The de Gruchy-Pallot family archive shares the story of Charles and Annie Pallot (née Giffard) and their six children and has been transferred at the family’s request from the University of Alberta, Canada. The earliest document in the collection, an inheritance contract, dates to 1397 and is now among the earliest records held at the Archive.

The records run from the 14th century to the post-Liberation years in Jersey and include the story of military nurse and midwife Adèle Haarseth (née Pallot), who was awarded medals for her work during the Anglo-Boer War and the First World War.

Incredibly, the collection has ended up being catalogued by Jersey Heritage’s Archivist Jane de Gruchy, a distant relative of the family. Jane said: “We are absolutely delighted that this unique and important family collection has returned home to Jersey after so many years, and for the care and interest the family has shown in it. On a personal note, I count myself very lucky to be working on some of the oldest known documents from my own family.”

The de Gruchy-Pallot collection, which shows the family’s changing fortunes over the years, first came to the attention of Jersey Heritage when Herb Reynolds, a Canadian descendant of the Pallots, contacted the Archive last year. His family were also descended from the de Gruchy family and had emigrated to Canada with a number of documents relating to the Pallot, de Gruchy and Giffard families in Jersey.

Jane said: “In the 1970s, the documents were donated to the University of Alberta alongside more recent family material relating to Canada. Herb and his cousins agreed that the Jersey collection would be better appreciated at Jersey Archive and started conversations with the University of Alberta Archive to transfer the collection back to its native soil.

“After hearing from Herb, we contacted Alberta and arranged for the transfer of this unique and important family collection to Jersey Archive, where it has been catalogued and is publicly available to view. The family have also donated early contracts that they retained, some of which date back to the 14th century and are a wonderful addition to the Archive.”

Highlights of the de Gruchy-Pallot family archive:

  • 1397 contract relating to the inheritance of Robin, Jean, Guillaume and an unnamed female de Gruchy
  • Contracts from the 1400s and 1500s for the de Gruchy and the du Feu families
  • 1502 will of Mathieu de Gruchy of Trinity in which he requests his body be buried in Trinity Church and gives bequests to four churches, as well as to two religious organisations, which are otherwise unknown. Unusually for Jersey, this document is in Latin rather than French
  • Records relating to Adèle Haarseth, née Pallot, from her military nursing career, including medals and ‘Mentions in Dispatches’, 1902-1919
  • A biography of the three Pallot brothers’ time as pioneer settlers in Canada in the 1900s, and Charlie’s diary kept during this time
  • Correspondence from Annie Pallot, Adèle Haarseth (née Pallot) and Cécile Pallot to Elsie and Dorrie Pallot in Canada. These letters give a picture of Jersey from the 1920s to the 1940s and give a vivid sense of the gathering of the clouds before the Second World War and the Occupation, and of the long road to recovery after Liberation.

Speaking from Canada, Herb explained that the donation of the collection to Jersey Archive was sparked by a chance online meeting in 2022 with Guy Dixon, a keen local historian of the de Gruchy family, which led his family to understand some of their Jersey history, including a reference in Payne’s ‘Armorial of Jersey’.

Herb said: “Guy transcribed and translated the pre-1600 contracts for us and his knowledge and keen interest in Jersey’s heritage and our Robin de Gruchy (b. 1350) family ignited our interest in returning the records to Jersey, where we feel they will be better cared for and appreciated. My siblings, cousins and I in Canada are delighted with the work that Linda Romeril and her team, including Jane de Gruchy, are doing to catalogue and feature these contracts for future historians and interested citizens. Thanks also to Anna Gibson Hollow for her efforts to transfer those contracts that were held in the University of Alberta’s archives.”

Some of the history contained in the de Gruchy-Pallot collection:

On 31 August 1872, Charles Pallot (38) married Mary Anne Pally Giffard (24), known as Annie, at St Saviour’s Church. Charles and his sister, Rachel, had built up a successful shoe-manufacturing business, and in 1868 Charles had bought a very grand house, Beau Désert in St Saviour, which is where the newlyweds lived.

Charles and Annie went on to have eight children, although two of their children sadly died in infancy. Their youngest child was only ten when Charles died in 1894. On Charles’ death, Annie moved her family out of Beau Désert and rented out the property instead. This was the beginning of a sharp decline in the family’s fortunes. By the time the estate was divided in 1951, the money was gone.

The archives of the six surviving children – three daughters and three sons – show that the sons all emigrated to Canada; the three girls remained in Jersey. Charles and Annie had given their children a good education. Their sons went to Victoria College, and their daughters were sent to boarding schools on the Continent, later travelling widely in Europe. Two of the girls, Cécile and Lucie, returned to Jersey to teach. Cécile used her fluency in French and German to teach English to foreign students, including those from Austria and Russia. Her letters see her worrying terribly about the fate of her friends and former students as the Nazi Party took power. Lucie became a music teacher at Jersey Ladies’ College.

The eldest daughter, Adèle, took a different path. She trained as a nurse and midwife and served as a military nurse in the Anglo-Boer War and the First World War, being twice ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ for her bravery under fire in the East Africa campaign. Living for decades in Africa and marrying a Norwegian, who had also immigrated there, she returned to Jersey after his death in 1927 and endured the Occupation before dying in 1946.

The three Pallot sons, Charlie, Bert and Harry (as they were known), settled next to each other near Ashmont, Canada, in 1906 and 1907. Charley was a keen horticulturalist and hunter, whereas Bert and Harry were both engineers. Bert returned to England to manufacture machine parts during the First World War, and Harry served in France with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Bert was the only brother who married, and his two daughters, Elsie and Dorrie, kept in touch with their aunts back in Jersey. They visited Jersey in the 1910s and again in 1950.

The six siblings’ father, Charles Pallot, was the son of Rachel de Gruchy (1808-1872). Charles’ sister, Rachel (1831-1920), also married a de Gruchy. Through one of these connections, the Pallot

descendants in Canada became the proud owners of a large collection of contracts of the de Gruchy family, as well as contracts for the Cabot, du Feu, Giffard and Bott families. These documents all made their way to Canada, where they were looked after by members of the Pallot family.

  • The de Gruchy-Pallot family archive is available to view in-person at Jersey Archive or on the Jersey Heritage Online Catalogue at https://catalogue.jerseyheritage.org/ reference L/C/532
  • More details about Adèle Haarseth can be found in the ‘Object in Focus’ section on jerseyheritage.org, which looks at her story and the military medals she was awarded.