In 1834 the owning of one person by another was abolished in Britain and its overseas territories. The owners of enslaved people were paid compensation by the British government to a total of £20 million (worth something like £300 billion today). The debt incurred was finally paid off in 2015.
In an effort to “Dig Deeper, Look Closer and Think Bigger” (Black History Month headline, 2020), staff at Northumberland Archives have researched some of the slave owners that claimed compensation. They have used the University College London database, created from documents at the National Archives, as a starting point to understanding the links between individuals in Northumberland, the plantations they owned and the enslaved people who worked on them.
On 25th July 1839 a counterclaim for compensation was made by the Cooke family, Edward Cooke et al of Bywell Vicarage, St. Peter, Northumberland, and Anthony Nichol, possibly his brother-in-law, a merchant from Newcastle. Cooke’s counterclaim related to five plantation estates on the island of Tortola, the largest island of what is now known as the British Virgin Islands. The plantations in question had previously been owned by Richard Hetherington, former President of the Tortola, who had died in 1821. The estates were subject to a number of claims and counterclaims. The compensation amount exceeded £6,000 and was in relation to 395 enslaved people. The counterclaim made by Rev. Edward Cooke was unsuccessful, with the estates ultimately being settled in favour of Anthony William Maillard, a barrister resident on the island and grandson-in-law of the deceased.
Life in the British Virgin Islands
The Islands came under British control in the eighteenth century, originally being settled by the Dutch. Under British control the economy became a plantation-based one, predominately harvesting sugar. A House of Commons Select Committee of 1773 heard testimony from residents of Tortola that conditions had harshened over recent years. Amongst the enslaved population, land was scarce, malnutrition was rife and punishment was severe. Many enslaved people were whipped as it did not prevent the inflicted from working afterwards. In 1774 legislation was passed to define acceptable punishments towards those enslaved. Whilst it did not improve the life of many immediately, it did mark a point when things began to change.
Quakers, who began to settle on the Islands in the 18th century, were fundamentally opposed to slavery and freed a number of those enslaved. Quaker Samuel Nottingham gave freedom to 25 people with 50 acres of land in Long Look, Tortola, he encouraged a community to work together cultivating the land for the common good. By 1823 it was reported that the community had grown to 43, the residents were debt free, regular church attendees and had not appeared in front of a magistrate. Methodists were next to begin populating the Islands, those who had been manumitted (legally freed) were welcomed into the church, this in itself encouraged better treatment of people formerly enslaved. Through the church, schooling was provided, resulting in the white plantation owners beginning to see former slaves as ‘human beings deserving of humane treatment’.
In 1798 the Amelioration Act was passed in the Leeward Islands (a name given to a group of islands in the north east Caribbean Sea which includes the British Virgin Islands), this outlawed cruel and unusual punishments as well as setting out minimum standards for feeding and educating the enslaved population. The passing of the 1807 Slave Trade Act in Britain discontinued trade, while the enslaved were not given freedom, it gave plantation owners an economic incentive to treat the enslaved population better as they could only be replaced through birth (a child born to an enslaved mother was enslaved from birth) or through illegal trade. It is in the backdrop of these slow and minor ‘improvements’ that the trial of Arthur William Hodge takes place.
In 1811 Hodge became the only British man hung for murder of an enslaved person. As President of the Virgin Islands, Richard Hetherington was also President of the Court. The jury listened to witnesses detail the actions and punishments that had been carried out under Hodge’s command, they were gruesome and abhorrent. The charge of murder was in relation to a man named Prosper who had been subject to an hour-long cart-whipping. Hodge did not carry out the punishment, but he was culpable; an unknown enslaved person would not be held accountable for following the direction of their owner. Prosper was then tied to a tree with his hands behind his back, the whip was shortened (referred to as ‘close quarters’, to cause greater injury with less noise) and again whipped in the presence of Hodge until he fainted. A witness described “his head hanging down backwards, and [he was] no longer able to bawl”. The actions were repeated the following day.
Prosper died a fortnight later, most likely due to the injuries he had sustained. The reason for the beating? Prosper had been told to pay 6 shillings for a mango that had fallen from a tree, or be flogged. Hodge was tried for murder as his actions had exceeded what was considered acceptable or moderate chastisement, he showed malice and cruelty in his actions. Ill-treatment towards others enslaved by Hodge were also detailed in the adjournment and trial, including women and children, and one young girl believed to have been fathered by Hodge. Witnesses for the prosecution and defense were male and female, white and free individuals ‘of colour’. Hodge protested his innocence against the charge of murder. Hetherington told the jury that “if murder has been proved – whether on a white persons or on a black persons, the crime is equally the same with God and the law”. The jury found Hodge guilty, the majority of the jury recommended mercy. A sentence of hanging was passed a few days later by the Chief Justice.
There was also a history of revolts on the Islands. In 1790 an uprising on estates owned by Isaac Pickering began as it was believed that freedom to the enslaved had been granted in England, but the slave-owners were withholding this information to keep the population captive. Similar revolts occurred on a number of plantations in the 1820s and 1830s. After the slave trade was abolished in 1807 the Royal Navy patrolled the waters to free cargoes of people brought from Africa. From 1808, it was estimated that about 2,000 Africans were taken to Tortola in this way. After serving a 14-year ‘apprenticeship’ they were free. From 1822 onwards free Africans working in the Islands alongside the existing enslaved population caused jealousy and resentment. The most significant uprising occurred in 1831 when there was a plot to kill white males on the islands and escape to Haiti (Haiti was the only free black republic in the world at the time). Although not particularly well organised, military assistance from the neighbouring island of St. Thomas was required. The alleged plotters were executed.
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833, with abolition taking place August the following year; it continues to be marked with a 3-day ‘Festivals Holiday’ public holiday each year. Emancipation freed almost 6,000 enslaved; although in reality it was ‘phased out’ with many entering a period of forced apprenticeship with their owners. Many of the former enslaved population continued working on the same plantations in return for a small wage, with expenses of housing, clothing and medicine which had previously been paid by the owner.
Quaker Joseph John Gurney wrote that the plantation owners of Tortola were “decidedly saving money by the substitution of free labour on moderate wages, for the deadweight of slavery”. Hurricanes and drought impacted the Islands leading to economic decline, increased taxation and outbreaks of cholera and smallpox. Although some managed to amass savings, many former slaves were disenchanted that freedom did not appear to bring financial freedom or benefits. An insurrection in 1853 led to the white population fleeing the Islands; many former plantation owners did not return to their estates. By 1893 Tortola had two white people living on the Island, the deputy Governor and a doctor; the population was almost exclusively derived from those who had been enslaved.
Part two to follow……