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Gluttony, excess, and the fall of the planter class in the British Caribbean

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14788810.2012.637000

1740-4649

Christer Petley,

Caribbean history, culture, and politics

Abstract Food and rituals around eating are a fundamental part of human existence. They can also be heavily politicized and socially significant. In the British Caribbean, white slaveholders were renowned for their hospitality towards one another and towards white visitors. This was no simple quirk of local character. Hospitality and sociability played a crucial role in binding the white minority together. This solidarity helped a small number of whites to dominate and control the enslaved majority. By the end of the eighteenth century, British metropolitan observers had an entrenched opinion of Caribbean whites as gluttons. Travelers reported on the sumptuous meals and excessive drinking of the planter class. Abolitionists associated these features of local society with the corrupting influences of slavery. Excessive consumption and lack of self-control were seen as symptoms of white creole failure. This article explores how local cuisine and white creole eating rituals developed as part of slave societies and examines the ways in which ideas about hospitality and gluttony fed into the debates over slavery that led to the dismantling of slavery and the fall of the planter class. Keywords: plantersCaribbeanJamaicafooddrinkgluttonyabolitionism Acknowledgements The author thanks Rachel Rich, Jane McDermid, and Richard Follett for their comments and suggestions as this article took shape. Notes 1. Nugent, Journal, 81. 2. Naipaul, Middle Passage, 19. Naipaul went on to state that this materialistic "grossness" amounted to a history of "West Indian futility" and concluded: "The history of the islands can never be satisfactorily told. Brutality is not the only difficulty. History is built around achievement and creation; and nothing was created in the West Indies" (20). 3. Colley, Britons, 350–60; Hall, Civilising Subjects, esp. 69–115; Lambert, White Creole Culture, esp. 1–40. 4. Brown, Moral Capital; Wahrman, Modern Self. 5. Pratt, Imperial Eyes, 4. 6. CitationInventories, 1B/11/3. 7. Edwards, History, 2: 8–9. See also Renny, History of Jamaica, 213. 8. See CitationPetley, Slaveholders in Jamaica, 6. 9. CitationBurnard, "Failed Settler Society." Enslaved people made up about 85 percent of the total population of the British Caribbean in 1815. For basic demographic data for different colonies, see CitationWard, "British West Indies"; CitationHigman, Slave Populations, 77. 10. CitationYeh, "'Sink of All Filthiness.'" 11. CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 244–50; Petley, Slaveholders in Jamaica, 15–39. 12. For comparable white behavior in other colonial settings, see CitationLester, Imperial Networks, 76–7; CitationKennedy, Islands of White. 13. CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 249. 14. For the period before the age of abolition, see ibid., 79–83. 15. Beckford, Descriptive Account, 1: 267. See also Edwards, History, 2: 8. 16. CitationMoreton, West India Customs, 61. 17. Renny, History of Jamaica, 217; Jamaica Courant, October 6, 1831. 18. Renny, History of Jamaica, 216. 19. Quoted in ibid., 323. See also CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 81–3. 20. Account of Jamaica, 181. 21. See Petley, Slaveholders in Jamaica, 35–52; CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 82–3. Militia service was essential for all white men aged between 16 and 60. 22. "CitationLong Manuscript." In the parish of Clarendon, white men outnumbered white women by a ratio of more than three to one. Clarendon was a rural parish, whereas St James, though largely rural, included the large town of Montego Bay. White men predominated in rural areas where bachelors worked as bookkeepers and overseers on plantations and other properties. See CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 82; Higman, Slave Populations, 148–52. 23. This practice contributed to a rising population of free people of color in British Caribbean slave societies such as Jamaica. See CitationHeuman, Between Black and White, 3–8. 24. CitationBurnard, "'Rioting in Goatish Embraces'"; Yeh, "'Sink of all Filthiness,'" 73; Petley, "'Home' and 'This Country,'" 48–52. See also the article by Daniel Livesay in this issue, which charts changes in familial relations between white colonists and their mixed-race relatives. 25. Moreton, West India Customs, 131–2. 26. Renny, History of Jamaica, 329. 27. On the work of enslaved people employed in domestic occupations such as purchasing and preparing food for slaveholders, see Higman, Slave Populations, 159–60, 172–4, 228, 230–2. In 1831, the governor of Antigua noted that enslaved vendors were able to ensure the free population "a regular and certain supply of Provisions" (quoted in CitationGaspar, "Slavery," 15). See also CitationMintz, Caribbean Transformations, 200. 28. Sheridan, "Crisis of Slave Subsistence"; Turner, "Slave Workers," quote at 92; CitationMarshall, "Provision Ground." 29. CitationRozbicki, Complete Colonial Gentleman, 76–126. See also Yeh, "'Sink of All Filthiness'"; CitationGreene, "Liberty," 1–2. 30. Wilson, Island Race, 13. 31. Wheeler, Complexion of Race, 226. 32. Sheridan, Sugar and Slavery, 60–5; CitationO'Shaughnessy, Empire Divided, 12–17. 33. See the article by Trevor CitationBurnard in this issue. 34. CitationNechtman, Nabobs. On scandal and concerns regarding the metropolitan influence of slavery and slaveholders, see CitationDirks, Scandal of Empire, 32–4; Brown, Moral Capital, 95–101. 35. Cumberland, West Indian, 5–6. 36. Cumberland, West Indian., 5. 37. Cumberland, West Indian., 8. 38. Cumberland, Memoirs, 1: 273–5. 39. Schaw, Journal. Schaw commented little on slavery and appears to have no moral qualms regarding slaveholding. She depicted black people in grossly derogatory terms, claiming that the "nature of Negroes" (78) made the whip necessary to plantation discipline and that an enslaved family transported from Africa displayed a relaxed "indifference" to their fate (127–8). 40. Schaw, Journal. Schaw commented little on slavery and appears to have no moral qualms regarding slaveholding. She depicted black people in grossly derogatory terms, claiming that the "nature of Negroes" (78) made the whip necessary to plantation discipline and that an enslaved family transported from Africa displayed a relaxed "indifference" to their fate (127–8)., 95. Schaw noted that white men in Antigua were made "gay, luxurious and amorous" by the climate (80–1) but was surprised by the abstemious customs of white Antiguan women, who rarely drank wine, and encouraged her hosts to join her in "a bumper of the best Madeira," which she thought must have "restorative" effects on the constitution in a hot climate (113). 41. Schaw, Journal. Schaw commented little on slavery and appears to have no moral qualms regarding slaveholding. She depicted black people in grossly derogatory terms, claiming that the "nature of Negroes" (78) made the whip necessary to plantation discipline and that an enslaved family transported from Africa displayed a relaxed "indifference" to their fate (127–8)., 95–100. As well as Antigua, Schaw visited St Kitts, writing of the planters there that the "elegance in which they live is not to be described, and whatever I have said of the table of Antigua is to be found here, even in a superior taste" (123). 42. Schaw, Journal. Schaw commented little on slavery and appears to have no moral qualms regarding slaveholding. She depicted black people in grossly derogatory terms, claiming that the "nature of Negroes" (78) made the whip necessary to plantation discipline and that an enslaved family transported from Africa displayed a relaxed "indifference" to their fate (127–8)., 111–12. 43. Wheeler, Complexion of Race, 225–8. 44. Long, History of Jamaica, 2: 263, 265. 45. Brown, Moral Capital, 36. 46. Wahrman, Modern Self, 34. The quotes are from Wahrman's discussion of transgressive gendered identities in the metropole but are applicable to changing ideas about white West Indians and their behavior. 47. Wahrman, Modern Self, 34. The quotes are from Wahrman's discussion of transgressive gendered identities in the metropole but are applicable to changing ideas about white West Indians and their behavior., 115. 48. Brown, Moral Capital. 49. See CitationBayly, Imperial Meridian; CitationMurray, West Indies. 50. See O'Shaughnessy, Empire Divided, 238–45. 51. Brown, Moral Capital, 113–53; CitationBickham, Making Headlines, 253. 52. Wahrman, Modern Self, 223. 53. Wahrman, Modern Self., 246, 264. 54. CitationConway, British Isles, 354. 55. On slaveholders' sense of Britishness, see Petley, "'Devoted Islands.'" 56. Hall, Civilising Subjects, 107–15. 57. Draper, Price of Emancipation, 74. See also the article by Draper in this issue. 58. On the often ambivalent metropolitan responses to Caribbean slaves, slavery, and slaveholders, see CitationKriz, Slavery. 59. Edwards, History, 2: 8. 60. CitationCutting, "Succinct History of Jamaica," 1: x, cxiv; Edinburgh Magazine, November 1794, 324–7. In the United States, Edwards was a trusted authority on white West Indian character. See CitationWalsh, Appeal, 403–4. For direct and unattributed use of Edwards' words, see CitationWorcester, Sketches of the Earth, 1: 158; CitationGoldsmith, Geographical View, 354. 61. Renny, History of Jamaica, 216–17. 62. Ramsay, Essay, 147. 63. Ramsay, Essay, 254–5. 64. Clarkson, Essay, 102. 65. Wilberforce, Letter, 187–90. 66. George Nugent (1757–1849), the illegitimate son of an unmarried lieutenant in the British army, went to Charterhouse school before joining the army as an ensign and serving in the American War. He was promoted to major general in 1796 and served in high office in Ireland before his time in Jamaica and in India afterwards. He was a Member of Parliament for 26 years between 1806 and 1832. Maria Skinner Nugent (1770/71–1834) was the fifth daughter of Courtland Skinner, advocate-general of New Jersey, who remained a loyalist during the American War and left the United States to live in England after the Revolution. Maria married George Nugent in 1797. See CitationBoyden, "Nugent, Sir George"; CitationCargill-Raza, "Nugent , Maria." 67. Nugent, Journal, 12–13. Nugent was bored by Jamaican society and wrote: "I don't think any year of my life I ever read half as much as I have done since I came to this country" (40). 68. Nugent, Journal, 12–13. Nugent was bored by Jamaican society and wrote: "I don't think any year of my life I ever read half as much as I have done since I came to this country" (40)., 12. 69. Nugent, Journal, 12–13. Nugent was bored by Jamaican society and wrote: "I don't think any year of my life I ever read half as much as I have done since I came to this country" (40)., 11. 70. Inventories, 1B/11/3: James Galloway, Esquire, of St James, December 24, 1833, vol. 150, fol. 84; William Bellinger, Esquire, of St James, August 13, 1833, vol. 150, fol. 64; John Cunningham, Esquire, of St James, December 28, 1812, vol. 121, fol. 58; William Allen, Esquire, of St James, December 5, 1825, vol. 141, fol. 156. 71. Balcarres left his wife and family at home in England and appears to have engaged in the creole practice of keeping mistresses. Whilst at his country retreat, a pen three miles from Spanish Town, Nugent heard an "account of Lord B.'s domestic conduct, and his ménage here altogether." Almost certainly, Balcarres had kept a mistress at the pen, and Nugent was repelled by "horrid details" of this "profligate and disgusting scene" (Nugent, Journal, 38). 72. Balcarres left his wife and family at home in England and appears to have engaged in the creole practice of keeping mistresses. Whilst at his country retreat, a pen three miles from Spanish Town, Nugent heard an "account of Lord B.'s domestic conduct, and his ménage here altogether." Almost certainly, Balcarres had kept a mistress at the pen, and Nugent was repelled by "horrid details" of this "profligate and disgusting scene" (Nugent, Journal, 38)., 10. 73. Balcarres left his wife and family at home in England and appears to have engaged in the creole practice of keeping mistresses. Whilst at his country retreat, a pen three miles from Spanish Town, Nugent heard an "account of Lord B.'s domestic conduct, and his ménage here altogether." Almost certainly, Balcarres had kept a mistress at the pen, and Nugent was repelled by "horrid details" of this "profligate and disgusting scene" (Nugent, Journal, 38)., 14. 74. Balcarres left his wife and family at home in England and appears to have engaged in the creole practice of keeping mistresses. Whilst at his country retreat, a pen three miles from Spanish Town, Nugent heard an "account of Lord B.'s domestic conduct, and his ménage here altogether." Almost certainly, Balcarres had kept a mistress at the pen, and Nugent was repelled by "horrid details" of this "profligate and disgusting scene" (Nugent, Journal, 38)., 48. Nugent remarked that she read Wilberforce's writing while in Jamaica but, frustratingly, went into no detail about what she read. It would be a mistake simply to assume that she read Wilberforce's writing on the abolition of the slave trade. Wilberforce's Practical View (1797), about religion in England, went through seven new editions and was published in the British Isles and in the United States before her Jamaican trip. 75. Nugent, Journal, 45, 56. 76. Nugent, Journal, 242. 77. Nugent, Journal, 55–7. 78. Nugent, Journal, 57–8. 79. Nugent, Journal, 62. 80. Nugent, Journal, 67. 81. Nugent, Journal, 69. 82. Nugent, Journal, 70. 83. Nugent, Journal, 80–1. 84. Nugent, Journal, 88. The tour ended on 24 April 1802 (97). 85. On parting from the Nugents, Taylor had remarked that "he must go home, and be abstemious, after so much feasting" (ibid., 71). 86. CitationDavis, Gift, 222. 87. Her party ate a "Creole-French" meal while being entertained by Taylor, which she remarked was "very good," and only on Lacovia estate in St Elizabeth did she complain about the food: a "very course dinner" of beef and pork, arranged by the overseer of the property (Nugent, Journal, 66, 94). 88. CitationMennell, All Manners of Food, 33–4, 37. 89. See CitationStrong, Feast, 289; CitationTrusler, Honours of the Table, 6. 90. Nugent, Journal, 98. 91. CitationStewart, View, 168. 92. CitationStewart, View, 168., 175. 93. Account of Jamaica, 198–9. Overlaps in style and content suggest that it is possible that the author of Account of Jamaica was J. Stewart, the author of View. 94. Account of Jamaica, 181–3, 193–4, 206. 95. CitationCarmichael, Domestic Manners, 1: 51. CitationCarmichael also claimed that no more wine was drunk at dinner "than is usually consumed at dinner parties in England" (36), and that small "social parties came more into vogue" during her time in the Caribbean (41). 96. Nugent, Journal, 81. 97. CitationBelich, Replenishing the Earth, 146–8, 152. 98. Lester, Imperial Networks, 75. 99. CitationBelich, Replenishing the Earth, 127; CitationBurnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 271. For an analysis of the eighteenth-century Caribbean that emphasizes the transplantation by colonists of elements of metropolitan society and culture, see CitationZacek, Settler Society. 100. CitationYoung, Domesticating Slavery. 101. Petley, Slaveholders in Jamaica, 135–50; Hall, Civilising Subjects, 108–15, 310–11. 102. "CitationMinisterial Proposition," 1215. 103. Grant presents derogatory depictions of enslaved people and an unflattering portrait of the portly planter, on the far left of the image. Even those metropolitans who did not empathize with those enslaved in the Caribbean held negative views about planters, and, in this instance, corpulence appears to be associated with selfishness and avarice.