Clarence Gittens is the sole World War I solider buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in St Philip.
St Philip is on the eastern coast of Barbados and is in fact the largest parish on the island.
As the home of Grantley Adams International Airport, St Philip is often the first place visitors to the island see.
It isn’t terribly well developed at the moment but there is a keen awareness of the potential of the parish. For now though it remains unspoiled and if it were not for the temperature and the sunshine you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the English countryside.
The famous Crane Hotel is in St Philip. It is said to have been the first hotel on the island. All I know is that it makes the best baked potato I have ever tasted.
There are no major towns in St Philip. Buses tend to be signposted for places like Bushy Park which is the home of a motor racing track. I suspect it is also where most bus drivers do their training.
Other buses head for the intriguingly named Sam Lord’s Castle which was once a large mansion if not quite a castle. Sam Lord was a real person who lived between 1778 and 1844. He is probably best described as a pirate. Legend has it that he lured ships to the coral reefs off the coast of his estate by hanging lights in coconut trees to make passing ships think they were headed for Bridgetown. Once they ran aground on the reefs Sam would board the wrecks and take their cargo. Sam Lord’s Castle became a hotel but was then destroyed in a fire in 2010. It is said that his treasure lies beneath the old building.
St Philip Church lies in a quiet, almost deserted part of the parish in a small community called Church Village.
Like many of the churches in Barbados it has suffered through the ages with hurricanes. The first church was destroyed in the 1780 hurricane and rebuilt by 1786, but the 1831 hurricane destroyed this church. A new church was consecrated on 20 October 1836. Finally, disaster struck on Ash Wednesday 23 February 1977 when fire destroyed most of the church and much of its contents. The latest building was rededicated on 23 February 1978. It must be said that the current church has retained the majesty of the older churches but has also benefited from larger windows bringing an air of brightness and freshness to the church. I liked it a lot.
But churches are only as good as the people that attend them. As I walked around the graveyard a lady, perhaps in her 70s approached me. There was no one else around and the lady explained that she had to lock up the church and the grounds. Far from putting pressure on me to leave she asked if I wouldn’t mind locking up for her. I readily agreed and was left with the heady responsibility of securing the grounds by making sure the padlocks were secure when I left.
The lady told me she gets the bus to church every day except Fridays. There was joy in her voice when she told me they’d held a weekly service that day (Wednesday) and 50 people attended. What a wonderful person she was.
As luck would have it, I found the grave of Clarence Gittens very quickly. It was well maintained as can be seen from the photographs. I paid my respects then left the church – remembering to lock up.
Heading for the bus stop I could see the church lady waiting there also, something she’s done 6 days a week for, no doubt, many, many years. We nodded, smiled and said hello.
As ever it was hot and I was thirsty. The tiny village had a shop and I had to decide, do I want to risk missing the bus by going into the shop for a drink? I chose drink as I often do but this time it was of the non-alcoholic variety, the sun not yet being anywhere near over the yardarm.
I walked past a young boy standing at the entrance to the shop and ventured inside. It was in complete darkness. I had no idea whether it was open or not but decided to bluff it out and go to the drinks cabinet. I took a drink and went to pay. The shopkeeper told me there had been a power cut and it would “last until 4pm.” It was midday so I’m glad I got my drink before the cabinet became more like a microwave.
On my way out the young boy, who was about 13-year-old and clearly very shy, muttered something and handed me what looked like a sheet of raffle tickets. I was able to gather that he was going to play football in St Vincent with his school team and needed to raise money to pay for his fare. He had a sheet with 50 or so numbers and was selling each number for $1 Bajan. I’m not sure what the prize was for the winning number but I didn’t think it would justify an air fare back to Barbados to collect it. I gave him a $1 Bajan and some lose change.
I went back to the bus stop and the old lady. Perhaps her kind nature had a good effect on me but I kept looking across at the boy outside the shop. The place was deserted, I reckoned if he stood there for a year he wouldn’t sell 50 tickets. I also thought back on how important playing football was to me when I was his age. My conscience nagged at me. I decided to risk missing the bus and walked across to give him some more money. The look on his face when he quietly said, “thank you sir” would have made missing the bus a price worth paying but I managed to do a good deed, have a drink and still catch the bus.
The old lady got off after a few stops, a journey I hope she is still making to this day.
Although it’s a sleepy place, the biggest ever slave rebellion in Barbados began in St Philip. An African-born slave called Bussa worked on the Bayley Plantation in St Philip. He planned and led an uprising of around 400 slaves starting at the Bayley’s estate.
Slavery had been abolished by the British Parliament in 1807 and by the time of the uprising – in 1816 – slaves were growing impatient about when they were going to be granted their freedom. There had been a successful uprising in Haiti in 1791 and there was to be a large but unsuccessful revolt in Jamaica in 1831. Bussa and his followers had little chance of success against the well-armed militia and the struggle resulted in the Black soldiers of the West India Regiment fighting against the slaves. Bussa and 120 or so slaves were killed in battle and a further 144 of the rebels were executed.
Bussa is commemorated by a large, awe inspiring bronze statue called the Emancipation Statue which dominates a roundabout on the ABC Highway at Haggatt Hall, St Michael. The statue shows a slave rising and breaking from his chains.
The statue has the following inscription:
Lick an Lock-up Done Wid, Hurray fuh Jin-Jin [the Bajan name for Queen Victoria].
De Queen come from England to set we free
Now Lick an Lock-up Done Wid, Hurray fuh Jin-Jin
The words were chosen as they were the ones Bajans chanted when slavery was finally abolished on the island.
The words of the Abolition Act 1833 are inscribed on the other side of the statue.
In 1998 Bussa was named by the Barbados Parliament as one of the ten National Heroes of Barbados, the only non-Bajan to be given this accolade.
So Bussa was a hero from St Philip even though he wasn’t born in the parish. Clarence Gittens was both a hero and a local St Philip man. He’ll never have a roundabout named after him but he does have a War Grave.
What do we know about Clarence?
Well, he was born in St Philip on 27 September 1880. On 30 December 1900, he joined the Royal Navy. At the time of the Great Britain national census on 31 March 1901 Clarence was on board the British Naval ship, the Psyche off the coast of Bermuda. His occupation was shown as Domestic Third class. His naval records record him as a ‘man of colour’ and ‘single.’
The Psyche was at that time a relatively new light cruiser having been launched in Devenport, England in July 1898 and finally commissioned on 2 May 1899. She had a crew of around 200. At the time Clarence served on the ship it operated on the North America and West Indies station.
The ship was transferred to the Australian Squadron in 1903 and after a long history sank in Salamander Bay, New South Wales in 1940 following a storm.
He also served on board the Charybdis before leaving the Navy voluntarily in Bridgetown on 5 March 1902. His Captain on the Charybdis was Robert Archibald James Montgomerie, later to become a Rear-Admiral. King Edward VII appointed him as an Ordinary Member of the Third Class. I think it is safe to assume the Rear-Admiral’s ‘Third Class’ was significantly more distinguished than Clarence’s ‘Domestic Third Class.’
Clarence then disappears from trace until 11 July 1917 when he sailed to Europe with the 2nd contingent of volunteers of the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR). This would have made him 36 years of age when he enlisted, which was unusually old. On the balance of probabilities, the Clarence who served in the Royal Navy is the same Clarence that enlisted in 1917 but we cannot rule out the possibility that they were two different people.
Another Clarence Gittens born at about the same time as ‘our’ Clarence, emigrated to the United States in 1904. To further illustrate the confusion that can be caused by the same or similar names, one of the Petitioners supporting the other Clarence’s application for United States’ citizenship was his barber, one Garfield Sobers. I can categorically state that this man was not the Garfield Sobers who went on to become arguably the greatest cricketer of all time, was awarded a Knighthood and was named, along with Bussa, as one of the ten National Heroes of Barbados. He did cut a mean haircut though, I’m sure.
Clarence was assigned to the 8th Battalion of the BWIR as a Private. He served in Europe possibly in France or Flanders (North Belgium) but most certainly in Italy. His service number was 11174. He wouldn’t have fought on the front line as it was thought inappropriate to have Black soldiers fighting white European troops. BWIR troops therefore provided a valuable but somewhat demeaning role in servicing the needs of the front-line troops.
The conditions weren’t good and, like many soldiers, Clarence was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia on 22 April 1918. The chances of recovery were minimal and Clarence was declared medically unfit on 6 June 1918. He returned to Barbados via Cimino in Italy and Marseilles in France.
Clarence was entitled to the British Medal and the Victory medal but records show that he never claimed them.
He returned to Barbados where he died on 24 November 1919. So, no roundabout in his honour and not on anyone’s list of great Bajans but Clarence lived a life of service and died a hero in his home parish of St Philip.