1741. A French inscription can be found at her grave, which reads: "To the memory of Miss Marie Mauger – widow of Mr Francis Bartlett – foundress of the General Hospital. Buried in this parish April 26, 1741. She stretched out her hands to the poor, she reached forth her hands to the needy – Proverbs 31, 20."
Orpheus Beaumont was the daughter of a sea captain and named after the naval ship on which her older brother was serving in New Zealand. However, she suffered from ‘drowning fits’ as a child gaining which led her to a desire to ‘beat the sea’ and in the year following the sinking of the Titanic (1913), Orpheus designed a new type of life jacket, the ‘Salvus’, which won the approval of the safety experts of the British Board of Trade and was made in the tens of thousands.
Jersey’s very own West End star was born in 1886, but her real name was Ivy Janet Aitchison. Taking her stage name, Ivy St Helier, in her West End debut in 1910 which led to a long career including playing Manon in Noel Cowards play 'Bitter Sweet' during the gloom of the General Strike in 1926. Ivy continued to thrill audiences until her death in 1971, now remembered as a ‘gifted revue artist’, and a pioneer for female entertainers in the West End.
As well as the Jersey Women of Achievement stamp set, Jersey Post has also produced a miniature sheet with the issue, which includes Physician and Methodist missionary, Dr Lilian Mary Grandin.
The first Jersey women to obtain a medical degree, she used her knowledge to conduct various medical expeditions and was particularly keen to help those in remote areas of China. In 1906, she made the treacherous journey from Southampton port to the Asian nation and spent the next 10 years travelling remote areas on her pony to teach local women how to become midwives.
After a two-year refresher course during the Great War years, she returned to Shanghai to continue her missionary work. In 1924, Dr Grandin became ill with typhus in 1924 and passed away three weeks before Christmas.
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FOCUS: Celebrating Jersey's groundbreaking women
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