July 9, 2024 • 32 mins
The tiny island of Sark, in the English Channel, had the distinguished honor of being the last fiefdom in Europe. And in 1929, an American businessman named Robert Hathaway became its lord. He could not have known just how challenging the next few decades would be, for all of Europe and for a tiny island that would soon be occupied by enemy forces.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from aarin Manky listener Discretion Advised. Twenty miles
off the northern coast of France in the English Channel
is a small island called Sark. Today about five hundred
(00:24):
people live on the island two square miles of land,
which is situated atop sweeping granite cliffs. No cars are allowed.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
On the island. The only ambulance is a converted tractor. Historically,
the residents have farmed and fished, and many still do today.
But there's something that makes this otherwise simply pleasant island
totally unique. Until two thousand and eight, it was ruled
(00:54):
as a feudal state. In fact, it was the very
last feudal state in Europe, officially overseen by a signor
or a dame, who owed allegiance only to the British Crown.
Many of the island's ancient customs lasted all the way
into the twenty first century. Divorce was forbidden, income tax
(01:16):
didn't exist, and only the feudal lord was permitted to
breed pigeons or own an unspayed female dog. The various
lords of this peculiar island. Over the centuries included knights
of Queen Elizabeth, the First, renowned statesmen serving under King
George the Third, and devious privateers commissioned by Queen Victoria.
(01:42):
But in nineteen twenty nine the title to Sark passed
to an unsuspecting figure, an American businessman. A man named
Robert Hathaway legally ruled Sark from nineteen twenty nine until
his death in nineteen fifty four. His tenure was anything
(02:04):
but uneventful. In nineteen forty the German army seized the island,
and in nineteen forty one a story broke out in
American newspapers that Robert, lovingly referred to as Bob by
his family, had been forced to plow the fields of
his island alongside his wife, Sibyl. The New York Daily
(02:27):
News reported quote, Cabbages and kings turn out to have
something in common. After all. Bob was allowed to send
letters to his relatives in America, but German censorship made
it nearly impossible to convey the gravity of their situation.
In the middle of the English Channel, the first American
(02:49):
lord of the last fiefdom in Europe languished alongside his neighbors.
Robert had never planned to become a feudal lord. He
had simply fallen in love with Sybil. He never planned
to stand side by side with the people of this
tiny Channel island amidst a war. But today he and
(03:12):
his wife both stand as two of the many heroes
in Sark's hallowed history. I'm Danish Schwartz and you're listening
to noble blood. In fifteen sixty three, Queen Elizabeth the
First of England granted the island of Sark to one
(03:35):
Sir Helier Decarterret. Queen Elizabeth inherited many islands in the
English Channel. Some were large, like the isles Guernsey and Jersey,
and some, like Sark, were tiny. Worried about a French
invasion and annoyed by pirate plaguing the English Channel, Elizabeth's
(03:56):
court stipulated that carter Itt bring forty men to Sark
from Jersey, each armed with muskets, in order to protect
and cultivate the land. To this day, descendants of those
first forty families still live on Sark. Until very recently,
those families retained the old custom of organizing a town
(04:19):
council that appointed a judge clerk and sheriff, all overseen
by the island lord, who held a limited veto power.
The island itself passed through many hands over the centuries.
Usually it was sold by a signor or dame who
was hard for cash. Such was the case centuries later
(04:41):
when the great great grandfather of Sibyl Collings bought the
island of Sark in eighteen forty four because its former
landowner could no longer run its silver mines profitably. In
Sibyl's autobiography, she describes her grandfather as a t and
skilled statesman. In contrast, this is how she describes her
(05:05):
own father, William, who would become lord after his father quote, Unfortunately,
my father was extremely insubordinate, madly obstinate, fiercely self opinionated,
and prone to outbursts of uncontrolled rage. Needless to say,
Sybil did not get along with her father growing up.
(05:28):
She was forcibly sent off to a convent in France
against her will at fourteen. After she returned, she considered
marrying a British army officer who allegedly fell madly in
love with her. Sybil's mother broached the topic of that
marriage to Sybil's father but that only made him furious.
(05:49):
One night, Sybil bravely demanded that her father let her
do as she wished. Three weeks later, her father woke
her up in the middle of the night and violently
threw her out of the house. If it weren't for
the secret intervention of Sybil's mother, Sybil wouldn't have been
able to escape the island safely or rendezvous with her
(06:10):
British officer Dudley in London for their wedding. In nineteen
o nine, the couple settled down in England and had
their first child, a daughter, Bridget, the following year. This
prompted Sibyl's father, William, to reconnect with his daughter, congratulating
her but also lamenting that she hadn't given birth to
(06:32):
a son. In his first letter to Sybil after a
whole year of silence, he wrote, quote, sorry it was
a vixen. Sybil occasionally returned to Sark, sometimes tending to
her ailing mother, other times preventing her father from damaging
the island's reputation any more than he already had. In
(06:54):
her own words, quote he had never provided me with
a settlement, nor given me a penny, but I was
his heir, and I loved the island passionately, more than
anything or anyone in the world. When the time came,
I intended to do as much for Sark as my
grandfather had done. This was my future, and I had
no intention of allowing father to take it away from me.
(07:18):
Sybil officially moved back to Sark in nineteen twelve with
her children and took up cattle breeding. When her husband,
Dudley unexpectedly passed away from the Spanish flu in nineteen eighteen,
she was left with nothing but a widow's pension to
raise six children on. Her father refused every request for money,
(07:41):
Sybil had no choice but to move wherever she could
to support her family, from the nearby island of Guernsey
to Germany. Finally, in nineteen twenty seven, after a forty
five year reign, Sibyl's father died and Sybil took over
Sark with a new vision for the island. She assured
(08:04):
her five hundred or so subjects that she would maintain
the traditions of the past, and then proceeded to lead
a whole slew of changes, from a new harbor to
renovations on the family's manor to reinstating tithes of wheat
and chickens to help fund all the projects. Her intention
(08:25):
was partly to make the island more suitable for tourists,
largely English tourists. Some of the culturally French Islanders feared
becoming Anglicized. Even while the new Dame of Sark was
busy reinventing the island, she found time to travel and
schmooze with the wealthy and well connected. Before embarking on
(08:47):
a holiday to the United States, a friend in London
insisted that she dine with an American businessman named Bob Hathaway.
Bob was not an aristocrat, but he did come from
an elite, distinguished American family. His father was a Wall
Street banker, and his family had made it big in
the publishing industry. He had graduated from Yale in nineteen
(09:11):
thirteen and then with friends, had enlisted in the United
Kingdom's Royal Flying Corps to support the Allies in the
First World War. Bob was an avid golfer and tennis player,
but if there was one thing he loved more than sports,
it was gin. He joked with Sybil that he left
the US for the UK because of prohibition In fact,
(09:35):
he had actually moved to London to work with the
sporting goods company Spoulding, Yes, the same one famous for
their basketballs. But Bob insisted that he only took the
job because of the free golf balls. If there's one
thing that shines about Bob through the fragments that we
have of him, it's his sense of humor, which was
(09:55):
no doubt a plus for Sibyl throughout their whirlwind courtship.
The day after they got to know each other over lunch,
Sybil boarded her ship for her vacation in America, and
she found her cabin full of flowers sent by Bob.
When she reached New York, Bob's older brother, Stuart and
(10:16):
his wife Helen warmly welcomed and hosted Sibyl. When Sybil
boarded the boat for her return of voyage, she was
greeted with even more flowers from Bob and a message
inviting her to dinner when she arrived back in London.
Sybil recollects quote, it had become clear that this tall,
lean Yankee was not only an entertaining companion, but a
(10:41):
very determined man. I am a strong minded woman, but
this time I had met my match. It took no
longer than three weeks for the two of them to
decide to get married in nineteen twenty nine. The tabloids
pounced on their wedding as another curio streaming from the
all already curious Channel Islands. Headlines on London papers read
(11:04):
woman Ruler to wed and woman Ruler's romance. One paper
even described Bob as Sibyl's consort. He did, after all,
willingly give up his job to go live with her
on the island. When the newly wedded couple reached Sark,
they were greeted by a whole procession of islanders carrying
(11:26):
flags and flowers. Upon seeing the small island that would
be home for the rest of his life, Bob jokingly
complained that there was nowhere to install his own golf course.
But Bob was in for an even greater surprise than
no golf on the island. As Sybil remembered it, Bob
(11:46):
turned to her and said, I never knew the Dame
of Sark was such an important person. Why they treated
you like royalty? Sybil gave him a smug look, my
poor Bob, You've got a shock coming to you. The
signor of Sark is a more important person than Ladame.
Under our old feudal laws, a husband owns everything that
(12:10):
his wife possesses, and this applies to the lordship of
the land. Bob sat there, dumbfounded. At first, he was resistant.
The both of them left Sark after a week for
the Isle of Guernsey, where Sybil called upon an expert
of feudal law who confirmed Bob's worst fears. To make
(12:32):
matters even more complicated to the new Yankee royal divorce
was not legal according to Sark's ancient custom. Lawfully, Bob
of America had become a feudal lord of Europe, and
there wasn't anything he could do about it. Make no mistake,
(12:53):
Just because Bob Hathaway legally ruled over Sark doesn't mean
he did so in practice. Like the king he was,
Bob was happy to relinquish any real power vested in
him to Sibyl, who carried on her administration of the island.
Bob would officially preside over council meetings, but he needed
(13:14):
Sibyl's help translating the French petois the locals spoke. He
never voiced an opinion unless one was asked of him.
American journalists who visited the island and had heard about
the American Lord were surprised to find that Bob wore
ordinary clothes, and when visitors stopped to ask him questions,
(13:37):
he would just respond that he was a visitor too.
As Sybil remembered it, Bob fit right in. He grew
to love the fishing and farming that living on the
island entailed. In times of difficulty, he supported Sibil with
a compassion and a partnership that starkly contrasted with her
(13:57):
childhood experiences of her parents. Many settling into sark also
didn't mean relinquishing their holidays. The newly wedded couple traveled
with Bob's mother to Germany and France in the nineteen thirties.
Sybil voyaged to the British colony of Burma. In nineteen
thirty six. They returned to the United States, taking trains
(14:21):
from New York to Washington, d c. To San Francisco,
whining and dining with politicians, Hollywood stars, and famed industrialists
abroad in America, Sibyl took the opportunity to spread the
word about her tiny home island. In nineteen thirty two,
she penned an article about Sark for the National Geographic
(14:44):
that intrigued the editors so much that she was later
invited in nineteen thirty eight to deliver a lecture in Washington.
That was just the start of a whole lecture tour
that heaped more and more intrigue upon the exotic island
void of cars, income tax, unemployment, unions, or real politicians.
(15:07):
But when Sybil and Bob returned to Sark, it was
to face an unpleasant reality. War was beginning to brew
in Europe. On September one, nineteen thirty nine, Nazi Germany
invaded Poland. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany two
days later. The following months were unnerving for an isolated
(15:30):
island nation. At first, the only thing that really changed
for the people of Sark were the BBC radio reports,
which documented the first stages of the German campaign. The
war became just a little more real when news broke
that Germany invaded Belgium, and then that it had invaded France.
(15:55):
On June ninth, nineteen forty the residents of Sark could
see off toward the coast of France, a dark plume
of smoke drifting upwards. The French were blowing up oil
storage tanks before making their retreat. Refugees from the continent
passed through Guernsey and Jersey, delivering news of the invasion.
(16:20):
The British army reasoned that they could not protect the
Channel island, which were so far from British shores, so
they called back their entire military presence and took in
any islander who wanted to flee. Sybil reassured her neighbors
that she would stay put. Occupation would be difficult, and
(16:41):
they might go hungry, but they had their land and
they had their farms. In the end, no sarkborne person
decided to leave. All they could do was sit and
wait for the enemy to come. Sybil anticipated German officers
would want to speak to her to discuss the terms
(17:02):
of their occupation. She was eager to project confidence and
strength against the invaders. She worked with Bob to rearrange
their manner such that the couple would appear imperious to visitors.
For example, she rearranged the drawing room in her house
so that their visitors would have to walk a long
(17:24):
distance before settling down at the table. She instructed their
maid to announce the officers as though they were any
other guest. As the German officers approached the manner, Sybil
noted that they wiped their shoes before coming in. She
took that to be at least a small good sign
the Germans intended to deal with the locals with at
(17:47):
least some hospitality. Two Nazi officers visited her and Bob
on that day, and they produced a document with new
orders for the island, a curfew, confiscation of all firearms,
the banning of alcohol, no assembly of more than five persons,
and no one was to leave the island without express permission.
(18:10):
The rulers of Sark had no choice but to accept
the demands, though it's notable that they were the only
leaders of any of the Channel islands who never once
signed any German orders. The Nazi army officially took control
over Sark with ten soldiers on July fourth. Bob our
(18:30):
American remarked that it was quote a hell of a
day on which to be occupied. Sark's people found small
ways of rebelling right from the get go. Sybil prominently
displayed banned anti fascist books in her home. She and
Bob never turned over their banned radio set, which would
(18:52):
prove to be a lifesaver over the next five years.
The soldiers were especially concerned that sarks Fi fishermen could
use their boats to escape to England, despite the fact
that no fishing boat could ever make it that far.
The Germans set up a fixed time of day for fishing,
an absurd proposition to the island, who knew that fishing
(19:16):
depended on the tide, which was often unpredictable. The Germans
relented and allowed the fishermen on their tiny boats throughout
the day, but only if accompanied by a soldier. The
Sark fishermen reportedly had loads of fun steering their boats
into big waves and watching the soldiers get sick. The
(19:38):
people of Sark had virtually no contact with the outside world,
and so relied almost entirely on the Germans for their news.
They didn't know the Nazis failed to invade Britain, they
could only hope for Allied victories. Bob Sibil and almost
every other person on Sark were simply concerned with sur
(20:01):
Over the first year of the occupation, the island ran
out of sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco. They couldn't count
on food imports, so they made do with lobsters from
their coast and rabbits from their fields. As American newspaper
readers were soon to find out, the King and Queen
(20:21):
of the island were forced to grow their own cabbages.
These difficult conditions took a turn for the worse in
nineteen forty two, when five British commandos conducted a secret
operation on Sark to gather intelligence and capture prisoners. The
commandos broke into the home of a woman named Missus Prittert,
(20:43):
who helped them locate some of the German soldiers on
the island, but the tiny British invading force was able
to capture only one German soldier before sailing away. The
Germans used the invasion to justify clamp down on the locals.
Even more soldiers unspooled miles of barbed wire around the
(21:07):
island's perimeter. They also placed thirteen thousand land mines around
the island's cliffs. Sibil wrote that the mines were sometimes
put on top of the island's best agricultural land. The
Germans had already deported thirteen Sark residents early in nineteen
(21:27):
forty two. By February nineteen forty three, they called for
another sixty three people. Bob was among them. Bob and
Sibil were well aware of the horrors of German camps
thanks to their illegal radio. They also knew that fighting
back would be pointless. In Sibyl's recollections, Bob was the
(21:51):
rock that had gotten her through the occupation. He continued
to help oversee the island's finances and policies, of course,
but more in poor certainly, his companionship had offered a
space to resist and laugh amidst their absurd and horrific conditions.
We don't have any written reflections of this time from Bob,
(22:12):
but we can expect that he thought similarly of Sibyl.
The day of Bob's departure was cold and wet. Rain
pelted down from a gray sky and showered all the parents'
children and partners, who were bidding farewell to their loved ones,
unsure how long they'd be apart. Bob joined prisoners from
(22:36):
other Channel islands at Laffen, a small medieval town in
Bavaria with a castle that the Nazis converted into a
prisoner of war camp. As one might expect, the living
conditions in the camp were horrid. Plenty of prisoners were
kept at the brink of starvation. Sybil was able to
(22:56):
mail letters to Laufen, and Bob was able to send
messages to friends in England who could pass censored notes
to Sybil. Eventually, Sybil tried sending her husband more than
just letters. She would give over onions which might at
least provide some flavor to his soups. In addition to
(23:17):
small doses of illegal whiskey and brandy that she sent
in inconspicuous medicine bottles, she sent what she could, even
as the Germans cut the island's rations again in nineteen
forty three. Sybil wasn't too worried about the adults on
the island, but she feared greatly for the island's children,
(23:40):
who never had a steady supply of milk. Germany's victories
were being reversed throughout early nineteen forty four, but nothing
boosted the morale of the Sark inhabitants as much as
news of D Day. A German doctor whispered news of
the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy, mere miles
(24:02):
from the Channel Islands. Secret news passed by way of pamphlet,
illegal radio, or word of mouth, and it all helped
counteract the German propaganda that painted Britain as a sea
of flames and the rest of the Allies as totally inept.
As retaliation, after d Day, the Germans once again severely
(24:24):
cut the rations of the Channel Islanders. The people of
Sark celebrated their annual harvest festival with mere symbolic gestures
because no one could exchange the typical gifts of soap, bread, tobacco,
butter or eggs. The days dragged on and the people
(24:45):
of Sark had less and less. When the Allies cut
off the German army stationed in the Channel Islands from
the continent, Sark's occupiers began cutting their own rations. Some
began sealing the local cows, pigs, and chickens to eat.
Others were so desperate that they stole cats and dogs.
(25:07):
The German officers scrambled to preserve some authority in the
final months of the occupation, but they could do little
in the face of an inevitable counter attack. On May seventh,
nineteen forty five, all the inhabitants of Sark gathered around
Sibyl's radio to hear Winston Churchill addressed the Channel Islands
(25:30):
and declared that they were free. The Dame of Sark
was granted full authority over the island by the incoming
British army. Her first orders were for the German soldiers
to install a telephone line at her house, to remove
all of the land mines that they had laid around,
and to hand back everyone's radios. Seemingly overnight, it was
(25:55):
German officers coming to Sibyl for their orders. Survived the occupation,
Weary but resilient, Bob and Sybil had a bitter sweet reunion.
She wrote of him, quote the moment I caught sight
of him at the harbor, I realized that he must
(26:15):
not guess for my expression how his appearance shook me.
He had always been a lean man. Now he was
nothing more than a bag of bones. Getting back to
a normal routine took time, but Sark and its people
grew vigorous once more. Experts from the Ministry of Health
(26:35):
came to examine the island children. New doctors and school
teachers were hired for the island. Sybil and Bob worked
tirelessly to fund a new Harbor. The Hathaways left to
visit Bob's family in America in nineteen forty six, and
Sybil embarked on a North American lecture tour once again.
(26:57):
There was one occasion in Toronto where she and speak.
Due to losing her voice, Bob took over, but disregarded
all of her notes. He delivered a handful of funny remarks,
and the Toronto papers heralded him as quote a new
star with a wit as dry as paper. The high
(27:18):
point of this post war era for Sark was probably
a royal visit in nineteen forty nine, which coincided with
the completion of the new Harbor. Nearly the whole island
gathered at the harbor to welcome then Princess Elizabeth and
Prince Philip, and it was Bob who began the official
(27:40):
ceremony with an address to the royal couple that recounted
Sark's history since the days of Elizabeth the First. A
video of his speech can actually be found on YouTube,
and you'll notice that in the middle of it, a
stray dog wanders through the crowd and goes up to
the future Queen Elizabeth the Second for a pet It
(28:01):
appears that all of the subjects of Sark wanted to
pay their respects to the Crown. Sark had more than
just recovered from the five years of perilous occupation. Sybil's
dream of converting the island into a tourist attraction succeeded
thanks both to her extensive lecture series and the New Harbor,
(28:24):
a royal visit publicized on the BBC. No doubt helped
as well. Her autobiography speaks to her bold personality and
fighting spirit. Sybil never backed down from her father, from
family crises, or from the German occupation. What of Bob,
What sort of impact did he have on Sark, and
(28:46):
what sort of imprint did Sark leave on him? Only
five weeks before Bob's death, he and Sibil through an
island wide party in nineteen fifty four to celebrate their
twenty fifth wedding anniversary, replete with barrels of wine and
wedding cake. He raised his glass and delivered these lines
(29:08):
to the people of Sark, his unexpected fiefdom quote. I
shall not call you ladies and gentlemen, but just my friends,
for you have given me your friendship, which I have
valued for twenty five years. That's the strange story of
(29:31):
the Dame and Lord of Sark during the occupation. But
keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
little bit more about the idiosyncrasies of Sark. Sark's history
of strange and unexpected events did not end with Robert
(29:52):
and Sybil Hathaway. In nineteen ninety, an unemployed nuclear physicist
named Andre Gardis conducted a one man invasion of Sark.
He believed himself the rightful heir to the throne of
the island, so naturally he printed out and posted up
notices around Sark expressing his intention to take over. The
(30:16):
following day, the only law enforcement on the island, the
volunteer police officer, went off looking for Andre. He found
him sitting on a park bench dressed in military gear,
loading an automatic rifle. According to one story, all the
constable had to do was compliment Andre on his choice
(30:38):
of weapon and ask him if he could inspect it
more closely. Andre obliged, handing the constable the rifle, and
then he got punched in the face. Andrea was arrested
and in one fell swoop. The most ambitious invasion attempt
of Sark came to an end. It's not entirely clear
(30:59):
what happened to Honor and afterwards, because Sark does not
really have a jail. Noble Blood is a production of
iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble
(31:19):
Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts, with additional writing
and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, Courtney Sender, Julia Milani,
and Armand Cassam. The show is edited and produced by
Noemy Griffin and rima Ill Kali, with supervising producer Josh
(31:39):
Thain and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from aarin Manky listener Discretion Advised. Twenty miles
off the northern coast of France in the English Channel
is a small island called Sark. Today about five hundred
(00:24):
people live on the island two square miles of land,
which is situated atop sweeping granite cliffs. No cars are allowed.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
On the island. The only ambulance is a converted tractor. Historically,
the residents have farmed and fished, and many still do today.
But there's something that makes this otherwise simply pleasant island
totally unique. Until two thousand and eight, it was ruled
(00:54):
as a feudal state. In fact, it was the very
last feudal state in Europe, officially overseen by a signor
or a dame, who owed allegiance only to the British Crown.
Many of the island's ancient customs lasted all the way
into the twenty first century. Divorce was forbidden, income tax
(01:16):
didn't exist, and only the feudal lord was permitted to
breed pigeons or own an unspayed female dog. The various
lords of this peculiar island. Over the centuries included knights
of Queen Elizabeth, the First, renowned statesmen serving under King
George the Third, and devious privateers commissioned by Queen Victoria.
(01:42):
But in nineteen twenty nine the title to Sark passed
to an unsuspecting figure, an American businessman. A man named
Robert Hathaway legally ruled Sark from nineteen twenty nine until
his death in nineteen fifty four. His tenure was anything
(02:04):
but uneventful. In nineteen forty the German army seized the island,
and in nineteen forty one a story broke out in
American newspapers that Robert, lovingly referred to as Bob by
his family, had been forced to plow the fields of
his island alongside his wife, Sibyl. The New York Daily
(02:27):
News reported quote, Cabbages and kings turn out to have
something in common. After all. Bob was allowed to send
letters to his relatives in America, but German censorship made
it nearly impossible to convey the gravity of their situation.
In the middle of the English Channel, the first American
(02:49):
lord of the last fiefdom in Europe languished alongside his neighbors.
Robert had never planned to become a feudal lord. He
had simply fallen in love with Sybil. He never planned
to stand side by side with the people of this
tiny Channel island amidst a war. But today he and
(03:12):
his wife both stand as two of the many heroes
in Sark's hallowed history. I'm Danish Schwartz and you're listening
to noble blood. In fifteen sixty three, Queen Elizabeth the
First of England granted the island of Sark to one
(03:35):
Sir Helier Decarterret. Queen Elizabeth inherited many islands in the
English Channel. Some were large, like the isles Guernsey and Jersey,
and some, like Sark, were tiny. Worried about a French
invasion and annoyed by pirate plaguing the English Channel, Elizabeth's
(03:56):
court stipulated that carter Itt bring forty men to Sark
from Jersey, each armed with muskets, in order to protect
and cultivate the land. To this day, descendants of those
first forty families still live on Sark. Until very recently,
those families retained the old custom of organizing a town
(04:19):
council that appointed a judge clerk and sheriff, all overseen
by the island lord, who held a limited veto power.
The island itself passed through many hands over the centuries.
Usually it was sold by a signor or dame who
was hard for cash. Such was the case centuries later
(04:41):
when the great great grandfather of Sibyl Collings bought the
island of Sark in eighteen forty four because its former
landowner could no longer run its silver mines profitably. In
Sibyl's autobiography, she describes her grandfather as a t and
skilled statesman. In contrast, this is how she describes her
(05:05):
own father, William, who would become lord after his father quote, Unfortunately,
my father was extremely insubordinate, madly obstinate, fiercely self opinionated,
and prone to outbursts of uncontrolled rage. Needless to say,
Sybil did not get along with her father growing up.
(05:28):
She was forcibly sent off to a convent in France
against her will at fourteen. After she returned, she considered
marrying a British army officer who allegedly fell madly in
love with her. Sybil's mother broached the topic of that
marriage to Sybil's father but that only made him furious.
(05:49):
One night, Sybil bravely demanded that her father let her
do as she wished. Three weeks later, her father woke
her up in the middle of the night and violently
threw her out of the house. If it weren't for
the secret intervention of Sybil's mother, Sybil wouldn't have been
able to escape the island safely or rendezvous with her
(06:10):
British officer Dudley in London for their wedding. In nineteen
o nine, the couple settled down in England and had
their first child, a daughter, Bridget, the following year. This
prompted Sibyl's father, William, to reconnect with his daughter, congratulating
her but also lamenting that she hadn't given birth to
(06:32):
a son. In his first letter to Sybil after a
whole year of silence, he wrote, quote, sorry it was
a vixen. Sybil occasionally returned to Sark, sometimes tending to
her ailing mother, other times preventing her father from damaging
the island's reputation any more than he already had. In
(06:54):
her own words, quote he had never provided me with
a settlement, nor given me a penny, but I was
his heir, and I loved the island passionately, more than
anything or anyone in the world. When the time came,
I intended to do as much for Sark as my
grandfather had done. This was my future, and I had
no intention of allowing father to take it away from me.
(07:18):
Sybil officially moved back to Sark in nineteen twelve with
her children and took up cattle breeding. When her husband,
Dudley unexpectedly passed away from the Spanish flu in nineteen eighteen,
she was left with nothing but a widow's pension to
raise six children on. Her father refused every request for money,
(07:41):
Sybil had no choice but to move wherever she could
to support her family, from the nearby island of Guernsey
to Germany. Finally, in nineteen twenty seven, after a forty
five year reign, Sibyl's father died and Sybil took over
Sark with a new vision for the island. She assured
(08:04):
her five hundred or so subjects that she would maintain
the traditions of the past, and then proceeded to lead
a whole slew of changes, from a new harbor to
renovations on the family's manor to reinstating tithes of wheat
and chickens to help fund all the projects. Her intention
(08:25):
was partly to make the island more suitable for tourists,
largely English tourists. Some of the culturally French Islanders feared
becoming Anglicized. Even while the new Dame of Sark was
busy reinventing the island, she found time to travel and
schmooze with the wealthy and well connected. Before embarking on
(08:47):
a holiday to the United States, a friend in London
insisted that she dine with an American businessman named Bob Hathaway.
Bob was not an aristocrat, but he did come from
an elite, distinguished American family. His father was a Wall
Street banker, and his family had made it big in
the publishing industry. He had graduated from Yale in nineteen
(09:11):
thirteen and then with friends, had enlisted in the United
Kingdom's Royal Flying Corps to support the Allies in the
First World War. Bob was an avid golfer and tennis player,
but if there was one thing he loved more than sports,
it was gin. He joked with Sybil that he left
the US for the UK because of prohibition In fact,
(09:35):
he had actually moved to London to work with the
sporting goods company Spoulding, Yes, the same one famous for
their basketballs. But Bob insisted that he only took the
job because of the free golf balls. If there's one
thing that shines about Bob through the fragments that we
have of him, it's his sense of humor, which was
(09:55):
no doubt a plus for Sibyl throughout their whirlwind courtship.
The day after they got to know each other over lunch,
Sybil boarded her ship for her vacation in America, and
she found her cabin full of flowers sent by Bob.
When she reached New York, Bob's older brother, Stuart and
(10:16):
his wife Helen warmly welcomed and hosted Sibyl. When Sybil
boarded the boat for her return of voyage, she was
greeted with even more flowers from Bob and a message
inviting her to dinner when she arrived back in London.
Sybil recollects quote, it had become clear that this tall,
lean Yankee was not only an entertaining companion, but a
(10:41):
very determined man. I am a strong minded woman, but
this time I had met my match. It took no
longer than three weeks for the two of them to
decide to get married in nineteen twenty nine. The tabloids
pounced on their wedding as another curio streaming from the
all already curious Channel Islands. Headlines on London papers read
(11:04):
woman Ruler to wed and woman Ruler's romance. One paper
even described Bob as Sibyl's consort. He did, after all,
willingly give up his job to go live with her
on the island. When the newly wedded couple reached Sark,
they were greeted by a whole procession of islanders carrying
(11:26):
flags and flowers. Upon seeing the small island that would
be home for the rest of his life, Bob jokingly
complained that there was nowhere to install his own golf course.
But Bob was in for an even greater surprise than
no golf on the island. As Sybil remembered it, Bob
(11:46):
turned to her and said, I never knew the Dame
of Sark was such an important person. Why they treated
you like royalty? Sybil gave him a smug look, my
poor Bob, You've got a shock coming to you. The
signor of Sark is a more important person than Ladame.
Under our old feudal laws, a husband owns everything that
(12:10):
his wife possesses, and this applies to the lordship of
the land. Bob sat there, dumbfounded. At first, he was resistant.
The both of them left Sark after a week for
the Isle of Guernsey, where Sybil called upon an expert
of feudal law who confirmed Bob's worst fears. To make
(12:32):
matters even more complicated to the new Yankee royal divorce
was not legal according to Sark's ancient custom. Lawfully, Bob
of America had become a feudal lord of Europe, and
there wasn't anything he could do about it. Make no mistake,
(12:53):
Just because Bob Hathaway legally ruled over Sark doesn't mean
he did so in practice. Like the king he was,
Bob was happy to relinquish any real power vested in
him to Sibyl, who carried on her administration of the island.
Bob would officially preside over council meetings, but he needed
(13:14):
Sibyl's help translating the French petois the locals spoke. He
never voiced an opinion unless one was asked of him.
American journalists who visited the island and had heard about
the American Lord were surprised to find that Bob wore
ordinary clothes, and when visitors stopped to ask him questions,
(13:37):
he would just respond that he was a visitor too.
As Sybil remembered it, Bob fit right in. He grew
to love the fishing and farming that living on the
island entailed. In times of difficulty, he supported Sibil with
a compassion and a partnership that starkly contrasted with her
(13:57):
childhood experiences of her parents. Many settling into sark also
didn't mean relinquishing their holidays. The newly wedded couple traveled
with Bob's mother to Germany and France in the nineteen thirties.
Sybil voyaged to the British colony of Burma. In nineteen
thirty six. They returned to the United States, taking trains
(14:21):
from New York to Washington, d c. To San Francisco,
whining and dining with politicians, Hollywood stars, and famed industrialists
abroad in America, Sibyl took the opportunity to spread the
word about her tiny home island. In nineteen thirty two,
she penned an article about Sark for the National Geographic
(14:44):
that intrigued the editors so much that she was later
invited in nineteen thirty eight to deliver a lecture in Washington.
That was just the start of a whole lecture tour
that heaped more and more intrigue upon the exotic island
void of cars, income tax, unemployment, unions, or real politicians.
(15:07):
But when Sybil and Bob returned to Sark, it was
to face an unpleasant reality. War was beginning to brew
in Europe. On September one, nineteen thirty nine, Nazi Germany
invaded Poland. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany two
days later. The following months were unnerving for an isolated
(15:30):
island nation. At first, the only thing that really changed
for the people of Sark were the BBC radio reports,
which documented the first stages of the German campaign. The
war became just a little more real when news broke
that Germany invaded Belgium, and then that it had invaded France.
(15:55):
On June ninth, nineteen forty the residents of Sark could
see off toward the coast of France, a dark plume
of smoke drifting upwards. The French were blowing up oil
storage tanks before making their retreat. Refugees from the continent
passed through Guernsey and Jersey, delivering news of the invasion.
(16:20):
The British army reasoned that they could not protect the
Channel island, which were so far from British shores, so
they called back their entire military presence and took in
any islander who wanted to flee. Sybil reassured her neighbors
that she would stay put. Occupation would be difficult, and
(16:41):
they might go hungry, but they had their land and
they had their farms. In the end, no sarkborne person
decided to leave. All they could do was sit and
wait for the enemy to come. Sybil anticipated German officers
would want to speak to her to discuss the terms
(17:02):
of their occupation. She was eager to project confidence and
strength against the invaders. She worked with Bob to rearrange
their manner such that the couple would appear imperious to visitors.
For example, she rearranged the drawing room in her house
so that their visitors would have to walk a long
(17:24):
distance before settling down at the table. She instructed their
maid to announce the officers as though they were any
other guest. As the German officers approached the manner, Sybil
noted that they wiped their shoes before coming in. She
took that to be at least a small good sign
the Germans intended to deal with the locals with at
(17:47):
least some hospitality. Two Nazi officers visited her and Bob
on that day, and they produced a document with new
orders for the island, a curfew, confiscation of all firearms,
the banning of alcohol, no assembly of more than five persons,
and no one was to leave the island without express permission.
(18:10):
The rulers of Sark had no choice but to accept
the demands, though it's notable that they were the only
leaders of any of the Channel islands who never once
signed any German orders. The Nazi army officially took control
over Sark with ten soldiers on July fourth. Bob our
(18:30):
American remarked that it was quote a hell of a
day on which to be occupied. Sark's people found small
ways of rebelling right from the get go. Sybil prominently
displayed banned anti fascist books in her home. She and
Bob never turned over their banned radio set, which would
(18:52):
prove to be a lifesaver over the next five years.
The soldiers were especially concerned that sarks Fi fishermen could
use their boats to escape to England, despite the fact
that no fishing boat could ever make it that far.
The Germans set up a fixed time of day for fishing,
an absurd proposition to the island, who knew that fishing
(19:16):
depended on the tide, which was often unpredictable. The Germans
relented and allowed the fishermen on their tiny boats throughout
the day, but only if accompanied by a soldier. The
Sark fishermen reportedly had loads of fun steering their boats
into big waves and watching the soldiers get sick. The
(19:38):
people of Sark had virtually no contact with the outside world,
and so relied almost entirely on the Germans for their news.
They didn't know the Nazis failed to invade Britain, they
could only hope for Allied victories. Bob Sibil and almost
every other person on Sark were simply concerned with sur
(20:01):
Over the first year of the occupation, the island ran
out of sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco. They couldn't count
on food imports, so they made do with lobsters from
their coast and rabbits from their fields. As American newspaper
readers were soon to find out, the King and Queen
(20:21):
of the island were forced to grow their own cabbages.
These difficult conditions took a turn for the worse in
nineteen forty two, when five British commandos conducted a secret
operation on Sark to gather intelligence and capture prisoners. The
commandos broke into the home of a woman named Missus Prittert,
(20:43):
who helped them locate some of the German soldiers on
the island, but the tiny British invading force was able
to capture only one German soldier before sailing away. The
Germans used the invasion to justify clamp down on the locals.
Even more soldiers unspooled miles of barbed wire around the
(21:07):
island's perimeter. They also placed thirteen thousand land mines around
the island's cliffs. Sibil wrote that the mines were sometimes
put on top of the island's best agricultural land. The
Germans had already deported thirteen Sark residents early in nineteen
(21:27):
forty two. By February nineteen forty three, they called for
another sixty three people. Bob was among them. Bob and
Sibil were well aware of the horrors of German camps
thanks to their illegal radio. They also knew that fighting
back would be pointless. In Sibyl's recollections, Bob was the
(21:51):
rock that had gotten her through the occupation. He continued
to help oversee the island's finances and policies, of course,
but more in poor certainly, his companionship had offered a
space to resist and laugh amidst their absurd and horrific conditions.
We don't have any written reflections of this time from Bob,
(22:12):
but we can expect that he thought similarly of Sibyl.
The day of Bob's departure was cold and wet. Rain
pelted down from a gray sky and showered all the parents'
children and partners, who were bidding farewell to their loved ones,
unsure how long they'd be apart. Bob joined prisoners from
(22:36):
other Channel islands at Laffen, a small medieval town in
Bavaria with a castle that the Nazis converted into a
prisoner of war camp. As one might expect, the living
conditions in the camp were horrid. Plenty of prisoners were
kept at the brink of starvation. Sybil was able to
(22:56):
mail letters to Laufen, and Bob was able to send
messages to friends in England who could pass censored notes
to Sybil. Eventually, Sybil tried sending her husband more than
just letters. She would give over onions which might at
least provide some flavor to his soups. In addition to
(23:17):
small doses of illegal whiskey and brandy that she sent
in inconspicuous medicine bottles, she sent what she could, even
as the Germans cut the island's rations again in nineteen
forty three. Sybil wasn't too worried about the adults on
the island, but she feared greatly for the island's children,
(23:40):
who never had a steady supply of milk. Germany's victories
were being reversed throughout early nineteen forty four, but nothing
boosted the morale of the Sark inhabitants as much as
news of D Day. A German doctor whispered news of
the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy, mere miles
(24:02):
from the Channel Islands. Secret news passed by way of pamphlet,
illegal radio, or word of mouth, and it all helped
counteract the German propaganda that painted Britain as a sea
of flames and the rest of the Allies as totally inept.
As retaliation, after d Day, the Germans once again severely
(24:24):
cut the rations of the Channel Islanders. The people of
Sark celebrated their annual harvest festival with mere symbolic gestures
because no one could exchange the typical gifts of soap, bread, tobacco,
butter or eggs. The days dragged on and the people
(24:45):
of Sark had less and less. When the Allies cut
off the German army stationed in the Channel Islands from
the continent, Sark's occupiers began cutting their own rations. Some
began sealing the local cows, pigs, and chickens to eat.
Others were so desperate that they stole cats and dogs.
(25:07):
The German officers scrambled to preserve some authority in the
final months of the occupation, but they could do little
in the face of an inevitable counter attack. On May seventh,
nineteen forty five, all the inhabitants of Sark gathered around
Sibyl's radio to hear Winston Churchill addressed the Channel Islands
(25:30):
and declared that they were free. The Dame of Sark
was granted full authority over the island by the incoming
British army. Her first orders were for the German soldiers
to install a telephone line at her house, to remove
all of the land mines that they had laid around,
and to hand back everyone's radios. Seemingly overnight, it was
(25:55):
German officers coming to Sibyl for their orders. Survived the occupation,
Weary but resilient, Bob and Sybil had a bitter sweet reunion.
She wrote of him, quote the moment I caught sight
of him at the harbor, I realized that he must
(26:15):
not guess for my expression how his appearance shook me.
He had always been a lean man. Now he was
nothing more than a bag of bones. Getting back to
a normal routine took time, but Sark and its people
grew vigorous once more. Experts from the Ministry of Health
(26:35):
came to examine the island children. New doctors and school
teachers were hired for the island. Sybil and Bob worked
tirelessly to fund a new Harbor. The Hathaways left to
visit Bob's family in America in nineteen forty six, and
Sybil embarked on a North American lecture tour once again.
(26:57):
There was one occasion in Toronto where she and speak.
Due to losing her voice, Bob took over, but disregarded
all of her notes. He delivered a handful of funny remarks,
and the Toronto papers heralded him as quote a new
star with a wit as dry as paper. The high
(27:18):
point of this post war era for Sark was probably
a royal visit in nineteen forty nine, which coincided with
the completion of the new Harbor. Nearly the whole island
gathered at the harbor to welcome then Princess Elizabeth and
Prince Philip, and it was Bob who began the official
(27:40):
ceremony with an address to the royal couple that recounted
Sark's history since the days of Elizabeth the First. A
video of his speech can actually be found on YouTube,
and you'll notice that in the middle of it, a
stray dog wanders through the crowd and goes up to
the future Queen Elizabeth the Second for a pet It
(28:01):
appears that all of the subjects of Sark wanted to
pay their respects to the Crown. Sark had more than
just recovered from the five years of perilous occupation. Sybil's
dream of converting the island into a tourist attraction succeeded
thanks both to her extensive lecture series and the New Harbor,
(28:24):
a royal visit publicized on the BBC. No doubt helped
as well. Her autobiography speaks to her bold personality and
fighting spirit. Sybil never backed down from her father, from
family crises, or from the German occupation. What of Bob,
What sort of impact did he have on Sark, and
(28:46):
what sort of imprint did Sark leave on him? Only
five weeks before Bob's death, he and Sibil through an
island wide party in nineteen fifty four to celebrate their
twenty fifth wedding anniversary, replete with barrels of wine and
wedding cake. He raised his glass and delivered these lines
(29:08):
to the people of Sark, his unexpected fiefdom quote. I
shall not call you ladies and gentlemen, but just my friends,
for you have given me your friendship, which I have
valued for twenty five years. That's the strange story of
(29:31):
the Dame and Lord of Sark during the occupation. But
keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
little bit more about the idiosyncrasies of Sark. Sark's history
of strange and unexpected events did not end with Robert
(29:52):
and Sybil Hathaway. In nineteen ninety, an unemployed nuclear physicist
named Andre Gardis conducted a one man invasion of Sark.
He believed himself the rightful heir to the throne of
the island, so naturally he printed out and posted up
notices around Sark expressing his intention to take over. The
(30:16):
following day, the only law enforcement on the island, the
volunteer police officer, went off looking for Andre. He found
him sitting on a park bench dressed in military gear,
loading an automatic rifle. According to one story, all the
constable had to do was compliment Andre on his choice
(30:38):
of weapon and ask him if he could inspect it
more closely. Andre obliged, handing the constable the rifle, and
then he got punched in the face. Andrea was arrested
and in one fell swoop. The most ambitious invasion attempt
of Sark came to an end. It's not entirely clear
(30:59):
what happened to Honor and afterwards, because Sark does not
really have a jail. Noble Blood is a production of
iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble
(31:19):
Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts, with additional writing
and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, Courtney Sender, Julia Milani,
and Armand Cassam. The show is edited and produced by
Noemy Griffin and rima Ill Kali, with supervising producer Josh
(31:39):
Thain and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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