Dr Rita Pemberton

IN 1843, FIVE years after the termination of the period of apprenticeship and the institution of legal Emancipation, Scotsman John McCall (1824-1897) arrived in Tobago to take up a position as an overseer of a property named Irvine Hall, which was not yet a sugar plantation.

At the time of his arrival, the members of Tobago planting community, who were distressed over the premature termination of the apprenticeship period, were very vocal in expressing their anger and concerns about the future of sugar cultivation on the island.

Although the economic climate in Tobago did not appear to be promising, the acutely business-minded McCall remained undaunted. He soon became attorney for several large estates and for several British business houses, established himself as a merchant and served as an agent for the Phoenix Fire and Life Assurance Co, became owner of the estate on which he was initially employed and went on to acquire many other properties on the island, and established a shipping business when he introduced the Direct Line steamers in 1882.

McCall’s sojourn in Tobago gives credence to the belief that wealth could be extracted from sites of poverty, for despite the irony, he demonstrated that it was possible for individuals to become wealthy at a time when the island’s economy was weak, and when there were strong signs of economic distress from unprofitable estates, some of which were abandoned by their owners.

McCall became the largest landowner in Tobago in 1866 and was an influential member of the House of Assembly. He exerted great influence on the Windward district where his land acquisition journey began, but the most aggressive phase of this journey occurred from 1869.

McCall’s rise was facilitated by his ability to take full advantage of the situation on the island and the mechanisms he used to do so. He made some strategic alliances, first with his brother James, with whom he owned seven estates on which shops, which provided him with an additional source of income, were established.

Secondly, he partnered with Gillespie and Co, which was then part owner of Green Hill and Friendship Estates and was a merchant company for the entire island. Gillespie and Co financed the land acquisitions of the McCalls. This was a two-way relationship because the McCalls had interests in the Gillespie shipping operations.

Thirdly, with the island’s sugar industry in a depression it was difficult to sell land, so prices of estate land were very low, providing a good market for those with access to finance. In addition, some absentee owners found it convenient to leave the administration of their properties in the hands of an overseer or attorney.

Fourthly, some other landowners used the option of leasing their estates out to attorneys or overseers, which became a well-trodden route to estate ownership for such lessees. A significant factor in the process was his intimate knowledge of the state of the estates on the island, which enabled him to use this knowledge to his advantage.