Dr Rita Pemberton

SINCE BRITISH possession of Tobago in 1763, there was a policy to take complete control of the island, which was to be converted to a profit-yielding enterprise for producing and exporting sugar.

To facilitate this, the island was subdivided into 300-acre plots for sale on the London market under terms that sugar estates should be brought into operation within two years of their acquisition. These estates were spread across the island. It was assumed that land was available for the taking, despite the presence of a resident settlements of First Peoples, for whom no land allocation was even considered.

Property ownership became a significant qualifier both for the right to participate in the island’s decision-making processes and, socially, to be at the top of the social ladder and centre of its social life.

There were two types of property: physical – land in large acreages; and human – the enslaved African possessions of their purchasers, who were used to provide labour on the estates. All landowners were white.

While land and labour went hand in hand, plantation agriculture was based on the expectation that large landowners would remain in control of the island and its resources; the enslaved black labourers would remain landless and under the control of their white owners.

From the very start of enslavement, the enslaved population indicated their dissatisfaction in a series of revolts during the 1770s. From the start of the 19th century there were signs all was not well in the sugar industry.

The problems intensified after emancipation, when it became clear to the white ruling class that the Africans also placed high value on land ownership, which the white plantation owners sought to prevent.

By the second half of the 19th century, Tobago’s sugar industry was ailing. While plantation owners ascribed this to problems of labour, they sought to maintain the conditions of enslavement and, most of all, to prevent their labour force becoming landowners by becoming more restrictive and exploitative of the freed Africans.

The misfortunes of the sugar industry provided the setting for the emergence of black landowners in Tobago.

However, the first group of non-white landowners were coloured (brown) people who inherited property from their white forebears.

One individual who played important roles in the administration of Tobago during the 1880s was Robert Crooks. He was a grandson of Margaret Campbell, the black housekeeper of white plantation owner Dugald Campbell – owner of Mt Grace, an estate of 100 acres and 70 enslaved workers. She bore him six children, to whom he willed his wealth.

Robert’s mother also had children by James Crooks, manager of Providence Estate and owner of Belmont Estate. He left the estate to Robert Crooks and his two other sons. Robert became a planter, owning Breeze Hall and Milford Estates in the 1880s. He became inspector of police, Speaker of the Assembly and provost marshal. His three sons also became planters. Thus a line of coloured planters