Barking Lodge
Encyclopedia
Barking Lodge is a small village close to the south-east coast of the Caribbean
island of Jamaica
and located in the parish of St. Thomas
within the county of Surrey
.
Barking Lodge was once a small sugar estate
spanning 350 acres (1.4 km²) and worked by 150 slaves at the time of emancipation when the property belonged to Philip Forsyth and the heirs of Robert Lindsay, having been owned in 1811 by the heirs of Ambrose S. Carter.
Ambrose S. Carter appears to have first settled the estate in the 1770s. Upon his death in the early 1790s, the plantation may have descended to the Forsyth and Lindsay families into whom Carter's daughters had married whilst other daughters made union with the Dickinson and Worsfold families. Sons of Carter's became proprietors of the Essex, Wilmington and Newmarket estates whilst another branch of the family settled at Bath.
The prevalence of the name Carter in this quarter of St Thomas may be attributed to the Carters' slaveholding. The names Carter, Forsyth and Lindsay are those native to Barking Lodge.
When sugar production was abandoned in 1847, Barking Lodge amalgamated with the nearby properties of Unity and Airy Mount under the ownership of Alexander Barclay who came to Jamaica from England in 1805 and authored A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies, an apologia for slavery.
Barclay led a notable public life, serving as Custos and Assemblyman for St. Thomas parish, then known as St. Thomas-in-the-East, but continues to spark controversy.
When the global financial institution Barclays Bank was accused of having historical links with the slave trade by which the firm profited, Alexander Barclay was presumed to be one of the slave-holding Barclays who had founded the company.
Though Barclays refute those accusations and claim categorically that there is no connection, members of the black community in America angrily protested in 2007 at the bank's sponsorship of the New Jersey Nets
basketball arena located in the Brooklyn
area, largely populated by Afro-Americans.
All interested parties are encouraged to make enquiries to barkinglodge[at]hotmail[dot]com to follow the progress of this group.
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and located in the parish of St. Thomas
Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica
Saint Thomas is a suburban parish that is situated at the south eastern end of Jamaica, in the county of Surrey. It is the birth place of The right Honorable Paul Bogle, one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes...
within the county of Surrey
Surrey, Jamaica
Surrey is the easternmost and the smallest by area of the three historic counties into which Jamaica is divided. It has no current-day administrative significance...
.
Barking Lodge was once a small sugar estate
Sugar plantations in the Caribbean
The sugar cane plant was the main crop produced on the numerous plantations throughout the Caribbean through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as almost every island was covered with sugar plantations and mills for refining the cane for its sweet properties. The main source of labor was African...
spanning 350 acres (1.4 km²) and worked by 150 slaves at the time of emancipation when the property belonged to Philip Forsyth and the heirs of Robert Lindsay, having been owned in 1811 by the heirs of Ambrose S. Carter.
Ambrose S. Carter appears to have first settled the estate in the 1770s. Upon his death in the early 1790s, the plantation may have descended to the Forsyth and Lindsay families into whom Carter's daughters had married whilst other daughters made union with the Dickinson and Worsfold families. Sons of Carter's became proprietors of the Essex, Wilmington and Newmarket estates whilst another branch of the family settled at Bath.
The prevalence of the name Carter in this quarter of St Thomas may be attributed to the Carters' slaveholding. The names Carter, Forsyth and Lindsay are those native to Barking Lodge.
When sugar production was abandoned in 1847, Barking Lodge amalgamated with the nearby properties of Unity and Airy Mount under the ownership of Alexander Barclay who came to Jamaica from England in 1805 and authored A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies, an apologia for slavery.
Barclay led a notable public life, serving as Custos and Assemblyman for St. Thomas parish, then known as St. Thomas-in-the-East, but continues to spark controversy.
When the global financial institution Barclays Bank was accused of having historical links with the slave trade by which the firm profited, Alexander Barclay was presumed to be one of the slave-holding Barclays who had founded the company.
Though Barclays refute those accusations and claim categorically that there is no connection, members of the black community in America angrily protested in 2007 at the bank's sponsorship of the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
basketball arena located in the Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
area, largely populated by Afro-Americans.
Friends of Barking Lodge Group
In late 2011, a group was proposed with the principal aims of collecting and preserving a wide range of sources relating to the village and as serving as a central point of contact for former and present residents. It is also hoped that a map and photographs of the village will be published.All interested parties are encouraged to make enquiries to barkinglodge[at]hotmail[dot]com to follow the progress of this group.