The Traditional Knit Project [Part 2 - Guernsey's History]

I've already mentioned the history of guernsey jumpers in a few previous blog posts, but I'm writing this one to mark the start of my Traditional Knit Project.

Why am I starting with a guernsey jumper? I actually couldn't tell you. Back when I thought ganseys and guernseys were the same thing I wanted to start with a knitted gansey because they're such an iconic piece of British knitwear. Fast forward to my complete deep dive into Channel Island knitwear, I got kind of protective of guernsey jumpers. 

In Fisherman Knitting by Mike Harvey & Rae Compton, 1978, they write

"The word can be written as either gansey of guernsey."

Which we know is wrong, because they are two entirely different designs with different characteristics, meanings and heritage. 

The people of Guernsey have, for a long time, worked the local land and sea. They're a resourceful people, and often had multiple sources of income. As well as knitting, farms have been maintained for centuries. The land was traditionally fertilised by spreading 'vraic' (seaweed) on the fields. Before the 18th century, pigs and sheep were the most common animals found on the Island. It wasn't until the early 19th century that the Guernsey cow emerged, and it is now the only breed of cow that can be reared in Guernsey today. 

In the 19th century, Guernsey people moved from farming the land, to growing grapes and tomatoes. Between the wars, a quarter of the island's men were either 'growers', i.e. worked in the glasshouses (known as vineries), or made 'chip baskets' to carry the fruit. 

Shipbuilding and Quarrying were other income streams on the island. Some 300 ships were built in the 19th century to carry quarried stone to England. 

To celebrate the millennium, communities on Guernsey came together to recount 1,000 years of history in 10 tapestries. If you look at the top of the 16th century tapestry, you'll see two women knitting, above the burning of a Protestant woman when Roman Catholicism was briefly restored under Mary I (whom I'll mention again a little later!)

The Guernsey Millenium Tapestry, Bailiwick Express News, Guernsey

Knitting on the island dates back to the 16th century, but the wool trade predates this. In 1468, King Edward IV granted Royal Charter to the Islands, which included a grant to import wool from England and export goods to Normandy and Spain. 

Initial woolly goods were most likely made from woven cloth, and consisted of guernsey frocks, or smocks. Both fishermen and farmers of the isle would have worn such garments. Summer smocks were made using imported French cloth, and heavier woollen smocks were preferred in the winter. They were made using a yard of material, cut into a series of squares, oblongs and triangles. According to tradition, a shorter smock was made for the man doing the work, and a longer version was the man in charge. 

Knitting on both Islands was a thriving industry in the Tudor era. According to A History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt, 1987, Royals wearing hand knitted items from Guernsey was not a rare sight.

In 1556, Queen Mary (aka Mary Tudor, aka Queen Mary I of England from 1553-58), accepted from the Governor of Guernsey; four waitcoats, four sleeves and four hose. In 1578, within the Royal Wardrobe of Scotland, three worsted hose and six pairs of gloves would be found, all from Guernsey. Come 1586, Queen Elizabeth I paid 20 shillings for a pair of knitted Guernsey stockings with silk embroidery. Now, Elizabeth I really liked hand knitted silk stockings, and she did a lot of good in ensuring that hand-knitting did not get pushed aside by the invention of the Stocking Frame by William Lee in 1589. 

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587, National Galleries of Scotland Collection.

One of my favorite pieces of knitting lore that I've come across whilst working on this series, is that of Mary Stuart (aka Mary Queen of Scots). On her execution day, she was said to be wearing a pair of white knitted stockings. Now, both Guernsey and Jersey claim fame, so for sake of argument, as Philip Stubbes coined in 1583, we'll call them 'Jarnsey' stockings.

P.S. USE SECRET CODE JARNSEY FOR A SURPRISE DISCOUNT!

So, within 50 years, at least three members of Royalty donned knitted apparel from Guernsey. It doesn't stop there with the name- dropping, but I'll get into it a little more later on. 

And, we know that it didn't slow down anywhere into the 17th century, because with a population of 14,000, 6,000 people were employed on Guernsey as knitters. Imagine that. 

For around two centuries, people were getting buy, minding their own business for the most part, and knitting stockings and other pieces. Until, the Industrial Revolution.

William Lee invented the Stocking Frame in 1589. It was a manual machine that imitated the movement of hand knitters. He showed his invention to Queen Elizabeth I, but good ol' Lizzie refused because the feared the effect this would have on the hand knitting industries. Elizabeth I was a great supporter of hand knitted stockings, and would wear nothing but silk stocking after she was gifted her first pair. 

Poor old William never managed to obtain a patent for his design, and he died before it really took off. 

By the mid- 18th century, the East Midlands, however, held around 90% of England's stocking frames. So, by default, the stocking knitters of Guernsey could not compete with the cheaper priced and faster worked frames. 

Around this time, however, the Island turned to the iconic fisherman's sweater. These handmade jumpers look to have been inspired by the simple guernsey frocks of years prior. I'll dive more into the construction of a guernsey in Part 3, but, for now, it's important to know they follow a similar plan. 

It's only taken two and a half centuries of history to get here!

Guernsey farming family & employees. The man on the right is wearing a knitted guernsey, circa late 1850s © Deane Photographic Archives

The 'guernsey jacket' as it was later coined by Admiral Nelson (I've written a bit about how he fits in over on this blog, if you're interested), wasn't mentioned until the beginning of the 19th century. So, for many years, Guernsey was keeping her own fisherman and farmers warm with this new invention. We don't specifically know where the guernsey jumper came from, or how quickly it became a staple piece of uniform. But, we know the knitters on this Island were highly skilled, and previously extremely sought out. 

It made sense to create a piece of outerwear for the land and sea workers of Guernsey, to keep them warm and dry. A unisex garment, that was traditionally worn by men and knitted by wives and mothers. I believe, origianally, there were multiple guernsey patterns. If you look back at old photos, taken on Guernsey, from the 19th and early 20th centuries, you'll see sweaters with different cable patterns on the chest. Somewhere down the line, possibly when the communities realised they could make money from tourists wanting to take home something 'authentically Guernsey', did the pattern simplify. 

By the 19th century, a guernsey was a well known piece of kit. In 1808, George Granville Waldegrave on the HMS Thames, wrote to Thomas Hutchon in London, asking if he would approve some 'Guernsey Frocks knitted without seams' because he found them to be superior to those currently in use by the Navy.  A guernsey jumper was also worn by soldiers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1857. Later, in 2006, the British 7th Armoured Division ordered 300 jumpers from Guernsey Woollens. 

At some point, possibly around the late 19th century, when such skills were replaced by machinery and there was less of an industry of hand knitted garments, did it become less profitable. But, knitting still brought communities together. Knitting machines always made their way to the Island, and by the 20th century, and several companies began the commercial production of an iconic sweater. 

In 1939, a group of local women created the 'Guernseys for Seamen' organisation. They planned to hand knit traditional jumpers for all the local Sailors. Between 1939 and June 1940 (when Guernsey was occupied by German forces), they had managed to knit 102 guernseys. Which is quite a feat when you realise that it takes approximately 84 hours (that's 3 weeks of knitting 4 hrs/ day) to knit a single jumper. Now, I can't find anything to do with this initiative, no info, no photos- nothing. So, we have to take this with a pinch of salt. But to even imagine that it takes three weeks to make one jumper, there must have been a lot of women knitting for a lot of time to look out for their boys. 

The three main manufacturers on the Island(s) today are, Guernsey Woollens, Le Tricoteur and Channel Jumper. They utilise modern and traditional methods to create pieces of heritage. Guernsey Woollens' jumpers have even made it onto TV and movie screen! 

The tradition hasn't died. The jumper is still worn by many on Guernsey to this day, and it's even a part of the RNLI's uniform. Every year the Island holds 'Wear a Guernsey Day' to raise money for the RNLI, and support such a huge piece of their cultural heritage and history.

The Hillman families' 55 years worth of traditional knitted guernseys, BBC, 2023 (I had to crop the photo, there are about 5 more)

There's probably so much more history to uncover, but I think we've scratched the surface for now.

Come back for Part 3 and I'll dive into the knitty gritty of guernsey jumpers, their characteristics and what makes they stand out against a gansey or a jersey.

If you want to get ahead of the flow, I've designed a 'Secret Language of Guernsey Jumpers' poster. You can purchase it here.

Sources:

The Guernsey Tapestry, guernseydonkey.com, 2016

Guernsey industry, Guernsey Museums & Galleries

The Woolen Frock!, woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com, 2010

The Taxonomy of Sweater Strictures And Their Origins, Lambert, G. A, 2002

A History of Hand Knitting, Rutt, Richard, 1987

Frame Knitting, Heritage Crafts 

The History of the Guernsey, Islands of Guernsey, 2025

Folio 50-51, The National Archives, 16th December 1808