Centenary Lookback Series No 4 - 1940's

As part of the celebrations to mark the centenary of C A Duquemin Ltd, we are carrying out a monthly Facebook lookback over the last 100 years.

When analyzing the firm’s wage book from 1939, the average number of staff that year was 24. This is a drop from 30 in 1938. By December 1939 the number of employees had dropped to just 10. This was all because the UK was now at war with Germany and not only was there a lack of confidence in the local economy there was also extreme difficulty in obtaining building materials.

During 1940 conditions worsened. The German occupation of Guernsey commenced on 30 June and very soon the firm was down to 8 staff. Materials were now very difficult to source and therefore, no new building work was taking place and the only work available was minor maintenance work. By January 1941 the firm was down to just Cess and Mac.

During the war years they would carry essential maintenance work and Cess was frequently employed driving the firm’s truck for the Essential Commodities Committee.

By mid-June 1945 the firm was starting to employ again and by the end of 1945 there was 12 staff on the books.

In 1947 tourism was taking off on the Island and CAD had obviously picked up a fair size job at the OGH as we were looking for more staff