Another important planter of Anguilla's
third generation who died about this time was Darby Carty. The Cartys first appeared in Anguilla in
1695. Owin Carty was then mentioned as a
former owner of a parcel of land in the Valley Division. Darby Carty, possibly Owin's son, first
appears in the Anguilla Census of 1716.
No woman is listed as being present in his household. That means that he was then a single man,
most likely a widower, as his household contained four children and three
slaves. By the time of the 1717 census
the following year, two of his children were adult men in his household, and
only one was listed as a child. He was
evidently prospering, as he now owned an additional three slaves. He must have re-married, as there were now
two women in his household, perhaps a wife and a grown-up daughter. None of his family ventured with Abraham
Howell to Crab Island. Darby Carty Jr
signed the Proclamation of 1727. There
was no explanation why Darby Carty Sr did not sign, or indeed, whether he was
still alive on Anguilla.
It was probably Darby Carty Jr who purchased
a patent to various parcels of land around the pond in Sandy Ground from
Governor in Chief John Hart in 1724.[1] The background to the patent is expressed in
this way,
George, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland,
King, Defender of the faith etc. and sovereign Lord of the island of Anguilla
and all other His Majesty’s American Plantations and Colonies.
To all to whom these letters patent shall come, greeting.
Whereas we are possessed of divers lands in our said island of
Anguilla, and for as much as we are sensible that the settling and improving
thereof will in time be of service to us and our [heirs] and the revenue of our
Kingdom be thereby augmented, the which we have taken into consideration and
being willing to give due encouragement to such persons as are desirous to
settle the same, know ye therefore that we of our especial grace certain
knowledge and mere motion by and with the advice and consent of our trusty and
well beloved John Hart, our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over
all our Leeward Charribee Islands in America lying to the leeward of the island
of Guadeloupe and to the windward of the island of Saint John de Porto Rico in
America aforesaid, have given, granted and confirm unto our well beloved
subject, Darby
Carty, his heirs and assigns forever, the certain piece or parcel of land in
our said island as hereafter mentioned,
The patent
then grants several parcels of land, all to the north and east of the Road Salt
Pond. To the west there was only the sea.
viz: a
certain plantation or parcel of land lying and being in the Road Division of
the said island of Anguilla, bounded on the north side with the land in the
possession of Thomas Coakley and Winifred Bates and running north north west to
the top of the hills bounded with the northern plantations; thence running east
to the land of George Leonard senior; south with the land of Thomas Romney;
south and west with the Road Pond, containing by estimation fifty acres, be the
same more or less, and now in the tenure and occupation of the aforesaid Darby
Carty,
as also
one other small piece or parcel of land in the north side of the Road Pond
bounded north north west with the land of Thomas Romney senior, thence north to
the top of the hills and bounded as aforesaid; east with the land of the
aforesaid Thomas Romney senior, south with the Pond and now in the tenure and
occupation of the said Darby Carty containing by estimation five acres, be the
same more or less,
as also
two small slips or portions of land lying on the south side of the Pond, the
one bounded north with the Pond, east with the land of Edward Coakley, south to
the most southern plantations, west with the land now in the possession of John
Pickerin;
the
other parcel of land bounded north with the Pond, east with the land of John
Pickerin aforesaid, south with the most southern plantations, west with the
land now in the possession of Arthur Hodge junior, which both said parcels of
land contain about five acres, be the same more or less, and now in the tenure
and occupation of the aforesaid Darby Carty,
From these words, we see that Darby Carty was
working these lands for some time before he got his patent to them. By obtaining this patent, he was solidifying
his title and making it unchallengeable.
It is not clear what crops or other produce he derived from the lands,
but it is probable that it was mainly used for keeping small stock and ground
provisions. By occupying land around the
pond, he was acquiring the right to pick salt each year during the season.
In 1741 one William Carty, probably a son of
Darby Carty Sr, witnessed the deed of gift of John Hughes Sr to his son John
Hughes Jr.
It is probably Darby Carty Jr’s will of
1757 that we have.[2] In
it he described himself as a planter, but he does not say that he was a sugar
planter. From his will, there is a
suggestion that there were grandchildren living at the time. He left all his estate to his wife Elizabeth,
and after her death to his children. He
is particularly proud of his ‘Brenana Garding’, which can only be a misspelling
for his banana garden. This, he directs,
is to be “at liberty for all my children.”
William Gumbs Sr's widow Elizabeth made
her last will in 1760. She died nine
years later. In addition to the
residuary gifts of land made to their children by her husband in 1748, she left
to William Jr and Benjamin the Forest Plantation, still known by that name at
Forest Bay on the south coast of the island.[3]
In 1764 we see William Gumbs Jr giving his
slave son Harry his freedom by the instrument known as a 'deed of
manumission'. By this time, he is known
as William Gumbs Sr. The deed reads:
Anguilla. To
all certain people to whom this present writing shall come, I William Gumbs of
the above said Island send greeting.
Know ye
that I the said William Gumbs Sr for divers good causes and considerations me
hereunto moving, but more especially for and in consideration of the love, good
will and affection which I have and do bear towards a Mulatto boy known and
called by the name of Harry, have given and granted and released and by these
presents do hereby clearly and absolutely give, grant and release unto the
aforesaid Mulatto boy Harry his freedom and absolute liberty peaceably and
quietly to possess and enjoy the same without being disturbed or molested or
hindered of the same freedom and liberty by any man or manner of person or
persons that shall or may hereafter claim any manner of title to the aforesaid
Mulatto boy Harry from, by or under me.
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirty-first day of
October and in the year of our Lord God one thousand seven hundred and sixty
four, 1764.
Signed, Sealed
and Delivered ]
In the
presence of us: ] (sd) William Gumbs (LS)
(sd) William Bryan
(sd) Thomas Gumbs Sr
Harry was most probably William’s
son. Harry’s deed is typical of an
Anguillian manumission of our period. It
was the most important document that a free black man in Anguilla could
own. Under the slave laws of the time,
if a black man was found 'at large' and could not prove that he was a free man,
he was liable to be considered as a slave.
In Anguilla, where most people were known to each other, that might not be
much of a risk. But a free black man took
a risk if travelled to another island, perhaps as a sailor on one of the island
schooners, without proof he was a free man.
It was always essential that he be able to produce evidence of his
status, or risk re-enslavement. It was
not unknown, in the days when all cooking was done on open fireplaces, for
important documents to be set on fire by accident. The tragedy that such a mischief caused was
for many years captured in the cry, “My
free-paper burned”. School children
of today will not be familiar with the expression, but until recently it was
common to hear West Indian school children complaining at the end of the long
school vacation in September, “My
free-paper burned!”
Deputy governor Benjamin Gumbs' 1768 will
indicates to us the wide extent of his sugar estates and holdings. Benjamin Gumbs II, as he is also known, was
evidently the most powerful man on the island at the time. He was an important planter and a member of Arthur
Hodge's Council from 1741. He inherited
more property at the death of his father, Benjamin Gumbs Sr, in 1748. In 1750 he was appointed deputy governor of
Anguilla. He ruled over a Council that
consisted of the island's major merchants and planters. He governed Anguilla until his death in
1768. He left a large family, most of
whom appear to have emigrated from the island within a few years of his
death. His youngest son Benjamin Gumbs
III was appointed deputy governor in his turn.
Benjamin III was later to become famous as the Col Benjamin Gumbs who
led the defence of Anguilla against the French in 1797. But that is outside of our period.
Benjamin Gumbs II made his last will on
his deathbed in 1768. He evidently wrote
the will himself, as the bequests are written in a way that a lawyer would not
have written them. They are very confused. He makes gifts of land he previously gave
away by deed. Despite such confused
bequests, we are grateful that he listed his extensive sugar holdings in
full. These included Statia Valley,
Katouche Bay and Shoal Bay Plantations, True Loves, Hazard Hill, and Dog
Island.[4] A
contemporary legal opinion by St Kitts attorney John Barker on the validity and effect of the bequests in his will
is filed in the Archives together with his will. They were exhibits in litigation that took
place after his death, which is why they have survived.
One of deputy governor Gumbs’ devises is
of his sugar estate at Katouche Bay which he left under the name ‘Catouche Bay
Plantation’ to his two daughters, Ann Warner and Catherine Payne. They received the northern and southern
halves respectively. The dwelling house
and its appurtenances were on the southern half, up the hill above the sugar
mill and boiling house. All that remains
to show their location are the many fragments of European pottery and glass
dating back to the 1760s that litter the ancient public pathway alongside the
pond.
It was his wish that the boiling house on
the southern half should be held by each of his two daughters in equal
shares. From this we learn that there
was an animal round, and a boiling house associated with the plantation. There is no mention of a curing house. The sisters operated Katouche Bay as a sugar
cane plantation until an extended period of drought caused it to revert to
ground provisions and grazing of small stock.
Little is left of the early plantation works. All that survives relatively intact is the old
plantation well. It was used for drawing
water for cattle and small stock pastured around until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Now that it too is abandoned,
it is slowly falling into disrepair. The
northern and southern escarpments of the valley show evidence of continuing and
recent erosion. The many boulders that
litter the ground lie there as mute testimony to the futile effort that was put
into trying to squeeze some profit out of the estate over the past centuries.
The location of the boiling house can be
found, if with difficulty. It has
completely collapsed, and trees now grow out of the rubble. There is no trace of either the animal round
or the curing house where the barrels of muscovado sugar, if any, were stored
until they were ready to be shipped. It
is very possible that the sugar cane juice was used solely for distillation
into rum and that no sugar was made. The
animal round was located on the slope immediately above the boiling house. We know that because the architecture of a
sugar factory of this type required that the juice from the mill run by gravity
to the boiling house where it dripped into the boilers waiting for it. A visit to the location reveals that the soil
from higher up the hill has subsequently eroded and covered the site of the
round. There are no ruins of foundations
of houses to be seen anywhere on the slopes of the valley. The buildings of the estate were evidently
never very substantial and have now eroded away.
The modern asphalt road on the northern
slope leading out of the valley that gives access to the ruins is steep,
running through the Masara Resort. They
can also be accessed from the south-east by the ancient Amerindian footpath from
George Hill Village which is still in use to this date. The old public footpath from North Hill Village
to Crocus Bay descends from the clifftop to Katouche Bay then along the beach
and up the pathway that is now covered by the modern road. Until the 1980s these paths were in regular
use by pedestrians, until a modern asphalt road around the top of the valley
was built.
Assuming some sugar was made, there is no
sign of the ruins of a jetty from which the hogsheads of sugar were
shipped. Katouche Estate was poor and
unproductive and could not afford a jetty.
When Benjamin Gumbs II followed by his daughters cured what little sugar
his estate produced, their workers rolled the barrels of muscovado sugar from
the curing house down to the beach.[5] At the beach, the barrels were tipped into
rowing boats and taken out to the visiting ships that transhipped them to their
destination. There was no need for Benjamin
Gumbs to go to the expense of building a jetty.
At that time there was no question of using a road. Other than the main road from the airport to
the old Court House on Crocus Hill asphalted in the 1960s, the public roads of
Anguilla were rocky, dirt roads until after the British Invasion of 1971 when
the first asphalted roads began to be built.
Of all the plantation buildings that may
once have stood in Katouche Bay, only the old estate well is easy to
locate. It lies just off the track that
runs from George Hill Village down past the old Gavannah phosphate mine to the
sea. The well is some eight feet in
diameter and ten feet to the water. It
lies within a short distance of the ruined boiling house. The well was preserved because it was kept in
use until the 1950s for watering the cattle that were pastured in the
valley. The well is the only real
evidence that remains of the previous agricultural use of this valley. The water in the well is only some two feet
deep. The well is lined with cut stone
held together by lime, evidence of its comparative old age. It is now abandoned and beginning to be
filled with leaf and wood litter.
The Coakleys of this third generation of
Anguillians were members of an important Anguillian, St Martin and St Croix planter
family. The Coakleys appeared early in
the records of Anguilla. Two Edward
Coakleys and one Thomas Coakley were listed in the 1716 census.[6]
One of the Edwards was obviously a young man, just married with no
children and only four slaves. The other
Edward had five children and twelve slaves.
Thomas had nine children and twenty-two slaves. Thomas Coakley, Edward Coakley Jr, and Caesar
Coakley signed the 1717 Crab Island petition.
They were present with Abraham Howell for the 1717 Crab Island census.[7] On
Crab Island, only Thomas was accompanied by slaves, three of them. Edward left five slaves behind with his wife
and three children. William Coakley did
not accompany the party to Crab but was present on Anguilla for the 1717
census.[8] He
was then married with six children and eighteen slaves. He was a planter of substance on Anguilla
even at that time. Edward, Thomas Sr,
and Caesar Coakley all survived the Crab Island escapade to sign the 1727
proclamation.[9]
Edward Coakley is next seen witnessing deputy governor John Richardson's
will in 1739.[10]
Benjamin Coakley of Anguilla was the son
of William Coakley Sr and the nephew of John Coakley Sr, two Anguillian
brothers who went to St Croix in the early 1740s.[11] William Coakley acquired a plantation in St
Croix by marrying a rich widow. He later
transferred this estate to his brother John and moved back to Anguilla where he
died leaving a will dated 1768. John
Coakley Sr also acquired a St Croix sugar plantation known as Castle
Coakley. His heirs continued owning this
property until 1810.
William Coakley’s 1768 last will and
testament dealt with the Coakley’s Road Estate.[12] By
the time of his death his children were all living in St Croix. Coakley's Road Estate was a cotton and sugar
plantation at Sandy Ground, running to the south and east of the Road Salt Pond. It is mentioned as a part of Darby Carty’s
boundary in his patent set out earlier. The
ruins of a sugar mill, probably belonging to the Coakleys, stood until recently
on a plot of land at Sandy Ground beach, just to the south of the Customs
building. It has now disappeared to make
way for modern construction. The Coakley
plantation house stood on the eastern slopes of North Hill, adjacent to and
east of the cemetery. We know that from
William Coakley’s will, which reads:
Item. I do hereby order and set apart one piece or
parcel of land situate in my plantation in the Road Division and adjoining to
my dwelling house by a Tamarind Tree within my fence such piece or parcel of
land to be about forty yards square and attributed only for my own and my
family's burial place.
Item. I cut my daughter Sarah Coakley out of all my
estate real and personal only allowing her one shilling, even fruit from off my
fruit trees or one drop of water out of my well as being an undutiful child.
Item. I give devise and bequeath unto each and
every of my sons, viz, William, Edward, John, Samuel, Solomon, Benjamin,
Richard and Joseph all my real estate except that part which I attributed for
my burial place, share and share alike, to them, their heirs and assigns
forever such equal shares to be made and divided amongst them at the time that
the youngest of them shall arrive to the age of twenty one years, but in case
of the death of any or either of my said sons the survivors shall have and possess
such part or parts as may happen to belong to any such son or sons that may
happen to depart this life before the time of the said division to be shared,
share and share alike, between my surviving sons. . . .
Item. It is my will and desire that there may be
three tombs built at the expense of my said estate, that is to say, such three
tombs to be erected over the graves of my father, my mother and my brother
Thomas.
William Coakley's 1768 will sheds light on
the little walled cemetery near to the well under North Hill and presently
named the Old Anglican Cemetery. This is
really the old Coakley family cemetery, later turned over to the Anglican
Church. The tombs presently visible but
overgrown with bushes and brambles include the three tombs that William made
provision for in his will. Other than
the foundations of a small structure east of the cemetery, nothing of the
Coakley home remains. The Road Well is
probably the sturdiest structure of the old estate that has survived.
The Coakleys settled and occupied
substantial areas of both Blowing Point and Sandy Ground. In the 1749 conveyance of John Farrington to Solomon
Romney of the Romney estate at Blowing Point, Edward and William Coakley were
described as forming the southern boundary.[13]
They probably owned the estate between Blowing Point harbour and the
Romney estate on the north.
There is only one court case in the
records of the Archives that tells us anything further about the Coakleys. In a case of 1752, we see William Coakley Sr
suing his neighbour Edward Hughes for encroaching on his Road Plantation.[14]
February 9th, 1751/2
At a Meeting of His Majesty's Council,
Being present
Honourable
Benjamin Gumbs Esq, Deputy Governor
Benjamin
Roberts ]
Joseph
Burnett ] Esq’s and Members of ye Council
Thomas
Gumbs ]
William Coakley Sr sues Edward Hughes
for having lands of said Coakley in his possession.
It is the opinion of this Council that
the several parcels of land in ye Road shall be run out, and accordingly as
said parcels of land measure, the same shall be adjusted between the said
Coakley and Hughes.
Signed by
Command
Benjamin
Roberts,
Clerk to the Council.
|
Table
3: William Coakley Sr v Edward Hughes.
Edward Hughes' Plantation on South Hill
was one of the major plantations on Anguilla (see illus 3). It was long ago broken up into small parcels
of land. The older people at South Hill
to this day call the land that stretches from Long Bay in the west to the
Methodist Church at South Hill ‘the Hughes' Estate’. The Hughes and Coakleys were neighbours and were
related to each other. At the old
Coakley family cemetery, founded by William Coakley, the one surviving legible
tombstone is that of Edward’s daughter Rebecca who is recorded as dying of a “bilious
fever” at the age of 21 years in 1775.
The sugar plantations of John Richardson[15] and William Gumbs[16] are the only ones mentioned as such in
documents dated prior 1750. In later
documents there are several other sugar plantations referred to. These include those of Thomas Hodge and
Richard Richardson. They were probably growing sugar cane during an earlier
period. In 1743, Anguilla, Spanish Town
and Tortola with three thousand slaves are reported making about one thousand
hogsheads of sugar and one million pounds of cotton. There is no indication how much, if any, came
from Anguilla.
3. The smoke house for curing meat to the
west of the ruin of the Hughes Great House at South Hill (by the author).
The evidence of sugar cane cultivation
increases in the second half of the century.
In May 1765 there is a list of customs declarations made by various
Anguillian planters, or their managers, for the export of sugar from Anguilla.
1 Anguilla, I,
Benjamin Gumbs, do swear that the following two Hogsheads of rum and eight
barrels of muscovado sugar which are intended to be shipped on board the
Sloop Dispatch, John Claxton Commander, and bound for Georgia are of
the growth, produce and manufacture of the said Benjamin Gumbs' plantation in
the Parish of Spring Division in this island.
The above affidavit was sworn in my
presence the third day of May 1765.
(sd)
Benjamin Gumbs
(sd) David
Hunter
***
2 Anguilla, I Thomas Hodge do swear
that the following three Hogsheads of rum and one Hogshead of sugar which are
shipped on board the Sloop Wild Daniel, David Hill master, and bound
for Virginia are of the growth produce and manufacture of said Thomas Hodge's
Plantation in the Parish of The Valley Division in this Island.
The above affidavit was sworn in my
presence on the fifteenth day of May 1765.
(sd)
Thomas Hodge
(sd)
Benjamin Gumbs
Governor
and Collector
***
3 Anguilla, I Benjamin Gumbs Esq do
swear that the following two Hogsheads of rum and six barrels of sugar which
are shipped on board the Sloop Wild Daniel, David Hill master, and
bound for Virginia are the growth produce or manufacture of said Benjamin
Gumbs Esq's Plantation in the Road Division in this Island.
The above affidavit was sworn in my
presence on the 15th day of May 1765.
(sd)
Benjamin Gumbs
(sd)
Benjamin Roberts
***
4 Anguilla, I David Sagers Manager
of Mr Richard Richardson's Plantation do swear that the twelve barrels of
sugar and one Hogshead of rum which are shipped on board the Sloop Wild
Daniel, David Hill master, for Virginia are of the growth produce or
manufacture of said Richard Richardson's Plantation in the Parish of the Road
Division in this Island.
The above affidavit was sworn in my
presence the fifteenth day of May 1765.
(sd)
David Sagers
(sd)
Benjamin Gumbs
Governor
and Collector
***
5 Anguilla, I Thomas Hodge do swear
that the following fifteen Hogsheads of muscovado sugar which are intended to
be shipped on board the Brigantine Abraham whereof Roger Woodburn is
master and bound to Great Britain are the growth produce or manufacture of said
Thomas Hodge's Plantation in the Parish of The Valley Division in this
Island.
The above affidavit was sworn in my
presence the 24th day of May 1765.
(sd)
Thomas Hodge
(sd) David
Hunter
Justice of the Peace
***
6 Anguilla, I Benjamin Gumbs Esq do
swear that the following [ . . . ] barrels of sugar which are intended to be
shipped on board the [ . . . ] Hanna, Henry Haughton master, and bound
for North Carolina are of the growth produce or manufacture of said Benjamin
Gumbs Esq's Plantation in the Parish of the Road Division in this
Island.
The above
affidavit was sworn to in my presence on the 24th day of May 1765.
(sd)
Benjamin Gumbs
(sd) Benjamin Roberts
|
Table 4: Customs declarations for
Anguillian sugar in 1765. (Anguilla
Archives)
These affidavits show deputy governor
Benjamin Gumbs performing his duty as collector of customs and enforcer of the Navigation
Acts. What accuracy can be ascribed
to these declarations is uncertain. The
planters who swore to their truth had a financial interest in minimising the
amount of sugar they made. Most of it
they preferred not to declare, but to illegally trade with the Dutch for the
goods they needed. These planters were
all related to the deputy governor by blood or by marriage. They were all members of his ruling island
Council. He was one of them in so many
ways. The product of each estate
declared as being shipped was very small. One was as little as one hogshead of
sugar. The biggest was only fifteen
hogsheads. One of the planters, Richard
Richardson, was even substantial enough to employ a manager of his plantation, David
Sagers.[17]
Not all Anguilla’s sugar was declared as being exported to the mainland
northern colonies. Virginia, Georgia and
North Carolina are named. Some of the
sugar was being shipped directly to Great Britain.
It would not be safe to draw any
conclusions about the extent or the success of Anguilla’s sugar industry from
these declarations. No other similar
declarations from either later or earlier years are preserved. The most that we can say with some certainty
is that in the year 1765 some small amount of sugar was exported from
Anguilla. We also learn the location of several
the sugar plantations. We see them throughout
the island in each of the three Divisions: Spring, Valley and Road. Deputy governor Gumbs owned a sugar
plantation in Spring Division and another in Road Division. Thomas Hodge owned one in The Valley
Division, while Richard Richardson’s was in Road Division.
By the year 1770, Anguilla's sugar exports
were enough for the first time to be separately given in the economic
statistics and tables of the Leeward Islands.
They were pathetically small when compared with the figures of the
exports from the other islands (see table 5).[18]
From
|
To Britain
|
North America
|
Other Islands
|
Antigua
|
£430,210
|
£35,551
|
£230
|
St Kitts
|
367,074
|
||
Nevis
|
43,828
|
14,155
|
|
Anguilla
|
3,800
|
2,058
|
|
Dominica
|
43,395
|
16,496
|
|
Montserrat
|
89,907
|
12,633
|
|
Virgin Islands
|
61,696
|
10,133
|
Table 5: Sugar
Exports of the Leeward Islands in 1770. (Southey)
With a total of less than £6,000 in sugar
exports for the year, Anguilla is producing just 10% of her nearest competitor,
Dominica. It is fair to assume that the
export figures reflect the production figures.
This shows how tiny Anguilla’s sugar production was in comparison to the
richer islands around her. Weather and
other agricultural conditions in Anguilla remained so difficult that no amount
of dedication and hard work could draw any significant quantity of sugar out of
her soil.
We search the literature in vain hoping to
find anything published that will reveal details of the agriculture of Anguilla
during our period. In the mid-1750s the
author of a leading popular work on commerce claimed to describe conditions in
Anguilla at this time.[19] He
wrote that the settlers produced no great quantity of sugar on the island. Rather, they devoted themselves to farming
ground provisions at which they were very successful. It was this farming that allowed them to live
in the manner of the old biblical patriarchs.
Every man was sovereign in his own family. According to him, they wished for no other
sort of government in Anguilla. This
information is out of date. It is no
more than a repetition of Oldmixon’s inaccurate and condescending 1708
description.[20] At
this time, Anguilla was at the height of a short-lived period of prosperity.
A typical Anguillian boiling house, animal
round, and curing house of the eighteenth century can still be seen in the
ruins at Benzies, over the Shannon Hill on the north coast (see illus 4, 5 and
6). Who Benzie was is not now
known. The ruins of the boiling house
and curing house at Benzies lie overgrown with trees and scrub, in a sad state
of disrepair, almost on the beach.
4. The overgrown
ruin of the sugar boiling house at Benzies (by the author).
They are very small in comparison to the
ruins of the other sugar islands. They were
not in use for any long period of time.
We do not know if this small, abandoned factory ever made any
sugar. We do not know who owned it. ‘Benzies’ is more accurately the name of a
nearby bay, used for swimming years ago by the residents of North Hill.
The West Indian sugar plantation of the
eighteenth century is tied to the condition of slavery. The slaves of Anguilla were treated no
differently from those elsewhere in the Caribbean. The times were cruel for both Africans and
Europeans. Barbaric legal punishments
were the custom of the period, even in England.
The penalty for any type of mutiny among whites and blacks was severe. In the three planters’ wills from the period
before 1750 that have survived, it is to be noticed that not one slave is given
his or her freedom, although this was to become a common feature of later wills.[21]
Indeed, the slaves of Anguilla were just as discontented as those of the
other islands.
There is some evidence that they planned
to take part in the great slave uprising in St Bartholomew of 1736. In January 1737, Governor William Mathew
enclosed with his report an affidavit sworn by John Hanson of Antigua referring
to a slave conspiracy discovered in French St Martin.[22] The
Anguillian slaves were said to be part of the planned rebellion and they were
to join with those in St Martin.
5. The ruined and overgrown, plastered
inside wall of the curing house at Benzies (by the author).
There is no information, however, on who
the leaders of the Anguillian slave rebellion were, or on the outcome of the
plan. There was also a big slave
uprising in Antigua that year, which was savagely suppressed. Mutilation and maiming, if not death, would be
the fate of any Anguillian black person discovered planning to join the
rebellion in St Martin.
6. The overgrown, derelict animal round at
Benzies sugar works (by the author).
Commerce and society among the planters
and merchants reached a high point in Anguilla in the last few decades before
the rebellion in the northern colonies of America brought ruin to many of
them. The resulting British blockade of
trade between the Leeward Islanders and the rebelling colonists ended a
lucrative market for Anguillian traders and smugglers. Lawsuits recorded in the Anguilla Archives
after 1776 were no longer brought for tens of pounds sterling but for smaller
amounts of mere shillings and pence. The
second Anguillian war of 1796 when the invading French burned The Valley
completed the destruction of the colony’s economy. It would remain in a depressed state for
nearly 200 years.
The sugar plantations ceased to be worked
in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
The slaves were rented out to planters in other islands to help earn
their keep and to produce income for their impoverished white and coloured
Anguillian masters. After years of
service in Aruba and elsewhere, they eventually returned to the island, with
enough money to purchase their freedom.
There is a fascinating series of deeds in the Anguilla Archives, towards
the end of the eighteenth and in the early decades of the nineteenth centuries. These slaves, returning after years of rented
labour in other islands, saved their money.
First, they purchased their own freedom.
Then they purchased that of their spouses and children, for hundreds of
pounds sterling in some cases. Then,
they purchased the lands and remaining estate of their previous masters, usually
for a few paltry pounds.
The plantation lands of Anguilla ceased to
have any value for their previous white owners.
These disappeared, presumably in large part to the US mainland. There they were absorbed into that country's
melting pot. Their descendants and those
of their ex-slaves who remained in Anguilla intermarried and carry their names
still. They are the Anguillians of
today. Throughout the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, the qualities of character and spirit that enabled the
early Anguillians to survive and persist were refined in the furnace of
drought, neglect and hardship. These
qualities produced the present-day islanders.
The basic elements of white and black, seaman and subsistence farmer, contributed
to shape the Anguillians of today. These
are rightful heirs of George Leonard, Abraham Howell, John Richardson and
Benjamin Gumbs.
Next:
Chapter 19 -
[1] Patent issued by Governor John Hart in St Kitts
to Darby Carty, located in the Anguilla Record of Deeds, 1792-1803 in the St
Kitts Archives, transcribed by Heather Nielson in 2005.
[4] Anguilla Archives: Benjamin Gumbs’ 1768
Will.
[5] Muscovado
was the name given to sugar of the lowest quality. It was raw or unrefined sugar obtained from
the juice of the sugarcane by evaporation and draining of the surplus molasses.
[7] Chapter 10 ibidem.
[10] See ante.
[11] According to research on the Coakley family
done by George F Tyson and citing the VI Families website.
[12] Anguilla Archives: William Coakley’s
1768 Will.
[14] Anguilla Archives: A selection of
1741-1776 judicial decisions.
[15] Anguilla Archives: John Richardson’s
1739 Will.
[16] Anguilla Archives: William Gumbs’ 1748 Will.
[17] Chapter 11: Cotton and Salt.
[18] Southey op cit, Vol 2 p.407.
[19] Malachai Postlethwaite, A Universal
Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (1757).
[20] See Chapter 6: War and the Settlers.
[21] Anguilla Archives: Peter Rogers’ 1731
Will, see Chapter 14; John Richardson’s 1739 Will ante; and William
Gumbs’ 1748 Will ante.
[22] CO.152/22, folio 302: Mathew to the Committee
on 17 January 1737.
