Historical Notes

UNION ISLAND

“Union Island… An Historical and Geographic Sketch” by John Adams (Caribbean Studies volume 18)

“…In 1791 Great Britain partitioned the Grenadines into two separate administrative units with the northern islands (i.e. Union Island, Mayero, Canouan, Mustique and Bequia) being placed under the jurisdiction of St.Vincent, and the southern islands remaining with Grenada. This action allowed for greater efficiency in administering the Grenadines since the northern islands were remote from Grenada and difficult to reach.{{more}}

Throughout the tumultuous 1770s and 1780s the planters of Union Island directed the important tasks of clearing the land for crops and building roads, wharves, cisterns, and houses. A considerable investment was also made in slaves during this period.

The main export of the Island was Marie Galante cotton that was first cultivated in Carriacou and conveyed to the other islands in the chain by the English. The rapid expansion of cotton cultivation in the Grenadines and other British colonies in the eighteenth century was stimulated by the high price offered for the product by the British textile industry which demanded large quantities of the fibre. Since a slave could clean only one or two pounds of cotton per day, only a limited quantity was available for export. The invention of the cotton gin in the United States in 1791 greatly increased production in the southern states, resulting in falling prices for the raw material. …Union Island exported 115,000 lbs of cotton in 1776. This figure represented the total production of two large estates and three small holdings. The five properties listed in 1776 were later consolidated into one estate owned by Samuel Span. Span’s heirs continued to manage the 2600 acre island estate until the middle of the nineteenth century at which time it was sold to a Major Collins of St.Vincent. The Span dynasty in Union Island lasted nearly three quarters of a century.

In keeping with his wealth and status as a large planter, Span built a large stone mansion on a high hill overlooking Clifton harbour. A large cistern collected the rain water from the ‘great house’. A small fort with nine-pound cannons was located nearby.

In 1776 the slave population of Union Island numbered 503, of whom the majority resided at Ashton on the south coast, while the remainder lived at Clifton on the southeast corner of the island. Ashton boasted a large productive vale running north of the village, but it had a poor harbour. Clifton, on the other hand, had a suitable harbour for vessels and it was at this site that a small wharf was constructed to handle maritime traffic moving in and out of the island.

(The metayer system)- …at Mirou (Mayero) and Canouan no fixed wages are paid to the labourers; at both he has unlimited provision grounds; in the former receiving in addition to one half on the cotton crop and two-thirds of the corn crop, with an understanding that if the latter is not sufficient for their maintenance, they are to have the whole).

The Metayer system worked differently in Union Island…the proprietor allotted each family one acre for cotton and corn, in addition to unlimited provision grounds in the hilly areas. Tenants received one-third of the value of the cotton crop after shipping expenses were deducted and two-thirds of the corn crop, which was planted between the rows of cotton.

…In 1881 the entire population of Union Island worked as tenant agricultural labourers. In that year the …Census reported 244 males and 400 females totalling 644 inhabitants of whom 80 percent resided in Ashton and the remainder in Clifton…(Ten years later, in 1891)…”poverty was stamped on everything in the island…the huts of the peasants were built with wattled sides and thatched roofs and they were poverty-stricken hovels” but poverty was not restricted to the peasants. The proprietor Charles Mulzac leased the 2, 600 acre island estate from Major K. Collins of St.Vincent for £150. Though he probably raised enough money to pay the lease, he couldn’t afford the tax on two old, frail horses. The proprietor lived in the old stone mansion built by Samuel Span a century earlier on a hill overlooking Clifton and its harbour, but it leaked and was in a bad state of repair…”