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4 unusual facts about Battle of Jersey


Battle of Jersey

With Corbet a prisoner, the next senior-most British commander was the 24-year-old Major Francis Peirson (in command of the troops at Saint Peter's Barracks).

The 800 men of the first division landed at La Rocque, Grouville, and passed close by the guards without being noticed; a French officer even said that he had slept beneath the guards, but that the guards had not heard the French.

The British forces in the Grande Rue included the 78th Regiment, the Battalion of Saint Lawrence, the South-East Regiment and the Compagnies de Saint-Jean.

Invasion of Jersey

Battle of Jersey in 1780-81 during the American War of Independence


Jersey Opera House

A stage play of "The Battle of Jersey" was presented on 8 March 1899, with Wybert Rousby himself as Major Peirson, concluding with a tableau reenactment of Copley's "The Death of Major Peirson" on stage.

Peace Concluded

In the background is a print of The Death of Major Peirson by John Singleton Copley, depicting the death of a British officer defending Jersey (Millais's family home) during the Battle of Jersey (1781).


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