The Slave Master of Trinidad: William Hardin Burnley and the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World

by Selwyn R. Cudjoe

Overview

William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850) was the largest slave owner in Trinidad during the nineteenth century. Born in the United States to English parents, he settled on the island in 1802 and became one of its most influential citizens and a prominent agent of the British Empire. A central figure among elite and moneyed transnational slave owners, Burnley moved easily through the Atlantic world of the Caribbean, the United States, Great Britain, and Europe, and counted among his friends Alexis de Tocqueville, British politician Joseph Hume, and prime minister William Gladstone.

In this first full-length biography of Burnley, Selwyn R. Cudjoe chronicles the life of Trinidad's "founding father" and sketches the social and cultural milieu in which he lived. Reexamining the decades of transition from slavery to freedom through the lens of Burnley's life, The Slave Master of Trinidad demonstrates that the legacies of slavery persisted in the new post-emancipation society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625343703
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	11/01/2018
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	721,827
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Selwyn R. Cudjoe is professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College and author of V. S. Naipaul: A Materialist Reading.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations xi

Prologue Burnley at Orange Grove xiii

Acknowledgments xix

Chapter 1 Burnley's Emergence 1

Chapter 2 Burnley's Schooling 6

Chapter 3 Burnley's Entrance to Trinidad 11

Chapter 4 The Coming of Ralph Woodford 17

Chapter 5 Opposition to Emancipation from Tacarigua 24

Chapter 6 Toward Planter Control of the Colony 30

Chapter 7 Life on the Plantation 38

Chapter 8 Burnley's Ascendancy 47

Chapter 9 Declaration of Independence 53

Chapter 10 Brighter Horizons 59

Chapter 11 Monstrous Unnatural Results 66

Chapter 12 Opinions on Slavery and Emancipation 73

Chapter 13 The Politics of Compensation 80

Chapter 14 The New Society 86

Chapter 15 Preparing for Emancipation 93

Chapter 16 Burnley's Views on Apprenticeship 99

Chapter 17 Apprenticeship: Making It Work for Him 104

Chapter 18 The Virtues of Land Possession 112

Chapter 19 An Artful Enemy 119

Chapter 20 Changing Fortunes 125

Chapter 21 Burnley's Immigration Initiatives 131

Chapter 22 The Road to Prosperity 137

Chapter 23 Burnley's Changing Racial Rhetoric 143

Chapter 24 A Continuing Quest for Labor 150

Chapter 25 Visiting Family in Virginia 155

Chapter 26 Burnley and the Question of Free Labor 161

Chapter 27 The Evil of Squatting 167

Chapter 28 Policing the Negroes 175

Chapter 29 Waging War against Africans 180

Chapter 30 Domestic Matters 185

Chapter 31 Land Occupation 191

Chapter 32 The New Order of Things 196

Chapter 33 The Great Railway Debate 202

Chapter 34 Toward Modernity 208

Chapter 35 The Agony of Despair 218

Chapter 36 Burnley's Callousness 224

Chapter 37 The Voice of the People 231

Chapter 38 Burnley's Declining Significance 237

Chapter 39 Living Like a Lord 243

Chapter 40 The Laborers' Rebellion 249

Chapter 41 Burnley Confronted 256

Chapter 42 Revolutionary Ideas 263

Chapter 43 A New Consciousness 269

Chapter 44 The Island of Babel 276

Chapter 45 Fading Glory 283

Chapter 46 Cessation 290

Chapter 47 Resurgam 297

Notes 305

Index 333

Illustrations follow page 166.

What People are Saying About This

William Julius Wilson

The dynamic ending of the transatlantic trade system and the processes of slave emancipation in the British West Indies are brought into sharper focus in Selwyn R. Cudjoe'sThe Slave Master of Trinidad.These events and their impact on the colony of Trinidad are clearly captured in Cudjoe's meticulous biography of William Hardin Burnley, a very powerful figure of this era.

Robin Blackburn

In this well-researchedand highlyreadablenarrative there is a puzzle. Despite all his wealth and power William Hardin Burnley wasconsistently on the losing side in all the great controversies of the time, whether it was flogging female slaves, imposing 'apprenticeship,' educating the black population, freeing the slaves,enfranchising the freedmen, or a dozen other causes whichwere won because the former slaves themselves would not accept half-measures. Selwyn Cudjoe's engrossing study is a classic.

Arnold Rampersad

Selwyn Cudjoe's resurrection of William Hardin Burnley is both an invaluable piece of Caribbean and British cultural history and also a work buoyed by perhaps its moving centralirony -- that the former English slave master Burnley lives again, rescued from oblivion, only because of the intellectual diligence and thegenerosityof adirectdescendant of the very community of people in Trinidad that Burnley lorded over and saw mainly as brainless property.Professor Cudjoe gives us here another judicious,disciplinedlesson in the importance of scrutinizing our past, warts and all.

Bridget Brereton

An original work that will appeal to academics, university students, and general readers studying Trinidad and Caribbean history in the late slavery and emancipation periods.

Nicholas Draper

The Slave Master of Trinidad is an unbelievably bold book that retells the story of slavery, emancipation, and indentured labor through an account of Burnley's life and work.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

In this fascinating biography of William Hardin Burnley, Selwyn R. Cudjoe presents a figure who was a leading opponent of the abolishment of slavery in Trinidad. This beautifully written and meticulously researched account of Burnley's life unfolds the story of a planter who was born in America, educated in England, and made his fortune in the Caribbean. Measured in tone, this book not only exposes Burnley's public and private racism, but also places his life in context of the greater historical currents of the first half of the 19th century Atlantic world. Cudjoe has written a volume essential to a full understanding of the history of Trinidad.

Editorial Reviews

"The Slave Master of Trinidad is an unbelievably bold book that retells the story of slavery, emancipation, and indentured labor through an account of Burnley's life and work."—Nicholas Draper, author of The Price of Emancipation: Slave-Ownership, Compensation, and British Society at the End of Slavery

"In this fascinating biography of William Hardin Burnley, Selwyn R. Cudjoe presents a figure who was a leading opponent of the abolishment of slavery in Trinidad. This beautifully written and meticulously researched account of Burnley's life unfolds the story of a planter who was born in America, educated in England, and made his fortune in the Caribbean. Measured in tone, this book not only exposes Burnley's public and private racism, but also places his life in context of the greater historical currents of the first half of the 19th century Atlantic world. Cudjoe has written a volume essential to a full understanding of the history of Trinidad."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

"Selwyn Cudjoe's resurrection of William Hardin Burnley is both an invaluable piece of Caribbean and British cultural history and also a work buoyed by perhaps its moving central irony—that the former English slave master Burnley lives again, rescued from oblivion, only because of the intellectual diligence and the generosity of a direct descendant of the very community of people in Trinidad that Burnley lorded over and saw mainly as brainless property. Professor Cudjoe gives us here another judicious, disciplined lesson in the importance of scrutinizing our past, warts and all."—Arnold Rampersad, author of Ralph Ellison: A Biography

"In this well-researched and highly readable narrative there is a puzzle. Despite all his wealth and power William Hardin Burnley was consistently on the losing side in all the great controversies of the time, whether it was flogging female slaves, imposing 'apprenticeship,' educating the black population, freeing the slaves, enfranchising the freedmen, or a dozen other causes which were won because the former slaves themselves would not accept half-measures. Selwyn Cudjoe's engrossing study is a classic."—Robin Blackburn, author of The American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights

"The dynamic ending of the transatlantic trade system and the processes of slave emancipation in the British West Indies are brought into sharper focus in Selwyn R. Cudjoe's The Slave Master of Trinidad. These events and their impact on the colony of Trinidad are clearly captured in Cudjoe's meticulous biography of William Hardin Burnley, a very powerful figure of this era."—William Julius Wilson, author of More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City

"An original work that will appeal to academics, university students, and general readers studying Trinidad and Caribbean history in the late slavery and emancipation periods."—Bridget Brereton, author of A History of Modern Trinidad, 1783-1962

"The Slave Master of Trinidad is a beautifully crafted book about an influential character in our country's history . . . While this book is about Burnley, each chapter allows us to see a moving perspective of different aspects of Trinidadian society over the decades of slavery and beyond. Burnley wrote prolifically and was the subject of much correspondence. We have benefited from these details as a result of Prof. Cudjoe's meticulous research."—The Trinidad Express

"[A]n important contribution to the historiography of nineteenth-century Trinidad . . . it sheds light on the multi-faceted connections between Trinidad and the Caribbean, on the one hand, and the metropolitan power on the other, in the decades before and after Britain's decision to free the enslaved people in its colonial empire."—Tout Moun

"Telling the history of emancipation in Trinidad through this biography highlights planters' resistance to losing their enslaved labor suppy and their ideological and economic arguments for retaining various forms of unfree labor . . . The result is a satisfying history of Trinidad in the era of emancipation."—CHOICE

[A] fascinating description of the first half-century of British rule in Trinidad . . . The political biography that is the armature of this book is true insight into the mind of a man who sought to shape the colony in the image he desired. This sort of historiography should be encouraged; we would acquire a deeper understanding of our colonial past, and the world our ancestors sought to build for themselves and their descendants."—Caribbean Quarterly

"Cudjoe's scholarship in The Slave Master of Trinidad is a lucid, expressive mechanism, unveiling heinous doctrines that were normalised through Atlantic slave commerce. This impressive character study of Burnley in his era reveals how one man became a titan of industry while wielding the bloodiest of ledgers."—Caribbean Beat

"A life-and-times study, this biographical account tells the story of late slavery, emancipation, apprenticeship, and indentured labor on the island of Trinidad through the life of a singular individual."—New West Indian Guide

"By the time we reach the final pages [of The Slave Master of Trinidad] we have read a fascinating description of the first half-century of British rule in Trinidad . . . This sort of historiography should be encouraged; we would acquire a deeper understanding of our colonial past, and the world our ancestors sought to build for themselves and their descendants."—Caribbean Quarterly

From the Publisher

Cudjoe's scholarship in The Slave Master of Trinidad is a lucid, expressive mechanism, unveiling heinous doctrines that were normalised through Atlantic slave commerce. This impressive character study of Burnley in his era reveals how one man became a titan of industry while wielding the bloodiest of ledgers.

Caribbean Beat

Telling the history of emancipation in Trinidad through this biography highlights planters' resistance to losing their enslaved labor suppy and their ideological and economic arguments for retaining various forms of unfree labor... The result is a satisfying history of Trinidad in the era of emancipation.

CHOICE

[A]n important contribution to the historiography of nineteenth-century Trinidad... it sheds light on the multi-faceted connections between Trinidad and the Caribbean, on the one hand, and the metropolitan power on the other, in the decades before and after Britain's decision to free the enslaved people in its colonial empire.

Tout Moun

The Slave Master of Trinidad is a beautifully crafted book about an influential character in our country's history... While this book is about Burnley, each chapter allows us to see a moving perspective of different aspects of Trinidadian society over the decades of slavery and beyond. Burnley wrote prolifically and was the subject of much correspondence. We have benefited from these details as a result of Prof. Cudjoe's meticulous research.

The Trinidad Express