Based upon a paper originally written in 1992 and published in the Caribbean Quarterly, vol. 41, 1995. Additions made for this republication are enclosed in [], apart from the illustrations which are all new.
This is about a house, a very distinctive and historic house located on Tyrrel Street, St. George's, Grenada [for a photograph, click here or on the thumbnail above - 62K .jpg image; for a somewhat earlier view, click here - 46K]. It is the former home of the late Theophilus Albert Marryshow – Grenadian statesman and advocate of West Indian unity.1 It currently houses the School of Continuing Studies (Grenada) of the University of the West Indies, and it is fortuitous that this building which witnessed important thrusts towards the binding of the Caribbean into a unified whole should today continue in the service of one of the oldest shared West Indian Institutions.
T.A. Marryshow, although conscious of his dignity, was never arrogant or falsely proud. When building his home, however, he seemed to be conscious of the place he would one day occupy in West Indian history. Not a man of means, he somehow found the money at age 30 to build a home which would reflect the importance of the tasks he set himself nationally and regionally. When he built his house it was huge compared to the surrounding houses. Although some substantial houses and commercial buildings have been built around the house, it is today still imposing.
Marryshow named this home the "Rosery" as the popular song by that name was one of his favourites. Secondly, Marryshow commemorated in this name his love for roses. Out of the volcanic boulders which were a conspicuous feature of the lands on which the house stands and the rich volcanic soil, Marryshow created with his own hands a rose garden of such beauty that it is still referred to with delight and awe by the people old enough to remember.
The approach to the house was through this garden, but it was seldom used. Marryshow preferred to walk a path paralleling the "Jorden Drain", an aqueduct for rain-water run-off to the west of the house. This path wound through his prized fruit trees and into a second, hidden, rose garden built in terraces behind the house. The accustomed entrance to the house was up a long flight of concrete steps to a gallery decorated with hanging baskets of fern. Double doors gave access to a passage leading directly into Marryshow's upstairs sitting-room whose virtual wall of sash windows and louvers overlooked St. George's Harbour. The Carenage in all its glory was swept into this room to enchant and delight all visitors (see pictures of the view in recent times, 131K, 28K, and 45K).
Although a bachelor all his life, Marryshow's house was kept clean and dignified by devoted housekeepers. The furnishing was not lavish, but he had some nice pieces which raised the tone of the more mundane. A huge double-ended settee graced the sitting-room. All the bedrooms had huge mahogany wardrobes. Marryshow's bedroom had a carved mahogany four-poster bed, complete with a canopy. The second bedroom had an attractive brass bedstead. In the dining-room downstairs was a mahogany banquet table and an elaborate brass gong.
There are photographs which document some of these items. For example, a much prized photograph shows the late C.L.R. James and Mrs. James seated in the sitting-room with Marryshow in some magnificently carved high-backed armchairs said to have come from the S.S. "Orinico" wrecked off St. David's, Grenada, on November 2, 1900. A goodly-proportioned brass table stood in the middle of the sitting-room. This room was also the setting for a graceful brass lamp, two huge glass hurricane shades of etched glass, an oversized Chinese vase and a magnificent crystal chandelier. The room was made exotic by Marryshow's penchant for stuffed and ceramic animals. A china parrot in a cage swung in the alcove of the upstairs bay window. The ledges of Marryshow's built-in bookcases in the sitting-room were graced by a stuffed tiger's head and a two-foot silver racehorse. The object which is the most prominent in people's memories is, however, Marryshow's life-sized, ceramic, bull-dog, which became his political mascot. Marryshow carried this object to political meetings, and encouraged people to attach to him the appellation of "The Bulldog". To complete his menagerie a 6-foot stuffed crocodile occupied the space beneath the staircase downstairs.
Upstairs Marryshow had a fantastic and varied private library which included everything from volumes of popular American and European poets to books on political philosophy and contemporary Caribbean sociology. Many of the first volumes of journals put out by the very young University College of the West Indies had pride of place in Marryshow's academic collection. These included Volume 1 No. 1 of both Social and Economic Studies and Caribbean Quarterly, journals of the new regional University. Marryshow had also a large collection of historic photographs, including a photograph of a bust of Paul Robeson by Paul Epstein. This photograph was one of an exclusive series of six prints from the only negative.
Along with Rex Nettleford, now a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Professor of Continuing Studies, Director of the Trade Union Institute at UWI, and artistic director and co-founder of Jamaica's National Dance Theatre Company, Marryshow can be styled a "Renaissance Man". He was scholar, orator, journalist, creator artist, mentor of the arts and definer of Caribbean identity. There was nothing incongruous, therefore, in Marryshow's large collection of sheet music being interleaved, as it were, with his more austere tomes. Marryshow possessed a powerful and beautiful bass voice and shared with his friend Paul Robeson, a love for the American Negro Spiritual as well as music for the voice across the range from classical to indulgently popular. To add the spice of life to his books and papers were issues of The West Indian, the newspaper which Marryshow co-founded with C.F.P. Renwick in 1915. In the pages of this newspaper is full evidence that he had free reign for his dry but wicked wit as well as his golden oratory.
As with Marryshow the statesman, Marryshow the house-builder was a pioneer. His new home built in 1917 was reputedly the first house in St. George's constructed using cast-concrete. Prior to this, houses were built of red-brick brought as ballast from England, or of local stone filled in with masonry, or of wood.
Let us watch as the masons and carpenters build and mould Marryshow's "House of Dreams". They first lay a foundation of brick, and then cast thick, cool concrete walls up to the first floor. They finish the upstairs up to the roof with timber siding. Inside they complete the first floor with close boarding on timber studs. They then lay a floor of timber boarding on timber joints and shingle the roof with cedar "shakes", except for those portions which are too flat for shingling - there they put metal sheets of galvanized iron. The roof is elegantly gabled and supported by battens on timber rafters. There are two attic windows and a generous attic space to insulate the rooms below from the fierce heat of the almost equatorial sun. The ceiling is high, and made up of close boarding suspended from roof joints.
Upstairs the builders fashion a handsome sitting-room and two bedrooms, each with its good-sized dressing room. A study for the owner and the entrance hall complete the accommodation upstairs. A mahogany staircase (22K) with beautifully turned balustrades leads to the quarters downstairs. Most of the downstairs area is dedicated to a large dining room, with a bay window and alcove as on the upstairs floor. This dining room was to be the setting of many an elegant dinner party for Marryshow's important friends from the length and breadth of the Caribbean, from the United States and from beyond. Later on in life, when Marryshow had to curtail his hospitality because of desperate financial circumstances, this room was to become a practice theatre for the Pygmalion Glee Club founded by Pansy Rowley, and later the Bee Wee Ballet, Grenada's first ballet troupe, and the "mother" of all existing troupes.
A kitchen complete with a Dutch oven, and a bathroom fitted with a marble bathtub, were situated in the area behind the dining room. A nicely proportioned guest room completed the building.
One must remember that in 1917 indoor plumbing and electricity were not common-place even in the best homes in the Caribbean. For a good portion of its early life, Marryshow's house was lit at night by kerosene lamps of both the hanging and table variety. As to the plumbing: - this was installed after the house became University property.
Having erected the frame of the house, the builders embellished their handiwork with many decorative touches. Beautiful panes of etched glass, some of which still survive, were fitted as skylights above the windows. Two of the internal doors incorporated panes of expensive imported bevelled glass. The ambience of the entrance hall and sitting room was enhanced with carved pilasters, brackets and archways while all rooms had carved wooden friezes and carved transoms over the doors. In some areas the frieze was of the carved "ginger-bread" type, which had the practical function of allowing air circulation, as well as a touch of the vernacular. (See here some pictures of the fretwork decorations in the house, 28K, 23K, 39K, 20K, 26K.)
Marryshow's craftsmen added so many decorative touches that in contemplating the plethora of the whole it is easy for the eye to miss some. Decorative scrolls are a feature on the exterior of the house, adding interest to the roof line. The external ground floor concrete wall features rustication, and externally the fenestration of some of the windows is highlighted with fish-scale wooden tiles. Another detail of the house is a pair of Demerara windows upstairs next to the area used by Marryshow as his study. The existence of these Demerara windows provided a practical solution to dispensing drinks neatly without an upstairs kitchen. Demerara windows traditionally have a slatted ledge about a foot wide. When utilized as a bar, spills fell away to the earth below.
Marryshow House is sometimes called "Colonial Victorian". It was certainly Colonial, but its claims to being Victorian could technically be challenged. Marryshow's house was in fact extremely eclectic in style. In his book on architecture in the Caribbean, David Buisseret has this to say about the architecture of St. George's:
The respective parts of the French and English in the architecture of St. George's seem impossible to sort out with any accuracy: the town is best envisioned as a marvellous blend of the two traditions2
This was so true of Marryshow's house.
The presentation of the Creole and English architectural idioms inside and outside Marryshow's house also reflects the paradox of many Grenadians of that era. In some ways, they strove to be very British, but in other ways the older French Creole culture persisted. Marryshow himself demonstrated this paradox. By Deed Poll he changed the French spelling of his name "MARECHEAU" to its anglicized form "MARRYSHOW". In many of his attitudes and actions, however, his French heritage could not be denied.
Marryshow House remains a testament to the skill of its craftsmen in blending diverse cultural architectural elements into a pleasing whole which reflects the integrity of Grenadian culture. The self-expression of the craftsmen and elements of the vernacular style they created for Marryshow House is replicated in other houses in St. George's and the rural parishes. Marryshow House, however, remains the best known and the handsomest house of this unique architectural medley.
As Marryshow aged, his financial situation became bleak. He had used all his money and then gone into debt to travel on West Indian business. That business encompassed his tireless advocacy for Universal Adult Suffrage, Federation, and the Caribbean Labour Movement. It included also an historic trip to London where he badgered the Colonial Office to introduce representative government and take the first steps which would lead eventually to Grenada's independence.
After giving up his ownership and editorship of the West Indian newspaper in 1935, Marryshow had no steady income. Those of his children who grew up in "The Rosery" - Marion, Basil and Julien - had left Grenada and were pursuing their own careers abroad. The upkeep of the house reflected Marryshow's penury, and when he died on 19 November 1958, the house, although structurally very sound, was in need of redecoration and refurbishment.
The house and approximately 1˝ acres of land were left to Marryshow's son, Julien, a former Federal Civil Servant, and Marion, a Nursing Sister. Neither had any plans to return to Grenada, and therefore put the property up for sale. It was Julien's wish that the next use for the old house should reflect the importance and dignity of his father's career. The Grenada Museum Committee was seen as the type of entity which would ensure the future prominence of the residence of T.A. Marryshow and this organization was first approached. However, the ability to purchase was outside the scope of the Museum Committee, but its Chairman, Mr. Alister Hughes, approached the Resident Tutor, Miss Margaret Blundell, with the idea of enhancing both the University's physical presence and Marryshow's former residence by putting one inside the other.
The first approach was made to the University on 23 January, 1964. In a letter to the University's Vice Chancellor, Dr. Phillip Sherlock, Miss Blundell said: "It would give us a wonderful association with Grenada history, and give U.W.I. the opportunity of restoring arid maintaining an historic building."3
At the time, the house had been vacant for 6 years. Negotiations were protracted and at one point, all but abandoned. The doubts of the then Acting Director of Extra Mural Studies about the serviceability of the building were expressed to the University's Registrar: "We should be cautious about acquiring an old, wooden building whose further life may well be limited to a few years."4 It was obvious that he had not fallen victim to the charms of the place. It was not until Her Royal Highness, Princess Alice, Chancellor of the University, championed the cause that negotiations took a hopeful turn. Also, in March 1964, Grenada's Administrator, I.G. Turbott wrote to the Resident Tutor saying: "I have received a letter from Her Royal Highness, The Princess Alice, in which she said that she saw Mr. Marryshow in Tobago on 17th March, and expressed the hope that the U.W.I. could use the Marryshow residence in St. George's for University purposes… Her Royal Highness is, as you know, very keen that action be taken without delay to acquire this property."5
This letter elicited a positive response from the Vice-Chancellor, and the University purchased the property without any more arguments and objections.
Along with approximately ˝ acre of land the house was purchased for EC$30,875.00. After renovations, the University Centre moved from its rented two room premises on Granby Street to Marryshow House on 8 April, 1965. One condition of the sale of the house to the University was that the house should be referred to as "Marryshow House University Centre". This is the practice up to today.
After the triumph of getting Marryshow House purchased for the University Centre, it fell to Miss Blundell to complete the transformation of the building to its new use. A car park was built in 1967 and an outdoor theatre in 1968.
Miss Blundell began supervision of an annex which would bring the floor space of Marryshow House University Centre up to equality with that being provided for the other University Centres under construction in the Eastern Caribbean. Unfortunately, she could not complete her task, as ill health caused her rather abrupt resignation and departure from Grenada.
Miss Blundell was succeeded by Mrs. Gertrude Hamilton, and to this capable Jamaican lady fell the task of putting the finishing touches to the renovation of the building, re-establishing the integrity of the property which had been eroded during Marryshow's decline and after his death, and supervising the completion of the extension which was begun about July 1969.
It was Mrs. Hamilton's unique sense of humour that saved her from collapsing under the many vicissitudes arising out of the construction of the extension and the period following its construction. Essential difficulties were many and varied, but they were overcome, and on 3rd December, 1971 the Centre was opened by the Chancellor, Rt. Hon. Sir Hugh Wooding, T.C., C.P., C.B.E.
The extension had been constructed with funds from the United Kingdom Government, Government of Canada, the Ford Foundation, the Nuffield Foundation, and the University of the West Indies. The opening was a "star-studded" occasion as the representatives of the countries of the major funding agencies attended, as well as the University's Chancellor, Rt. Hon. Sir Hugh Wooding; Vice-Chancellor, Sir Roy Marshall; Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Mr. (later Sir) Sydney L. Martin and many distinguished guests.
The Opening of the CIDA extension: Mrs Gertrude Hamilton speaking, Mr Sydney Martin, Sir Roy Marshall, not identified, Sir Hugh Wooding, Mrs Cynthia Gairy, Mr Carl Jackman (University Registrar)
The opening was not without its traumatic moments. The Chancellor, Sir Hugh Wooding, in a previous role, had been a member of the Commission of Inquiry into the expenditure of public funds by the Premier, Eric Gairy, and Mr. Gairy declined to attend the opening. The performance of the National Choir was also cancelled. Despite these and other tense moments, the opening brought welcome attention to the University, and the beginning of a new era of activities of the Extra Mural Department in Grenada.
One feature of the opening ceremony was a display of local art. This exhibition was so successful that the people who had been asked to help to mount it, formed themselves into the Grenada Arts Council. Three of the founding members still actively serve on the Council which mounts an exhibition at Marryshow House University Centre every year. These exhibitions still provide a window to the public for artists in Grenada.
The contractor for the extension was Mr. W.E. Keens-Douglas. He did not have the latitude to revise the plans for the extension which came from Canada. These plans were more suitable for a temperate climate, but the condition of the extension after 20 years is a testament to Mr. Keens-Douglas' excellence in his craft. Over the years simple renovations to this extension have increased the utility of the original plan, and made serviceable rooms that were not designed for the tropics.
In 1972 the University Centre, including the new extension, was attacked by termites. Extensive extermination procedures had to be undertaken and a watchful eye has had to be assiduously kept ever since. The University threatened also in that year to reroof the Centre with galvanized iron. This was averted, and the shingles were replaced.
At this time, the island was entering a period of serious political unrest. A feature of this unrest was frequent fires involving major buildings. In October 1972 the Anglican High School in St. George's was destroyed by fire, set by political activists. The school obtained permission of the Resident Tutor and the University, to house the school's senior pupils between 23 October 1972 and July 1973.
At the end of 1972, Mrs. Hamilton was transferred to the Bahamas, and was succeeded in December 1972 for a brief nine months by Mr. Chamberlain M. Hope, a Barbadian. In October 1973 he was succeeded by Mrs. Beverley Steele, originally from Jamaica but married into a Grenadian family. To date she remains in this position.
Grenada was to have had national celebrations of its Independence on 7 February 1974. Instead civil unrest, electrical blackouts, and political turmoil marked the occasion. On "Bloody Monday" January 21, 1974, the massive Anti-Government demonstration that ended in an encounter with gangs of thugs armed with guns and missiles was observed by the Resident Tutor from the bay-windows of Marryshow House. During the uproar of this violent encounter of citizens, police and thugs, Rupert Bishop, father of Maurice Bishop, leader of the New Jewel Movement, was shot, many people injured and several hundred tear-gassed. It was hours before the Resident Tutor could leave the sanctum of the Centre. It was months before Grenada returned to normalcy.
In March 1974 Marryshow House was made available to yet another Secondary School in distress. This time it was the St. John's Christian Secondary School. This school, situated at Brothers in St. John's drew a third of its pupils from St. George's. Owing to the closure of the Port after "Bloody Monday" and the eventual gasolene shortage, pupils from St. George's were deprived of transport and could not get to school. The University through the Resident Tutor was asked to house classes for the pupils from the St. George's area from 18 March to 9 April when the gasolene supply situation returned to normal.
With the addition of the Extension, the University Centre comprised 2 offices, 3 store-rooms, a large all-purpose hall, an underutilized library area, two small classrooms and of course, Marryshow's upstairs sitting room. The lack of an auditorium prompted the temporary ousting of the embryo library from its designated space into the smaller space of one of the original bedrooms. Many were the poetry readings and public lectures held in this freed space. In an effort to revive the society's flagging memory of Marryshow, a Marryshow Festival was held in 1974 [Sheppard, 1975]. The main event was a Historical Exhibition housed in this room. At this time, Marryshow's name had virtually gone into shadow, but the emotional outpouring of love and affection for Marryshow and the gratitude of mature Grenadians to the University Centre for having organized this Festival occasioned the beginning of new dynamics between the Grenadian public and the University Centre. As a result of the Festival, the public came to see the Resident Tutor as a representative of a University which cared, and which through its championing of the memory of Marryshow at Marryshow House became a caretaker of precious Grenadian heritage, and the tangible reminder of elusive moments of greatness of one of its sons.
Discussions on social, economic and political issues had, in the past, been a feature of the University Centre's programmes. This type of activity although necessary to Grenada's emergence as an independent state, was not always welcome by the Government in power. In September 1973, a lecture by a young economist, Unison Whiteman, was scheduled to take place at the Centre. Just before the commencement of the lecture, the area in which the Centre was located was subjected to a blackout. Mr. Whiteman, although well-qualified, could not get a teaching job in Grenada, save with the University Centre. Paradoxically, during the regime of the People's Revolutionary, Government, a non-political lecture sponsored by the United States Information Service, Barbados, and hosted by the Centre, was ordered cancelled by direct order of Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister. After the Revolution, on February 25, 1985, a seminar "Communications and the Media" sponsored by the CARICOM could only take place with Government blessing without one of its main lecturers, Dr. Aggrey Brown of Jamaica. Creating a forum for free speech at the University Centre was necessary but risky. The fact that in the 1990 General Elections every political party was allowed to hold election campaign meetings in the car park of Marryshow House, and that in 1991 all political leaders participated equally in the Conferences of the West Indian Commission, is hope that the carefully guarded non-partisan political nature of the University Centre has been not only finally accepted, but indeed come to be generally appreciated.
With the help and encouragement of Miss Gloria Payne, a Career Civil Servant and a graduate of UWI's Mona Campus, the Resident Tutor wrote a proposal to the Inter-American Foundation for the construction of a Folk Theatre responding to a felt need for a theatrical space available to amateur players and dancers in Grenada. The proposal was accepted, and after some delays occasioned by difficulties encountered with the water seepage problems affecting the site, construction began against the house's northern wall, using the facade of the original house as a backdrop for the theatre stage. Built to seat 200, the theatre was designed with help from Ken Corsbie, Noel Vaz, well-known Caribbean theatre personages. All interested in theatre in Grenada also had an opportunity to contribute to the architect's brief. The Theatre was completed and opened in 1982 on Marryshow's birthday, November 7. The Theatre has since served as a catalyst to the Creative Arts in Grenada, and has been the venue for scores of plays, performances of folk and other choirs, dance theatre, poetry readings, Creative Arts Workshops, book launchings, lectures, talent shows and concerts of classical music.
Professor Finlay Cockerell, Professor of Music at the State University of New York, Albany, playing at a fund-raising concert
The Cavite Chorale in performance at the Theatre
The Cavite Chorale from the Cave Hill Campus of the University performed in the Marryshow Folk Theatre in June 1986 and the University Singers of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in 1987. It is a tribute to the success of the theatre that it is now too small for some productions and that there is pressure on the society for the building of a larger national theatre.
Although built primarily to support the Creative Arts, Marryshow Folk Theatre performed another important, unusual function. This theatre was opened while the People's Revolutionary Government was in power. Eleven months later, this government imploded violently. Maurice Bishop, Grenada's Revolutionary Prime Minister and his closest associates were shot by a firing squad on October 19, 1983 on the order of a faction of the P.R.G. calling themselves the "Revolutionary Military Council". A still unknown number of ordinary citizens, some only teenagers, also lost their lives in this act of genocide.
On 25 October 1983, forces of the United States of America and the Caribbean intervened in Grenada, and within ten days, a semblance of normal life was restored to a chaotic and desperate situation.
The U.S. Military needed a place to hold Press Briefings for journalists including those from all over the world who flocked to Grenada eager for stories of the betrayals, blood, gore and general "commesse".6 The Resident Tutor was approached by one of Grenada's leading businessmen, Mr. "Laddie" McIntyre in the company of some of the U.S. military's top Information Officers with a request for the use of the University Centre's facilities for Military Press Briefings. After initial consultations with the University's Registrar, Mr. Byron Robertson, and subsequently with other University officers, the doors of the University Centre were opened to the United States Military Press Officers. A different type of drama unfolded daily in the Marryshow Folk Theatre.
One of the first sessions held by the U.S. Military Press Centre was the debriefing of surviving members of the Maurice Bishop faction of the People's Revolutionary Government. It was with mixed emotions but mainly thankfulness for their lives that the Resident Tutor and staff greeted George Louison, former Minister of Education ∓ Agriculture, Mr. Kendrick Radix, former Minister of Legal Affairs and the others who appeared for this debriefing. Members of the military could not understand how we could be gracious to the U.S. Military and still embrace in brotherhood these Grenadian revolutionaries. Neither could the American journalists understand our motives for draping a large portrait of Maurice Bishop in funereal purple and having it in full view of the Centre. During this time, and for a long time after, Grenadians (including ourselves) cried silently for our brightest and best and what could have been. The hurt and confusion of the Grenadian people have never been addressed. The end of the revolution was for so many academic Marxists a fantastic opportunity to churn out inaccurate publications about a reality of which they had had no personal experience. Their writings show no sympathy for the citizens of Grenada who were used and abused as the objects of leftist experiment. The ruin of a country not their own did not concern them, and the death of a generation of unique, brave and intelligent though misguided young politicians was undoubtedly regretted less than the demise of a bankrupt and repressive system.
After the initial military debriefing sessions, the daily press briefings became less emotionally charged, barring the occasional heated exchanges between journalists charging "cover-up" and the Military Press Officer countering with allegations of inappropriate journalistic behaviour. It was one of these briefings which attracted world-renowned West Indian novelist and writer, V.S. Naipaul, who had also been drawn to Grenada at this time, to get his version of the Grenadian story.
Mr. Naipaul's arrival had been noticed by the Resident Tutor and he was welcomed by her in a manner befitting an honorary Doctor of the University. His thanks were to immortalize the staff of the Centre, who, very understandably, took the occasional moment to observe the goings-on at the briefings. In an article written for Harper's Magazine Mr. Naipaul wrote:
University... staff stood and watched from the windows of the original house. The windows opened directly onto the lecture-theatre stage; and the watchers were like figures on a balcony in an Elizabethan theatre, or like West Indian middle-class folk looking on from a respectable distance at a backyard squabble.7
By early 1984 Marryshow Folk Theatre, and other space occupied by the U.S. Military, were vacated. By this time the United States Information Service (USIS) had taken over responsibility for the Press Office. In leaving they took to their newly-established office to Bruce Street, near the Esplanade, the Centre's relief cleaner and library assistant who got better and more prestigious jobs with the USIS (Grenada Office). Our former Library Assistant still mans the USIS desk at the U.S. Embassy, Point Salines, Grenada. The relationship the U.W.I. Centre in Grenada had with the U.S. Military Press officers and the USIS was very special, and remains so to this day.
Presentation of a Linus Cato painting to Bob Dickerman, USIS representative in Barbados
On February 20, 1985, President Reagan visited Grenada. To celebrate his visit 1300 books were presented to the Grenadian public by the USIS and it was decided to house these books permanently at the University Centre. The Librarian from the Cave Hill Campus of the U.W.I., Mr. Michael Gill was flown into Grenada by the United States Government for the handing-over ceremony and Grenada's Governor General, Sir Paul Scoon, Lady Scoon, the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army, the Director of the USIS in Barbados, Mr. Bob Dickerman, and the U.S. chargé d'affaires for Grenada, Mr. Roy Havercamp, and other distinguished guests gathered in Marryshow's upstairs sitting room for a unique gathering. This handing-over ceremony effectively ended the 'Military History' of Marryshow House.
The Book Presentation: Sir Paul and Lady Scoon, Michael Gill (Librarian, Cave Hill), Beverley Steele, Bob Dickerman, Jack Bates, both USIS, and Roy Haverkamp, US chargé d'affaires for Grenada
Since 1972 Marryshow House had serious need of repairs. The Acting University Vice-Chancellor agreed finally to a complete renovation of the premises in 1987, appreciating that this could be recognized as the University's recognition of Marryshow's Centennial. A sum of EC$53,595.00 was made available for re-roofing, erection of handrails for the steps, re-flooring of the theatre stage with expensive but durable greenheart boards, repainting and other improvements. There had been years of fruitless negotiation for these repairs, and Professor Leslie Robinson will be remembered for this grand gesture to Marryshow and Marryshow House (see a picture (41K) of the exterior with hurricane shutters).
The period 1984-1989 in Grenada was relatively free from traumatic political polarization and upheavals. In this more peaceful, settling-down environment, the pent up thirst for continuing and professional education was released. The first graduate from the University's Certificate in Public Administration (Challenge/Outreach) programme, Miss Claudia Alexis, was feted on 27 January 1987 at a reception attended by the Honourable Rex Nettleford, Director of Extra Mural Studies. The first students after the U.S. Intervention were exceptional in their bravery and dedication to attempt studies in distracting times. However, as time went on classes in the Centre's programmes doubled, then tripled. The original classrooms were built to accommodate no more than 16. The large area upstairs had long been rededicated to the library, and there was a further crisis of accommodation when in 1988 one of the tiny classrooms was altered to house the UWIDITE ground station.8 The problem of space was acute.
The Library
Another grant for funding of Community Development Courses and enhanced facilities at the University Centre was approved by the Inter-American Foundation in 1989. Construction of a new library building (45K) began on 15 July, 1990. In the meantime, the U.W.I. Development and Endowment Fund (Grenada) chose as one of its projects the enclosing of the space under the library to provide additional classrooms. The combined project was completed in 1992, and co-incidentally an enlarged UWIDITE room made by dedicating the second small classroom for this purpose and breaking the dividing wall between the two.
The new wing was blessed and opened (36K) by Grenada's Governor-General, Sir Paul Scoon, on 4 February, 1992. Sir Alister McIntyre, Grenada-born Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies honoured Marryshow House by his presence on this occasion. Present also was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for University Services (EC), Professor Gerald Grell. Professor Grell's presence certainly must have evoked positive "vibes" from Marryshow's spirit for his mandate is to bring the region closer, and further bond the University to the Eastern Caribbean. Several dozen friends of the University and of "Marryshow House" also came to celebrate the creation of what has become the "Marryshow Complex".
So it is that the major facets of Marryshow's career have found an echo in the work of the University Centre - free debate, cultural expression through the Creative Arts, scholarship, and the nurturing of West Indianism. Even a rose garden exists,
A couple of roses photographed in January 2002 (click on image to see larger picture)
and roses flank the monument to Marryshow given to Grenada by Grenadians in Aruba, and removed at the request of Sir Paul Scoon, Grenada's Governor General, from the original, but now deteriorated site, on the Esplanade to the grounds of the Marryshow House in 1990.
In 1991 the Government of Grenada issued a two-stamp UWI Commemorative Stamp Issue. In this issue "Marryshow House'' is depicted on the 45-cent stamp (the 50-cent stamp shows the Cave Hill Campus). This is the second time this historic house has been featured on a postage stamp. The building was first featured on a 25-cent stamp in 1973 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the University of the West Indies. And so the histories of Marryshow House, the University and the region continue to be tied together.
The University Centre, Marryshow House, now stands proudly equipped to go forward into the 21st century and has accommodation for a total of 60 persons in the UWIDITE facility and 40 persons in each of the three classrooms. The possibility exists that the theatre might be enlarged. Lands at the rear of the University property may be purchased, and there are dreams for the construction of a second UWIDITE room, a Computer Lab. and a facility for the local production of distance teaching support material.
Despite the ongoing debate between Governments supported by their advisors, and the University, as to the relative teaching role of the UWI Centres vs. Tertiary Level Institutions in the non-campus territories, it is envisioned that the University Centre will remain a focus of intellectual and artistic activity for Grenada. In addition, it is hoped that it will always be seen as a monument to Marryshow and a symbol of regionalism. "Marryshow House'' has been shaped by history and its additions have been dedicated to by necessity. Despite its age, its spirit is dynamic, creative and seminal. It has been remarkably plastic and flexible for bricks, cement, mortar and wood.
Late in the evening, or at times when only the Resident Tutor occupies the Complex and the University Centre is very quiet, intrusive thoughts occasioned by the ambience of the old house, its weight of history and the tremendous personality of "The Bulldog" intrude on an otherwise rational mind. Sometimes the thoughts of the older, mature Marryshow put him very near, and almost visible in his rocking chair in the upstairs bay window looking out at passers-by on Tyrrel Street, or shambling over with his unique parrot-toed gait, to where the Resident Tutor works, peering over her shoulder with his face crowned with a "full head of greying hair, wide flat nostrils, holding tortoise shell framed spectacles rather insecurely, thick lips from which a cigarette dangles loosely".9 At other times the Resident Tutor is entertained by the young, vibrant Teddy Marryshow practicing his political speeches, or searching for the right words for an editorial designed to inflame his people to fight for their own brighter future. With a strange mixture of flashing eyes and mischievously smiling lips "his voice booms with passionate sincerity and the ringing phrases ... hang(ing) tremulously,"10 alas, now only in the imagination.
May Marryshow's presence never depart from this house, but always be a source of inspiration for those who study, work or use the Centre in any way. May its existence be a constant reminder of the debt all West Indians owe to Marryshow and his contemporary advocates of West Indian Nationhood. And may the School of Continuing Studies, through its various programmes, continue always to reflect Marryshow's living legacy.
The Opening of the Grenada Country Conference, January 2002 (click on image to see larger picture)
Footnotes
1 For a readable and adequate biography of this great West Indian see Shephard, Jill Marryshow of Grenada An Introduction. Barbados: Letchworth Press Limited, 1987. For an account of some of Marryshow's political achievements see Emmanuel, Patrick Crown Colony Politics in Grenada 1917-1951. Barbados: Institute of Social ∓ Economic Research (Eastern Caribbean) University of the West Indies, 1978. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
2 Buisseret, David. Historic Architecture in the Caribbean. London, Kingston, Port-of-Spain: Heineman, 1980 pg. 24. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
3 Margaret Blundell. Letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University College of the West Indies (UWI) dated January 23, 1964. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
4 G.E. Mills. Memo to Registrar, UCWI, dated March 31, 1964. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
5 I.G. Turbott. Letter to Margaret Blundell dated March 24, 1964. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
6 "Commess". A local word, also in common usage in Trinidad meaning a general state of confusion tinged with scandalous and dramatic incidents. See Mendes, John. Cote ce Cote la - Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad and Tobago Dictionary. Trinidad: B.L.C.P. Ltd., N.D. pg 36. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
7 Naipaul, V.S. "An Island Betrayal" Harper's, March 1964. pp. 61-72. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
8 UWIDITE is the abbreviation for University of the West Indies Distance Teaching Experiment [later Enterprise, and subsumed under the Distance Education Centre]. This is a satellite and telecommunications distance teaching facility spanning most [now all] of the territories that financially support the regional institution. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
9 Redhead, Wilfred. A City on a Hill. St. George's, Grenada: The Author, 1985. pg 35. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
10 Frank Hill as quoted in Bearson, Jake Patton. Why we Lose. - An Anthology for Black People's Cultural Survival. Milwaukee: The Author, 1989 p. 146. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
* The author is deeply grateful to the following persons for help and encouragement with this article: Julien Marryshow, Alister Hughes, Gloria Payne-Banfield, Savitri Steele, Claudia Halley, Rudolph Griffith. Return to text if not in pop-up window.
URL: http://www.uwichill.edu.bb/bnccde/grenada/grendoc/mhall.html
HTML prepared December 29th, 1999.
© Beverley Steele, 1999-2000. Last revision: 19th March, 2002.
