CARIBBEAN-L Archives

Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 2001-02 > 0981309599


From: Bruce Manson <>
Subject: Re: SPG: Hutchinson/att B. Manson
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 17:59:59 +0000
References: <MABBKJDLBCCAOBBLJOFIGEFJCDAA.chriscod@bellsouth.net>
In-Reply-To: <MABBKJDLBCCAOBBLJOFIGEFJCDAA.chriscod@bellsouth.net>


Hello again Chris,
I've managed to grab five minutes in between chopping
wood and shovelling snow to answer your letter regarding the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) and the Codrington estates. The
problem is most of my Codrington references come from Caribbeana and I
assume that you have access to that. Two other references come to mind.
The first is Pascoe's eulogistic account of the history of the SPG.

According to Pascoe, the Island of Antigua was divided into parishes by
Gov. Codrington. Provision was made for the support of the clergy -
16,000 lbs of sugar per annum . Other islands followed this but the
clergy were "at the mercy of the people". They found it "difficult to do
their duty without fear of disobliging them" (Rev De Jau 1705). The
inhabitants partly built a church for De Jau but did not give him the
money promised. He had to leave with help from Codrington. Pascoe (in
tune with 19th century ecclesiastical revisionism) refers to barbarity
of masters towards negroes, noting that they were denied either
education or conversion. De Jau, he writes, sought a small grant from
the SPG for a mission library in St Kitts in 1705. In 1714 Gen.
Codrington left land to the Society in Barbuda. There was a dispute over
the will (of which I am sure you are aware!). Then the French descended
in 1711 taking away the stock. After 1713 the SPG tried to get the old
French lands on St Kitts with the revenues going to ministers' stipends
and a bishop. Queen Anne agreed to do anything to the advantage of the
Society but died. Under her successor the matter was dealt with by the
Lords of the Treasury "and from their dealings the Society received no
benefit".

In Caribbeana, of course, we have a good description of the estate and
we learn that when Codrington died in 1710, the Rev Gordon (a local SPG
agent?) wrote to Secretary of the SPG describing value of estate etc. In
1711 D.Woodbridge ("an honest Lawyer") on Barbados wrote to the
Secretary Mr J. Sharpe making his levy on 294 negroes. Mr Rowland Tryon,
a London merchant made advances for the Society. On 11th July 1711 the
French took off from Barbuda all the negroes being 154, most of the
stock and demolished the castle. At least the official history says it
was the French but I have my doubts!

The only one of these characters that I can shed some light on is
Rowland Tryon. He was made SPG Treasurer in 1714 and was succeeded by
his son William Tryon, who died in 1742. The grandson, Thomas Tryon was
then appointed treasurer for a further five years. The trio of Tryon
treasurers came to a sticky end with a major court case in 1747 which
unearthed a long chain of frauds and deceptions on both sides of the
Atlantic. It is interesting that a high proportion of private deeds and
transactions in the Leeward Islands have some kind of countersignature
from one or other of the Tryons. They must have been particularly well
informed. The estate that they laid out just outside London was very
grand and the manor house at Frognale still stands today.

As far as I can make out, fraud and incompetence within the SPG meant
that any money that came their way from Codrington or anyone else soon
slipped through their fingers and the noble objectives of the Society
were rarely realised. Of course this is not mentioned by Pascoe who was
intent on providing some good public relations material for the Society
in the 19th century.

The other book I meant to mention was "Death and Disgrace, Governors of
the Leeward Island in the early years of the 18th century which has some
good biographical material on Codrington and other Governors General -
but you may already have come across this. It would also be worth
checking to see how much Codrington material is in Rhodes House Library
in Oxford where the SPG manuscripts are kept.

Best Regards,
Bruce




--
Bruce Manson

This thread: