Grenada Heritage: Biographies

Introduction

A biography is a history of a person’s life. A biography may give you birth, marriage, and death information and the names of parents, spouse, children, or other family members. Use the information from a biography cautiously because there may be inaccuracies.

You may locate individual or family biographies in the Surname Search of the Family History Library Catalog.

Biographies have been gathered and published in collections of biographies, sometimes called biographical encyclopedias or dictionaries. These usually include only biographies of prominent or well-known subjects. However, some collections of biographies are of specific groups such as ministers, musicians, painters, poets, radicals, or writers.

It is important to note that currently there is little in the way of individual or collective biographies on individuals born in Grenada or for those who have had great influence or participation in Grenada politically, socially, or otherwise. One would hope this will change in the future.

If your ancestor played an important part in a group or occupation, do a Place Search for Grenada in any British, Scottish, Canadian, North American, and Latin American biography archives, since people of note may be recorded in these. Although Grenada has little to do with Latin America many historical groups have collected Caribbean information which can include biographical details from Grenadian figures. Little work has been done on collections of biographies of African, Indian, or Portuguese descendant who have lived and died on Grenada’s islands.

Sources

For prominent historical figures, leaders, artists, businessmen, or religious the following sources may help:

• American National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. (Print) ANB.org ($).

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OxfordDNB.com ($)

• Who’s Who UKwhoswho.com ($)

Some Prominent Names

This is a small list of prominent figures in Grenada’s long history – it is neither definitive nor complete. Further, it must be noted that, as is the case with all biographies, those listed here are neither the complete truth nor the whole life of the given individual.

Name (A)	Biographical link
Arthur, James Stanley (1923–2010)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Augustine, Fennis Lincoln	Oxford University Press, 2014

Name (B)	Biographical link
Beharry, Johnson (1979–)	Damian Lynch, Garrick Hagon, and Nick Cook. Barefoot Soldier. Sphere, 2006
Benjamin, John (1934–2010)	The Cultural Biographies of John Benjamin & Fernande Laas. S.l: s.n, 1990
Bishop, Maurice Rupert (1944–1983)	Howard, Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009
Blaize, Rt. Hon. Herbert Augustus (1918-1989)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Brizan, George Ignatius (1942–2012)	Brave Young Grenadians: Loyal British Subjects…. Trinidad & Tobago: G. Brizan, 2002
Browne, Charles Macaulay (1885-)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Butler, Tubal Uriah (1897–1977)	O, Nigel B. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
Bynoe née Gibbs, Dame Hilda Louisa, DBE (1921–2013)	Collins, Merle. The Governor’s Story: The Authorized Biography of Dame Hilda Bynoe, 2013

Name (C)	Biographical link
Charter, Joseph Stephen (1943-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Clyne, Reginald H. (1891-1974)	Against the Currents. S.l: s.n., 1996
Coard, Frederick McDermott D. (1893-)	Bitter-sweet and Spice: These Things I Remember. Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1970
Coke, Rev. Thomas (1747–1814)	A Journal of the Rev. Dr. Coke’s Third Tour Through the West Indies. London: G. Paramore, 1791
Collins, Merle (1950-)	Bloom, Harold. Caribbean Women Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997
Cugoano, Ottobah	Narrative of the Enslavement of Ottobah Cugoano…. Chapel Hill, N.C.:, 1999

Name (D)	Biographical link
Davis, Hon. Sir Maurice Herbert (1912-1988)	Oxford University Press, 2014
De Gale, Sir Leo Victor (1921-1986)	Oxford University Press, 2014

Name (E)	Biographical link
Ellis, George (1753-1815)	J, M R, and Mills Rebecca. Ellis, George. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004

Name (G)	Biographical link
Gairy, Sir Eric Matthew (1922–1997)	Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Gentle, Eileen	Before the Sunset: A Memoir of Grenada. Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec: Shoreline, 1999
Gibbs, Oswald Moxley (1927-1995)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Glean, Sir Carlyle Arnold (1932-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Graham, Sir Samuel Horatio (1912–1999)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Grant, McGodden Kerensky “Cacademo” (1917-1982)	Brathwaite, Shirley R. Cacademo Grant: Hero of the People’s Revolution. St. Georges: Printed by Government Printery, 1983
Granger, Winifred	Held Captive: Memoirs of a Caribbean Woman. Trinidad: Phyllis Andrews, 2012
Grenada, 15 Dedicated	15 Dedicated Men and Women Who Have Served Their Country. National Democratic Congress Presents. Grenada: s.n, 1990
Grenada, Colonial Administrators	Colonial Administrators and Post-Independence Leaders in Grenada Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005

Name (H)	Biographical link
Henry, Sir Denis Aynsley (1864–1925)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Herb, Ras	Rehabilitation or Death., 1991
Hughes, Alister Earl Hewitson (1919-2005)	Lewis, Paula. Alister Hughes: Glimpses into the Life of a Great Grenadian. St. Patrick, Grenada: Belmont Estate Heritage Foundation, 2004
Hutchinson, Leslie Arthur Julien ‘Hutch’ (1900-1969)	Breese, Charlotte. Hutch. London: Bloomsbury, 1999

Name (K)	Biographical link
Keens-Douglas, Richardo (1953-)	Solomon, Frances-Anne. Believe – with Richardo Keens-Douglas. Toronto, Ont: Literature Alive Corp, 2005
Kent, Dr. Edward Roy (1920-2009)	Kent, Edward, and Susan Payetta. Up Before Dawn. Grenada: Sail Rock Publishing, 2011

Name (L)	Biographical link
Lewis, Sir Arthur (1915-1991)	Transcript of the World Exclusive Radio Programme: Sir Arthur Lewis, His Life, Achievements and Thoughts. Castries, St. Lucia?: R. Lalljie, 1993
Lorde, Audre Geraldine (1934–1992)	James, D S. Lorde, Audre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Name (M)	Biographical link
Mackenzie, Lt-Gen. Colin (1806-1881)	A, J A, and T S. Roger. Mackenzie, Colin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
MacQueen, James (1778-1870)	Gordon, Goodwin, and Baigent Elizabeth. Macqueen, James. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Marryshow, Hon. Theophilus Albert (1887-1958)	Sheppard, Jill. Marryshow of Grenada: An Introduction. Grenada: s.n., 1987
Marshall née Burke, Valenza Pauline ‘Paule’ (1929-)	Triangular Road: A Memoir. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2009
Mcintyre, Sir Meredith Alister (1932-)	Oxford University Press, 2013

Name (P)	Biographical link
Palmer, Sir Reginald Oswald (1923-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Paterson, Nicholas Julian (1867-)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Phillips, Harold Adolphus (1929–2000)	James, McGrath. Phillips, Harold Adolphus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012
Pigott, Sir Arthur Leary (1749-1819)	R, A M. Pigott, Sir Arthur Leary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Pitt, David Thomas (1913-1994)	Mike, Phillips. Pitt, David Thomas, Baron Pitt of Hampstead. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Protain, Gertrude Isobel (-2005)	Compton, Shadel N. Gertrude Isobel Protain: Glimpses into the Life of a Great Grenadian. St. Patrick, Grenada: Belmont Estate Heritage Foundation, 2004
Purcell née Orgias, Joan M. (1942-)	Memoirs of a Woman in Politics: Spiritual Struggles of Joan M. Purcell. St. George’s, Grenada, W.I: J.M. Purcell, 2007

Name (R)	Biographical link
Robertson, James Burton (1800-1877)	Thompson, Cooper, and Lloyd Myfanwy. Robertson, James Burton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Roux, Phillippe de	Le Marquis de Casaux, un Planteur des Antilles, Inspirator de Mirabeau. Paris: Société de l’histoire des Colonies Françaises; en vente: Libraire Larose, 1951

Name (S)	Biographical link
Scoon, Sir Paul Godwin (1935–2013)	Survival for Service: My Experiences As Governor General of Grenada. Oxford, England: Macmillan Caribbean, 2003
Shrewsbury, Rev. William James (1795–1866)	Memorials of the Rev. William J. Shrewsbury. London: Hamilton, Adams, 1867

Name (W	Biographical link
Watts, Sir John Augustus Fitzroy	Oxford University Press, 2013
Wharton, Arthur (1865-1930)	Phil, Vasili. Wharton, Arthur. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Williams, Eric Eustace (1911-1981)	Palmer, Colin A. Eric Williams & the Making of the Modern Caribbean. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006
Williams, Sir Daniel Charles (1935-)	Oxford University Press, 2013

You may find some collections under the localities listed above and then the subject “GENEALOGY.”

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Author: Ric Greaves

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Grenada Heritage: Our Plantations – part 3

James Evan Baillie

We know little of the man as a person, however, we can see from the records that he was a very astute businessman that would not seem out of place in a modern-day big-city financial sector only to be given accolades for his cleaver choices.  Only in hindsight, giving the context in which he and his family made financial acquisitions and the period they are set will the modern reader consider possibly branding James Evan Baillie (and his family) as tyrants dealing in the assets of slavery. Maybe today some stone-casters would even set up a “Nuremberg trial” or a “McCarthy Committee” to pursue their decedents?

Born in 1781, he was the son of Evan Baillie (1742-1835), the merchant of Bristol and Dochfour, Inverness and Mary Gurley (daughter of Peter Gurley of the island of St. Vincent).

James became a London and Bristol merchant and banker (of the firm Baillie, Ames & Baillie), and was a major and astute recipient of slave compensation across the Caribbean.

James is described as thus by Rubinstein: "His family moved from being successful West Indies planters to bankers in Bristol". ¹  This was in 1812 when James had become a partner with his brother, Colonel Hugh Duncan Baillie (of Red Castle and Tarradale), as the two took over the management of the family firm (now 'Bristol Old Bank') on the death of his eldest brother Peter.

In 1829 James ‘acquired’ Redland Court mansion (Bristol, England) and 150 acres surrounding farmland from Sir Richard Vaughan, following Vaughan's bankruptcy. This was because six years earlier Vaughan had mortgaged the estate to their company Elton, Baillie & Co (the Old Bank).
James later became a Member of Parliament (Whig) for Tralee (1813-18) and then in the 1830 Parliamentary elections for Bristol (1830-35), James Baillie and Edward Protheroe both stood for the Whig seat in Bristol (Bristol had two Members of Parliament, and the two seats were divided between the Tory party and the Whig party: voting at this time was not very democratic). Protheroe, whose family were involved in trade with the West Indies, declared himself opposed to slavery. Baillie, also from a West Indian trade family, supported slavery. A number of leaflets were published by both candidates attacking each other and promoting their own views. In the election, Baillie won the Whig seat by 535 votes.

 

James was a large-scale purchaser of Scottish land, acquiring Glentrome in Badenoch (£7,350) in 1835; Glenelg, Western Highlands (£77,000) in two years later; Glenshiel (£24,500) the following year; and Letterfinlay (£20,000) in 1851.

He appears never to have lived at Redland Court, the occupant being William Edwards, a partner in the Old Bank 1816-52. But he left the Redland estate to his nephews Evan Baillie (of Dochfour) and Henry James Baillie (MP of Elsenham Hall Essex), plus James Leman his attorney as trustees. They sold Redland Court for development and the house is now Redland High School. ² 

James lived at 1 Seamore Place, Curzon Street Mayfair both in the 1830s and at his death on 14 Jun 1863. He remained unmarried and died leaving £120,000.

Grenada Plantations

Levera Estate Plantation, St. Patrick’s, Grenada

Levera Estate belonged to a Mr. Snell in April 1785. ³

At a later date Alexander Fraser (1759-1837, of Inchcoulter, Kiltearn, in Rosshire, Scotland) came to Grenada in the late 1790s, he was instrumental in raising money there for the Northern Infirmary in Inverness. In 1806 he purchased his Inchcoulter estate and created the village of Evanton there.  Alexander was also a friend of William Smith (of Revolution Hall) and was mentioned in his Will to receive £2000.  It is certain that in 1825 Alexander owned plantation Levera Estate.

Following the act of 1811 abolishing the slave trade the colonies instituted registers of negroes lawfully held in slavery. A further act of 1819 established an Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves in London, England.  Finally in 1834 slavery was abolished in British colonies and to ensure it effectiveness the act of 1833 provided a sum of £20 million to ‘compensate slave proprietors'. Its distribution was entrusted to a Slave Compensation Commission which began to meet in October 1833 and was terminated at the end of 1842.

On the 9th November 1835 Alexander Fraser (as owner-in-fee) made a contested claim to this Slave Compensation Commission.  It was for 94 slaves at Levera Estate for £2759 1s 0d.  However a successful counterclaim came from Hugh Duncan Baillie, James Evan Baillie and George Henry Ames, all of the City of Bristol, as 'Assignees for the whole compensation money'. ⁴

Hermitage Estate Plantation, St. Andrew's, Grenada

Alexander was also in charge of the Baillie’s plantation Hermitage, and was described, at this time, as a ‘planter of experience’. He was probably also a member of the Grenada Council. He  married Evan Baillie’s niece (Emilia Duff of Muirton) ‘some years ago’ and when his son was born in Grenada in 1800/01 the couple named the child Evan Baillie Fraser (1800-91). ⁵

By 1807 he was regularly described as ‘late of Grenada’ indicating that he was now resident in the UK. In 1812, with the death of Evan Baillie, Alexander Fraser entered into a partnership with Evan Baillie’s third son, James Evan Baillie, trading as JE Baillie, Fraser & Co of London. This company, dissolved in 1820, consisted of James Evan Baillie, Alexander Fraser, Hugh D Baillie, George H Ames and George Fowler. ⁶

On the 23rd January 1836 a compensation claim was made for 149 slaves at Hermitage Estate for £4030 4s 3d by Evan Baillie (who we know was by this time deceased), as trustee on behalf of the proprietors of the Estate.

The previous part-owners were Colin Chisholm (MD of Bristol d.1825) and the Baillie brothers’ father James Baillie (MP of Bedford Square and Ealing Grove, d.1793).

A failed counterclaim was attempted by fishmongerer Rowland Ryley (of 3 Orange Street, Red Lion Square, England), based on a grantee of an annuity of £185 18s, secured by assignment of a legacy bequeathed by the Will of James Baillie Snr.  In this case J. H. Forbes acted as agent for the Baillies and secured the counterclain in their favour. ⁷

John Sleeper, in 1860, declared “The Hermitage was one of the finest plantations in Grenada. It was pleasantly situated on elevated ground, a few miles from the sea shore, and was the residence of Mr. Houston, a gentleman of great respectability, who was attorney for the for the estate, and also the plantation adjoining, called Belmont.”  The previous owner, an Englishman name Bailey (sic) “had spared no expense in stocking the grounds with fruits of various kinds…”.  Sadly Houston had the axe freely used to chopped down all of these trees to make way for sugar cane crop. ⁸

Revolution Hall Estate Plantation, St. John's, Grenada

The Revolution Hall Estate, at the time overseen by Joseph Barlow, existed during the 1795 ‘insurrection’. It was described in 1845, as “a rich, fertile sugar estate, about two or three miles from the neat looking village or town of Goyave (sic)”.

On the 9th May 1836 a claim was made on 168 slaves at Revolution Hall Estate for £4210 16s 8d this belonged to Richard Oliver Smith, owner-in-fee, mortgaged by him on his second marriage.  However successful counterclaims by the Baillie brother, as mortgagees and assignees of a legacy of £580 and upwards and his mortgagers back in England for £4105 meant he gained nothing. ⁹

Richard Oliver Smith (May 1788 - ????) lived n Britain from c. 1793 to 1833. He was the illegitimate son of the Grenada slave-owner William Smith and Sarah Jean (or Dean, then ‘living with’ him) in Grenada.

His father Williams’ Will dated 15 July 1793 (registered 08 November 1794, but with handwritten note on margin 'proved 30 April 1803') shows an annuity of £150 later £700 to his lawful wife Elizabeth Smith (with a claus to revoked it if challenges); Sarah Jean was to stay in the house at Revolution Hall, £100 currency immediately, annuity of £150 sterling. £2000 sterling left to pay interest to children 'being known and called by the descriptions following 'Mary Smith now in England and Grace Smith in Grenada', and to Richard Oliver Smith 'now in England aged 5 years and 2 months'.

He was first married to a Harriet Gee in St Pancras (London, England, 21 August 1806) with whom he had a daughter Emily (b. 1808 Chelsea, Middlesex). Richard divorced Harriet for adultery an on 18 August 1819 married for a second time, to Mary Broderip (daughter of Edmund Broderip), in St. Cuthbert Church, Wells, Somerset, England. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Georgiana (bapt. 1828 Exeter, Devon). ¹⁰

A set of accounts for the Revolution Hall Estate exists for the year 1821 (held at the Burke Library, Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y.) the 50 pages are accompanied by a copy of the conveyance of Revolution Hall to William Smith (dated 1771) and also by copies of letters to William Smith about the unprofitability of the plantation in the years 1832-33.  The Account book deals with maintenance, supplies, shipments of rum, and wages and includes lists of slaves on the estate on 31 December 1821, giving name, occupation and age of each. It also lists livestock.

Identified as of Gower Street on 23 July 1822 when Richard served as trustee for a marriage settlement and on 18 February 1833 a quitclaim appears between Richard and his fellow trustees (Rogers Weatherall and Francis Broderip) where Richard is 'released from trusteeship' to live in West Indies when it appears to have moved to Grenada c. 1833.  The couple possibly had a son as well, Richard Joseph Sanderson Smith ( c. 1837 Trinidad), who went on to marry Pauline Josephine Nicholson in Middlesex in 1859. ¹¹

His first daughter Emily Smith went on to marry Rev. John Nurse in Grenada in 1835.




Known Family Relationships – father Evan Baillie (1741-28 Jun 1835), brothers Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777-21 Jun 1866), first cousins Hugh James Baillie (1786-????), Alexander Baillie (13 Nov 1777-24 Jan 1835), Janet Higgins (née Baillie, 1773-1841), Colin Campbell Lloyd (née Baillie, 1781-1830).

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Sources

1. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1863/2.
2. Bristol Record Office 6682/40 for Baillie's involvement, and deeds of Redland High School purchase.
3. Laws of Grenada and the Grenadines: From the Year 1766 to the Year 1852, No.XVII p.48
4. Parliamentary Papers p. 99. T71/880: claim 690.
5. David Alston, Slaves and Highlanders, www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=225176.
6. London Gazette, thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/17703/page/986, 05/05/1821.
7. Parliamentary Papers p. 312. T71/880: claim 701.
8. Jack in the Forecastle, John Sherburne Sleeper, 1860, p.342-3.
9. Parliamentary Papers p. 312. T71/880: claim 591.
10. Familysearch batch no. M51385-3, I01821-5 and C05051-2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812
11. Settlement, quitclaim and mortgage P89_TRI/130 1822-1835.
    
     

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Grenada Heritage: Our Plantations – part 2

The village of Baillie’s Bacolet, Saint David’s in the south-east of Grenada, more commonly referred to as simply Bacolet is named after the plantation that once stood in the area. We also mention plantations of Hermitage Estate in Saint Patrick’s north of the island, and Mount St. Bernard Estate in Saint Andrew’s east of the island, and Chemin Estate in Saint George’s south of the island.

Some of the family connections to this plantation are outlined here.

James Baillie born about 1737 was the second son of Hugh Baillie of Dochfour, Inverness, and brother of Evan Baillie (1742-1835). He married in Grenada on 26 April 1772 ¹, Colina, daughter and co-heir of Colin Campbell of Glenure (Argyll, Scotland), factor of the forfeited Stewart estates in Argyll and victim of the famous Appin murder in 1752. This meant that Colin[a] Campbell Baillie was the first cousin of James Evan Baillie and Hugh Duncan Baillie.

James and Colin[a] had three sons and three daughters. Between 1755 and 1771 the family lived in the West Indies, mainly at Grenada and St. Kitt.  Then in 1765 he and his elder brother Alexander became joint-owners when they purchased a 400-acre plantation in Grenada in 1765 and known as The Hermitage and the plantation Mount St. Bernard.

During his time in the Caribbean, he had visited every island except Jamaica, and had also acted as attorney for other plantation owners. Shortly before the outbreak of the American war, Baillie and two partners bought, as a speculation, the 4,400 acres in St. Vincent granted to General Richard Monckton in 1773. After the war the property was sold in lots.

In February of 1790, when he gave evidence before the committee of inquiry into the petitions of opponents of abolition of the slave trade, James stated that he complained to the committee that when abolition was bruited in 1788, potential buyers of his St. Vincent lots were frightened off, and that there remained unsold about 1,400 acres, which would become worthless if abolition was carried. ²  He was sole owner of the Northbrook plantation in Demerara, and later in 1790, he bought from the Bank of England two Grenada estates, Barolet and Chemin, for £100,000, paying a deposit of £45,000, with the balance to be paid at 4 per cent interest, in seven annual instalments. He subsequently conveyed the Chemin plantation to one Samuel Mitchell of Grenada. ³

At the general election of that same year James was to have come in for Horsham (West-Sussex, England) as a paying guest of Lady Irwin, but he and her son-in-law were beaten at the polls by nominees of the Duke of Norfolk. They were seated on petition in March 1792, by which time Baillie had been appointed agent for Grenada. This was when the politician William Wilberforce (1759–1833) sat down after moving abolition of the slave trade, 2 April 1792, James, speaking ‘in a low voice’ from the government side of the House, called for the petition of the West India planters and merchants to be read and then proceeded to argue at length, largely on commercial grounds, against the ‘wild, impracticable, and visionary scheme’ of abolition. James maintained that the negroes were generally well treated and that there was ‘more wretchedness and poverty in the parish of St. Giles’ than in the whole of the British colonies. ⁴  He subsequently had the speech published. In the renewed debate on the slave trade, 1 May, he claimed to have received information that several hundred fresh slaves had recently been sold in Jamaica, and when supporting the sugar bill, 22 May 1792, he contended that the planters ‘merited the peculiar protection’ of Parliament. No further trace of parliamentary activity has been found.

In his will, dated 12 August 1793, James Baillie left the Barolet estate in trust for his eldest son and his property at Ealing (West London, England), bought from the Duke of Argyll, to his wife, along with £1,000. He directed his executors to sell his other plantations and to apply the proceeds to payment of the balance owing for Barolet (about £40,000) and to provision of annuities totalling £3,000 for his wife, cash bequests of £10,000 for each of his five youngest children and other legacies in excess of £2,000. He died 7 September 1793.

Colin Campbell Lloyd, née Baillie (1781-1830) – the daughter of Miss Colin[a] Campbell and James Baillie.

Whist a baby, her father James commissioned a family portrait by the painter Thomas Gainsburgh in 1784, it includes her parents with their four eldest children and Colin is the fourth, shown as the baby on her mother’s knee. The painting was later bequeathed by a relation, Alexander Baillie, in 1868 to the Tate Art Gallery (London, England).



Collin [sic] Campbell Baillie married Edward Lloyd at St Marylebone in London (England) on the 8th August 1816.

Unfortunately before she reached the age of 50, Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, apparently became the victim of the quack doctor John St John Long of Harley Street:

“On Wednesday morning, the 10th of November, 1830, at eleven o’clock, J. H. Gell, Esq., and a highly respectable jury assembled at the Wilton Arms, Kinnerton Street, Knightsbridge, to inquire into the death of Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, aged forty-eight, the wife of Captain Edward Lloyd, of the Royal Navy, whose death was alleged to have been occasioned by the treatment she had experienced under the hands of Mr St John Long. The jury retired for about half-an-hour, and then returned the following verdict: “The jury, having attentively and deliberately considered their verdict, can come to no other than manslaughter against John St John Long.” The coroner inquired on what grounds they found their verdict. The foreman said: “On the ground of gross ignorance, and on other considerations.” Upon this second charge Mr Long was tried at the Old Bailey on the 19th of February, 1831. The jury, however, returned a verdict of not guilty. Several ladies, elegantly dressed, remained with the prisoner in the dock throughout the day, to whom this verdict appeared to give great satisfaction. Mr Long died in the year 1834, and his body was consigned to a tomb in the Harrow Road Cemetery, where a monument was erected to his memory at the cost of his former patients, who, in an inscription, paid a handsome tribute to his talents.”

The burial of Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, of St Georges Hanover Square (London, England), took place on the 13th November 1830.

Trustees of the marriage settlement of Miss Colin Campbell Baillie (Sir George Young and Sir John Tylden Maxwell) made a claim on the 2^nd May 1836 to the Slave Compensation Commission (1812-1851) for the compensation for the 353 enslaved people on ‘Baillie’s Bacolet’ in St. David’s, Grenada and where awarded the sum of £8985 17s 2d.

Of cause the settlement wasn’t straight forward, a letter, dated 23 February 1836, from Hugh James Baillie (of Stone Buildings), asked how much was paid to his brother Alex Baillie, and the time of payment [T71/1609]. Then a claim against the settlemet was made by a John Wells (as receiver) which caused counterclaims from Janet Higgins (of Albemarle Street and widow of Matthew Higgins), as the assignee of a legacy under the will of their father James Baillie (1737-1793, MP of Bedford Square and Ealing Grove); Sir John Maxwell Tylden (of Milsted, Kent), and Sir George Young (of Formosa Place, Buckinghamshire), all as trustees for parties interested under the marriage settlement of our Miss Colin Campbell Baillie [T71/880].  The insident was reported in The Times on 16 July 1842 refering to Baillie versus Innes as “one of the numerous proceedings arising out of the failure of Mr Innes, who was formerly in partnership with Mr Nathaniel Winter as West India merchants” [p. 6].

In 1851, Edward Lloyd, aged 64, Captain RN, born Germany, was living at Cheltenham with his daughter Colin Campbell aged 33 and her husband Conway Whitehorne Lovesey (sometimes given as Lovesy).

Known Family Relationships – sister to Hugh James Baillie (1786-????), Alexander Baillie (13 Nov 1777-24 Jan 1835), and Janet Higgins (née Baillie, 1773-1841); niece to Evan Baillie (1741-28 Jun 1835); first cousin to James Evan Baillie (1781-14 Jun 1863) and Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777-21 Jun 1866).

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Sources

1. Midlothian: Edinburgh Register of Marriages, 1751-1800 Volume 5. The Register of Marriages. (Edinburgh Reg. Scottish Rec. Soc. liii, 33).
2. House of Commons Sessional Pprs. of 18th Cent. ed. Lambert, lxxi.
3. See also Baillie’s will (PCC 494 Dodwell).
4. Senator, iv. 512.
5. 1631 volumes of Slave registers and records of the Slave Compensation Commission (1812-1851), CO T71/880 Grenada no. 864, NAUK.
6. Douglas Hamilton, Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic world, 1750-1820 (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2005) pp. 89-90. History of Parliament Online for details of James Baillie.
7. The Tate artworks – gainsborough, n00789.
8. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921.
9. Newgate Calendar. Notice of death including report of the manslaughter verdict in the Annual Register (1830), Vol. 72 p. 277.
10. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980; National Probate Calendar 1889.
11. 1851 census online.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan and David R. Fisher for his assistance in compiling this entry.

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Grenada Heritage: Our Artists

A Gallery Called Poui

I remember the first time I met Jim. In my purple and green hair days, I was a young dreamer-of-being-an-artist. After working up the gumption, one day I called to ask if I could visit his gallery. A soft voice on the other end of the line, told me to look for the painted wall on Cross Street, and follow that along, up the steps and ring the bell.

Jim greeted me then, the same way he greets me now when I drop in for a visit – well perhaps with a bit more gusto, since we’ve known each other for donkey’s years. I had brought some samples of my work to him and he was kind. Kind enough to say go work on them some more, and bring them back. Years later, I’d brought them back, and he did take them, and many sold!

The art on the walls and the floor and just about everywhere in that small Cross Street space was not what I had learned in school to be called art. We good convent girls were raised on colouring inside the lines, and attempting with certain failure, to recreate European masters from lumpy tempera on grey sugar paper.

At the time I went to see Jim, I was trying too hard to become an artist instead of letting the art flow. Perhaps if I had paid attention at the time, I would have realised the opportunity to study with Jim and benefit from his years in MOMA and his eye for what was saleable. I would have been much farther along in my career.

Two weeks ago, Haitian artist Jean Renel Pierre Louis (Prensnelo) and I dropped in to have a chat with Jim. Surmounting the staircase, I breathed deeply, (because either the steps have gotten steeper or me slower), of the smell peculiar to old documents and archives, the smell of history. In this case, art.

In the absence of an art museum or archive, right now, Jim holds the information about Grenada’s art and artists, about how far we’ve come, and in what direction(s) our art may or may not be heading. Jim believes that art is not ‘something for people with no grades, or people with money to waste’ to do. He is a firm believer in art magnifiying the soul, of the artist and of the country they represent. “For about three years I used to install small exhibitions of a particular artist’s work at Barclays Bank (now CIBC First Caribbean), till they changed the interior and blocked the wall space. I used to write articles about what was shown which were printed in The Grenadian Voice,” said Jim.
So how did Jim end up in Grenada? Short answer, snow.

The family business in New York was signmaking and neon lights. He would draw the outlines and his father would bend the tubes. His father saw his interest in drawing, and registered his son at Pratt Institute. After a series of art and photography courses, Jim’s art career was distracted by a stint in the US Navy – damage control he says – but returned to the art world on the GI Bill, studying art history. Art was always there. After his art history course, he was determined to work at MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. So one Friday he applied for a job, any job, and on Monday was at work. He stayed there for 4 years until the cold of the New York winters drove him to find somewhere warmer to live. “It was a toss-up between Greece and Grenada,” he said. “Grenada won.” He and wife Cornelia read about Grenada and decided to try it, for a new perspective, a new space to breathe, to be warm.
In 1966 they came to Grenada. Two years later, the first commercial art gallery in Grenada, the Yellow Poui was born, in the Purcell building on Granby Street, across from the market in Saint George’s. The first artist in his newly established gallery was Elinus Cato. (The first time I saw Cato’s work was in the lobby of the lower Church street premises of Co-op Bank. Trying to identify all the images Cato packed on his canvas, helped me pass the time standing in the sluggish line.)

Cato was the first artist on Jim’s books, then Gordon Hamilton. In those days the public interest was thin, but the artists were happy to have someone take an interest in their works. Jim also displayed work from Carriacou’s pride, Canute Caliste, as well. He connected with Canute on the recommendation of a religious worker at Madonna House in Carriacou in the early 70s. Jim began showing his work and his childlike approach to painting and his misspellings, immediately caught on.
“Canute used to divide his canvas or board in two, paint the sky with a few clouds and the occasional bird, but all his action was below the line, below the horizon. I encouraged him to put in a palm tree, or something to connect the bottom to the top.” With the inclusion of his unique narratives artwork titles, Canute’s work was well received by the purchasing public, mainly cruise ship visitors and hotel guests.

Any success stories?

“The most successful to my mind were Cato and Caliste. They were unique and humorous. They told stories.” Of Cato, Jim said, “He was a marvelous artist. Cato just painted and painted, and his work began to catch on with tourists and word spread, and his work sold. Then came Gordon Hamilton and Betty Traynor, and after that, other artists started coming.”

Jim’s gallery became the beacon for local artists’ works to be seen, and more importantly, to be purchased.

The gallery moved from Granby to Bruce Street, next door to Charles of Grenada, then to an upstairs on Cross Street, the current location of a radio station. That location was Jim’s absolute best in terms of walk-up customers, visibility and sales. He painted a mural of brilliant colours on the wall leading from the street, to encourage passersby to come up to have a look. A move to Richmond Hill did not auger well. His final destination, the Young Street location, is across from the Antilles Building, housing the National Museum and Tikal, and down the sidewalk from MNIB, aka marketing board.
Several times I have enjoyed watching art videos with Jim. He has scores of videos for public use and education. This is an excellent resource for visual art students, because after the movie, there is Q and A, with the distinct possibility that Jim will be able to answer almost any question a student may have pertaining to art.

Jim represents about 35 Grenadian artists, including Jackie Miller, Doliver Morain, Joseph Browne, Oliver Benoit, and long-time residents Chris Mast, Trish Bethany, and Marie Messenger. Is there a distinct Grenadian style? Jim said, “The Grenadian art ‘style’ develops I think from the artists’ desire to show Grenada in various ways, mostly landscape and flora, but also Grenadians at work and at play, as in regattas. Exceptions are Oliver Benoit and the long-time residents.”

Jim’s contribution to Grenada art has not been fully told, and he has no plans to write any time soon. He represents/has represented close to 45 artists from Europe, the UK and the US, plus Trinidad titans Boscoe Holder, Jackie Hinkson, Sundiata, MP Alladin and Pat Chu Foon, (he is godfather to Pat’s son). He encouraged a few to come to Grenada to paint, and in 1986, Hinkson had a solo show of drawings and watercolours, ‘All Works of Grenada’ at the Yellow Poui.

Forty-five years and several relocations later, Jim is still on the job, displaying artists’ works, and making himself available as an art resource for artists, teachers, students and persons interested in Grenadian art. Poui, in its present and possible last, reincarnation, is a 2-room gallery, at the top of 2 flights of steps, of a building original to the early days of Young Street. The short covered walkway from the street to the steps was once the entrance for horses, in the days when they were a regular sight in the town. Jim has taken the work of obscure Grenadian painters and shown them alongside Caribbean greats in his gallery, the Yellow Poui. The significance is not lost on me.

Jim Rudin. US Navy Veteran. Artist. Photographer. Gallery owner. Art encyclopedia. The possibility of life without Jim and Poui… I have no words.

By Suelin Low Chew Tung

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Grenada and UNESCO: Caribbean Media and Communication

Grenada to host UNESCO Caribbean Media and Communication Conference

The Grenada National Commission for UNESCO in collaboration with the the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG), Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), and the UNESCO’s Office in Kingston, organized the 12th Annual Caribbean Media and Communication Conference (CMCC) in St. Georges, Grenada, on 13 and 14 May 2009.

The Conference saw over 53 participants from 10 countries in the region, ranging from policy makers, journalists, media entrepreneurs, educators and media managers, who gathered to formally celebrate World Press Freedom Day 2009 (observed on 3 May). The theme of the Conference was “Media and Dialogue”.



Among the issues discussed at the Conference were:

• Media’s internal dialogue: Training, standards and ethics in the profession;



• Caribbean in a global world: Media perspectives;



• Public service broadcasting and social issues reporting;



• The future of media: Electronic and new media;



• The future of the Caribbean newspaper;



• Media’s role in sustainable development; and



• The media and intercultural dialogue.

The main speaker at the opening ceremony was Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada, who urged Caribbean journalists to be impartial in the exercising of their profession. He also stressed the important role of the media in educating and informing Caribbean people about issues relevant to the region, such as governance. Also speaking at the opening ceremony was Franka Bernadine, Minister of Education of Grenada. She welcomed all regional participants and thanked UNESCO for its efforts in promoting freedom of the press and freedom of expression.



In his address to the Conference, Isidro Fernandez Aballí, UNESCO’s Advisor for Communication and Information in the Caribbean, thanked Prime Minister Tillman and the people of Grenada for hosting the conference and stressed UNESCO’s role as a primary defender of press freedom. He also invited members of the audience to observe “one minute’s silence” in memory of all journalists who had died in any part of the world in the past year in the exercise of the profession.



In addition, Mr Fernandez-Aballi reiterated the call of Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsura, to “strengthen our efforts to build a media that is critical, tolerant of alternative perspectives, a media that brings challenging narratives into a common story of interdependence; a media that responds through dialogue”.



Representatives of MWAG, CBU and ACM thanked UNESCO for its continued sponsorship of the Conference and pledged to go on working with UNESCO for the defense of press freedom. They also expressed their commitment to maintaining the dialogue between media, governments and civil society.

From left to right: Erika Walker and Isidro Fernandez-Aballí of UNESCO; Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada; Franka Bernadine, Minister of Education of Grenada; and Eugene Gittens, Secretary General, Grenada National Commission for UNESCO.

* The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945 and currently has 195 Members and eight Associate Members, its headquarters are in Paris.

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