Sonia Hillsdon

The Jersey Lily

An interesting insight into the eventful life of that famous Edwardian beauty Lillie Langtry, who was born in Jersey, the daughter of the Island's Dean, and lived here for the first 20 years of her life.  

From the book:  

So it seems that once Lillie was in her teens, she gradually turned to less tomboyish pursuits. She had always been a confirmed book worm, but at thirteen she also discovered the fascination of spiritualism and table-turning. In complicity with two other Jersey girls, Lillie became totally engrossed: 'One particular table which we used in our seances displayed such extraordinary agility, cut so many capers, and answered some of our questions so intelligently that I began to regard myself as a medium, and to feel that I really was, as the spirits we evoked assured me, the cause of these manifestations.' To the end of her life Lillie confessed that table-turning continued to attract and mystify her.

A year later there was the tale going round to suggest that she had inherited the profitable business sense that characterised most of her fellow Islanders: 'When I was about fourteen and my brother Reginald a year younger, we went halves in a weedy English mare that had run at the Gorey Annual Meeting without distinction. Flirt was put up to auction in the Jersey cattle market, where she was knocked down to Reggie's bid of thirty shillings! He brought her home, and stealthily installed her in a disused out-house, and we fed her as far as possible from the family stable bin. Her poor legs were in a sad condition, but with blistering and patience we got her fairly sound. I hacked her about the roads to divert suspicion, while my brother gave her real preparatory work, and we managed to land a selling plate of £30 with her the first time of asking - Reggie, of course, being "up".

Seaflower Books £4.95
Order from the Société Jersiaise  

Back to home page