Day 18. Life on the plantation

I have seen Elizabeth Gall’s slave return for 1817 which lists the ages and role of each slave. In the house 11 year old William was the butler, Philly was housekeeper, Sally the cook and Nelly the laundress. They were all part of William Gall’s life as he learnt to run his great aunt’s plantation.

___________________________________________________________________ version 2

William pushed open the jalousie shutters and below him were the green swards of the sugar plants. At the boundaries of the fields  there were banana trees with their green fingers pointing up to the sky. The fields stretched out to the sparkling blue sea and its encircling horizon. He felt trapped on the estate, far from the bustling town where his brother lived. William knew nothing of the ways of plantation owners and only the ways of domestic slaves in Demerara. There was a great deal for him to learn about plantation life. He was a boy, not yet a young man, with no background in the management of men, animals or cultivation. He had been told that there were 24 male slaves and 48 female slaves on the estate. He did not know how they were divided into gangs or their different roles.

❖❖❖❖

Aunt Elizabeth had made her intentions for the future of the estate clear in her Will made in 1813. She wished to liquidate the estate and make a number of bequests. 

“… I give the remaining full share thereof to the children of my nephew Henry Beckles to be equally divided, share and share alike, provided that the shares of the said children of my nephew shall be held by my said trustee I trust for them until they respectively attain the age of twenty one years and pay to them as they respectively attain such age  of twenty one years and not sooner interest in the meantime to be applied to their maintenance and education and if any or either of them die under such age their share or shares of such as shall die to go to their survivor or survivors equally.” 

When Elizabeth made her will the times in which Barbadians were living were harsh and uncertain; with wars in Europe and with the emerging United States. These were having a profound effect on the economy of Barbados and the economics of the sugar estates. She thought of leaving Barbados, but her wealth was entirely bound to the island and unrealisable. If she left, she would leave in poverty yet she could hardly afford to stay. And yet on paper she appeared to be a wealthy woman. Her last hope was that William would make her estates a profitable concern once again.

❖❖❖❖

William was still more of a boy than a young man. He had a lot to learn about the organisation of slave labour and how to use the gang leaders to get the most out of their workers. Such an organization was based on more than a hundred years of practical experience and was written down in the eighteenth century in the Planters' Guides. His relative Robert Reece wrote one of the more enlightened guides Hints to Young Barbados Planters. This was not published until 1857, but I like to think that Robert might have been William’s mentor and used his young cousin’s experiences to inform his book.

William shared the long hours of labour of his slaves. From first light to sundown. As soon as the sun rose everything around the plantation house came into motion. The field workers moved out to the fields; the cattle were driven out to the pasture; the pigs were stirred from their slumber by some of the elder children and the chickens were let out of their hutches and the eggs collected. The old slave women prepared food for the youngsters who seemed to be forever eating. 

William was reliant on his housekeeper’s advice and that of his head driver. The one, in the running of the household and the other, in the running of the land. Perhaps they encouraged him to set aside more ground for his slaves to plant potatoes, yams and plantains in vegetable plots, provided that they supplied the needs of the house. This system would work to the advantage of both parties since anything grown in excess of their joint needs could be taken into Bridgetown and sold in the market. 

John knocked on the kitchen door at first light each day and was shown to his master’s office by Willie, the “butler”. John had the bearing of a man used to the command of others but he was there to take the commands of his master. At first William had relied on him to state what needed to be done and then just consented. But as his experience grew and he learnt the capabilities of each of the individual slaves he would name who was to do what on that day.

Perhaps from time to time, Robert Reece came round to see how William was doing and to offer him some advice.

“You know John is a Creole, a man born in Barbados.”

“Yes, you have told me so.”

“Many planters believe that Creoles make the best drivers. They are less likely to be cruel and more likely to use their power wisely.”

John had been born on the estate thirty five years before. Aunt Elizabeth described him as of a sound and hardy constitution, sober, reliable, and of good character, old enough to command respect, clean in person and apparel, experienced in field work, and able to enlist the good will of the Africans to get results. He was civil and patient in front of his master, and mild in his methods of punishment. Robert added: 

“He is respectful to white people, and able to discipline slaves who make nuisances of themselves by conversation or puerile conduct.”

“What do you make of Thompson?” William asked. He was learning about the different classes of slaves under his ownership. 

“Thompson has been the head cattle and mule man for quite a while.  Miss Gall relied upon him to be responsible for the live stock, for transporting the canes from the fields to the neighbouring estate’s mill, and for carting the crop to the warehouses and wharves. You would be wise to keep him on these duties lest he neglect the stock.”

Thompson kept the steers and mules in good order and selected the animals best fitted for field, tread mill, and road work. He regulated the system of relays and periods of rest. He understood all about animal foods, diseases and wounds. William was wise enough not to draft Thompson for other work. 

William had also inherited a number of mulattoes - men of mixed race who had mostly been born on other estates. They had been encouraged by Elizabeth to learn a trade. They included carpenters, coopers, masons, coppersmiths and other artisans. William encouraged them to practice their trades off the estate, and pay William a weekly sum from their earnings.

Philly was in charge of the domestic servants, cooks, and nurses. On a male dominated estate these would have included the more good looking women among the slaves; mulatto women and mistresses were often included in this class. However at Spencer’s, under the control of the elderly white woman, Elizabeth Gall, preference had been given to mulatto women who were reliable in their duties and understood English commands. Philly was only 17, about the same age as William.  She was constantly chasing the house slaves and berating them to ensure they did the house work, kept it clean, tended to the linen, cooked, served, and sewed, making clothes for such slaves as had no "wives" or could not sew. They had been attired in the minimum amount of clothes to make them decent in the eyes of their mistresse but went barefooted as shoes were an unnecessary expense. Even such servants had their little vegetable gardens, chickens, and pigs, but at some distance from the dwelling.

William suffered the long dark nights alone with only a glass of rum to console his loneliness.  He had the visits of his brother at weekends to look forward to. Often Henry Beckles was the only white man he had to talk to from one week to another. The routine varied little from week to week and month to month, one year to the next. The breaks for religious holidays were welcome.