Barbados.
Sun. Sand. Palm trees. Drinks with little umbrellas. It's a place that just screams vacation, especially when you come from the Great White North. It's perhaps easy to forget that the island has a dark history that is intricately tied to the transatlantic slave trade.
What many might not know is that while the island of Barbados was visited by both Portuguese and Spanish explorers, it was the British who first colonized the island in 1627. The British government's first settlers were a mix of free men, indentured servants, and African slaves. Initially, the agricultural focus of the island was to grow tobacco plants, but before long there was a shift to the cultivation of sugar plants. This Sugar Revolution resulted in large financial dividends and made the island a jewel in Britain's colonial crown: "By the 1650s, England was grandly celebrating Barbados as its premier global investment. The island had provided impetus for the breakthrough into profitable colonialism the nation had long desired but found irritatingly elusive." (Beckles) With the demand for sugar skyrocketing, property owners began to purchase more and more Africans to work in their fields. Between the 1620s and the early 1800s, it is estimated that over 387,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Barbados:
They were taken from their homes in West Africa, endured a brutal voyage across the Atlantic, and were forced to work on the island's many sugar plantations under horrendous conditions. Long hours of work, punishment by whippings and beatings, separation from family, overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and overall exploitation were all part of a slave's life.
- Barbados Season of Emancipation
This is how the Clarkes (as they came to be known) arrived in North America.
Barbados
Traded as a commodity, it is unclear exactly when members of the would-be Clarke family came to Barbados. However, we do know that members of the family lived in both St. Michael and St. George's Parish. A possible clue to their history is the last name "Clarke." When slaves were brought to new settlements they were not typically given surnames until it became necessary. When that necessity occurred, it was common for a slave to be given their master's last name. On the above map of Barbados from 1686, the name Clarke appears as a landowner very close to St. George's Parish. This connection to the family has not been confirmed, but it is theoretically possible.
The first confirmed member of the Clarke family is Frederick Clarke, who went by his middle name: Augustus. It is unknown exactly when Augustus was born, but it's possible he was one of the first people born into his family as a free man since being brought to North America.
Being a British colony, Barbados followed British law. In 1807, the British government passed the Slave Trade Act. This Act ended the trade part of slavery, but did not officially end slavery as a practice. In short: if you owned slaves, you could keep them, you just couldn't get any more. The official banning of slavery did not occur until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1834, which was enacted after several riots in British colonies, including Barbados. This may have resulted in Augustus and his family becoming free people.
It was also possible, though not statistically probable, that the Clarke family gained manumition prior to the Slave Trade and the Slavery Abolition Acts coming into place. A slave could buy their freedom, but the cost to do so was extremely high. Prior to 1801, the cost for a slave to purchase their freedom would have been approximately £50, or about £3653 today (approximate $6829 Canadian). In 1801, the cost rose to a non-negotiable £300 for women (£19,596 / $36,637) and £200 (£13,064 / $24,424) for men. As a group of people who made no official money, these fees were nearly impossible.
Some owners made it possible for slaves to "earn" their freedom. Freedom would be granted to slaves in a similar manner to indentured servants: it came at the cost of "x" amount of work completed, whatever "x" may have been. Alternatively, slave owners could bestow manumition as a reward for their slave's years of service, or as a "gift." This option was almost exclusively offered to enslaved Black women (Newton, pg. 49-50). This could be because Black women typically worked in the slave owner's house, perhaps allowing them to build a closer personal relationship with them. It is also possible that a Black woman who had received her freedom was seen as less of a threat than a Black man who had earned the same.
In 1825, it was estimated that only 5.4% of the African population in Barbados was made of free Black people (pg. 47).
Whether he was born a free man, purchased his freedom, or had it granted in his youth, by at least 1828 Augustus was free. In that year, he married Sarah Ann Gill in the Parish of Saint Michael. On their marriage document they are listed as free coloured man and free coloured woman. Augustus and Sarah would go on to have at least one son, another Frederick Clarke who also went by his middle name: Orlando. In December 1875, Orlando married Frances Eliza (or possibly Ann) Howard and they had several children. Baptismal records can be found for Samuel Ebenezer, James Alfred, Ella Constance, James Augustus, and Joseph Stanley Newton; another daughter named Emily is also mentioned in historical records. However, it is Joseph who will connect the family to Nova Scotia.
Joseph S. Clarke: Nova Scotia Bound
Joseph was born on January 5, 1879. He spent his youth in Barbados, but as an adult he worked as a sick nurse in nearby Georgetown, Demerara, a part of British Guiana (now Guyana). He was in a relationship with a woman named Florence Rosetta Bailey, also from Barbados, and in 1912 the two of them celebrated the birth of a baby girl, Edith St. Clair. Records indicated the family included two other daughters: Edna and Iva. It is believed they were born in Barbados, but documentation regarding their dates of birth could not be located.
Around 1913, Joseph's sister Emily, her husband Samuel, and their daughter Matilda moved to the United States. Within a few years, Joseph and his family decided to follow. It appears Joseph's journey North began in 1916. A ship manifest from the S. S. Francis which sailed from Barbados to New York on September 2, 1916 shows a Joseph Clarke from Barbados. It states that his relative in New York was a sister named Emily Forte who lived at 125 W 133rd Street in New York City. However, Joseph did not stay in New York. Exactly what drove Joseph to continue further into Canada is unclear, but by 1917 he was living in Halifax at 200 Grafton Street, located between Buckingham Street and Jacob Street (this section of the City was later torn down to make room for the Scotia Square development and the Cogswell Interchange).
Shortly after arriving in Halifax, Joseph secured a job working as a porter. Subsequent City Directories state that Joseph worked for R N McDonald, a wholesale and retail grocery store located at the corner of Argyle and Jacob Streets. In early 1917, Florence and Edith followed Joseph to Halifax; Edna remained in Barbados. Less than a year after leaving the Caribbean, on June 27, 1917, Joseph and Florence were officially married by the Reverend Henry Ward Cunningham, the rector of St. George's Church at the corner of Brunswick Street and Cornwallis Street (now Nora Bernard Street).
For the Clarkes, life in Halifax was perhaps not as different as they had hoped. There were, of course, differences in the people, the sights, the weather, but the anti-Black sentiment that had been prominent in Barbados was just as common in the North: "Emancipation removed civil barriers of race, but in every West Indian territory political equality was a legal fiction" (Lowenthal, David, from Philips, pg. 1353). Although this quote is specific to the British West Indies, so it was across the Empire. Businesses in Canada could deny services to Black people, hospitals could refuse patients, schools were segregated; even the military denied Black volunteers until the development of the No. 2 Construction Battalion in World War 1. In fact, in 1911 just before the Clarkes arrived in Canada, future Prime Minister Robert Borden ran for office using the slogan "A White Canada" (HuffPost).
Although the Clarkes lived in a world where they could not be owned, it is important to remember that their lives were lived in between barriers that were put in place by a white, colonial society.
By 1927 the family was living at 34 1/2 Gottingen Street, which stood between Falkland and Cornwallis Streets. That year, Edith, now 14 years old, was given the opportunity to visit one of her grandmothers back in Barbados. When she arrived, she found her grandmother in very poor health. It was decided that Edith would remain in Barbados to be with her grandmother. That extended stay would last nearly three years, until her grandmother's passing in December, 1930. However, when she attempted to come back to Halifax, the immigration process was complicated.
In January 1923, the Canadian Government began tightening the country's immigration policies. Order-in-Council PC 183 in 1923 initially limited the immigration of labourers, but Order-in-Council PC 695 in 1931 implemented more severe restrictions. PC 695 stated that admissible immigrants must be "... American and British subjects with sufficient means to maintain themselves until securing employment; agriculturalists with sufficient means to farm in Canada; and the wives and minor children of Canadian residents. Immigrants of all other classes and occupations were explicitly prohibited from landing in Canada" (Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21). These new measures were taken as an attempt to soften the effects of the Great Depression and counter rising unemployment rates by limiting the influx of new people in the country.
At 18 years old, Edith was no longer a minor. She did not fit the criteria for returning to Canada. Joseph then had to petition the Canadian Government to make a special exception to allow Edith to return to her home in Halifax. In a meeting held on May 8, 1931, the privy council for the Right Honourable Earl of Bessborough, Governor General of Canada, reviewed Edith's case. A recommendation to approve her return to Halifax was put forward by member of parliament W. A. Black. Perhaps because she had spent so many of her formative years in Halifax, the application was approved. On June 18, 1931, Edith set sail for New York aboard the S. S. Lady Hawkins and made her way back to Nova Scotia.
By the time Edith returned, the Clarkes had moved to a new home. What was better yet is that they were no longer renting. City directories indicate that the Clarkes had purchased 10 Armoury Place, now 5668 Armoury Place. The home was in a unique place. To the west, the house had the greenery of the Halifax Common. To the north, it had the imposing red sandstone walls of the Halifax Armoury.
In the early 1940's, tragedy came to the Clarke family. In the fall of 1939, Edith became ill. Her condition would have likely started with something relatively small: pain in her hips. But over time, the condition became worse: increased pain, swelling, weight loss, fevers, and of course difficulty moving. By the early 1940s, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the hip, sometimes called tuberculous arthritis. This occurs when tuberculosis bacteria spreads into the hip joint causing infection. Despite the efforts of her doctor, Edith was unable to fight off the infection. On July 14, 1940, Edith passed away at the age of 28. Her death record states that Edith was an "invalid;" this could have been a result of her condition. Edith was buried in Camp Hill Cemetery.
The following year, the family took another blow. Florence had been suffering from hemiplegia, a kind of paralysis that affects one side of the body, often as the result of a severe brain injury like a stroke. Due to this condition, she became bedridden and eventually developed bed sores from being unable to move. These sores worsened and became abscesses, which spread bacteria throughout Florence's body and caused her to develop pyemia, a kind of blood poisoning. On April 3, 1941, Florence passed away at 56 years old. She was also buried in Camp Hill Cemetery. Although Edna traveled from Barbados to visit her family after her mother's death, there's no indication that she stayed in Halifax. With no other records of Edna and Iva, it's possible that following Florence's death Joseph was now alone in the Armoury Place house.
For the next few years Joseph lived in the family home and continued to work at R N McDonald, but in 1943 he decided to change careers. He took a job with the City of Halifax as part of the Public Services Commission (PSC) working as a pump operator. 1943 was also significant because Joseph remarried. Martha Jane Curry, (nee Munroe), was a widow from Beechville, Nova Scotia who worked as a char-woman, or housekeeper. Martha's first husband, Charles Curry, had immigrated to Canada from Florida around 1879. The two were married in Halifax in 1899 and raised a family together. In his later years, Charles suffered from hypertension, and in 1942 he passed away from heart failure. Joseph and Martha were married on September 4, 1943 in a Catholic ceremony lead by Father Michael J. Cole.
By 1946 Joseph had changed his role at the Public Services Commission. He now worked as a watchman. He was also a member of the PSC's Social Club, costing a total of $0.25 per pay, or about $2.93 today (Social Club Minutes, pg. 64). This club provided gifts for special occasions like weddings, births, retirements, etc., and also held events like birthday parties, family picnics, and social evenings. One social event was the Annual Picnic. In 1950, the picnic was held on August 14 on McNab's Island with 150-175 PSC workers and their families were in attendance. Motor-Launches - small defensive vessels used to protect the harbour during the war - were used to transport participants to the island. Minutes from the committee state that races were the highlight of the day, and that several cash prizes were given out to the winners (Social Club Minutes, pg. 29).
It was around 1946 as well that Joseph and Martha decided to rent out the Clarke family home. The house was let out to Shea N. Morris and his family. Records site two different locations for Joseph and Martha: Armdale, and Beechville. As these communities are very close to one another, it is likely the two were not always differentiated, especially if a person lived very near the beginning of one and the end of the other. As Martha's extended family lived in the Beechville area, there could have been many family-related reasons that Joseph and Martha chose to live outside of the City of Halifax.
Joseph and Martha resided in the Armdale/Beechville area for around five years, but Martha's health was failing. She was suffering from degenerative myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart. Over time, this condition caused an episode of acute pulmonary edema, or a sudden build up of fluid in the lungs. This made it very difficult for her to breathe. On October 20, 1951, after five days of suffering from pulmonary edema, Martha passed away at 75 years old. She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
With Martha gone, Joseph made the move back into the City. By 1953, he was living back in his home at 10 Armoury Place and had retired from his work with the Public Services Commission. Within a few years, Joseph's daughter Edna and her husband Frederick G. Harper were also living in the house. Edna's husband worked as a butler to support the household.
After attempting to manage hypertension for several years, Joseph experienced cerebral thrombosis, or a blood clot, in his brain. This caused him to have a stroke and on February 5, 1956 he passed away. He too was buried in Camp Hill Cemetery with Florence and Edith. Edna and her husband stayed in the family house until 1958 when they likely returned to Barbados.
The Finishing Lines
The above photo is the "Coloured Section" of Camp Hill Cemetery. With help from Municipal Staff and the records available through the Nova Scotia Archives, it has been confirmed that Joseph, Florence, and Edith Clarke are all buried in this once segregated section of the cemetery. Unfortunately, it appears that no headstones mark the final resting places. Were these stones damaged over time? Have they been covered over by nature? Did they ever exist? It is difficult to say. But these missing markers take nothing away from the Clarkes' story.
Between 1910-1919, only 1,133 British West Indians were permitted to immigrate to Canada, a total 0.06% of the country's population at the time (Walker, pg. 9). The odds of the Clarkes being allowed to enter the county were so statistically poor it was hardly worth the effort of trying. But the fact that they not only beat the odds but chose to make their home in Halifax: that is significant.
The Clarkes made an investment in this City. Their hard work, the friendships and connections they built - they were important. They made a difference to this place and are forever a part of the ever growing tapestry that is our history.
Library Sources
Flying Fish in the Great White North
- July 15, 1940
- April 4, 1941
- October 22, 1951
- February 6, 1956
Additional Sources
Bank of England Inflation Calculator
Barbados Season of Emancipation, Barbados
Bridgetown, Barbados, Slavery and Remembrance
Halifax Municipal Cemeteries, Staff Consult
History of Barbados, Britannica
Inflation Calculator, Bank of Canada
The Island of Barbados, ca. 1694, Isaac Sailmaker, Yale Centre for British Art
Meet Canada's Donald Trump: PM Robert Borden, Huffpost, May 3, 2016
Motor Launches, Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War, Maritime Archaeology Trust
A New Map of the Island of Barbadoes, c. 1686, Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Centre
New York City Directory, 1916, New York Public Library
Nova Scotia Archives Vital Statistics
Nova Scotia's segregated history comes alive in Halifax cemetery, Global News, February 23, 2017
Order-in-Council PC 1931695, 1931, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
Plan for the City of Halifax, 1916, Nova Scotia Archives Map Collection: V6 240 Halifax, Nova Scotia
SS Lady Hawkins, Wartime Heritage
Tuberculosis of hip: A Current Concept Review, National Library of Medicine
Tuberculosis of the hip joint: Understanding, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Felix Hospitals
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