Marc Yates

Accredited Guide Number: 90

I was born and brought up in Jersey, Channel Islands and from an early age became passionate about its history as well as military history generally.

One of my grandfathers had wartime service with the Canadian Infantry on the Western Front in WW1 and the other was a career soldier with the Royal Army Service Corps from the 1920s to 1950. My paternal great-grandfather had also served with the Royal Garrison Artillery for 21 years including the whole of WW1 on the Western Front. My father, whilst not joining up, did an apprenticeship at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal in the 1950s, a very interesting time in post war weapons systems development. It is hardly surprising that military history would help form my interests and I even contemplated a military career myself. However, that didn’t happen, and I followed a career as a lawyer for 35 years.

I got into guiding accidentally as a result of our law firm entertaining some visiting conference lawyers on a coach tour. I thought that the “pre-taped” commentary was so bad that I grabbed the microphone and gave my first guided tour! I was hooked and did tours whenever I could and upon retirement from my legal career, I set up my guiding business and at the same time became a licensed public service vehicle driver so I could legally undertake driver-guiding.

I focus on providing personal service for small groups as a driver-guide, although I am happy to guide larger parties. I believe in providing a complete experience to my clients to help them get the best of their exploration of a battlefield and the local environment. I love drawing in other aspects of history, as well as introducing disciplines like archaeology and geology to better understand the topography.

Most of my guiding is in the Channel Islands, which have an incredible history of battles, military history and fortifications extending as far back as at least the Iron Age, then all the way to WW2, when the Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Nazi German forces for 5 years. However, I also guide elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France which is only about 15 miles away at its closest and which I can see from my garden!

I particularly enjoy the educational element of battlefield guiding – be it for individual clients, a class of school children or a military unit undertaking battlefield study exercises for visiting military units. My mother was a teacher, so I suppose that is where I get that from!

Finally, whilst not yet published, my research will hopefully result in books on the Hundred Years’ War in the Channel Islands; an answer to why the Channel Islands become some of the most heavily Nazi fortified places in Europe; and the life story of an extraordinary pair of sisters who served on the Western Front as F.A.N.Y.s in WW1 and then as senior officers working with the S.O.E. in WW2!

 

Battles

100 Years War 1337-1453Battle of Gilieres - Haute SavoieBattle of the SommeBritish Civil WarsCanadians on the Western FrontCommando Raids in Occupied EuropeD-DayEnglish Civil War 1642-1651Fall of FranceFrench ResistanceMiddle AgesNapoleonNormandy CampaignNormandy LandingsOperation Market GardenOperation OverlordPasschendaeleResistance in Occupied EuropeS.O.E.WWIWWIIWars of the RosesWellington's campaignsYpres

Countries

BelgiumChannel IslandsEnglandFranceGibraltarMaltaNetherlandsPortugalSpainUnited KingdomWestern Europe

Caters For

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield StudiesBattlefield WalksBespoke GroupClubs and SocietiesCollege GroupsCorporate ToursCultural ToursEvening PresentationsFamiliesIndividualsLicensed Driver Guide ToursLong ToursMilitary & VeteranPilgrimage GroupsSchool GroupsShort ToursSmall Groups

Areas of Expertise

William the Conqueror and Norman history

Channel Island military history and battles (C13th to C20th)

Hundred Years War – including invasions and battles with the French in the Channel Islands

English Civil War – the last bastions where Royalists held out and where Charles II was proclaimed King upon execution of Charles I

American War of Independence – Battle of St Ouen’s Bay 1779 (Nassau) and Battle of Jersey 1781

Napoleonic Wars
The Peninsular War

First World War
Canadian involvement – including St Eloi, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Passchendaele, 1918
Channel Island involvement (Royal Militia of Jersey joined Royal Irish Rifles Division; Royal Guernsey Light Infantry)

The F.A.N.Y.s in WW1

Second World War
German Occupation of the Channel Islands 1940-45
Commando raids in and from the Channel Islands
Normandy landings and breakout into Brittany 1944
St Nazaire Raid (Operation Chariot) 1942
Western France – U Boat War and the Atlantic Wall

WW2 Resistance in Nazi Occupied Europe

The history of fortification in Jersey from the Iron Age to WW2

Archaeology and ancient history tours – mainly Channel Islands, and Western France, covering Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages;
Channel Island geology; and
Individual ancestor research.