Grenada Heritage At Risk: Carriacou cemetery vanishes

Rising seas swamp a cemetery on Carriacou, Grenada.

The Good News

One of Grenada’s most important commodity is Tourism.  All our other resources are equally important and of cause should be regarded hand-in-hand with our Tourism Resources.  On the 9-11 of July 2014 the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) held the 3rd Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism here at St. George’, Grenada. This event brought together over 150 ‘green’ experts and practitioners, including hoteliers, real estate developers, operators, investors, and others within the tourism industry committed to (or considering) new sustainable models of marine, coastal, and island tourism development and management.  Over 40 of these international tourism experts spoke on various aspects of sustainable coastal and marine tourism and the event was even represented for us by our Minister of Tourism and Alexandra Otway-Noel, who bolstered Grenada’s enthusiasm for a sustainable future through tourism, and stating action is already underway. View the Symposium Proceedings.

The Down Side

Sadly none of this covered our Historical or Heritage acpects of the island of Grenada – a very important commodity for tourism, our island community and the education of our young.

“Natural.” “Eden.” “Genuine.” “Safe.” “Paradise.”  “Pristine.” “Unspoiled.”

Russ Jarman Price was telling the audience at this international symposium that these and many other words had been offered to describe our island nation of Grenada. Collecting such descriptors was one step in the process that his team used in coming up with its new “Pure Grenada” marketing campaign. The new brand had provoked local controversy, even though the “pure” theme is intended to help spur Grenada into becoming a model of sustainability for the region – you will see it used all over Grenada’s new tourism site.

The conference represented the Grenada’s next step in staking out that claim: A three-day symposium on Innovations in Coastal Tourism, held this month at St. George’s University in Grenada. CREST, the U.S.-based Center for Responsible Travel, organized it. Symposium discussions moved along two closely related tracks: How to practice coastal tourism more responsibly in a world of rising seas, declining ocean quality, and growing tourism pressures, and more specifically, how to do so in Grenada and the Caribbean. (Shockingly Jonathan Tourtellot also spoke at the symposium, but the compete Caribbean development fund covered his travel expenses.)
Jarman Price was sensitive to the audience, the majority of cause Grenadian – the Ogilvy’s campaign “Pure Grenada: Freedom to Wonder” had been systematically thought out. For those who don’t know he is the Executive Creative Director for Inglefield/Ogilvy & Mather Ltd (the Caribbean part of global advertising giant Ogilvy) and a local resident.

Many have encouraged Grenada for several years to adopt a geotourism approach focused on its numerous unique qualities (though they constantly forget Heritgage) and the Pure Grenada was characterized as a geotourism rebranding campaign when Ogilvy introduced it in February of this year. National Geographic Society have defined geotourism as “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.” A great fit for Grenada.

Unfortunately, things had not gone smoothly back in February.

Symposium speakers Andy Dumaine and Todd Comen check out a bin of nutmeg husks, from which mace is made, at the Belmont Estate.

Jarman Price admitted, the new brand rolled out “in isolation,” with the usual inadequate community preparation. Partly because of that—rebrandings often get public push-back anyway—a storm of controversy arose. Many Grenadians objected, mistakenly assuming the new slogan was intended to replace Grenada’s long-standing identity as the “Spice Island,” a nod to its many nutmeg trees. After much politically hyped debate, PM Keith Mitchell himself had to intervene, yielding the camel-like compromise “Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean” – oh how we continue to show our ignorance!
Make of that what you will. The intent of Pure Grenada was to underscore what is considered the real reason to visit: The island is one of the last to offer a broad and authentic Caribbean travel experience. Grenada still has beauty, a benign climate, rich culture and heritage, good beaches, still-viable nature on land and in the sea, and relative freedom from intrusive mass tourism.

Can Grenada Pull It Off?

The question is whether our country can retain and build on that distinction. Like other islands, Grenada copes with numerous challenges—overfishing, sand mining, unemployment, irresponsible development, care-less attitute to heritage, limiting-unencompassing education. Take for example the terrible loss of our wave-swamped cemetery on our sister island of Carriacou – it has become an emblem for the Caribbean’s accelerated sea level rise. Certainly since the financial crisis, but truely even before the 1970′s, our government has basically been financially broke, and many of us Grenadians are therefore eager to grab at any economic opportunity, sustainable or not – with no care for the longer term stategies to protect our island and including our heritage for our youth (those who will become custodians in long after we’re gone).

Sockingly at the Symposium we were reminded that someone on Carriacou had chopped down about seven acres of mangroves to make room for a big new marina!  That environmental insult, which most certainly contributed to the demise of one of ancient cemeteries, was mentioned repeatedly at this symposium—a pimple of the face of Pure. In ignorance apologists often argue for a “balance between growth and conservation” in such cases. Sustainable marketing consultant Andy Dumaine grumbled when he heard that: “It’s not an either-or”. Other endangered cemeteries are Mt. Airy cemetery in St. Paul’s and the church yard cemetery of St. Paul’s Anglican Church (the graves are literally sliding down an embankment into a ravine).

Indeed, Dr. Angus Friday, our current ambassador to the United States and Mexico, encouragingly believes sustainability is economic opportunity. He sees Grenada as taking a global lead in renewable energy and conservation for small island nations. While diplomatically not mentioning those missing mangroves, he argued, “Our natural capital is principal in the bank. We need to weave this into our DNA”. This implies that Good businesses don’t invade principal.  Is Friday in the minority when he hopes that Grenada can develop in a way that disrupts the standard model of Caribbean tourism—“Become the Airbnb of responsible travel”.

Let us hope it can be done and the symposium itself seemed quite successful. (Presentations here.)
At a geotourism meeting the next day, it became clear that many of our boutique hotel owners that dominate the Grenada tourism market don’t want to see huge all-inclusive resorts or more big cruise ships. But tourism growth is so much more than these two areas.  At a rural exposition on another day, many of our local artisans and ‘entrepreneurs’ took the opportunity to show off wares unique to our island, keen to grow their businesses through ‘responsible tourism‘. They had set up their booths at Belmont Estate, which itself has become one of our well-known agritourism attractions in the Caribbean.

Local entrepreneur Modesty makes Grenadian-themed fashions and hopes to add employees.

And what about those spices? Grenada’s big three are nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon. One visitor  remembers landing at the Grenada airport long ago, entering the terminal, and immediately smelling these telltale scents. However the Symposium visitor detected no such pleasant odor when they arrived this time.  What an opportunity missed, and an other aspect of our heritage dies!  Research tells us that the brain’s wiring for memories and for smells are directly linked one another. Why not once again suffuse the airport arrival and departure halls with delicious fragrance?  Do that, and every time for years after, when we former visitors smell cinnamon on a roll or nutmeg in the eggnog, we’ll remember:
Ah, Grenada.

	Contibutor Jonathan Tourtellot of National Geographic Traveler
	CREST is a non-profit research instituteat Stanford University (Washington, DC) founded in 2003.

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Grenada ~ Pea Dove

Grenada ~ Pea Dove

By Ric Greaves, 1995

The Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellis) is a medium-sized New World tropical dove. It is endemic to the island of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Originally known as the Pea Dove or Well's Dove, it is the national bird of Grenada. It is considered to be one of the most critically endangered doves in the world.

For three years following 1883, John Grant Wells (of St. George’s) had been sending specimens of the birds of the Island of Grenada, West Indies, to ornithologist George N. Lawrence (Smithsonian Institution, New York) for identifications, from which resulted a 'Catalogue’[2] of ninety-two species of the birds of the island. Mr. Lawrence at that time stated,

"Mr. Wells enumerates thirty-nine species more than were given by Frederick Albion Ober (1849-1913) in his catologue of the birds of Grenada. He procured all the species obtained or seen previously in 1878 by Mr. Ober during his tour of the West Indies, and four Ober had not identified have been determined". 

Of most of the species Wells gave very full and interesting notes of their habits. He proved himself to be a most diligent collector and careful investigator, the result being, besides the greatly increased number of birds added to the fauna of Grenada, the discovery of three distinct species new to science and of eleven species not before noted from the Lesser Antilles.

Mr. Wells's very full and interesting biographical notes are often supplemented by technical remarks by Mr. Lawrence, including the description of one new species (Blacicus flavlventrls) and of the male of Engyptila wellsi.  Mr. Lawrence then described a fourth species (Margarops albiventrls),[3] making twelve species described by from collections made by Messrs. Ober and Wells in the Island of Grenada.

The first "Grenada Dove” here identified was caught by John Wells alive at Fontenoy, St. Georges, Grenada on 16 February 1884, it was a male with Iris of a pale buff colour.  

Other common names: Wells’s/Whistling/Mountain Dove, French: Colombe de Grenade German: Welltaube Spanish: Paloma Montaraz de Granada

Taxonomy: Engyptila wellsi Lawrence, 1884, Grenada, Lesser Antilles


Considered part of a superspecies: L. rufaxilla, L. plumbeiceps, L. pallida and L. battyi, and all five have been considered conspecific. Also related to L. verreauxi. Monotypic.

Note: it was incorrect to lump L.wellsi with L.rufaxilla (Blockstien & Hardy, 1989)

Distribution: Grenada, in S Lesser Antilles

Habitat: Island of Grenada

Species Threat: Critically Endangered

Description:
The sexes are said to be alike - The front is whitish, with a slight tinge of fawn color on the anterior portion, and is of a bluish cast on the posterior; the crown and occiput are dark brown; the hind neck is of a rather lighter brown; the back, wings, and upper tail-coverts are of a dull oilvaceous-green; the first outer tail-feather is brownish-black, narrowly tipped with white; the second is dark brown for two-thirds its length, terminating in blackish; all the other tail-feathers are dark umber brown above, are black underneath; the chin is white; the neck in front and the upper part of the breast are of a reddish fawn color; the middle and lower parts of the breast and the abdomen are creamy-white; the sides are of a light fulvous color; the under tail-coverts are white, tinged with fulvous; the quills have their outer webs of a clear warm brown; the inner webs and under wing-coverts are of a rather light cinnamon color; the bill is black; the tarsi and toes are bright carmine red. Length 10.25 inches; wing, 6.0o; tail, 4.0o; bill, .63; tarsus, 1.35.

This beautiful and endangered dove first appeared on the postage stamp Grenadines (G) Flora and fauna 7v set on the 04 February 1976.


Then on a special World Wildlife Fund set of Grenada postage stamps on the 10 January 1995.

______________
[1] Wells. John Grant. A List of the Birds of Grenada, West Indies. W.W.C.H. Wells, St. Andrew’s, 1886, p.12

[2] Lawrence, George N. Characters of a New Species of Pigeon of the Genus Engyptila, from the Island of Grenada, West Indies, The Auk, Vol. 1, No. 2, Apr 1884, pp. 180-181.

[3] Wells. John Grant., Lawrence, George N. (Ed.). A Catalogue of the Birds of Grenada, West Indies, with observations thereon. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus, 1886, 9: pp. 609-633.

[4] Lawrence, George N. Description of a New Species of Thrush from the Island of Grenada, West Indies. Ann. New York Acad. Sci., Vol. IV, 1886, pp. 23, 24.

[5] Devas, Raymund P. Birds of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (British West Indies): How to Identify Them, when and where to Look for Them, 1942, p.31

[6] Gov., Grenada. The Grenada Handbook and Directory. Advocate Company Ltd, 1946, p.292 

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Grenada Heritage: Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expense

GRENADA LEDGER OF ACCOUNTS OF PERSONAL AND ESTATE EXPENSES, 1852-1854

ABSTRACT The Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses is very useful for researchers interested in the study of capital expenditure of sections of the Grenadian population in the mid-nineteenth century. The Ledger gives an idea of prices, cost of living, monies paid in and out and the balance remaining. Additionally, the Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses reveals the consumerism and purchasing power of a portion of the Grenadian populace. As such, the Ledger of Accounts and Personal Expenses will prove especially useful for persons studying Grenada’s economic and social history. This document is listed on the Caribbean Memory Register: Grenada modeled on UNESCO's MOW. LOCATION OF DOCUMENT Name of Holding Entity: The National Library of Jamaica IDENTITY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE Description and inventory: There is only one volume Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses and it contains 164 pages. It includes the accounts of Revolution Hall Estate, Dougaldston Estate and Gouyave Estate. Each entry in the Ledger gives the date, nature/who/why of payment and the total expenditure further down. The top of the page, which is the title section, gives the name of the owner, attorney or overseer. Essentially, the Ledger is organised like any other account book. The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses enumerates the things purchased by individuals for their comfort and routine estate items. Personal items include silk stockings, sherry wine, lace and shirts. Estate items include nails, bricks, powder and cane hoes. Bibliographic details: The bibliographic details of the Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses are housed within the card catalogue at the Special Collections and Conservation Dept. of the National Library. The Ledger is filed under MS 129. Visual documentation if appropriate: Currently, there are no visual representations of the Grenada Ledger of Accounts. History of the document (Provenance): The history of the Ledger of Accounts and Personal Estate Expenses is presently unknown. However, the document held in trust for the Grenada National Archives and its people. JUSTIFICATION FOR SUBMISSION Influence The Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses is quite useful for person studying estate expenses. Agriculture was important to Grenada’s economy during the mid-nineteenth century. Estates were owned by the mainly white ruling class who exerted great influence over Grenada’s political and economic development. The main crops included sugar, coffee and spices such as pimento. The Ledger contains the personal expenses of these whites and the expenditure of their estates. A study of the Ledger would give insight into their lifestyle and plantation management. Time The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses spans 1852-1854 and covers a section of the colonial era of Grenada’s history. Additionally, the date coincides with the maturity of the Sugar Duties Equalisation Act which came into being in 1846. By 1854, the effects of the Sugar Duties Equalisation Act were felt all over the Caribbean and Grenada was no exception. As such, the Ledger would allow for a useful study of the cost of living and the profit/loss of the estates in Grenada during this period. Place The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses covers the island of Grenada. People The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses deals mostly with the white and wealthy persons of Grenada in the mid-nineteenth century. These persons were the ones who controlled the wealth and society of Grenada and as such were very influential. The Ledger reveals their purchasing habits and power. Subject and Theme Persons interested in the social, economic and political histories of Grenada will find the Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses useful. Additionally, those interested the evolution of consumerism and popular culture/taste will likewise utilise the Ledger. Form and Style The layout of the Ledger is useful for paleographers interested in comparing account styles throughout history and the world. LEGAL INFORMATION Document held in trust for the Grenada National Archives and its people. Owner of Documentary Heritage: National Library of Jamaica Name: National Library of Jamaica Address: 12 East Street, Kingston, Jamaica, W. I. Contact details: Tel: (876) 967-1526, 967-2516 Fax: (876) 922-5567 Email: nlj@infochan.com Accessibility The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses is available to members of the public for consultation, in particular, researchers and academics. Sadly there seems little chance of ever seeing this document online as there are no plans to protect this asset by digitising its contents and making it available to all electronically. Copyright Status Public Domain ASSESSMENT OF RISK The Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses is in good condition. The National Library of Jamaica are the current custodians of this document which is held in trust for the Grenada National Archives and its people. CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN The Special Collections and Conservation Dept. has undertaken the task of rebinding and de-acidifying the Ledger. Additionally, patrons are required to use gloves provided by the National Library when examining the Ledger.  DETAILS OF PERSON/ENTITY MAKING SUBMISSION Name: The National Library of Jamaica Contact details: 12 East Street, Kingston, Jamaica, W. I. Tel: (876) 967-1526, 967-2516 Fax: (876) 922-5567 Email: nlj@infochan.com FURTHER REFERENCES In 1989 a dealer, Charles Apfelbaum, made an aquisition of Grenada Plantation Records dating from 1737-1845 for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on behalf of the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. These documents are in the repository of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. Location Sc MG 383. Happily for the National Grenada Archives and the Grenadian People and Caribbeans world wide the entire collection of 517 images has now been digitized and is available online at Digitalcollections.nypl.org.

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Grenada Heritage: Our Plantation Estates - part 1

St John's Wood Church Memorials to Plantation Owners

In a parish church next to Lord’s Cricket Ground in north-west London (England), just to the north of Regent’s Park is the Church of St John’s Wood, built in 1808.

During the Middle Ages, St John’s Wood really was a wood, which took its name from the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem who at that time owned the land. There was a small settlement on the 'bourne' or river that flowed to its south, with a church dedicated to St Mary from about 1400. This became known as "St Mary on the Bourne" – later shortened to St Marylebone and from there London itself began to expand northwards from what became Westminster in the 17th century as far as the New Road – now known as Marylebone Road.

In the grounds of St John's Wood Church are four discreet memorial plaques that give little indication of the intriguing histories commemorated there.  One is to Jane Farquhar of Portland Place (died 1834), another is to Patrick Bartlet of Nottingham Place (died 1830), and his second wife, Anne (died 1844).  The clues come from the West Indian islands mentioned on them – Antigua and Grenada for Mrs Farquhar, and Cariacou, just off Grenada, for the Bartlets. 

The Marylebone and the plantation owners link
On these islands were the plantations that provided the funds for a comfortable life in the newly developed area Marylebone, that attracted prosperous land owners at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  In the 1770s it was usual that younger members of the family often managed overseas properties, while the head of the family remained in Britain. Although by 1775 thirty percent of plantation owners were absentee landlords, and by 1830 this rose to 80%.  

Farquar memorial

The Farquhars - Jane Farquhar was the wife of Robert Farquhar of Renfrew, who had inherited his Antiguan and Grenadian estates after the death of his half-brother, John Rae (afterwards Harvey), who had himself acquired them from John Harvey (1721–79), after Harvey’s nephew, Charles, was drowned in Grenada. Harvey had made a handsome fortune in the West Indies, owning the plantations of Mornefendue, the Plain and Chambord both in St Patrick’s parish at the north end of the island.  Later Farquhar’s daughter, Eliza, married Michael Shaw Stewart, 6th baronet.

Beau Sejour on Carriacou

Carriacou - the tiny island 20 miles north-east of Granada, measuring just 5 miles from north to south, and an area of 13 square miles with its only town called Hillsborough – during the eighteenth century its population was concentrated on the plantations.  Carriacou remained uncolonised by Europeans, until 1650, when a French company established a small settlement.  The French had to cede it, with Grenada, to the British after the 7 Years War, in 1763, but recaptured it, in 1779, during the American War of Independence; there were only 90 British soldiers to guard it against 5,000 French invaders. However, it was returned to Britain after the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, and various gun batteries were built round the coast. French plantation owners, who had remained, were replaced by more English and Scottish settlers, and the larger estates expanded at the expense of smaller neighbours. By the 1790s, there were 46 estates ranging in size from 10 acres to 698 acres, but the important proprietors had interests in several plantations.

Patrick Bartlet memorial

The Bartlets - Alexander Bartlet and George Campbell had formed a company that linked its offices in Grenada, Tobago and the Grenadines with London, and Alexander’s brother, James, was recruited to facilitate trade by persuading all the planters to consign their crops of cotton, cocoa, indigo and sugar to the company.  Gradually, planters became indebted to Glasgow business houses, which led to foreclosures, and a general decline of planter aristocracy.  Presumably, Patrick Bartlet (1731 Banff–1830) was another brother, and must have lived on the island, probably, on the 280 acre Beauséjour sugar plantation (or 'Nice Stay') in Saint George's, which belonged to him, for, in 1792, he was recommended to fill a vacancy in the Council of Grenada, and was described as a principal inhabitant and proprietor.

Patrick Bartlet’s slaves in the various censuses were, also, on Belair, Belvedere and Petit Covenage Estates.  There was about one slave to every 2.35 acres, which gives a probable slave population of 3,153 and it is unlikely the white population exceeded 400.  In the early 1790s, the Grenada Assembly passed an ordinance requiring there to be one white man to every 50 slaves.

The Will of Patrick Bartlet of [Nottingham Place] St Marylebone proved 17/08/1830. In his will he acknowledged his marriage settlement with his 'present wife' Anne, and charged the annuity of £500 p.a. to her on his estates Sinclair, Beausejour and Belair on Carriacou in the government of Grenada. He also granted an annuity of £50 each to his 'natural' sons Alexander, Patrick and John. He appointed as trustees Alexander George Milne the younger and William Bartlet, and left the produce of the estates for life, subject to the annuities, to Dorothea Milne, wife of Patrick Bartlet's nephew Alexander George Milne the elder. He aslo made a number of financial bequests to family including in a codicil an annuity of £100 p.a. to Mrs Mary Bartlet of Banff, the widow of his brother James.

Isabella Bartlet memorial

Patrick’s first wife, Isabella, died in 1821, and is also commemorated in St John's Wood church. His second wife, Anne, (whom he married in 1824 at Warnford Surrey when she was about 47, and he was 74, or so), had long standing connections with the West Indies, as she was the  daughter of Samuel Span of Bristol, Master of the Society of Merchant Adventurers, and a ship owner.  Samuel, with his brother, had arrived on Union Isle (near St Vincent in the West Indies), in 1763, with 165 slaves and soon controlled the whole island, and, also, had property on Carriacou.

Anne Bartlet memorial

 

Slave censuses were taken regularly by the owners noting names, ages, and distinguishing marks – presumably for identification if a slave tried to escape, - plus and annual return of decreases in numbers due to deaths, and increases due to births. [These can be found in the National Archives].

Emancipation - Though the slave trade in the Caribbean was outlawed in 1807,  slavery as an institution, was not fully abolished there until 1833.  'Compensation' was then paid, but to owners not to slaves, and under the Emancipation Act the slave compensation commission allocated 40,000 separate awards, costing £20 million - this was 40% of the total government’s annual expenditure.  Only slaves under 6 years old were immediately freed, for rational reasons the rest were designated 'apprentices' and finally released in 1840.  After the emancipation of slaves and with sugar-taxes, prosperity on the islands rapidly declined - it was impossible with free labour to compete with sugar and cotton produced by slave-work-forces of Cuba and the Unites States, added to this European beet-sugar took over as a cheaper commodity.  But Mrs Farquhar and Patrick Bartlet did not live to see any of this outcome, and were buried in England at St John’s Wood, then the chapel for St Marylebone parish church, positioned as the focal point at the top of a country lane running north from the New [Marylebone] Road.

---

References

Oliver, Vere Lanford, "Caribbeana" Vol 3, p.131 & 178, 1914.
T71/328 pp. 29-40; PROB 11/1774/307.
Times 09/03/1839 p. 7.; National Probate Calendar 1875.

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What is the HAR Programme?

What is the HAR Programme? Latest Findings Find Out What's at Risk Case Studies Documents Heritage at Risk Buildings Archaeology Landscapes Conservation Areas

What is the Heritage at Risk Programme? The Heritage at Risk Programme (HAR) was launched in 2008, as a way of understanding the overall state of Grenada's historic sites. In particular, the programme identifies those sites that are most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development. Grenada National Library and Archives, building at risk added to the 2004 Heritage at Risk Register

The important process of systemically checking the condition of our heritage goes back more than two decades with the birth of the the Buildings at Risk survey. The method has since been adapted to serve other types of historic artifacts and places (heritage assets) from archaeological sites and conservation areas to registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, and protected shipwrecks. The end result is a dynamic picture of the health of the country's heritage. Every year Grenada Heritage updates the Heritage at Risk Register, which is a list of those sites most at risk of being lost, and most in need of safeguarding for the future. Why Is It important? People regularly say how much the historic character of where they live, work and play makes a contribution to their lives. As public and private finance remains scarce, it is essential that everyone continues to focus on those heritage assets that are at greatest risk and that offer the best opportunities for positively managed change. At risk evidence tells communities about the condition of their local neighbourhood; it encourages them to become actively involved in restoring what is precious to them; and it reassures them that any public funding goes to the most needy and urgent cases. The benefits of collecting data on places at risk will become even more important as public spending continues to diminish. Buildings at Risk has proved that the Register works - over half of Grenada's grade I and II* buildings and structural scheduled monuments at risk on the 1999 Register have since had their future secured. Regularly reviewing and updating our assessments of heritage assets allows us to pinpoint trends and explore why change is happening and how we can bring about more positive change in the future. What Does the Programme Include? Since 2008 Grenada Heritage has built up an understanding of the condition and management of historic documents and manuscripts, artifacts, buildings, landscapes and archaeological sites. In 2011 we published findings on the Industrial Heritage at Risk project which examined the state of Grenada's industrial heritage and the factors that put these sites at risk. As well as carrying out surveys on condition and management, Grenada Heritage also does social and economic research to understand the value of heritage. Share this page Email a friend I want to... Search the Register Search the Heritage at Risk case studies Find out about our Heritage at Risk strategy Find out how to get involved What is Heritage at Risk? Watch our videos on Heritage at Risk. Watch the videos

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Heritage At Risk - Grenada Plantation Ledger Found

Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses 1852 to 1854 found!

 

Just recently (in 2000) Kenneth E Ingram unearthed and catalogued  some Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses (1852-54).

There is only one volume yet it contains 164 pages. It includes the accounts of Revolution Hall Estate (p.79), Dougaldston Estate (p.94) and Gouyave Estate (p.95). Each entry in the Ledger gives the date, nature/who/why of payment and the total expenditure further down. The top of the page, which is the title section, gives the name of the owner, attorney or overseer. Essentially, the Ledger is organised like any other account book.

The Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses enumerates the things purchased by individuals for their comfort and routine estate items. Personal items include silk stockings, sherry wine, lace and shirts. Estate items include nails, bricks, powder and cane hoes.

The date coincides with the maturity of the Sugar Duties Equalisation Act which came into being in 1846. By 1854, the effects of the Sugar Duties Equalisation Act were felt all over the Caribbean and Grenada was no exception. As such, the Ledger would allow for a useful study of the cost of living and the profit/loss of the estates in Grenada during this period.

The Ledger gives an idea of prices, cost of living, monies paid in and out and the balance remaining. Additionally, the Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses reveals the consumerism and purchasing power of a portion of the Grenadian populace. As such, the Ledger of Accounts and Personal Expenses will prove especially useful for persons studying Grenada’s economic and social history.

This Ledger of Accounts is very useful for those particularly interested in the study of capital expenditure of sections of the Grenadian population in the mid-nineteenth century. It gives an idea of prices, cost of living, monies paid in and out and the balance remaining. Additionally, the Grenada Ledger of Accounts reveals the consumerism and purchasing power of a portion of the Grenadian populace. As such, the Ledger of Accounts and Personal Expenses will prove especially useful for persons studying Grenada’s economic and social history. Altogether it gives a snapshot of one tiny aspect of three Grenadian Plantation Estates.

The ledger are public domain and housed within the card catalogue and held by the custodians under the Special Collections and Conservation Dept. of the National Library. The Ledger is filed under MS 129.

Update: Feb 2010
In Feb 2010 the National Library of Jamaica (formerly the West India Reference Library) has undertaken to compile a register of the little known but significant heritage documents of the Caribbean. This “Caribbean Memory Register” is aimed at complementing UNESCOs Memory of the World (MOW) Initiatives and to create a source of potential nominations to the UNESCO MOW Regional Register for Latin America and the Caribbean.  Sadly the newly discovered entry of a Grenada Ledger of Accounts of Personal and Estate Expenses covering 1852 to 1854 was not placed on the UNESCO MOW list.

1. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1538&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
2. nljins@cwjamaica.com

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