Rare and desirable: there are few works of such importance and accomplishment to have escaped notice by not just the major bibliographers in the field such as Abbey, but institutional holdings, too. This is one such group.
Born in Madras, John Money Carter (1812-1888) was Captain of the 1st Royals during the period when he executed these views. He was promoted to Lieutenant and later served as Adjutant in Barbados from 1846-1866. He was also posted to Gibraltar and lived in Brentford at the time of his death. These stunning views of Barbados were executed during the apprenticeship years immediately following the passing of the 1833 Emancipation Act. They depict many of the landmarks of Barbados, reflecting much of Barbadian society.
The lithographs are by the renowned London firm of Day & Haghe and also bear the name of R. Jennings & Co., a London print publisher active in the 1830s. They are as follows:
1. Lithographic title page “Views in the Island of Barbados, West Indies.” This includes a view of Chapel & School on the Society’s Estate.
2. “Monument, near the Military Hospital, Barbados, erected to the Memory of Fourteen Soldiers of the 36th Regt. who were killed by the destruction of the Barracks & Hospital, during the awful visitation of the Hurricane, 11th Augt. 1831.” The view of the Monument near the Military Hospital is a neat snapshot of mid-nineteenth-century Barbados. It features a Black woman supporting a large basket and wooden tray on her head; several other people in background also hold items on their heads, two children converse nearby. A prominent obelisk monument memorializes soldiers who were killed during the great Barbados hurricane of August 1831.
3. “Codrington College, Barbados.” Founded in 1745, Codrington College was one of the first institutions of higher learning in the Caribbean. Established through the bequest of Christopher Codrington, a wealthy plantation owner and former governor of the Leeward Islands, the college was originally intended to educate clergy for the Church of England and provide general instruction to young men. Its Georgian architecture and scenic setting making it a significant cultural and educational landmark in the Caribbean. It continues today.
4. “St. Ann’s Garrison, Barbados.” An excellent, bird’s-eye view of St. Ann’s Garrison showing the entire military installation, and its strategic coastal location. The foreground features a solitary figure in a long coat and hat, standing atop a hillside with cultivated fields below and grazing cattle. Beyond, the complex consists of large military barracks, warehouses, and other structures, interspersed with smaller buildings and a distinctive windmill, indicative of the island’s sugar economy. In the distance, the Main Guard and other administrative buildings stand prominently, with a clock tower and lighthouse visible against the horizon. The coastline and anchored ships reinforce the garrison’s role in securing British naval interests in the Caribbean.
5. “Main Guard, St. Ann’s Garrison, Barbados.” Built in 1804, St. Ann’s Garrison served as the headquarters of the British West India Regiment. The 89th Regiment arrived on 3 December, 1835, and was placed under the command of Lieutenant Richard Doherty. They were deployed to Tobago in 1836, where many succumbed to yellow fever, and were called on to suppress the mutinous 1st West India Regiment on 18 June, 1837.
6. “Pilgrim, the Governor’s Residence, Barbados.” Sir Lionel Smith (1778-1842) was the son of noted feminist writer Charlotte Smith and was appointed Governor of Tobago in 1833. He simultaneously acted as governor of Barbados and Viceroy of the colony of the Windward Islands from 1833-1836. As such he oversaw the adoption of the apprenticeship system in 1834, which differed little from slavery in practice. However, as governor of Jamaica (1836-1839) he read the Proclamation of Freedom to a huge crowd on 1 August, 1838. Sir Evan John Murray MacGregor (1785-1841) took over the post, serving from 1836-1841. He inherited a divided community with an angry planter population (never mind the compensation each would receive in due course). Against their wishes, MacGregor recommended to parliament that the apprenticeship system be abolished.
Carter was, of course, known to Abbey who included his Select Views of the Rock and Fortress of Gibraltar (London, 1846) in his travel volumes. However, Abbey has a specific section on the Caribbean and the West Indies which omits this suite. Two other images “Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown” and “Near Worthing, Hastings in the Distance, Barbados” apparently belong to the selection and two sources suggest (without citation) that it included as many as ten. Regardless, these are the nicest examples to survive.
It’s entirely possible that the work was never officially issued by Day & Haghe who published a similar, though much larger, work by Richard Bridgens in 1836. That volume, West India Scenery, included twenty-seven lithograph and zincograph views of Trinidad. Given the rarity of this set and the uncertainly over its collation, it may be that Day & Haghe set the work aside to focus on Bridgens’ collection.
OCLC records the just a single plate (Monument Near the Military Hospital) at The Wellcome Library and no others. Not in Abbey, not in the Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection at Hamilton College.
