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A girl who grew up just a stone's throw away from the corridors of power in Guernsey probably never envisaged she would become the first woman to hold a seat at the table. But she did, and she paved the way for others.
100 years ago, the Randalls brewery stood proud at the top of St Julians Avenue sharing the neighbourhood with prominent public buildings including Government House, the Police Station, and the Royal Court.
Marie Randall, born in 1881 into that family, lived ‘above the shop’ at Vauxlaurens. As a child she would help with the bottling, and read billets.
Her election to the States of Deliberation came just a few years after female politicians took up office for the first time in the British parliament and further afield.
She was first elected to represent St Peter Port on 31 January 1924 at the age of 42. Before this she had been a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment in World War I and is recorded as having nursed in Guernsey, Rouen and London. She had also been a lay member of the General Committee of the Victoria Hospital.
Her political focus, alongside the myriad responsibilities of States committees, was winning 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 equalised. Ms Randall brought the matter back to the States and in 1938, after a proposal from the Bailiff, the voting age for women came down to 20.
Pictured: Members of Marie Randalls family. (Jackson Chambers Photography)
Her work was rewarded in the 1954 Queen’s Birthday Honours List with an MBE. She retired from the States the following year, before her death 10-years later.
Today, everyone can vote in all elections across the Bailiwick from the tender age of 16. Multiple women have been elected to the States and other political positions across the Bailiwick – although they are greatly outnumbered by men.
In January 2024 – a century after her first election to the States - a plaque was unveiled at Ms Randall's former-family home to commemorate her legacy.
The Deputy Bailiff Jessica Roland – the first female in that role, and widely expected to be the first female Bailiff too - pulled down a Guernsey flag taped to the building’s wall revealing the plaque.
Members of Marie Randall's family and pupils of her former school, the Ladies’ College, were among those present. Guernsey has eight female deputies at the time of writing, and all but one (absent due to illness) were there.
Pictured: The Women in Public Life group nominated Marie Randall for a blue plaque, which was erected in her memory in January, to mark the 100th anniversary of her election to the States.
The decision to grant her a plaque came from a successful suggestion from women-centric pressure group – Women in Public Life – which advocates for and supports females aspiring to hold public roles.
Its Chair, Shelaine Green, addressed the crowd, quoting from a family scrapbook.
“Miss Randall set an example in the States which has been admirably followed. Other women have gone to the polls and, in many cases, have topped them as she did,” she said.
“The public has come to have a special regard for the woman deputy, and many declare that, were there more of them, Guernsey would be the better for it.
“However that may be, it is true that Miss Randall made a great contribution to island welfare. Guernsey is the better for what she has done and, surely, this is as fine a tribute as one can pay to anybody.
“Her charm, her good sense, her ability and her desire to do good are qualities which have endeared her to us all."
This article first appeared in the March edition of CONNECT, Express' sister publication.
The latest edition of CONNECT can be read HERE.
"Miss Randall made a great contribution"
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