Alfred Désiré Victor Le Calvez

By Gilly Carr

Alfred or Freddy Le Calvez was born in the parish of St Brelade, Jersey, on 20 August 1922. He was the eldest of five children; his siblings were Frank, Victor, Jeanette and Jacqueline. At the time of the registration of islanders in January 1941, Le Calvez was single, working as a furniture removal storeman (a job which changed to that of motor mechanic in August 1943), and living in St Helier, later moving to the parish of St John.

Le Calvez comes to our attention because, on 28 October 1942, he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for theft of diesel oil.  His sister Jacqueline confirmed to the Frank Falla Archive that this was taken to give to local farmers to grow food for Islanders. She also stated that her brother covered for others and took the blame for the offence because he was still single and the other men involved were married. Because he was tried by the court of the Field Command 515, we can assume that this theft was from the Germans. He was deported from Jersey to France on 18 November 1942 along with George Du Pre, Albert Marie, and Henry Rabet (all from Jersey), and Thomas Le Prevost and James Quick, both from Guernsey.

Our knowledge of what happened next to Le Calvez is based only on records from French prisons. These show that he arrived at Coutances Prison on 19 November 1942, which he left on 7 May 1943. He arrived at Fort d’Hauteville Prison in Dijon on 8 May 1943 from La Santé Prison in Paris. His fellow deportees, George Du Pre, Albert Marie and Henry Rabet, arrived with him. On 5 July 1943, Le Calvez, Du Pre, Marie and Rabet were escorted from Fort d’Hauteville to Dijon Prison.

Meanwhile, back in Jersey, on 31 May 1943, the magistrate of the court of the Field Command decreed that Le Calvez’s prison sentence would be remitted from 27 June 1943. This decree was followed with the statement that Le Calvez had already been released and transferred to an internment camp (a statement which the prison records show to be false). This transfer, to Saint-Denis Internment Camp in Paris, where he arrived on 8 July 1943 (although his sister said that he was sent to a ‘Red Cross camp’, after developing abdominal problems in prison) would only have been temporary. He was released on 20 August 1943. Le Calvez’s occupation registration card notes that he returned from France back to Jersey on 25 August 1943.

After his return, Le Calvez married Augustine Poulain on 6 January 1945 and moved to Georgetown in the parish of St Clement. After the Occupation, he worked with his father and brothers providing fertilizer and other materials to farmers. However, Le Calvez’s father died in 1946, and his siblings and mother moved to America. Le Calvez himself stayed in Jersey but moved to the UK around 1954.

Le Calvez died in 1960 aged just 37, leaving behind three daughters.

Sources

The author would like to thank Freddy’s sister Jacqueline and Corinne Malmberg for these pictures and for information about the family.

Alfred Le Calvez, Occupation registration card and forms, Jersey Archives ref. St.C/2/375, 376, 377.

Alfred Le Calvez’s court records, Jersey Archives ref. D/Z/H6/4/65.

Alfred Le Calvez’s Coutances prison records, Archives de la Manche, ref. 2Y3/3.

Alfred Le Calvez’s records at Fort d’Hauteville Prison, Archives Départementales Côte d’Or, ref. 1409 W.