Celebrating Marie Randall MBEFirst woman elected to the States in 1924
Marie Randall MBE was a pioneer.
She was elected to the States of Deliberation in January 1924, becoming Guernsey’s first female Deputy. This came just 4 years after Nancy Astor first sat in the UK Parliament and 24 years before Ivy Forster’s election in Jersey.
Deputy Randall was 42 when she was elected and she served in the States for more than 30 years, retiring in 1955. For 24 of her years of service to the island, she was the only woman in the States.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of her election, Women in Public Life nominated Marie for a Blue Plaque to be unveiled on her childhood home at Vauxlaurens Brewery – now One St Julian’s – on 24 January 2024. The Blue Plaque Panel kindly supported the proposal and will cover the cost of installation but, as the nominator, we have to raise the money to manufacture it. Media coverage of announcement.
So we need your help!
Photo courtesy of the Guernsey Press
You can play a part in honouring Marie Randall and all she represents by donating towards the cost of her Blue Plaque.
And if you donate £25 or more, you can add a personal dedication to one of the 31 years she spent in the States.
Which year between 1924 to 1955 means the most to you? Your parents’ wedding perhaps? The birth of a much loved granny? The year that women and men could vote equally?
We will read out a selection of the dedications at the unveiling of Marie’s plaque.
Click on the relevant decade to see the dedications received so far:
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
Jessica Roland, the first woman to be appointed as Guernsey’s Deputy Bailiff, will unveil Marie’s plaque on
Wednesday 24 January 2024 at 12.45pm at One St Julian’s.
Everyone is invited!
One St Julian’s is an apartment building that was previously Vauxlaurens Brewery. It is in the upper part of St Julian’s Avenue, opposite the entrance to Le Truchot.
The Deputy Bailiff, Jessica Roland
Photo by Chris George
5 August 1881 – 27 January 1965
Marie Louise Mansell Randall was the daughter of R.H Randall and the sister of R.W. Randall, both successful brewers. Her mother was Eliza Mary Cohu. Her connections with a highly respected commercial family gave her connections and credibility in the business sector.
Marie was educated at Ladies’ College and, at 33, volunteered as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment in World War I and nursed in Guernsey, Rouen and London. In 1919 she became a lay member of the General Committee of the Victoria Hospital (Amherst).
After her election in 2024, she served on a long list of States committees and was an advocate for equal voting rights for women. In 1933 she signed an unsuccessful petition from 14 Deputies and others calling for the voting age for women to be reduced from 30 to 20 to match the voting age for men. She brought the matter back to the States in 1938 and, after a proposal from the Bailiff, the voting age for women was reduced to 20.
Marie was made an MBE in 1954 and retired from the States in 1955.
Photo courtesy of Island Archives Service
Sources:
A Women’s History of Guernsey 1850s-1950s by Rose-Marie Crossan
Record of civil births at the Priaulx Library
Guernsey Press announcement of Marie’s death in the Priaulx Library’s ‘Guernsey Women’ file
Marie Randall – Politician and Reformer 1881 – 1965 (author unknown) in ‘Guernsey Women’ file
The History of Randalls of Guernsey by Simon Coombes on breweryhistory.com
