Golden Grove House History

A Sense of Place

2014

History of Golden Grove

HISTORY OF GOLDEN GROVE

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GOLDEN GROVE AND ITS LOCATION THROUGH THE AGES

Barbados is a cluster of coral rocks set on the far east of the Caribbean, bordered by the vast Atlantic Ocean. From Golden Grove you can glimpse the lighthouse marking the easterly point of Barbados.

The story of who came here, and why, is told in the following pages, unfolding the “history within a house”.

We start with Geology and the supporting rock itself-‐ the “Golden Grove Terrace”-‐ which has been scientifically dated.

Human “Pre-‐history” follows. The earliest known inhabitants of Barbados-‐ Amerindians-‐ have been discovered to have lived in the vicinity of Golden Grove-‐ attracted by the water of the Three Houses spring and stream.

Recorded history follows British colonial settlement. The story of the area around Golden Grove unfolds very quickly after first arrivals on the island.

Glimpses of plantation life, slavery and insurrection emerge from historical fragments relating directly to Golden Grove and its neighbours, including a pivotal moment for the island of the slave insurrection in 1816.

Our focus then turns to the life of a noted Barbadian, Florence Daysh, who was born at Golden Grove in 1908. Her life provides a fascinating catalogue of a country in transition.

The Great House today is structurally very similar to when she was born so that a visit to Golden Grove echoes the gentility of that era.

Despite the end of sugar in the plantation lands of Golden Grove, the character of the house and gardens remain, albeit in a new way, supplemented by a sense of beauty from a collection of contemporary Barbadian artwork.

We hope the pages below encourage you to visit Golden Grove, less than a century after Florence left (her father purchased neighbouring Thicketts plantation in 1918).


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Geology

Time has a geologic scale. The“Quaternary” period began c. 2.5 million years ago and developed into a warmer or “interglacial” period called the Holocene epoch around 11,000 years ago, enabling the rise of human civilisation.

The epoch prior to this is known as the “Pleistocene”. The rocky area around Golden Grove was created in the Middle Pleistocene. A team of American scientists analysed coral deposits from the “Golden Grove Terrace” in 1990, dating them as 230,000-‐216,000 years old (shown on the map below).


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Geology (continued)

The coral analysed at Golden Grove was Acropora Palmata (or “Elkhorn” –first below, once prolific but now on the Endangered Species list) and Montastrea Cavernosa (or “Great Star”-‐ next below, the predominant coral at 40 to 100 feet below sea level).

Coral terraces in Barbados like Golden Grove are in geological terms very “young” but have been formed adjacent to rock that is much older-‐ in the Scotland district being perhaps over 40 million years old.


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Water and Food : The Arrival of Humans

Human settlement has two requirements: potable water and access to food.

The area around Golden Grove provides both: its current northern boundary is Three Houses stream, fed from a spring nearby. A little further north-‐east is a bay where fishermen still set out to sea.

Pre-‐colonial human activity in this locality is perhaps no surprise. However archaeological research of Amerindian settlements in Barbados found few remains inland so that the site by the spring of Three Houses is important.

The first exhibition by the Barbados Museum at Golden Grove describes the many aspects of Amerindian life and culture, which will be supplemented by specific findings and exhibits from the Three Houses excavations. Why the Amerindians left all of their settlements in Barbados remains a mystery-‐ but the knowledge of Barbados from the Lokono in Guyana remained. There can be no doubt that they knew how to navigate the difficult waters of the eastern shores of Barbados and indeed the ancient name for Barbados, Ichirouganaim, may have meant “island with white teeth” or reefs. Unlike other Caribbean islands Amerindian problems were not created by the first colonial explorers (the Spanish and Portuguese). The Portuguese map of Vaz Dourado in 1575 names “Barbado” as the most easterly island of the Caribbean but under the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 the colonial world had been divided between Portugal and Spain, with Barbados falling on the Spanish side of the demarcation. So whilst the Portuguese ships may have landed for water, they did not colonise Barbados-‐ it could not legally become Portuguese. Spain it appears didn’t think Barbados was worth the bother, although Christopher Columbus must have sailed close by in his 4th (and last) voyage to the Caribbean in 1502.


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English Settlement

The arrival of the British in 1625 and first colonial settlement of Barbados in 1627 is well recorded. The island was deserted and this may have been an attraction. Initial settlement took place along the west coast, guided by the sea captains who first landed at Holetown under the business interests of a London merchant, William Courteen and near Bridgetown, fostered by the Earl of Carlisle. In 1627 King Charles 1st granted the Earl of Carlisle an assignment of many Caribbean islands, including Barbados, ousting the interests of Courteen. Captain Henry Hawley was sent back to Barbados by the Earl of Carlisle to protect his new fiefdom and in 1630 Hawley was made Governor of Barbados. Hawley did his best to monetise this opportunity by selling land to the new English colonists, arriving to make their fortune. And it is not long before the story turns to the land near Golden Grove and its access to water. Records (The Hughes/ Queree Plantation Files) in the Barbados Archives show how a Captain Francis Skeete purchased 4500 acres of land in eastern Barbados from Governor Hawley in 1638-‐ a very large estate; how the legitimacy of this transaction (amongst others) by Governor Hawley was questioned in a commission of 1640; and how the parcel of land that is assumed to now include Three Houses, Thicketts, Wiltshire and Golden Grove plantations ( still substantial at 1,160 acres)was found to be legitimate. Whilst Skeete continued in occupation, he mortgaged 500 acres to his brother-‐in-‐law William Hilliard (son of a Merchant in Southampton) in 1643 shortly before his death. It appears that William Hilliard had already owned land in Barbados prior to the arrival of his sister and brother-‐in-‐law and likely bankrolled them. Indeed after Skeete’s death Hilliard funded his sister’s new husband and her two sons to take over Three Houses. Captain Skeete, though, had the honour of the local bay being named after him (Skeetes Bay is well worth a visit with this in mind). What these records show is that Golden Grove was part of land “colonised” a mere decade after the first settlement of Barbados.


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English Settlement (continued)

These very early plantations grew a variety of crops, highlighted in a lease of Three Houses which has an inventory attached in 1658 (shown below). The plantation is described as including sugar canes, indigo and cotton. The inventory includes 5 men & 5 women negroes, 5 cowes (sic) and 1 bull. The condescension to humanity is that each negro is named (but not the cattle!). At the end of the lease the Negroes and Cattle had to be delivered back to the Lessor-‐ or an equivalent number given any fatalities. “Inventory” at Three Houses


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Sugar The Hughes/ Queree plantation files also show when Golden Grove became an independent plantation. “Ince” is shown as owner from 1674-‐ another Captain-‐ and his relations owned a house and a plantation here of 136 acres till 1721. By 1674 sugar had become the overwhelming cash crop throughout Barbados with plantations of a similar size to Golden Grove (or even larger). The triangular trade-‐ guns and trinkets to Africa, slaves to Barbados, sugar to England-‐ had taken over with hugely profitable results for many landowners who consolidated their interests in larger plantations. The “ten-‐acre” or smaller settlers largely disappeared. Daily existence for the planters must have included a comfortable “family life”. Mary Ince was recorded as marrying Robert Hackett in 1702 and they must have occupied Golden Grove as the plantation became known as “Hacketts”. The “widow Hackett” sold the plantation to Henry Evans who in his will of 1743 passed “Hacketts” to his nephew Henry Walker. Despite Walker’s marriage to Ann Clarke (and a mention in the marriage settlement of 1777) the house was sold to Elliot Grasset in 1785, a man who seems unrelated. The first 100 years of Golden Grove as a separate entity was probably trying at times for the owners, with recorded hurricanes, other climate challenges and sugar price fluctuations resulting in financial pressures, but overall it must have been a success-‐ for the owner and his family. For the slaves it was a different-‐ and largely unrecorded story. A slave song from the 1770s, annotated by William Sharp, the abolitionist, from conversations with a secretary to the Governor of Barbados, includes an “optimistic” line “Massa buy me, he no kill me”. Slaves had no rights and were totally subject to the whims of their masters. Another line is also chilling: “For I live with a bad man, for I would go to the riverside regular”. The “riverside” (where slaves were sold like cattle) demonstrates the huge uncertainty of slave life. An annotation By William Sharp is shown overleaf.


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Sugar (continued)

The Grasset Family & Golden Grove Elliot Grasset, whose wealth from Golden Grove allowed sending his son to Eton, was apparently borne illegitimate but from a family that had owned Grazettes plantation in St Michael . “Grazette represented a new elite group, earning a place by dint of knowledge and hard work, rather than by inheritance over several generations (Bobby Morris: The 1816 Uprising-‐ A Hell-‐broth”). Hacketts got a new name : “Golden Grove”-‐ a popular name it seems in the Caribbean where most islands have a plantation with this title. No doubt it was golden, for a time, for the Grazette family-‐ both Elliot Grazette and his son William were members of the Barbados House of Parliament for St Philip, at a time when such honours were reserved for the wealthy.


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Insurrection The Grassets also endured the largest uprising Barbados has ever had. The slave revolt of 1816 is popularly known as the “Bussa revolt” after one of its leaders, who was a “senior” slave at Baileys, which borders Golden Grove. The insurgents were slaves and some coloured free men, with limited weapons and a desire to overthrow a tyrannical regime. Bobby Morris’ article shows how life at Baileys (and Wiltshires, both next to Golden Grove) had become particularly gruesome for its slaves under a notorious manager. A Private Letter from a soldier stationed at St Ann’s Fort (fragments shown below) testifies how about 400 insurgents assembled at Baileys, to be faced by about 150 soldiers, on Tuesday the 16th.


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“ with an extraordinary emblematic flag. They were pursued to the house of Mr. Grasset, which they occupied...”


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An Extraordinary Emblematic Flag What really drove the insurgents? The Private Letter mentions an “extraordinary emblematic flag” which they carried. An article by Karl Watson provides some clues as indeed does the attached copy of the flag taken from the British Library including the words “Royal Endeavour”. Did the insurgents believe they had a legitimate claim authorised by the British (and that the local planters were simply denying a freedom granted by the British government)? If so the words in the letter quoting the events at Golden Grove are poignant: “The insurgents did not think that our (Bourbon Blacks) men would fight against black men, but thank God they were deceived”.


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“the conduct of the Bourbon Blacks.. has been the admiration of everybody”

It must have been a double disappointment for the rebels-‐ British soldiers attacked the insurgents and included within the ranks of the British were local black soldiers. Some accounts describe the insurgents as being initially confused as they thought the black soldiers were on their side! We will not truly know the motivations of the losers-‐ the only records are from the winners, including a letter from the head of the army, Colonel Codd. He describes a driving force for the rebellion being the way the Registry Bill was misquoted by mischievous parties to indicate emancipation was desired by the British parliament; how the slaves had not been mistreated, but rather believed the island belonged to them rather than white men (whom they would destroy, reserving the females!). In fact hardly any whites were killed, although there was much damage to property. And so whilst the first reason rings true, the second half does not accord with ample opportunity for murder. Many insurgents were rounded up, to be tried later, and hanged or imprisoned. The rebellion was defeated. But its effect echoed into the history of Barbados and was undoubtedly a part of the ending of slavery.


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Change and Chancery In the end, it was indeed the British government which outlawed slavery in the colonies (but only after intense domestic religious and moral pressure). The planters-‐ but not the slaves-‐ received compensation. In the 1830s an intermediate stage of “apprenticeship” briefly kept former slaves locked to the plantation-‐ and after a devastating hurricane of 1831 the rebuilding no doubt benefitted from such free labour. It is thought the hurricane affected Golden Grove, large parts of which today must date from that time. The Grazette family owned Golden Grove until 1854, selling for £10,000. Perhaps their luck had run out, as 13 years later the property was sold again for £16,500 (with the same 287 acres). The second half of the 19th century saw two registrations in the debtor-‐ridden Chancery Court for Golden Grove, indicating problems for the estate as ownership again changed hands. Plantations were often heavily mortgaged and the fall in sugar prices in this period took a heavy toll. Three Houses also had two Chancery Court references in these days of cholera and hardship. (below: a Photo of Golden Grove of uncertain date)


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Resilience and Reunion An interesting chapter for Golden Grove began in 1905 with its purchase by Howard Smith and Mr S. Browne, the latter appearing the principal financier. Howard Smith was a white planter who, against his class and colour, married a coloured woman, Eveline. It is said that many ostracised him but this did not seem to hinder his progress in a period when sugar prices took a turn for the better and the resilience of planters shone through. Howard and Eveline had a daughter, Florence, who was born at Golden Grove in 1908. She was the most influential woman politician of her day in Barbados. Florence grew up later at Thicketts, purchased by her father in 1918. At times he managed Golden Grove, Thicketts, Three Houses and Fortescue, in a syndicate with Brown that also owned Three Houses factory which then had a loading facility to the functional Bridgetown: Bathsheba railway. The size of these various estates was similar to the original “valid” interests purchased by Captain Skeete and is described in the sale to a syndicate in an agricultural paper of 1920 as “the biggest plantation sale yet”.

Florence spent a life of voluntary service dedicated to the women and children of Barbados, with numerous achievements that were rewarded with an OBE in 1957. She married a New Zealand naval captain, Commander Daysh in 1947 after war duties with the Red Cross. Her life was part of the “upper class” of plantation owners but she was incredibly popular.


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Florence Daysh at Election Time

In 1958 Florence was elected to the West Indies Federal Parliament, as the only woman from Barbados, defeating Errol Barrow. Previously she had been elected to the Vestry of St Philip and the Legislative Council, in both cases as only the second woman in a long parliamentary history. In her maiden speech to Parliament she declared: “I am a woman of colour, and proud of it.” Florence was described an “indomitable”. Her mother Eveline is commemorated in the Eveline Smith wing of the St Philip District Hospital, again another charitable venture. Care for the community was perhaps the greatest legacy of a family whose success could not be questioned.


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The End of Plantation Life (at Golden Grove) Messrs Brown and the syndicate funding Three Houses et al must have considered Golden Grove surplus to their requirements as it was sold in 1921 for £16,000. The last chapter in Golden Grove’s history as a plantation began. Herbert and then his son Geoffrey Manning were the last of the planters here, still remembered by older residents with some affection. They ran a plantation when St Philip was still full of sugar cane for about 50 years, including the hardship period of the 1930s. Geoffrey Manning was known as a keen sportsman-‐ he was one of the founders of the Barbados Rally Club in 1957. By 1970 the economic viability of sugar at Golden Grove was finally in doubt. This was also the year that the sugar factory at Three Houses closed. The land at Golden Grove was apportioned to create smaller farming interests and the house became a home for another keen sportsman and polo player; later it passed to a newer resident to the island, a successful entrepreneur in the up-‐coming dominant industry of tourism and hospitality. And it is in this world that Golden Grove fits today. Of course its history remains-‐ and itself can be a new lease of life to attract visitors and so successfully maintain the house and gardens. As part of this, the Barbados Museum will be showing a series of exhibitions at Golden Grove with reference to the particular history here. The first showing commences, naturally, with an emphasis on the original settlers who inhabited close by, the “Amerindians”.

Golden Grove House History

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