Abolition

The two families in question were the Lowthers and the Senhouses.

Robert Lowther lived at Meaburn Hall near Penrith but in the early 18th century he travelled to Barbados. He had married into a family which owned a plantation out there.

The name lives on

The Lowther plantation was in the parish of Christchurch in the south of the island. It's still there and produces sugar on a small scale.

Robert went on to become the Governor of the island twice. But by all accounts he used the position for his own ends. He traded with an island nearby even though it was a French possession and England and France were not on good terms at the time. Eventually he had a row with a local clergyman which resulted in Robert being recalled to England.

He left the island in 1720. But the Lowther plantation stayed in the family until the 1840s.

The Lowthers now live on the Lowther estate near Penrith and have interests in farming, tourism and other business interests. They run the well-known annual Lowther Horse Driving Trials, often attended by HRH Duke of Edinburgh.

Sugar cane growing on Barbados

The Senhouses have fared less well.

William Senhouse left the family home at Netherhall in Maryport in the 1770s and bought The Grove plantation in the parish of St. Philips. It's only a few miles from the Lowther plantation but the Lowthers had left it in the hands of a manager long before the Senhouses arrived. But the families still retained close links.

William also achieved high office and became the Surveyor General of Customs.....responsible for collecting taxes. A job secured for him by the Lowther family.

The local archives office in Carlisle has letters written by William from Barbados to his family in England as well as his "Recollections" written towards the end of his life and talking of his time on the island.

Sunbury House

The plantation was sold in 1802, shortly after William's death. The family seat in Maryport no longer exists and the family has disappeared from Cumbria. But there are various streets and other buildings in the county still bearing the Senhouse name.

The area of Barbados where the plantations are was dubbed "Little Cumberland" (the old name for the north of Cumbria) by William Senhouse because of the influence of the two families. There are also quite a few place names on the island which would be familiar to Cumbrians including Carlisle Bay, Kendal Point and Whitehaven.

Ronnie Hughes

I visited Barbados on holiday in 2007 and was very lucky to be taken to the two plantations by local historian Ronnie Hughes. Sadly the two plantation houses are not the ones that would have been there in the Lowther and Senhouses time. But Sunbury House just a few miles away is from the same period and the Senhouses were connected to the family who owned it at the time.

In addition there is an old sugar cane mill on The Grove which is almost certainly from that time.

It was also very interesting to see the sugar cane growing in the same way as it would have been more than 200 years ago.

Senhouses in the phone book

It's a beautiful island and everyone was so friendly but I wonder how many of today's holiday makers know about this dark part of the island's history and its links with Cumbria. Clink on the link below to see more of Barbados and its Cumbrian connections.

It is extraordinary that these two places thousands of miles apart should become so closely linked all those years ago. There are even a few Senhouses in the Barbados phone book so the connection continues even now.