Foreningen af Danske Fiskere
i Storbritannien
Association of Danish Fishermen in Great Britain
The majority of the Danish fishermen in Buckie arrived in Arpil 1940, immediately after the invasion. There were approximately forty of them. The Danish population was soon to be surpassed by Norwegians. Many of them the Danes came from Esbjerg or Hjerting but others came from places such as Fjaltring or Thyborøn; people like Johannes Larsen, Knud Thomsen, Borge Jensen, Raymond Ericksen, Svend Ruby, Peter Christensen, Rasmus Lauersen and others became well-known figures in the town during the war and, indeed, in many cases for decades afterwards. A number of the Danes stayed in Buckie after the war, including Knud Thomsen, Svend Ruby, Christian Marcussen, Rasmus Lauersen, and Knud Jorganssen. Others, such as Johannes Larsen, married Scots but returned to Denmark. |
Buckie became one of the three principal centres for Danish fishermen with the other major communities being in Whitehaven and Fleetwood. Initially, the British Government’s policy was that approximately two-thirds of foreign vessels in British ports should be in the service of the Admiralty with the rest allowed to fish. By 1943, there were 72 Danish vessels in British ports, some forty of these had been released for fishing purposes. The fishing opportunities in the North Sea were initially severely limited with often only one-day trips being permitted.
The price of fish steadily rose between 1940 and 1941 until a government price control mechanism was introduced in June 1941. This meant that fishermen on the ‘released’ boats were at an economic advantage over those retained by the Admiralty for military purposes.
The Danish fishermen in Fleetwood and Whitehaven organised themselves quickly into associations. The Danes in Buckie took much longer to formalise the trade. In 1942, a further sixteen Danish boats arrived in the British ports (one to Buckie) leading to some tensions with those who had arrived in 1940 immediately after the occupation. However, there emerged from Whitehaven and Fleetwood a stronger organisation representing Danish fishermen with strong links to Danish Council which had been established in London to represent free Denmark. Eventually, there came a move to form a union of all of the fishermen’s associations, in the one in Buckie.
The price of fish steadily rose between 1940 and 1941 until a government price control mechanism was introduced in June 1941. This meant that fishermen on the ‘released’ boats were at an economic advantage over those retained by the Admiralty for military purposes.
The Danish fishermen in Fleetwood and Whitehaven organised themselves quickly into associations. The Danes in Buckie took much longer to formalise the trade. In 1942, a further sixteen Danish boats arrived in the British ports (one to Buckie) leading to some tensions with those who had arrived in 1940 immediately after the occupation. However, there emerged from Whitehaven and Fleetwood a stronger organisation representing Danish fishermen with strong links to Danish Council which had been established in London to represent free Denmark. Eventually, there came a move to form a union of all of the fishermen’s associations, in the one in Buckie.
The Danish fishermen in Buckie were still unconvinced by the idea of a union and had some mistrust of their countrymen based in Fleetwood and Whitehaven whom, they felt, would dictate the direction of the group. Eventually, however, in 1943, one was established.
After protracted discussion a union of the associations was agreed at a meeting in Buckie held on 30 January 1944 which formalised the establishment of Foreningen af Danske Fiskere i Storbritannien. K. Lisborg was Buckie’s representative to the organisation which, for the last year of the war, formed an important link with the Danish Council in London, representing Free Denmark and also with the British authorities. The Danish fishermen, unlike the Norwegians, did not have the apparatus of a Government-in-Exile in London available to them |
Legacy
In 1943, Johannes Larsen married Catherine Thomson, daughter of George Thomson whose boatyard was one the three in the town. Their wedding photo is below. Catherine's sister Jean is also pictured and the best man, on the left, is believe to be Aksel Hvas from Thyborøn. Johannes and Catherine returned to Esbjerg after the war.
Peter Christensen, a deckhand originally from Hjerting, drowned in Buckie harbour and is buried in the New Cemetery. |