From Sail to Steam Studies in the Nineteenth-Century History of the Channel Islands

Waterloo saw the end of Bonaparte and of the blockade of trade with Europe. None saw more benefit than the Channel Islanders and for the next half-century they developed a lucrative, world-wide carrying trade which, together with Newfoundland cod, built fortunes in St Helier and St Peter Port for shipbuilders, ship-owners and mariners. From about 1865 those traders declined . Guernsey diversified into stone quarrying, paving London with Guernsey granite, whilst Jersey developed the export of the new potato and tourism. In this significant contribution to the history of the islands, the author relies on many sources not previouisly analysed in depth to compare the impact of the expansion and later decline of maritimerelated activities on the economies and populations of the two islands, highlighting the different approaches taken and the importance of their Chambers of Commerce. The final section of her book uses the1851 census to analyse their respective employment patterns in the middle of that century of great economic and social change.Williams, Caroline is the author of 'From Sail to Steam Studies in the Nineteenth-Century History of the Channel Islands' with ISBN 9781860771590 and ISBN 1860771599.