Day 12. Early days in Demerara
I had known for some time that my great great grandfather was Henry Beckles Gall and that he had lived in Barbados. An early history of the Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society stated that he was an Englishman. I therefore directed my research at finding his birth in England. Then in 2006 I found a letter written by Barbadian historian Eustace Shilstone. The letter, held at the Shilstone Library at the Barbados museum stated that Henry had been born in Demerara. This was the first time I had ever heard of any family connection in South America. Let alone that his father had also been called Henry Beckles Gall - the first Henry Beckles Gall.
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The first Henry Beckles Gall splashed his stockings as he stepped out of his shop in Stabroek, Demerara straight into a puddle left by a short midday rain shower. He cursed out loud at the Dutch road makers for their shoddy workmanship. The Dutch were proud enough, he thought, that they had introduced the 'grid' system in the planning of Stabroek, the capital. They were happy to point out that they were great city builders and it was they who had first settled New York. They failed to mention that they had not paved the streets of New York or provided paved sidewalks for pedestrians.
It was late May, 1804 and the colony was back in British hands. Henry wanted to get back home to say goodnight to the little Henry Beckles Gall in his cot. He walked beside the canal path which served as a road. He felt the relief of the shade on his back of the Seman trees which lined the canal. He saw the brilliant scarlet-flowered Flamboyant at the corner of the road where his house was; he would soon be home. The canals, or trenches, were fed by the Lamaha Creek, to be emptied into the muddy Demerara River by way of kokers to control the flow. Many of these canals were mosquito-breeding areas and Henry ensured that mosquito nets were slung over the family’s beds. Little did he suspect that while they were necessary for protection from night-flying insects and moths they also protected his family from the diseases that the insects brought. The medical books he had read suggested that the house should be closed up at night to protect against night time miasmas.
Night falls in the tropics with a suddenness bereft of twilight, the still air is invaded by various sounds of insect and amphibian night-life. In town, perhaps the earliest were the frogs whose size and volume varied from the deep-throated croak of large toads (or bull-frogs), to the shrill whistle of tiny tree-frogs. The latter would surprise one if it had found its way into an indoor hanging fern basket. Mosquitoes had their invidious shrill, almost piercing, buzz; but moths came silently, as did the seasonal 'hard-backs' until they landed with a tiny 'plop' on the lighted dinner table.
The first Henry Beckles Gall had been born in Barbados, of an old Barbadian family that could trace its times on the island to the seventeenth century. He would happily regale anyone willing to listen with his views on how the old Barbadian ways were superior to any others found in His majesty’s colonies. He was more circumspect concerning the circumstances in which he had left the island and these were never discussed outside the family.
After dinner, Henry mused on his position. He had escaped and island in economic disaray, neglected plantations and little trade following the War of the American Revolution (1776-83) and the subsequent post-war restrictions imposed on trade with North America. The opportunities in Demerara had been very attractive to a young man and the offer of a partnership with an established Barbadian merchant to open up a mercantile business in Demerara could hardly be refused. His sister Polly had married Park Benjamin, an American sea captain and merchant. They had settled on a plantation on the Essequibo River. Henry took his new wife to Demerara to start a new life.
The regrets had started quickly. Their first child died before his first birthday. Henry was one of the few Englishmen in the town trying to break the existing Dutch mercantile monopoly. Customers were slow to pay their accounts. Henry Beckles felt that his family continued to be fated to hard times and misfortune. And the continued Dutch presence was a continuing annoyance. Henry was very pleased when his sister Elizabeth agreed to join him in Demerara as a companion for his wife.
Although many younger sons of Barbadian planters had been attracted by the many opportunities for land of their own along the Demerara River and its many tributaries, their presence was not noticeable in the town. They were effectively trapped on the land and seldom made the journey into town, and then only on essential business for their plantation. There was little English society in the town for the men let alone their womenfolk. No schools for the children. No future opportunities for his children.
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