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Europeans
The
English
In the Spanish
period, several English and Irish familes had
settled in Trinidad. Some of them were Catholic,
but some of them were Protestant, and therefore
living there illegally under the terms of the
Cedula. The large migration of English, however,
began after the formal cession of Trinidad to
England by Spain in 1802.
One large group
of immigrants was comprised of planters and their
slaves from the older English sugar islands that
were past their peak. Many English also came to try
to earn their fortune through business. This group
was made up of tradesmen, professionals, merchants,
and artisans. A third group were the expatriates
that were there temporarily, such as the sugar
company managers and colonial officials.
The English and
French Creoles were socially divided, and
intermarriage was uncommon. An exception to this
were the English Catholics, who were more likely to
marry into French Creole families. The relations
between the two groups were worsened by the policy
of "anglicization" adopted by the English. This
policy, roughly in place from 1840 to 1870, was an
attempt to marginalize the Catholic religion and
French language in order to assert the desired
dominance of the English rulers. By 1876, this
experiment had been ended, and the French Creoles
returned to shared power.
Some prominent
English families included:
Atkinson
Carmichael
Cummings
Fitts
Harris
Stone
Warner
Williams
(The
information on this page was obtained primarily
from The
Book of Trinidad, edited by Gérard A.
Besson, and Bridget M. Brereton. Port-of-Spain:
Paria Publishing Company Ltd., 1991.)
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