My Paternal Grandparents, Malcolm and Kathleen Davis – Chapter III

Through the Eyes of a Grandchild

I was very fond of my paternal grandfather, and I regret his early passing when I was only twelve. I knew him as relatively short man compared to my father who was almost six feet tall. He was always kind towards me. My favourite memory of him is sitting in his lap while he read Aesop’s Fables from an ancient text to me. We were sitting in a wood swivel desk chair in front of a mahogany desk. This was his “office.”

Barbados, 28th July 1956: Malcolm and Kathleen, possibly at Ashford, at the wedding of their son , Harold, to June Bethel.

As a little boy, I once asked him confidentially why he always stuffed a pillow inside his pants. He had a hearty laugh first, gave his stomach a resounding slap and then replied: “That’s no pillow. That is good Bajan pudding and souse.” ( Traditional Barbadian dish of sweet potato sausage usually served with miscellaneous pickled pig’s parts.)

I always remember Grandaddy dressed in the traditional planter garb: Cork hat (pith helmet), long Khaki pants, long sleeved Khaki shirt, jacket, and brown leather shoes. He had a walking stick, but only used it as a potentially defensive weapon against stray dogs. He owned a handgun and a Browning semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun, used to control the mongoose population. I recall his pistol was stolen from his automobile when he was visiting us at “Bohemia” in 10th Avenue Belleville, St. Michael. He had parked on the avenue and someone broke into his car.

When I first knew grandaddy, he was the manager of Ashford Plantation in St. John. The Elliotts (probably Henry Mathias Elliott and wife Marion) owned Ashford from around 1934. Mr. H. M. Elliott passed in 1948, but the Elliotts did not sell until the sixties. Queree suggests 1970 for the sale date, but I can remember the Gills coming to Ashford and meeting with Malcolm before the sale. Malcolm died in January 1966, so the sale had to have been before say 1965. It was bought by D. N. Gill. Mrs. Elliott lived in the Great House, and Malcolm lived in the manager’s house.

The manager’s house at Ashford was large and it was furnished with my grandparents beautiful solid mahogany furniture. This furniture was either passed down from generation to generation or purchased from friends or family. It was not expensive. I do not recall anyone using the word antique until Americans started to acquire pieces. Malcolm and Kathleen lived a very comfortable life there. They had the usual help for cooking, cleaning and yard work. I remember that the bedrooms were upstairs.

There were cordia trees on the long gap to the house. I also remember the stately mahogany trees that lined one side of the gap to the manager’s house. Once grandaddy broke into a mud nest of “wood ants” (subterrainean termites) in one of these mahoganies. He applied Parish Green (probably Paris green) with the blade of his pocket knife. He told me the wood ants would take the poison back to the queen and the colony would be destroyed.

Cordia flowers, taken in Punta Gorda, FL

In my next chapter, I will reveal more of my early days at Ashford.