Day 10. A change of fortune

I imagine Henry Beckles Gall in his business premises on the High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados. It is 1^st January 1837 and he has bought a journal to record all his business transactions. He has come to the conclusion that his business records need to be modernise and he has been told that the keeping of a journal is at the heart of modern bookkeeping.

The book is 100 pages of lined paper with two columns printed at the right edge of each page. It has come all the way from London.

Henry would not have differentiated between his business and his private life, though I expect Sarah kept the household accounts. Since the abolition of slavery she had to pay the household servants and make sure that the money she gave to the housekeeper was only spent on the items necessary for the household. Sarah was ever fearful that after the period of apprenticeship ended it would be difficult to retain the household staff.

Henry began his first entry, writing across the page and the two columns:

“Journal of Henry Beckles Gall, merchant of Bridgetown in the island of Barbadoes, in the yeare of our Lord 1837.”

“In the last yeare, we have been blessed with the birth of my third son, Arthur Beckles Gall. May he grow strong and succeed me in all that I do.”

“My worth is as follows:

Item. Real property: my lease on my merchants premises in Hight Street. My one sixth share in the house that belonged to my aunt Margaret Christian Gall.

Item. Goods in my merchant’s store - £30.  Goods ordered from England £100.

Item. Horse and buggy - £20

Item. One sixth share in slave compensation, Elizabeth Gall’s estate of £1386 10s 9d

Item. One half share of slave owned with my brother William Gall of £19 8s  4d

Item. Two slaves of my own £7 15s  4d and £38 16s 9d.”

Henry was starting the year feeling prosperous and joyful that his wife had produced another heir - baptised with the Beckles name. All his children were to survive him.

And so it seemed that the pattern of an expanding family, a steadily growing merchant’s business and occasional inheritence was the way Henry’s life was plotted. In May 1839 his brother died and he inherited three quarters of the estate - at least Williams sixth share of Elizabeth’s compensation claim and what was left of his share of the sale of the Gall plantation. Henry’s increasing wealth was being noticed. In particular by an elder cousin, John Alleyne Beckles whose position in Barbadian society was well established. And so it was that Henry was invited to the first meeting of the Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society on 20^th October 1840 and he became one of the founding Directors of the Society, which was to have a beneficial affect on the financial lives of many Barbadians for over the next one hundred and fifty years.

Henry was still carrying out his own business which had moved into provisions. He advertised canned foods such as “Fresh Salmon”,  mock turtle soup and oxtail soup luxury items not otherwise available on the island. He had a variety of jams and preserves. Also Anchovies, olives, capers and fish sauce. He had a few superior Havannah Cigars and 250 dozen bottles of Ale and Beer which he was selling cheap. 

Then on 2^nd September 1841 John Alleyne Beckles died in England. This led to a vacancy as Secretary of the Mutual. Up to that time the position had been filled without renumeration but the Directors decided that forthwith it should be offered subject to a regular payment determined by the Directors. Perhaps the luxury goods on offer by H.B.Gall & Co. had not proven a success but Henry assumed the position of Secretary and the status of an employee of the Society. He never again claimed to be a merchant or planter.

The business of the Mutual flourished under Henry and it was decided that an Actuary should be appointed. The Society failed to attract a qualified person to come to Barbados and so Henry was asked to relinquish his position as Secretary and so became the first actuary of the life assurance society. His portrait hung in the Boardroom of the Society until the business was merged in 1990.

Henry was rightly proud of his achievements on behalf of the Society. After twenty years he reported:

“At the commencement of this Institution it was freely predicted by the Managers and Actuaries of Life Assurance Offices in England that we had no chance of existing, as we could no bear the test of time - that in ten or fifteen years we should discover our error. The reasons for the opinions were - firstly, that we valued life much too high for the West Indies, and consequently our table of premiums was too low; secondly, from so small a community we could not hope to obtain as many assurers as to make a safe average; and thirdly, from the severe epidemics to which we are exposed, especially yellow fever, we would periodically have so large a mortality that our funds would not be able to bear the run which would be made on them.”

His portrait shows a untanned white male with a full head of slicked back hair. Darkish hair not black. He has a square face and strong chin and mutton chop beard. Wide mouth with full lips. His eyes are normally set apart with not too heavy eyebrows. Quite broad shouldered. Thick neck. Well groomed.

He is well dressed for his portrait - probably his normal business garb. He appears to be wearing a silk waistcoat. He wears a winged collared shirt with a neckerchief carefully tied.

Day 11 - Mausoleum