Modern times, so to speak, began
to come to Trinidad in the period following the end of Britain's wars with
France. For some 20 years, these two powers had contested over the remnants of
the Spanish empire and over European hegemony. It had lasted through the last
days of French monarchy, the French revolution and the first empire of Napoleon
Bonaparte. By the time that England decided to free the slaves in the Caribbean
in the 1830s, her navy essentially ruled the oceans of the world.
Unchallenged on the high seas for
the first time in several decades, trade flourished. In Trinidad by the start
of the 1840s, the old French plantocracy was reeling from the loss of manpower
to run the plantations of cane and cotton. Large estates went relatively cheap to the newly-arriving
British entrepreneurs. A banking system was put into place in 1838 with the
establishment of the Colonial Bank, the forerunner of Republic Bank today, to
facilitate the change-over from a plantation economy to a regular economy based
on imports and exports.
Indeed, this period marked a
beginning. The commencement of a new society with different values and needs as
compared to the previous slave society. The challenge for new labour to work
the freshly liberated estates would soon be met by the simple expedient of
importing workers from one end of the empire to another, this time under
contract.
Ice
One of the really new commodities
to come to these islands in this period was ice. Michael Anthony, author of
'First in Trinidad', recounts that ice arrived on the 17th September 1844. The
'Port of Spain Gazette' reported on page two:
"Ice, ice, ice. The
Brigantine 'New England' under the command of Captain McCurdy has arrived from
Boston with a cargo of ice."
There were people alive in the
1920s who could remember being taken to see this new wonder. Ice made from
prehistoric water that had been formed in icebergs at a time when great
mammoths walked the earth, was hacked off into gigantic blocks, packed into the
holds of massive wooden sailing ships and transported to these islands. The man
who imported ice into this country for the first time was D.P. Cotton, a
forward-thinking newly arrived Englishman. A place was needed to keep this ice,
and the first Ice House was erected. According to Michael Anthony's research,
this first ice house "was in the rear of Government House, which itself
occupied part of the Treasury" - would this have been lower St. Vincent
Street, which ended at a wharf in an area known as 'Stinking Corner' as result
of it being a fisherman's wharf?
It would appear that crowds of
people converged on the ice house. D.P. Cotton advertised his ice for sale at
five cents per pound and in quantities at not less than 100 pounds at 4 cents
per pound. He also advised that ice should be covered by a good thick woolen
blanket. He also suggested to families that refrigerators should be purchased
and proceeded to import them himself a few months later.
Within a few weeks, a new ice
house was built at the corner of Abercromby Street and Marine Square (now
Independence Square). This building existed as a city landmark till 1977. The
arrival of ice did change urban culture to some extent. It allowed for the
preservation of food and with the emerging affluence presented to the public
cool drinks, iced fruits, vegetables and for the very first time ice cream.
Christmas 1844 was the first time that ice cream was enjoyed in Trinidad.
Cotton's ice house flourished. It became a social center. He kept a range of
imports frozen to eventually be put on sale, and perhaps on a more somber note,
he also provided the newly-imported commodity to the town's mortuary, so that
the dead may be kept a little longer in order to facilitate the arrival of
out-of-town relatives for the funeral. Times were indeed changing!
Flowers
Flowers were imported into this
country a decade or so later. This notice appeared in the Port of Spain Gazette
in indeed flowery terms:
"A novel and we should think
very useful and attractive store has just been opened on Queen Street for the
sale of a large assortment of European flowers and fruit trees. Pillforce &
Co. have on hand a collection of choice plants to delight the floral amateur
and we have little doubt that at the moderate prices at which these beauties
are offered they will soon effect a clearance."
Library
Lord Harris, governor of Trinidad
from 1845 to 1854, was a great benefactor to learning and to intellectual
refinement. Apart form the establishment of the Ward Schools, Lord Harris was
instrumental in the creation of our public library system from somewhat humble
beginnings in 1851. The original library committee comprised Chief Justice
George Knox, the Attorney General Charles Warner, a member of Harris' council,
John Losh, R.C. Archbishop Patrick Smith and Archdeacon George Cummings, and a
person described as possessing refinement, Augustin Thoulouis. Knox Street in
Port of Spain is named for George Knox. Dr. Court and Sir Louis de Verteuil
soon to mayor of Port of Spain also served on the library committee,
representing the town council. J. Danglade, Esq., was the first
secretary/librarian.
The library was first located on
Chacon Street, but moved to new premises in 1902. The site to which the library
moved at the corner of Pembroke Street and Knox Street was in fact a former
'Government House' in that it was lived in by Col. Fullerton, one of the
commissioners to Trinidad at the end of the Picton administration in 1803.
Cholera
By far and away the worst
catastrophe to hit Trinidad ever was the cholera epidemic of the 1850s. In
1854, the total population of Port of Spain was about 18,500. In a nine-week
period, 4,200 cases of cholera were reported, deaths as a result stood at 2,112
persons. 57% of the victims died, more than 10% of the population of Port of
Spain! Weekly interments at Lapeyrouse cemetery were startling, the numbers
being: 49, 170, 364, 455, 495, 256, 144, 43, and 36.
Having no idea of the cause of
the epidemic, great feat gripped the town. tar was burnt in barrels on street
corners, filling the air with its own vile odor. The clip-clap of mules' hoofs
drawing carts filled with corpses joined hearses, decorated with encrusted
wreaths, drawn by black plumed horses that were in turn draped in black net.
Churches were crammed with a never-ending round of funerals. Bouts of black
dysentery heralded this disease that wiped out entire households, rich and
poor, African and European alike.
Soup kitchens were set up, and
Port of Spain, sectioned off into zones, was volunteer-patrolled to take the
afflicted to centers. $ 2000 was collected to help the poor amongst the sick
and to bury the indigent dead.
People in those days had no idea
that cholera was caused by the close proximity of cesspits to the waterwells,
which was the case all over the town. San Fernando lost 14% of its population.
The countryside fared a bit better. Obeah and black magic flourished as people
in great desperation sought any means to save themselves. Many committed
suicide, having lost their loved ones, their children, their spouse. From
England came the news that cholera was a water-borne disease. The city's wells,
public and private, were filed in and a system for the distribution of
pipe-borne water was commenced in earnest.
In fact, a water company had been
formed already in 1841 to bring water from the St. Anns and Maraval valleys
into the heart of town, supplying households along the streets from the
Savannah all the way to the wharves. Pipe-borne water coming out of taps right
in your home was to the vast majority of locally-born citizens as strange as
the arrival of ice.
Already in the 1820s, Governor
Sir Ralph Woodford had arranged for water to be piped into his new government
house at St. Anns. The state of the town in those days was one of elegant town
houses standing right next to shacks and crumbling mansions from the period of
the first French immigration wave some 40 years earlier. Herds of cattle
sometimes stampeded through the streets, raising clouds of black corbeaux into
the air which swooped at pedestrians, knocking off their top hats and
frightening the horses. The aroma of cocoa and tonca beans filled the air.
Dogs, goats, donkeys, horses and all their droppings made for a medley of
smells. The sounds and rumblings of the carts filled the streets, which were
often muddy. Only the center of the roads was paved to form a channel into
which anything was flung. Cesspits were dug everywhere, adding their own charm
to the evening air.
Under such unhygienic conditions,
it took the cholera epidemic of 1854 to really bring pipe-borne water to the
town. A huge reservoir was dug in the north-western corner of the Savannah
known today as the Rock Gardens or Hollows. A channel took the water from St.
Anns through the Botanical Gardens under the street to this reservoir. Its
overflow area is known today as the Wild Flower Park.
But it was ultimately from the
Maraval river that water came to Port of Spain. To facilitate this, an
ordinance was drafted, whereby access was gained through lands owned by Eliza
Piggot La Coste, Jean de Boissière, Henri Boissière, J.N. Boissière, Fritz and
William Urich and the St. Clair estate. For the time being, the town's water
needs were met.
Water, however, continued to be
an issue in Trinidad. Some fifty years later, events around water distribution
rose to a boiling point and the water riots occurred in 1903.
Public Transport
It was P. & H. Creteau who
introduced public transport for hire. A horse-drawn cab system was introduced -
handsome cabs, drawn by high-stepping chestnuts or matching grays. The 'Port of
Spain Gazette' reported on the 19th October, 1864:
"Ten or a dozen cabs now
make their daily appearance in King Street or Marine Square, of which the
greater number would do no discredit to the streets of London itself." The
article concluded: "Our vehicles are clean, decent to look at and well
horsed, and the drivers are tolerably civil."
Postal Service
A postal service was inaugurated
on the 14th August, 1851. In a real sense, this spoke for the integration of
the society, connecting outlying districts, keeping people in touch with the
rest of the world. It was only in 1850 that the British government had passed
an act enabling colonial legislatures to create inland post., which was handled
by the police service. They did this on horseback. The central post office was
established on lower Frederick Street at the police station, and James O'Brien,
Esq., became the first postmaster. The steamer 'Lady McLeod' carried the first
mail to San Fernando. A special stamp, now very valuable, was issued. In September
1860, regular postmen were eventually introduced to the routes established by
the mounted police.
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