The population of Jersey rose rapidly, from 47,544 in 1841 to 56,078 20 years later, despite a 20% mortality rate amongst new born children. Life expectancy was 35 years. Both immigration and emigration increased. In 1851, the English immigrant population numbered around 12,000, compared with a total island population of 57,000 people. In St Helier, they constituted 7,000 of the parish's 30,000 residents. As with in England, the English community in Jersey was not coherent, but divided by social class. At the top of the social ladder were those of independent means, who chose to retire in the island: they did not participate much in the local lifestyle or politics, instead creating a mini-English social life for themselves. While at the bottom, there was the English-born working class, who often lacked basic rights such as accessing welfare. thumb|The Hermitage Rock, St. Helier, Jersey amidst a fantastic landscape – by Victor Hugo (1855) In 1852, the French author and poet Victor Hugo arrived to seek refuge in Jersey, as had many other revolutionaries and socialists from the Continent, facing exile from France and Belgium. If any of these proscrits died on the island, they were buried in Macpela cemetery in Sion, St John. In 1855, these refugees republished in their weekly paper an open letter from a number of French socialists living in London, which stated 'You have sacrificed your dignity as a Queen, your fastidiousness as a woman, your pride as an aristocrat, even your honour.' The Lieutenant-Governor banished the three editors two days later. Although Hugo had disapproved of the letter, he joined a protest against the expulsion, and hence too was exiled from the island. He and his family left for Guernsey.
The population of Jersey rose rapidly, from 47,544 in 1841 to 56,078 20 years later, despite a 20% mortality rate amongst new born children. Life expectancy was 35 years. Both immigration and emigration increased. In 1851, the English immigrant population numbered around 12,000, compared with a total island population of 57,000 people. In St Helier, they constituted 7000 of the parish's 30,000 residents. As with in England, the English community in Jersey was not coherent, but divided by social class. At the top of the social ladder were those of independent means, who chose to retire in the island: they did not participate much in the local lifestyle or politics, instead creating a mini-English social life for themselves. While at the bottom, there was the English-born working class, who often lacked basic rights such as accessing welfare. thumb|The Hermitage Rock, St. Helier, Jersey amidst a fantastic landscape – by Victor Hugo (1855) In 1852, the French author and poet Victor Hugo arrived to seek refuge in Jersey, as had many other revolutionaries and socialists from the Continent, facing exile from France and Belgium. If any of these proscrits died on the island, they were buried in Macpela cemetery in Sion, St John. In 1855, these refugees republished in their weekly paper an open letter from a number of French socialists living in London, which stated 'You have sacrificed your dignity as a Queen, your fastidiousness as a woman, your pride as an aristocrat, even your honour.' The Lieutenant-Governor banished the three editors two days later. Although Hugo had disapproved of the letter, he joined a protest against the expulsion, and hence too was exiled from the island. He and his family left for Guernsey.