Dear Editor,
This May 5th, 2024, will mark 186 years since the arrival of the first East Indian indentured immigrants to set foot on Guyana’s soil. Over the years, I have seen a number of letters to the press requesting the government to commission the construction of a monument to honour a British/Irish citizen, James Crosby, who was appointed as Protector of Immigrants/Agent General for the East Indian immigrants in 1858. He served in this capacity until his death in 1880. He was later assisted by several immigration officers as the importation of East Indians to Guyana increased. Their main responsibilities were to ensure that the East Indians were treated fairly according to the terms of their contracts. While Crosby was very sympathetic to the plight of the East Indians, his presence did not lessen the severe ill treatment and harsh conditions they were forced to toil under on a daily basis at the hands of the managers, overseers and the drivers. In many cases, even the magistrates who were more pro white, did not apply the law equally when it came to seeking justice for the East Indians.
A few years later, Sir Francis Hincks was appointed Governor of British Guiana (1862-1865), he had more affinity towards the white planter class – estate owners and their managers. Hincks did not care for the plight of the East Indians labourers, and there was a power struggle between Crosby and Hincks, with the latter making it difficult at times for the former to do his job. Crosby no doubt was very diligent, he was opposed to a series of Labour Ordinances which tightened the working conditions on the estates, giving the workers more tasks for less pay. He was very much aware that it was almost impossible for the East Indians to complete five tasks in a week (working 6 days a week), in some cases working between 10 to 12 hours a day during crop season. In cases of incomplete task(s) they were faced with severe penalties (sometimes jail time, especially in cases of absenteeism) and forced to pay heavy fines which they could ill-afford given the meager wages they were forced to accept – all of which Crosby was opposed to.
By the 1870s, Crosby, then in his 60s and once considered an excellent Protector representing the interests of the East Indians, made some bad judgements and repeated failures. He had been accused of spending too much time on trivial matters and gave up his contacts with the estates leaving regular inspections up to his subordinates. In addition, several of his immigration officers who assisted him with inspection of the estates were friendlier towards the white plantocracy. They fraternized with the managers and the overseers and some were either very close friends, family members or former plantation owners themselves, as was the case with Crosby himself. Before Crosby was relocated to Guyana, he and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Crosby (nee Kearton), lived in St. Vincent and owned slaves there. Prior to the abolition of slavery, his wife owned 97 slaves and Crosby himself owned 15. Following abolition, Crosby received compensation for all 15 of his slaves in the amount of £419 23s 17d, his wife received £126 5s 8d for only five slaves. In addition, Crosby’s wife had shares in her family’s two plantations in St. Vincent – the Keartons’ Plantation and another plantation in Kingstown for which her family received a total of £508 32s 17d for 17 slaves. Even though their plantation had been abandoned, to this day there is still a locality in the Parish of St. Patrick called Keartons’ Plantation.
While I acknowledge Crosby’s work in Guyana, on behalf of the East Indians, given his legacy of a slave owner, that should automatically disqualify him from ever having a monument erected to honour his memory in Guyana or in any of the former British West Indian colonies. No one should be rewarded for owning slaves anywhere in the world. I am by no means qualified as a doctor of any kind, but given his history as a slave owner, he must have had an epiphany I am sure, after he read Messrs Scoble and Anstie’s report on the Conditions of the Hill Coolies in British Guiana (and Mauritius) on the harsh ill-treatment of the East Indians, which must have evoked vivid flashbacks and haunting memories of the inhumane treatment he and his wife’s slaves were subjected to on their St. Vincent property, and felt he had to do something to atone for he and his wife’s past “sins”, and what better way than to stand up for the oppressed East Indians in British Guiana?
Speaking for myself, and as a second generation born of East Indian Indentured immigrants, I do not support any monument to honour his legacy in Guyana; it would be an abomination to the descendants of his slave property in St. Vincent as well as to the descendants of slaves in Guyana. If there is a demand to erect a monument to pay homage to “our own heroes”, and if there is none at the moment, then one should be commissioned to honour the five East Indians who were gunned down in October 1896 at Non Pareil. The names of those forgotten heroes who were brutally murdered were Jungali, Kandhai, Mahabir, (Hindus), Chinahoo, (a Madrassi) and Rogy (a Pathan). May their souls rest in peace.
Sincerely,
Bibi Halima Khanam
