What did the Trevelyan family know of the Fedon Revolt? - Grenada

 

The complexity of plantation ownership is shown through the Trevelyan family. The family itself were from Yorkshire, Somerset and Northumberland. The family’s wealth came from a number of sources, including marrying into families whose wealth came from plantation ownership and enslavement. The Trevelyans like so many others were absentee owners of plantations in the St. George area of Grenada.[1]

 

John Charlton writes that the family made their income, large enough to own Wallington Hall in Northumberland, from coal and agriculture, but also from Jamaican Rum.[2]

 

The Newby Hall Blacketts (part of the Trevelyan family) sent John Erasmus Blackett to Liverpool, to apprentice under Sir George Cunliffe, whose family were very involved in the enslavement trade from Liverpool. From there Blackett went to Newcastle and became a Merchant Adventurer for his cousins at Wallington.[3]

 

The Trevelyan family are linked to the several prominent North East, slave-owning families.  Among them were Delevals of Seaton Delaval. In 1766 John Hussey Deleval sought advice on setting up a plantation from a Liverpool enslaver, Joseph Manesty. Manesty wrote back a cold list, giving suggested numbers of white servants, different tradespeople needed and for ten Black men and ten Black women.[4]

 

This link with enslaving families was further expanded in 1757 when John Trevelyan married Luisa Marianne Simone, daughter of a London merchant and owner of a Grenada sugar plantation.[5]

 

In 1832 The Trevelyan family claimed compensation of £35,000 (over £3 million today) for ‘ownership’ of 1240 enslaved people. The compensation database lists six estates, one who is not named: Tempe, Simon, Requin, Sagresse, Beausejour.[6] These estates were close to the capital of Grenada, St. George. Charlton notes that the compensation was at least equal to a whole year’s income for the Trevelyan family.[7] 

 

1795 was a year of revolt across the West Indies.[8] In Grenada, when the Trevelyan’s owned their plantations a revolt was attempted by Julian Fedon, a Black freeman. He was well educated, possibly in England and owned a plantation of his own. 

 

 

 

Grenada by 1795

 

This rebellion is interesting in many ways. It shows the complicated issues that Europeans had brought to the West Indies. This was much more than a rebellion of the enslaved. It was a Civil Rights battle between free Black people, who were still denied their rights. It was a battle between the English and French empires. It was also a continuation of the religious dominance of Catholics and Protestants.

 

Grenada was first colonized by the French in 1650, meeting with strong resistance by the indigenous Carib people. It changed over to British occupation in 1763. In 1768 a French fleet meant to be fighting the British in America in the American War for Independence sailed to the West Indies and attacked the British there. By this time the British had expanded enslavement and sugar production in Grenada, making it the second largest sugar producer in the West Indies. Ten thousand French troops recaptured the island from the British.[9] From 5th July 1779 to 3rd September 1783 it returned to Britain.[10]

 

Grenada was much sought after. A mountainous island, it produced coffee, indigo and cotton. Sugar cultivation rose and enslavement grew on the island. In 1700 there were 525 enslaved people in Grenada. This continued to rise, in 1799 there were 30, 000. By 1833 there were 23, 536.[11]

 

The island had become a mix of British and French influence, Catholic and Protestant, free and enslaved. Returning to British rule meant a return to Protestantism. This brought with it Catholic persecution. Land and money was taken from the Catholic church on the island. Marriages, baptisms and burials were considered null and void unless celebrated in the Anglican churches, writes Brizan in Grenada Island of Conflict. All these rites had to be recorded to be accepted in law.[12]

 

Catholic France and Protestant Britain allowed their religious conflict to follow them to Grenada, adding to the tension. 

 

Grenada had a large population of free Black people (mostly descendants of freed enslaved people). Julian Fedon was one. Many owned land and were wealthy. However, they were denied rights given to white people. The Election Act of 1792 denied them political participation. A rule to stop the gathering of potential insurrectionists was introduced by the British, where all Black people had to carry a lamp at night so they could always be seen.[13]

 

It was amongst this powder keg of political and social unrest that the Fedon Rebellion occurred. They were spurred on by the cries of liberty heard from France (and French agents), the USA and Haiti.

 

On 2nd March 1795 the rebellion began; led by Fedon, about 100 ex-enslaved burnt the town of La Baye. Eleven British people were murdered.[14]

 

On 4th March 1795 Fedon, from his base at Belvedere, declared that all British submit or die. The rebellion had grown and further areas taken. On 8th March a British Army attack on Fedon was battered back. The British governor of the island, Ninian Home, was taken prisoner. Ninian Home was from Paxton House in Berwick. He was a plantation owner and enslaver.[15] A fever spread through the British army, claiming even the life of the head of the British Army in Grenada, General Lindsay. Troops were called in from other islands. Other attacks were repelled and the town of Grenville was burned by the rebellion. Fifty of Fedon’s captives were executed after Fedon’s brother was killed.[16]

 

Fedon was able to hold a growing number of British Army and Navy at bay until 19th June 1796. Fedon was never caught. It is thought he drowned while trying to make his escape on a small boat to Trinidad.[17]

 

Brizan points to French inspiration as making Fedon deluded in his goals to expel the British, end enslavement and make Grenada a colony of a French Republic.[18] French and English imperial disputes were being played out across the Atlantic that spurred the enslaved to rebel but also cost their lives. Seven thousand enslaved people died in this rebellion.[19]

 

In years to come the Fedon rebellion would be seen as a symbol against oppression. In the Grenada revolution in 1979, Fedon would become a symbol for the revolution. Puri writes, ‘Fedon became a popular name for children; there was a military camp called Fedon’s camp, a Fedon Publisher, and a Fedon’s bookshop; the 1982 public display of military strength designed to build mass confidence in Grenada’s ability to resist attack, was called the ‘Fedon maneuver’.’[20]

 

How did this affect the Trevelyan family?

 

The Newcastle Courant reported on the rebellion, calling the rebels ‘brigands’ led by their ‘Chief Fedon’.[21] This report shows that the rebellion was known in our region. As absentee landlords, the family at Wallington would have left their plantations in Grenada under the management of overseers and managers who would have reported back to them via a very slow postal service. Also, the island suffered a huge financial loss that year which could have had an effect felt by the family. Charlton states that the family’s reaction is not recorded in the archives.[22]

 

The Trevelyan family today.

 

Ex-BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan, a descendant of the Trevelyans, made a BBC radio documentary in 2022 in Grenada. She told the story of her family’s enslavement of over 1000 people. Since then the Trevelyan family have pledged £100,000 in reparations payments to be made to various causes and the family would work with descendants of those enslaved.

 

This brave decision has been met with support and criticism. It is part of a large international conversation on how we in the 21st century deal with this history. If reparations are to be made, how much, by whom and in what way will the money be given? Should reparations be made just in money? Does this actually bring closure to those affected by this past?

 

The Trevelyan family have grasped the nettles of their family’s history and also this debate. Laura Trevelyan has made this step with people in the West Indies - Professor Nicole Philip Dowe, who was interviewed in the BBC documentary, and also Dr Hilary Beckles, who has long called for reparations and is a prominent West Indies historian on this subject.[23]

 

Note:

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I have found this topic makes for a mature discussion in lessons with Year 8 students. Young people want to be involved in this conversation and have interesting points of view and interesting ideas to put forward. The complexity of the Fedon rebellion may make this difficult to teach to KS3 children. However, if students are taught the French revolution this shows its effect . The local and contemporary link is well worth including in lessons about enslavement. For our readers from outside education, you may find it worthy to see how the Trevelyan family and those involved in the reparations process move forward with this (Terry Graham; teacher and PNS website author). 

 

[1] John Trevelyan (no date) Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/45680 (Accessed: 10 July 2023).

[2] Charlton, J. (2008) Hidden chains: The Slavery Business and North East England, 1600-1865. City of Newcastle upon Tyne (Eng.): Newcastle Libraries & Information Service. P. 126

[3] Charlton, J. (2008) Hidden chains: The Slavery Business and North East England, 1600-1865. City of Newcastle upon Tyne (Eng.): Newcastle Libraries & Information Service. p.127

[4] Charlton, J. (2008) Hidden chains: The Slavery Business and North East England, 1600-1865. City of Newcastle upon Tyne (Eng.): Newcastle Libraries & Information Service. P.113 and 128

[5] John Charlton writes that the family made their income, large enough to own Wallington Hall in Northumberland, from coal and agriculture, but also from Jamaican Rum. p. 128

[6] Advanced search (no date) Search | Legacies of British Slavery. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/search/ (Accessed: 08 August 2023).

[7] Charlton, J. (2008) Hidden chains: The Slavery Business and North East England, 1600-1865. City of Newcastle upon Tyne (Eng.): Newcastle Libraries & Information Service. P131-34.

[8] Gibson, C. (2015) Empire’s crossroads: A history of the Caribbean from Columbus to the present day. London: Pan Books. P 163.

[9] S3e9: Fedon’s rebellion (2022) Spotify. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6i4HYr1IqxU7PKRUPtndtR?si=3LzIawXZTKSeRTTYRG2SNw&nd=1 (Accessed: 09 August 2023

[10] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. Chapters 1 to 5.

[11] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P94

[12] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P 56

[13] S3e9: Fedon’s rebellion (2022) Spotify. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6i4HYr1IqxU7PKRUPtndtR?si=3LzIawXZTKSeRTTYRG2SNw&nd=1 (Accessed: 08 August 2023).

[14] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P 68-70

[15] The family (2023) Paxton House. Available at: https://paxtonhouse.co.uk/discover/history/the-family/ (Accessed: 08 August 2023).

[16] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P74

[17] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P79

[18] Brizan, G. (1998) Grenada: Island of conflict. London: Macmillan. P80

[19] The family (2023) Paxton House. Available at: https://paxtonhouse.co.uk/discover/history/the-family/ (Accessed: 08 August 2023).

[20] Puri, S. (2016) Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean present: Operation Urgent Memory. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. P 62

[21] Newcastle Courant Saturday 8th August 1795 as seen in  https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1795-01-01/1796-12-31?basicsearch=%2Bgrenada&freesearch=grenada&place=newcastle-upon-tyne%2C%20northumberland%2C%20england&retrievecountrycounts=false&mostspecificlocation=newcastle-upon-tyne%2C%20northumberland%2C%20england&sortorder=score&page=1. Accessed on 8th August (!) 2023

[22] Charlton, J. (2008) Hidden chains: The Slavery Business and North East England, 1600-1865. City of Newcastle upon Tyne (Eng.): Newcastle Libraries & Information Service. p.131

[23] Laura Trevelyan quits BBC to campaign for Reparative Justice for Caribbean (2023) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/16/laura-trevelyan-quits-bbc-to-campaign-reparative-justice-slavery-caribbean (Accessed: 08 August 2023).