Ambrose Sherwill

Sir Ambrose James Sherwill KBE MC (1890–1968) was Bailiff of Guernsey from 1946 to 1959.

Sherwill was commissioned into The Buffs in 1916 and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1917, being promoted Lieutenant shortly afterwards. During World War II, he was President of the Controlling Committee during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands, before being deported to Cherche-Midi Prison, (Jurat John Leale took over his responsibilities as president) for his part in the Nicolle and Symes affair. He returned to Guernsey after the War, and served as Bailiff between 1946 and 1959. He was knighted in 1949. In 1960, he retired to Alderney, where he died in 1968. Sherwill has been variously accused of excessively cordial relations with the German occupying troops, and acquiescing without due resistance to the Feldkommandant. Most notable perhaps is the episode of August 1940, when Sherwill, with the professed intention of reassuring those evacuated Guernsey citizens who anxiously awaited news of their loved ones who had chosen to remain on the Island, recorded a broadcast for Radio Bremen assuring of the 'kindly' treatment of islanders at the hands of the German troops. No doubt Sherwill's intentions were noble, but his naivety was nonetheless exploited by the German propaganda machine in their desire to show that the realities of German occupation were far removed from the bleak picture propagated by British communiqués.

Nevertheless, Sherwill's patriotism was confirmed, when at great personal risk he doctored Guernsey militia uniforms to make them appear to be British army uniform, in order that Nicolle and Symes would be treated as soldiers, rather than spies (as undercover operatives were routinely shot by both sides as part of protocol.)

Moreover, he conducted himself with distinction at the Laufen Internment Camp whither he was eventually deported, becoming head of the British forces/citizens at the camp.*