Paraclete Plantation, Grenada

This painting, made by Scottish artist Adam Callander (1750-1817) in 1789, depicts part of the Paraclete plantation on Grenada in the Caribbean. This plantation was situated on the eastern side towards the centre of the island. The land, originally covered in tropical rainforest, had been cleared under earlier French rule. Paraclete plantation was purchased in 1764 under shared ownership between Ninian (1732-95) and Penelope Home, the second owners of Paxton House, and a number of others, including Patrick Home (1728-1808), the builder of Paxton House and later MP for Berwickshire. Patrick sold his third share in 1770.

What the painting shows us

Callander has shown the view looking east from the plantation house (one of a set of eight paintings). Four enslaved men are gardening the manicured grounds around the house. They are wearing heavy duty coarse linen shirts and breeches and seem to be barefoot. A white man is seated under the tree; this is likely to have been the enslaver Ninian Home depicted with his dog.

The stepped water feature was not just an attractive addition to the garden, like those you might find in a British country estate, but had a purpose – to float cut sugar cane down to the sugar processing sheds beyond. It would have been constructed, like almost everything in the image, by enslaved people.

In the middle distance are the homes of the enslaved people – small wooden houses which would have been crammed with people living cheek by jowl. Enslaved people were given small plots on which to grow vegetables for themselves to supplement imported food provided by the Homes. The enslaved people were forced to work extremely long hours mainly in sugar production, but they also produced coffee, cocoa, and nutmeg. Anyone using these products in their drinks or food in Britain, Europe and elsewhere was helping to sustain slavery.

The Slave System

Many of the enslaved people at Paraclete and at Waltham, Ninian’s other plantation, were purchased by Ninian Home when they arrived at Grenada from western Africa, or from other enslavers. Sometimes, Ninian purchased enslaved people from other places in the Caribbean and transported those he and others owned between different plantations.

The African people would have endured some form of capture from inland regions and been forced to march for up to three months, depending on where they had been captured, carrying ivory tusks and other valued products to coastal forts. They would have been threatened, beaten and assaulted. From the forts they were forced onto slave ships where conditions were horrific. During the course of the slave trade, two million died during these journeys and countless others had their life expectancy drastically shortened due to harsh plantation conditions and illnesses. On arrival in the Caribbean, North and South America the surviving people were sold at markets where they were enslaved, given different names and forced to work for the rest of their lives. If they had children, their children were enslaved from the moment they were born, seen as the property of the enslaver.

The Fédon Rebellion

In the year this was painted, the French Revolution commenced. This inspired former French colonies, including Grenada, which led to an uprising in 1795 lasting almost a year. During that time, around 7,000 enslaved people died and Ninian Home, who had been appointed Governor of Grenada just two years before, was killed in Julien Fédon’s camp on Mount Qua Qua. The uprising was defeated and enslavement continued there for another 40 years. Paraclete plantation was destroyed during the uprising and it left the Home family’s ownership sometime between 1796 and 1817, but probably by c.1800.

Today, the site of Paraclete plantation is covered in lush tropical plants with the village of Paraclete amongst it. Paraclete Government School is also in the village. Grenadian people grow and harvest many fruits, vegetables and spices, particularly nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon and turmeric. Grenada became known as the Spice Island in the 19^th century and its principal exports now include cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, banana, mango and avocado.

The Paxton House Story

The connections with slavery and Paxton House are being researched further and new trails and a permanent exhibition will be put in place by summer 2022 in partnership with Descendants. This work is supported with generous funding from Museums Galleries Scotland and another funder.

Blog by Dr Fiona Salvesen Murrell, Consultant Curator, Paxton House