White, brown and black: Changing colour of 19th-century Tobago landowners

Dr Rita Pemberton

SINCE BRITISH possession of Tobago in 1763, there was a policy to take complete control of the island, which was to be converted to a profit-yielding enterprise for producing and exporting sugar.

To facilitate this, the island was subdivided into 300-acre plots for sale on the London market under terms that sugar estates should be brought into operation within two years of their acquisition. These estates were spread across the island. It was assumed that land was available for the taking, despite the presence of a resident settlements of First Peoples, for whom no land allocation was even considered.

Property ownership became a significant qualifier both for the right to participate in the island’s decision-making processes and, socially, to be at the top of the social ladder and centre of its social life.

There were two types of property: physical – land in large acreages; and human – the enslaved African possessions of their purchasers, who were used to provide labour on the estates. All landowners were white.

While land and labour went hand in hand, plantation agriculture was based on the expectation that large landowners would remain in control of the island and its resources; the enslaved black labourers would remain landless and under the control of their white owners.

From the very start of enslavement, the enslaved population indicated their dissatisfaction in a series of revolts during the 1770s. From the start of the 19th century there were signs all was not well in the sugar industry.

The problems intensified after emancipation, when it became clear to the white ruling class that the Africans also placed high value on land ownership, which the white plantation owners sought to prevent.

By the second half of the 19th century, Tobago’s sugar industry was ailing. While plantation owners ascribed this to problems of labour, they sought to maintain the conditions of enslavement and, most of all, to prevent their labour force becoming landowners by becoming more restrictive and exploitative of the freed Africans.

The misfortunes of the sugar industry provided the setting for the emergence of black landowners in Tobago.

However, the first group of non-white landowners were coloured (brown) people who inherited property from their white forebears.

One individual who played important roles in the administration of Tobago during the 1880s was Robert Crooks. He was a grandson of Margaret Campbell, the black housekeeper of white plantation owner Dugald Campbell – owner of Mt Grace, an estate of 100 acres and 70 enslaved workers. She bore him six children, to whom he willed his wealth.

Robert’s mother also had children by James Crooks, manager of Providence Estate and owner of Belmont Estate. He left the estate to Robert Crooks and his two other sons. Robert became a planter, owning Breeze Hall and Milford Estates in the 1880s. He became inspector of police, Speaker of the Assembly and provost marshal. His three sons also became planters. Thus a line of coloured planters was established.

Frances Keens, the coloured widow of British merchant James Henry Keens, inherited Golden Grove, Kilgwyn, Cove, Friendship and Clapham Estates from her husband.

George Agard, a coloured merchant migrant from Barbados, owned Buccoo Estate, and the Mc Dougall family, heirs of Gordon Turnbull, owned Runnemede and Adelphi Estates.

A new class of black landowners emerged from the skilled craftsmen and shopkeepers from the 1860s; some first became lessees of estates which they subsequently bought.

As the sugar industry plunged deeper into distress, absentee landowners, unable to sell their land, rented it. This provided a stepping stone to landowning for some of Tobago’s black population. The fall in land prices caused by the decline of sugar permitted business-minded members of the black population to become landowners.

Brutus Murray, who began as a metayer with agreements with several plantation owners, became lessee of an estate for which he paid a rent of £100 a year. He became manager of Belle Garden Estate in 1852, part-proprietor of Pembroke Estate in 1862, and bought Cardiff Estate in 1870 and Pembroke in 1871. His was a trail from enslaved labourer, metayer, estate manager and lessee to plantation owner.

Craig Castella, a black merchant clerk, became manager of Pembroke Estate in 1852. He also managed, then leased and later owned Providence Estate in 1862, and in 1875 he owned Mt St George as well.

James Hackett, carpenter and rumshop owner, was lessee of Calder Hall and Whim Estates in 1855. He bought Belmont Estate, previously owned by Robert Crooks and his brothers, and Les Coteaux Estate.

In 1868, Kent Hector, a carpenter from Mt St George, bought 160 acres north of Studley Park and Montrose Estates from James Kirk, and Robert Akim Edwards bought part of Dennet Estate, near Mason Hall.

Before 1875, shopkeeper Christmas Murphy bought Parlatuvier Estate and Paul Adolphus Bennett bought Bloody Bay Estate in 1879. Edward Edwards first leased, then owned Parrot Hall Estate, and Charles Trick Tom owned half of Golden Lane, a 500-acre estate, in 1881.

Charles and Sophia Scobie of Scarborough, who owned several urban properties, gave their son Robinson Scobie Deal Fair, an18-acre estate, part of which was used for the Scarborough Botanic Gardens. Robinson Scobie ran a business exporting turtle shells and owned three rumshops, two in Scarborough and one in Roxborough.

After the crash of the sugar industry in 1884, the number of black landowners increased as they bought estates put on the market. In the 1890s Luke Toby bought Hampden Estate, which included the property on which the Lowlands Mall stands and the areas of All Fields Trace, Daniel Trace and Toby Drive. Toby subsequently subdivided and sold portions of his estate to other members of the black community. John Ottley, a leading Scarborough butcher, became a lessee of Calder Hall Estate in 1884.

By 1884 blacks and coloureds owned 20 of the 73 functioning estates and were lessees of 12.

While the coloured landowners had the privilege of education, provision for which was made by their white ancestry, this new breed received no formal education, but were motivated by the desire to own land, the qualification for the franchise and participation in the island’s decision-making process. They certainly possessed managerial skills, demonstrated in their ability to move from estate manager to lessee to landowner.

What is of major significance is the role of skilled craftsmen in changing the face of landowning in Tobago.

While some black planters were allowed to serve as jurors and justices of the peace, they were not elevated to membership in the assembly, nor included in the social activities of the ruling class.

This demonstrates the extent to which considerations of race continued to dominate.