The Carey Vault in Candie Cemetery

Sir Victor Gosselin Carey (1871-1957)
A Lamb among Wolves
Commentating retrospectively on the career of Marshal Pétain, General de Gaulle remarked in Volume II of his Memoirs Le Salut that ‘His tragedy had been that of a senescence which the chill of age deprived of the energy needed to govern men and events’. Yet another parallel with Pétain stems from the fact that, as the scion of a house which reputedly first came to Guernsey from Lisieux in Normandy in 1288 and whose moral standards are epitomised  in the noble motto Sine Macula, appreciated as little as did the aged Marshal of France the full extent of the turpitude of the adversary with who else he had to deal- a naïveté which sometimes had appalling consequences. Thus for example, this blindness led to his seeming to be oblivious of the hideous fate awaiting those involved when in March 1941 he ordered Inspector Sculpher (Chief of Police) to prepare a report for submission to the Germans giving details of all Jewish persons in the island: a course of action which eventuates in the concentration camp followed by the gas chamber for Theresa Steiner (a nurse) and Augusta Spitz (a ward-maid), both of the Castel Hospital. It must be said that preparing that report wasn’t his idea but that of the Germans and Carey was between a rock and a hard place. Was he in any position to say ‘No’?

Carey was inclined to be absent minded and highly strung, though gentle and kind and of innate courtesy and charm. He became Bailiff in 1935 at the age of 64 (when he was already elderly and vague beyond his years) following the unexpected death of Mr Arthur William Bell. Major Ambrose Sherwill was the heir apparent as holder of the post HM Procureur but was considered as yet rather too you g fir such a senior position. 
Victor Carey held the legal qualifications for the position of Bailiff but not the energy and tenacity to do his position justice.

In evaluating Carey’s behaviour we must not forget that he went on shouldering a thankless task up to the age of 75, not always fully realizing the Implications of his actions. Even the resistance hero, Frank Falla, referring to the Bailiff’s much criticised notice of July 1941 offering a £25 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone chalking up ‘V’ signs or making other markings ‘likely to offend the German authorities’; said that he did not blame him, adding that he was an elderly and extremely worried man who had no choice... if he had not signed the Germans would have done so for him.
The knighthood granted to him in the Occupation Honours List in December 1945 had the unfortunate result of partially reviving the bitterness that had focused upon him. 
However, those more closely connected with him throughout the Occupation felt differently and Alan and Mary Wood (authors of Islands in Danger) wrote that ‘ he never balked at meeting the Germans and backing the rest of us when necessary and that trait has always endeared him to us. We always looked upon him as a good boss and he never forgot to be kind to those who worked for him’. 
For 12 years Sir Victor enjoyed the honour of knighthood. Returning in 1946, he died in June 1957 and is commemorated by a memorial at Jerbourg, donated by his sons.