The Domestic Architecture of the Earliest British Colonies in the American Tropics
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE EARLIEST BRITISH COLONIES IN THE AMERICAN TROPICS: A STUDY OF THE HOUSES OF THE CARIBBEAN ‘LEEWARD’ ISLANDS OF ST. CHRISTOPHER, NEVIS, ANTIGUA AND MONTSERRAT. 1624-1726. A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty By Daphne Louise Hobson In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology December, 2007. Copyright © Daphne Louise Hobson 2007 THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE EARLIEST BRITISH COLONIES IN THE AMERICAN TROPICS: A STUDY OF THE HOUSES OF THE CARIBBEAN ‘LEEWARD’ ISLANDS OF ST. CHRISTOPHER, NEVIS, ANTIGUA AND MONTSERRAT. 1624-1726. Approved by: Dr. Ronald Lewcock, Advisor Dr. Jay D Edwards College of Architecture Dept. of Geography and Georgia Institute of Technology. Anthropology Louisiana State University. Dr. Elizabeth Dowling Dr. Louis Nelson College of Architecture School of Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology. University of Virginia. Dr. Sonit Bafna Date Approved: College of Architecture August 27, 2007. Georgia Institute of Technology. To my husband, Ted. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee of Dr. Ronald Lewcock, Dr. Elizabeth Dowling and Dr. Sonit Bafna. I thank Dr. Lewcock for guiding me through this search for a ‘forgotten’ architecture. I value Dr. Dowling’s insightful comments during the dissertation work and her steady support during my entire time at Georgia Tech. Dr. Bafna’s expectant attitude made a significant contribution to the study because it encouraged me to deeper analysis of the historical material. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Edwards and Dr. Nelson, who acted as external readers and encouraged me to pursue this topic from an early stage. This research project benefited from the assistance of persons too numerous to thank individually. However, I must mention the help given by Mrs. Lornette Hanley and Ms. Gail Dore of the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society; Mrs. Victoria O’Flaherty, the Director of the National Archives of St. Kitts, Mrs. Jackie Armony formerly of the St. Christopher Heritage Society; and Lady Ferguson of the Montserrat National Trust. Many thanks to those institutions which permitted me to include images from their collections in this study, and for the industry of the staff of the Information Delivery Department at the Georgia Tech Library who accessed hundreds of books, articles and microfilms on my behalf. iv I appreciate the friends and fellow students who went out of their way to help me. I would like to recognize the hospitality of Margaret and Jeff Turner, who accommodated me during a long stint of research in the UK; the help of David Small of Bristol, who revealed the location of rare documents; and the comments of Alice Vialard, who reviewed my translations of seventeenth-century French texts. I thank Dr. Mary Spooner for her invaluable advice and guidance through the entire doctoral process. Most importantly, I would like to record my gratitude to Ted for his resolute emotional and financial support, and to Farida, Justin, Cabral and Elaine, for their nonchalant confidence in this endeavor. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... iii SUMMARY..................................................................................................................... xix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 1.1 Intention of the Study...................................................................................1 1.2 Geography....................................................................................................4 1.3 Settlement and Governance .......................................................................11 1.4 Immigration and Populations.....................................................................16 1.5 Setbacks and Hazards ................................................................................23 1.6 Land Distribution.......................................................................................27 1.7 Economic Development.............................................................................30 1.8 References..................................................................................................35 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE RELATING TO THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS: 1624-1727..................................................38 2.2 Cultural Issues in Early Colonial Architecture of the Americas................55 2.3 Investigations by Archaeologists and Geographers...................................64 CHAPTER 3: ARCHIVAL RESEARCH, ANALYSIS OF THE DATA, AND CONTEXT.......................................................................................88 3.1 Archival Research and Analysis Of the Data ...........................................88 3.2 The Domestic Architecture of the Major Groups of Settlers.....................97 3.3 References ................................................................................................124 CHAPTER 4: THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ........................................................126 4.1 The Settlement Landscape and Towns ....................................................126 4.2 Houses in the Proprietary Period. 1624-1628..........................................133 4.3 St. Christophers.1670-1700.....................................................................146 4.4 Montserrat. 1673......................................................................................160 4.5 Nevis. 1687..............................................................................................180 4.6 Summary..................................................................................................187 vi CHAPTER 5: THE HOUSES OF ST.CHRISTOPHER IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.....................................................................191 5.1 The Houses of the British in St. Christopher. 1706 .................................191 5.2 The Houses in the Former French Lands. 1726.......................................266 5.3 References................................................................................................287 CHAPTER 6: THE ‘LARGE HOUSES’ OF ANTIGUA AND NEVIS IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ........................................288 6.1 Betty’s Hope, Antigua .............................................................................294 6.2 The Large Houses and Mansions of Nevis. 1696-1722...........................288 6.3 Summary..................................................................................................326 6.4 References................................................................................................328 CHAPTER7: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................................331 7.1 Summary of the Study .............................................................................331 7.2 Conclusions..............................................................................................346 7.3 Recommendations for future research .....................................................357 7.4 References................................................................................................360 ......................................................................................................... APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... A. Report on Major Archives Visited........................................................ B. Report on Minor Archives Visited........................................................ C. Glossary ................................................................................................ D. Vita........................................................................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES. Table 1.1 The Population of the Leeward Islands compiled from various Sources: 1624-1726 ...................................................................................22 Table 1.2 Partial List of Treaties, Warfare and Hostilities in the Leeward Islands: 1624-1726......................................................................23 Table 1.3 Schedule of hurricanes based on Poey’s Chronological Table of 400 Cyclonic hurricanes that occurred in the West Indies and in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1493 to 1855. ...........................................26 Table 1.4 Trade Statistics compiled from E. Schumpeter’s English Overseas Trade Statistics: 1697-1808 [1960] ...........................................34 Table 4.1 Partial Transcript of an Inventory of the estate of Captain Christopher Jeaffreson taken by us Lt. Zachariah Rice and Lt. Francis Kerie. 29 July, 1685...............................................................152 Table 5.1 Distribution of Roof Finishes of the Residences .....................................213 Table 5.2 Partial Transcript of an Inventory of the Household Effects lost by Mrs. Susanna and Mary Coles when the French Invaded this Island in February and March 1706 ....................................225 Table