Last week, we concluded our first look at Toco’s history with the influx of French settlers at the end of the 1700s.
The British conquest of 1797 saw a survey of the territory being undertaken by Capt Frederick Mallett, a royal engineer. Mallett recorded two landing places in Toco and several cotton plantations although he may have been greatly exaggerating to number them 59. There were 155 Amerindians clustered about the mission church, (not including a small settlement near Cumana point consisting of the Carib war refugees), 158 slaves and 62 free coloureds.
Sugar, cocoa and coffee gradually replaced cotton which was almost extinct as a cash crop in Trinidad by 1820. That decade was also one of significance since the prejudiced governor, Sir Ralph Woodford, conspired with vicar-general Le Goffe to have transferred to the remote, a radical coloured clergyman named Francis De Ridder.
De Ridder was born in Demerara (British Guiana) to a white Dutch planter father and slave mother. Educated by his father, De Ridder came to Trinidad possessing radical views about the treatment of the free coloured and slaves. His exile to Toco made him bitter since the parish wallowed in neglect and one can imagine the state of dilapidation of the presbytery and church. His eventual return to PoS set him as a raging force which causes a schism in the church and led to his eventual imprisonment and banishment from Trinidad, but not before leaving far reaching implications on the score of ethnicity and equal rights.
The introduction of an island steamer service by Governor Woodford in 1818 did not include Toco until the 1840s. This steamship called once a week to deliver mail, passengers and manufactured articles and collect produce. Sometime before 1830, a sugar plantation was established in the district but with the emancipation of the slaves in 1834, want of labour saw its demise although ruins were still visible nearly 50 years later. Emancipation also swelled the population somewhat since in Tobago, there were no arable lands for ex-slaves to squat on—almost every square foot being owned by large planters. As a result, some ex-slaves took a boat to Toco and became peasant farmers. Many of the lands were turned by peasants to the cultivation of provisions for consumption and trade in Tobago.
In 1849, land tenure was regularised and Toco became a ward in the County of St David in the new system of local government introduced by Governor Lord Harris. The district was described in 1857 by L A A De Verteuil thus:
“The ward of Toco, in the northern division, extends along the sea-shore; this ward is entirely hilly, and parts of it of very difficult access. It is particularly well adapted to the cultivation of cacao, coffee, and provisions; plantains grow luxuriantly, and some of these walks on the banks of the Rio Grande, of more than sixty years' growth, are still thriving and productive, almost without culture. There was formerly, at Toco bay, a sugar estate, but it has been abandoned since emancipation. The want of safe harbours, and the difficulty of communication, either with the Bay of Toco, or with town, will be felt, for a long time, as a great obstacle to the prosperity of that ward, which otherwise would soon rise in importance as a cacao and provision-growing district. There is a land communication between Toco and town, along the sea-shore and across Matura and Oropuche to Arima; but it is a mere track, and scarcely fit for mule-traverse. The ward of Toco abounds in excellent timber, and cedar-boards are a regular trading commodity.”
In 1862, a ward (government) school was opened for the children of the district and not far away, a police station with a sergeant, two corporals and six constables. A ward officer resided in government accommodation near the police station, being responsible for the upkeep of crown traces and highways as well as the collection of tax revenues. In 1847, the intrepid governor, Lord Harris, established a system of wards and counties which constituted local government until 1990. It replaced the old Spanish Quarters, each managed by an unpaid commandant who was usually a prominent local planter and who was charged with maintenance of crown roads and traces as well as judicial responsibilities. The new official on the scene was the warden, a salaried officer who could be termed the king of his area as his powers were very extensive, ranging from burying of the dead to collection of rates and taxes.
Next week, we conclude our look at Toco.