Kathleen Davis was born on 17th May 1900 at Briar Hall, Christ Church, Barbados. When Malcolm died on the third of January 1966, she would have been 65. She had a long life, and she was the only grandparent to know our children. She lived to see all four of them!
When Grandad died, Kathleen was moved to the Home for Indigent and Elderly Ladies, “Banavie”, 4th Avenue Belleville, St Michael. She was happy there, as many of her friends and relatives were living there. They would all meet in the large drawing room and talk about days gone by.
Almair Home, “Banavie.” Click on image to visit Facebook page.
Late in her life, Kathleen had a problem with fainting. Her doctor told her that blood was not getting to her brain, and that she would have to wear a neck brace. My little children started to refer to her as “the grannie with the neck brace!”
Party at Bannatyne, Christ Church: Herbert, Kathleen wearing brace and my Aunt June deep in conversation.
Kathleen died about 1994. I was living in Florida, USA, so I did not witness her last days. She will always be remembered as a gracious and kind lady. I was so glad that my wife and children had the opportunity to meet and know her. Even though her life was difficult at times, she was always well dressed and well mannered.
When the owner of Ashford, Mrs. Elliot, sold to Mr. Gill in the sixties, Malcolm’s services were no longer needed. An old friend, Mr. Elliot Williams, father of Sir Charles and owner of Bushy Park in St. Philip, kindly gave him a job as manager. Unfortunately he landed in a difficult situation. I think Elliot’s sons became interested in the management of the estate. Malcolm went from a position where he had sole managerial responsibility to one in which others had a say. Change is hard for old people.
The manager’s house at Bushy Park was simple wall dwelling that had ample space. The was no garden and the yard was covered in a white limestone gravel that was blinding in full sunlight. It was a comfortable home but it was a far cry from Ashford!
Manager’s quarters at Busy Park, St Philip. The nurse and child are from Mr. Williams’ house. I, Uncle Fitz and Granddaddy are also in the photo.Bushy Park, St Philip. Malcolm, Kathleen and Fitz.
Relatives once staged a big surprise party at Bushy Park for Malcolm and Kathleen. It was to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Hilton Seale (b. 1908, Doris’s husband) pretended to be an Anglican priest and married them again.
“Reverend” Hilton Seale
Malcolm and Kathleen renew vows at Bushy ParkLove endures
Granddaddy did not spend long at Bushy Park. He became ill in his sixties, and was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bridgetown in December of 1965.
I was fourteen in 1966 when my first grandparent died. I did not expect it. One day I asked my other grandfather, Lawrence, how Malcolm was doing. Lawrence was annoyed and told me he was on his deathbed.
On the third day of January, 1966, in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Malcolm succumbed to a combination of kidney problems and possible hospital negligence. A tube had fallen out and was just left on the floor. Even though he had quit, past chain smoking had taken its toll.
The manager of a plantation had a great responsibility and that was to supervise all agricultural operations. The manager was responsible for all hiring and dismissals. In addition he was often a J.P. (Justice of the Peace) and would witness documents for labourers. His comfortable lifestyle of a “Country Gentleman” was contrasted by his lack of cash. Even though I was a little boy I was fascinated by the fact that the plantation managers often lived in mansions, with a cook, maid and other staff, but were usually quite poor in terms of income and possessions.
Kathleen made a little extra money by keeping chickens. She always had fresh eggs. One day one of the hens swallowed a large fortyleg (fast running centipede.) Once the fortyleg hit the crop it sliced through the skin to freedom. When I told Granny she was not phased. She just picked up a needle and thread. She caught the hen and stitched up the crop. I addition to keeping chickens, granny made butter. This butter was not salted and it was almost white. It was put into 16 ounce glass jars, usually recycled jam jars.
Amy Kathleen Davis, my grandmother.
Malcolm drove a very old car which he often had to crank to get it started! The crank would be inserted in front near the radiator grill, and he would get hot and sweaty turning the engine. This reminded me of my clockwork toys which had to be wound to run! Malcolm was easy going and drove slowly. In contrast, my grandmother, Kathleen was always saying, “Step on the gas, M!”
Malcolm and Kathleen with automobile, possibly at beach house
Grandad used to make the best hot buttered toast I have ever eaten. He served the first breakfast, called “tea”, at the crack of dawn. I recall being shocked that a man, especially a Planter, would prepare food in a kitchen! Malcolm would slice the bread and put it into a pop-up toaster. He would butter the hot toast with Kathleen’s fresh butter. Malcolm would boil a kettle of water and steep a few teaspoons of loose tea in a china tea pot. It was then strained into cups. The milk we added was from the plantation.
After this simple hot English style tea and toast, I loved to accompany Grandad to supervise the milking and feeding of the cows. After this was done, we had a heavier breakfast around 10 am or 11 am. This was more like lunch, but it was called breakfast by the Planters. The word “brunch” was never used.
Later in the day, my big brother Anthony and I used to ride on the donkey cart that collected the aromatic cut sour grass for the cows. This was a coarse grass, bothriochloa pertusa, that covered much of the land that was not suitable for sugarcane.
Pat Every (nee Rogers) says that Malcolm always kept a fresh set of hot peppers soaked in wine next to his plate. He applied it liberally. My parents (Herbert and Marjorie) also did this. They had a small crystal bottle that was filled with small round “Bird Peppers” that were covered with Sherry
According to Anthony, Grandaddy was recognized as an excellent planter, and his plantation was always scrupulously neat. I do recall that the place was tidy.
Huge Bullmastiffs roamed the yard, including a mature motherly female called Jill. As soon as a dog left a pile a worker would throw white lime on it and scrape it up with a shovel. Flies were a problem, so animal droppings were dealt with quickly. Anthony, I and Mrs. Elliot’s grandchildren would “bury” Jill in the sandpit. She loved the attention and would stay quite still as he was buried. At some point Jill would flex her powerful frame, rise effortlessly to her feet, and walk off, slowly wagging her tail.
Miami, Florida, c. 1970. Author’s daughters Michelle and Laura with Aji, our small Bullmastiff, reminiscent of Jill. Our black Labrador is on the right, watching her litter.
Jill loved children, but she and her fellow canines were not pets, they were protectors. During the day, labourers could freely walk through the yard and the dogs would not interfere. After sunset, these same dogs changed their personalities and became aggressive towards all but close friends.
My family would often go to Cattlewash on the East Coast, and sometimes my grandparents were there. The sea there is deadly and I was terrified of it. After the sugarcane was harvested, Malcolm and Kathleen would also have time to visit that coast. Grandad would lift me up, put me on his hip and wade into the rough sea. Unfortunately this grandfather was not very tall and the waves would pass over my head. This made me more afraid, and I avoided the beach. My parents were amused that I would not go near the sea!
It is amusing to note that I did not learn to swim until I was about eleven. I started snorkeling at that time, and my mother thought it was dangerous for me to be diving while not being able to swim! She sent me for swimming lessons!
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.
Malcolm McCarthy Davis was born on 23rd May 1897 at Sedge Pond Plantation, St. Peter, Barbados. I don’t know who owned Sedge Pond at that time, but a Gill may have had an interest. (Queree has “1892–3 Chancery Court Gill et al v Peddar,” possibly John T. Pedder.) Malcolm’s parents were Robert Fitzherbert (Herbie) Davis and Keturah Matilda Alberta (Kit) Gill.
While Granny Kathleen was very ladylike, Malcolm was more earthy. As young men, he and his brothers, Evelyn Fitzherbert (Fitz) and Leo, migrated to the US. They were friends with William Greaves of Barbados who was already in Brooklyn, New York. They lived in New York State in either NY city or Brooklyn. Fitz was a professional boxer and Leo was a police officer in Brooklyn. All of the brothers knew how to box. I came across this on the Familysearch.org site.
12 April 1914 – Evelyn Davis, M, Single, clerk, 18ys old, 5″6″, fair, light hair, blue eyes going to brother Malcom Ince (actually Davis, the Ince seems a mistake copied from the line above), 357 W 44th St, NYC. Father in B’dos Robert Davis, Parks, St. Joseph.
IGI
Notice that first names are used here, even though father and son went by middle names. Queree shows A. Percy Haynes as the owner of Parks in St. Joseph at that time. (Arthur Percy Haynes was a son of the Honourable Joseph Alleyne Haynes of Newcastle, St John. It is possible that Malcolm’s father was an overseer or manager at Parks.) When they first went to the States, Malcolm and his brothers had low level jobs, but Fitz went on to a successful career with the Merchant Marines and Leo was promoted to police Captain in 1953. Malcolm returned to Barbados where he met and married Kathleen at Holy Innocents, St Thomas in 1923. The attending Anglican priests were Rev. Browne and Rev. Alleyne. By chance I came across this snip probably from a 1973 Advocate:
My father, C. F. M. (Herbert) Davis, thought Malcolm had tremendous physical strength. He recalls as a small boy coasting down a hill at speed on his bicycle. To his horror, he saw a deep trench across the bottom of the hill. A water pipe was being laid. Herbert was unable to stop, but his father, Malcolm, stepped into the middle of the road and grabbed the bike’s handlebars, bringing boy and bike to a dead stop.
Malcolm was a “Planter” or sugarcane farmer. He typically wore long trousers, a jacket and a “Cork Hat.” The latter looked like a pith helmet. It was hard but light. It had a broad brim which protected the Planters from the tropical sun.
Next I will reflect on my personal experiences with my grandparents.
Kathleen Davis was the longest surviving of my four grandparents, and she was the only one known to my children. In her last years she wore a neck brace because of a circulation problem. My children referred to her as the “granny with the neck brace.”
On the 8th July, 1900, Kathleen was christened Amy Kathleen Harding, but she was known as Kathleen. She was born on the 17th of May, 1900 at Briar Hall, Christ Church, Barbados. She was the second child of Clarence Leslie Harding and Evan Elizabeth (Davis) Harding. Her father was probably the manager of a sugar cane plantation. This information can probably be found in the baptismal records of the Anglican Church in Barbados.
I (Ian Davis) was born in 1951, so I knew my grandmother for over 42 years. My recollection was that Granny Davis was very kind and lady-like. I have an early photograph marked Kathleen 1907. It presumably shows Kathleen at age seven posing with her mother Evan Elizabeth, age 42.
My other grandmother was Amy Blanche (Niccolls) Farmer (b. 1894), and she was called Amy. Amy Kathleen Harding was always called Kathleen, with the exception that Malcolm called her K.
It is amusing to think that Amy Niccolls taught Kathleen Harding, who referred to her as Miss Niccolls! It seems that they were also friends. Here is an entry in Amy’s big autograph book. The date is the second of December, 1916. Amy was 22 and Kathleen 16. Kathleen is wishing Amy a Merry Christmas and hopes that their friendship would last forever. Their friendship endured until Amy’s death on 17th November, 1976!
In the above autograph, Kathleen gives her address as Hope Plantation, Christ Church. From 1913 Hope was owned by various members of the Evelyn family, and in 1929 it became part of Wotton, later owned by my wife’s relatives, the Deanes.
On the 31st January, 1923 Kathleen married my grandfather, Malcolm McCarthy Davis. Malcolm was 25. I do not have any wedding photographs, but I do have a portraits of each taken around that time.
Here is Kathleen as a young lady, possibly taken before she was married at age 22.
Malcolm Davis appeared to be a handsome young man. I could not recognize him in this portrait above!
Clarence Fitzherbert McCarthy (Herbert) Davis was born on 25th October 1923, just ten months after the wedding of his parents. I will try to identify everyone in the photo above, which was taken at River Plantation in St Andrew. River was part of Bawden Plantation, which was purchased in 1921 by Kathleen’s uncle, Frederick Fitzherbert Cornelius (Fitz) Gill. Fitz was a major landowner and looked out for his relatives.
Back row, left to right: unidentified couple, Kathleen Davis, Malcolm Davis, possibly Malcolm’s sister Rita, possibly Leslie Harding, K’s sister Edith? Harding
Front row: Gladys Davis, Dibbon Davis holding Herbert, unknown
Harold Malcolm Davis was born on 31st July, 1926. Uncle Harold married June Bethel. I can still remember the wedding (28th July, 1956) even though I was only four! I remember I was wearing a suit with broad chocolate and cream stripes which my parents had bought in the US. I was very impressed that Aunt June spent some time talking to me!
Harold passed away on 7th May, 1987. He was very good to me and I will never forget him.
Barbados, 28th July 1956: Malcolm and Kathleen, possibly at Ashford, at the wedding of their son , Harold, to June Bethel.
Cordia flowers, taken in Punta Gorda, FL
