Trip from Trinidad - 11 - Nearly Home

Dear Phoebe and Philip,

We are nearing our journey’s end. We are past the Canary Islands and almost up to Portugal.

I think that I will send these letters to you one by one, when I get to Britain. Otherwise, they will miss their impact. It will cost more in postage, but I think 10 huge letters all stuck together you would probably not even read all of. I didn’t go to all of this effort only to have you not read it.

The film Chicago, was well produced, but not a very pleasant subject. There was a play on which the film was based, and it was a true story about a murder committed by housewife Beulah Sheriff Annan and cabaret singer Belva Gaertner. In April 1924, Annan shot her lover in her own apartment. Some reports claim that while the man lay dying, Annan kept busy sipping cocktails and listening to a foxtrot recording on her victrola. The previous month, Gaertner had shot her married lover to death.

Amos unscrupulous attorney, was based on mob lawyer William W. O’Brien, who represented Annan (Roxie in the film) at her trial. O’Brien concocted a fake pregnancy for his client in order to help her get an acquittal — and indeed she was found innocent. Gaertner’s lawyers used similar tactics for their client, and also got an acquittal.

The film itself was produced by Cecil DeMille, but he didn’t want his name connected to it.

At the end of the film, Amos sends Roxie away, for even though the naughty girl was found innocent by the U.S. justice system she remains guilty in the eyes of the gods. Thus, she must be punished.…

"Roxie struck so many keys of emotion, one following the other with such rapidity that she made herself hard to follow. We were told that the actress who played the part said this: Did I enjoy her? Of course, but she kept me jumping. I don’t believe I have ever worked so hard on a single person as I did on Roxie, but then of course, I consider her the best characterization I have ever had." Phyllis Haver in the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26, 1928.

Well I have a few more passengers to introduce you to. A mother and daughter, Edith and Louie Krell are returning to England after the death of Mr. Krell in Trinidad. They mostly keep to themselves.

Charles Haynes, a merchant from Barbados, and his wife Helen are going to London for a long break and some business. We see very little of them.

The Hiscocks, Thomas and Agnes, were a bit more interesting, in that they lived in British Guiana. He is a manager for an outlet of the firm Booker Brothers, Mc Connell and Co, London. He said he had been working for them for more than thirty years, so they went out when he was just a young man. I think the company produces mainly dry goods.

The Johnsons are quite a nice couple - from the Channel Islands. I made sure they knew about the connection of the Tikklepennys with Ada from Guernsey. I know they are not the same place, but you never know. Edward, is a retired civil servant and his wife Irene is a good 10-15 years younger.

Edward Booker and wife Emily, from Colombia, is an accountant, going to Gloucestershire.

I can’t imagine why I should think you would be interested in all these people - except for the ones like Margaret with her fabulous daughter. So perhaps I won’t go and list the rest after all. They are a mottley bunch, a meat salesman, a few mining engineers, a few more merchants, a barrister and a few nurses.

One man who everyone noticed was Edmund Baeza, because he is a Jew, and wore his little skull cap at all times. He had been living in Barbados, where he worked as a merchant, but was returning to England to retire. He was considered the Caribbean island's last Jewish resident, as he sold the synagogue which had been capable of accommodating 300 congregants a few years ago. Baeza donated the proceeds of the sale, amounting to 500 British pounds, to the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London. 

There had been a longstanding relationship between Bevis Marks Synagogue - which follows the Sephardic rite - and the synagogue in Barbados, which was established approximately in 1654 by  immigrants from Brazil. While the exact date that the first Jewish settlers arrived in Barbados is not known, it is believed it was as early as 1628 - one year after British settlement on this Caribbean island began. Since Baeza sold the synagogue building to Henry Graham Yearwood, it has been used for a variety of purposes, including as a law library, turf club and warehouse.

E.M. Shilstone, a local historian, had proposed to Baeza that the synagogue be maintained as a monument to Barbados' early Jewish settlers, among whom were members of the de Mercado family,who were credited with bringing to Barbados the sugar refining industry.  After Baeza rejected his offer of a lower amount of money for the synagogue building, Shilstone carefully photographed the interior of the synagogue as well as the inscriptions on the gravestones in the cemetery.

Well this is more than enough for one letter. The ship is getting a bit more unsteady and the temperature definitely cooler as we head into our destination. I can hardly believe we will be landing in just over a day.

Love

Grandma Louise

 *****

May 13th

 

Dear Phoebe and Philip,

Well, our last day was very exciting and I waited until after dinner to write this to tell you all about it.

Being at the end of the alphabet, we were among the last 10 to dine with our Captain, F. H. Swain. I never did find out what the initials stand for, but he did acknowledge that he comes from Portsmouth, and mentioned a hobby of photography in his youth, before he set to sea. I would guess him to be in his late 50’s or early 60’s. I had saved my fanciest dress for this last meal. I expect we all had the same food - but it was definitely the best from the whole trip. And we all had champagne too. I just loved the taste of it, and have to admit I drank more than I normally would have done and got just the littlest big tiddly.

I was seated on one side of the Captain, and on his other was Annie Watson, and elderly lady from Scotland, who with her daughter, Alexandra, was having the trip of a lifetime, paid for by her eight children. They had both really enjoyed Jamaica and were full of stories of their time there. They arrived in time for the Carnival, and really got involved in it. Good for her. I hope I have that much energy when I am 74.

Your grandfather was seated almost opposite me, and on one side, he had Alexandra Watson, the youngest daughter, and a very pretty and shy girl. Ebenezer was at his most charming, to try to make her feel at ease. Next to her sat Roderick’s valet, Thomas Ward from Scotland. Next to him were Henry and Kathleen Welch, who had been working in Egypt, but were now were retiring to Leicestershire. He is a doctor.

Then towards the other end of the table we had Geoffrey Williams, aged 78 (he told us) and his two grandchildren, Mack, aged 7 and Vivian, aged 9. They had a very sad story to tell about how the children’s parents who lived on the island had died in a motoring accident and he had come from Beaumarais in Anglesey to bring them back to live with him. They were very quiet and sweet children, perhaps as overawed by being with the Captain as I was.

I will repeat exactly what he asked me.

“Mrs. Tree, do tell me how you happen to be on this ship? And have you enjoyed the voyage?”

“Yes, Captain Swain, we have both enjoyed it very much. That is my husband, Ebeneezer, across there. He is a clergyman and we have been working in Trinidad these last 35 years or more. Now it is time for us to retire, and we are going back to England to see if we can find a suitable house.”

“And will you work as a clergyman back in England, Rev. Tree?” he asked.

“Clergymen seldom get to have a complete retirement, Captain. We are heading to a little village north of Worcester, and I daresay the Vicar of that parish will need a replacement for when he is ill or away, and will value my services, even if I am getting old.”

“Who are you to talk of old?” said Geoffrey Williams. “You can say that when you have another ten years beneath your belt, as I have.”

Everyone laughed.

“And tell me, Mrs. Tree’’

“Please call me Louise,” I said, and then blushed. I guess it was the champagne but I felt like he had singled me out, and I was thrilled with his attention.

“Louise, then,” he started again, “where did you come from before you went to Trinidad?”

“My family, who were the Maunds, (they also have ministers in the family but my brother is a Wesleyan) and our very big family lived in Bath. But we were all cousins, us and the Trees and the Arrowsmiths. We’d known each other all our lives. The Trees lived in Worcester mostly and the Arrowsmiths in Bristol, mostly. You probably have heard of the Arrowsmiths, Captain,” I added. “James Arrowsmith is a famous publisher in Bristol and his father, Isaac and grandfather, also Isaac, were very important in the publishing business.”

Then realising that I was dominating the conversation, I would have stopped talking, but he was continuing to look at and encourage me. “Yes, I am sure that I have noticed the name Arrowsmith, Publishers, on some of my books, and in future, when I do so, I will think of them being your relatives, Louise.”

And not wanting to exclude Ebeneezer from the conversation, he said, “And where was your church in Trinidad, Rev. Tree?”

“I still am at All Saints Church in Queen’s Park West in the capitol,” he said. “They have not yet got someone to replace me, so I agreed to go back for another year, so we will be doing the return journey in about three month’s time.”

“But you have definitely planned to retire to England?”

“Oh yes. Louise has four unmarried sisters who live in the village where we are going, and she would love to have some time to catch up with them and their lives. I’m about the only one left alive in my family, but as Louise mentioned, we are all like one big family.”

And I won’t repeat all of the rest of the conversation, but you can see that I was the centre of the Captain’s attention. Then after the meal, we had to exchange addresses and such with all our new found friends, for with packing and all tomorrow, we won’t have time.

We will dock about lunchtime, and then I will send off the first of my collected letters to you. We will be taking the train up to Worcester, and will be met by my sister Christiana, the youngest, who owns a motor car. And tomorrow night we will be at their house, Frenchtown in Lower Broadheath, with Katie and Edith and Maud as well.

And no doubt I will have time, somewhere in our busy schedule to send you another note or two over the months we are here. I am hoping I will have a pile of letters from you waiting for me when we arrive. But if not, I am sure you will send me your news as soon as you can. I miss you both very much.

Love

Grandma Louise