The History Forum

By, Akeem Breedy-Kellman, FOUN 1101 Caribbean Civilisation student Rubina Scantlebury, is my Barbadian aunt; the “fourth” daughter of my grandmother. Auntie Rubina was born in 1952. At the tender age of six years, her parents departed Barbados, to seek job opportunities in England. For another five years, she attended to her younger siblings in Barbados, with other close relatives. At the age of 11 years, her parents, Elma Bayley and Lambert Bayley sent a letter, telling her to come to England with her siblings. At such an age, my aunt was ecstatic about going to England, yet, her only expectation was to meet her parents. All she could do is place the nursery stories such as “Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son” and the many pictures against the imaginary setting of England. The teachers at the St. Stephen’s School where she attended taught her the traditions of England, but had never been there. Auntie Rubina and her younger sisters were assisted by a flight attendant, from one airport i...

Codd’s House Site By, Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History and Philosophy, Cave Hill Campus, UWI The parking area immediately behind the Nidhe Israel synagogue and opposite Police Headquarters is the location of a once prominent building in Bridgetown and the now vacant space tells the story of heritage lost in the city. Known as the site of Codd’s House, owned by William Codd, was leased to the Legislature and the Courts as the site for the New Town Hall. Parliament met there between 1837 and 1848. The termination of the Apprenticeship System in May, 1838 was signed in this location, finally freeing the apprenticed population, which was formerly enslaved – granting full emancipation. In 1840, Bridgetown became the 12 th constituency by statute, which was brought into effect at Codd’s House, paving the way for the election of the first non-white Barbadian to the House of Assembly for the City of Bridgetown, Rt. Hon. Samuel Jackman Prescod. Codd’s House was eventually pres...

By, Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History and Philosophy, Cave Hill Campus, UWI Joseph Rachell (1716-66) has been regarded as the first black businessman in Barbados -- although it can be argued that many enslaved and free black men and women had to be enterprising in slave society in order to secure their own survival -- but Joseph Rachell certainly stands out as an enigma of his time. He was baptized at St. Michael’s at the age of 10 years and was described as a “free nego boy.” He began trading around 1740. He owned a small fleet of fishing boats and several properties in Bridgetown. He was a member of St. Michael’s Church, but was buried in the Old Churchyard which is now St. Mary’s. Joseph Rachell was also a generous supporter of the black community in 18 th century Bridgetown. He purchased a plot of land in Fontabelle (now the location of the Barbados Investment Development Corporation Small Business Centre) where the urban enslaved and free coloured populations co...

EARLY STALWARTS IN NURSING CARE IN BARBADOS By, Sylvan Spooner NURSE THELMA HAMBLIN Born in 1915, Thelma Hamblin was educated at the St. Michael Girls School. After completing her exams, she joined the staff at the Barbados General Hospital on April 1st 1936. Hers was no foolhardy decision, although a few days later she was ‘shocked’ and her resolved tested when she caught glimpse of a cadaver for the first time in that hospital’s mortuary. [1] Shocked, but unperturbed, she continued on her path of care and service. Thelma had found her calling in caring. Nurse Hamblin In 1963, well into her career, she travelled to London’s Royal College for a ward sister’s course and visited numerous hospitals. While in London, she visited the 750-bed Aldershey Children’s Hospital at Liverpool and gained important insights into child care. Subsequent to her return home, she sought to implement many of those best practices she observed while in England. Having spent the first 1...

SELECT MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENTS IN BARBADOS TO 1970 By Sylvan Spooner In the light of the plethora of modern treatment modalities available for the care of the  mentally ill or persons seeking psychiatric care, it is nonetheless necessary to highlight some of treatments that were utilized locally before the advent of modern antipsychotics.   Example of a 1950s era ECT machine One early and controversial treatment for the mentally ill was the Prefrontal Leucotomy. Performed on disruptive and aggressive patients, it involved the severing of nerves associated with the frontal lobe of the brain. Unfortunately, in the few local cases in which it was performed, this treatment often made patients regress to a child like docility from which they never recovered. [1] Its risks outweighed its benefits and its practice was brief. Other interventions were less invasive and one such treatment (if it could be so termed) was known as work therapy. Through this, patients...

A Graduate of Cultural Studies, Angela Trotman, shares some reflections on last week's Humanities Festival 2015 panel discussion on Memory and Barbadian Migrants in Panama and the need to honour this connection with explorations in the Humanities: To make an allegorical argument: As academics, we have taken lunches to Panama on several occasions, just like Biblical David. David, however, realized that lunch was not enough.  He recognized that while it was sustaining and strengthening and nourishing it was not enough.  He decided to bring his gutterperk and rockstone .  In making that decision he turned the tide, Goliath fell! While the words historians use to explore this connection are vital and necessary, we should not leave our weapons behind: artists will make the difference; the singer will sing, the dramatist will perform, the poet will break the heart, the dancers will reenact and bring back memories of a connection in which so many migrants toiled and ...

MANJAK MINING IN BARBADOS By, Sylvan Spooner In light of the current global dependence on fossil fuel, this article looks briefly at one segment of this island’s history of fossil fuel exploration as it examines, in brief, the history of manjak exploration on the island from 1894 to 1939. Profiled in 1657 by Richard Ligon as ‘hard and black as pitch’ [1] and by Sir Hans Slone in 1707 as ‘a sort of pit coal, [2] this naturally occurring hydrocarbon has been referred to by numerous names, including: Munjak, Mountjack, Barbados Tar or simply as Barbados manjak. Found deep within slopes along the Scotland District which comprises an estimated 14% of the island’s land mass, some manjak mines reached depths of between 30 to a referenced maximum of 150 ft. Mining at such depths was often a treacherous affair even though the records indicate that they were no major mining incidents on the island. Barbados Manjack Two of the island’s early mine operators were Mr. R.H Emtage...

Thelma Vaughan: Stepping in Front By Sylvan Spooner Although the wife of Barbados Attorney General, Editor of the Barbados Reporter and Minister without portfolio Hilton Vaughn, Thelma Vaughn distinguished herself and carved a niche for herself beyond the shadow of her politically illustrious husband. After leaving school, Vaughan commenced her teaching career at St. Paul’s Girl’s school. She soon resigned from the profession and shortly after joined the Barbados Welfare Limited. In 1944, she went to Jamaica where she became involved in the second social welfare course organized by Professor T.S. Simey who at that time was Social Welfare Officer of the Colonial Development and Welfare Organization. [1] Upon her return to the island, Vaughan worked mainly in the parish of St. Andrew but gave her time freely to similar welfare committees in other parishes throughout the island with special emphasis for day care services for children. In 1946, just two years after leaving the ...