Did You Know: The History of Belmont

"When Belmont was included in the Borough of Port of Spain in 1899 it already had a culture of its own and a proud middle class that emerged after Emancipation.

In time it produced its own stickfighters, world-class cricketers, footballers and Trinidad and Tobago's first Republican President, Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke, and legal luminary Sir Hugh Beresford Wooding, son of Belmont's resident shoemaker.

Freetown, as it was called earlier, became the first area in Trinidad to be peopled by former enslaved Africans who worked previously on the coffee and cocoa estates at Belmont.

It also included many freed Africans rescued from slave ships after 1807, the year in which Britain ended its involvement in the slave trade.
For several years, Belmont was regarded as an outpost of Port of Spain. It was not until "Belmont Hill" was selected as the new site for Government House that the area started to gain prominence.

Government House on "Belmont Hill" was built by Colonel William Fullerton as the new home for governors "to escape from the heat and noise in Port of Spain".
The decision was made after the great fire of Port of Spain in 1808 which destroyed the town and Government House on King Street.
After the residence was completed, Governor Sir Ralph James Woodford lived there for seven years until another home was erected for the Governor at St Ann's.

Belmont, described as "a lovely mountain", is the north-eastern electoral district of the City of Port of Spain. It is sandwiched between parts of the Queen's Park Savannah and the beautiful hills on the southern side of the northern range.

One of the reasons for Belmont's continuing growth as a purely residential area was the construction of Lady Young Road. On completion, it became a new access for commuters travelling in and out of Port of Spain. Constructed during the tenure of Governor Sir Hubert Winthrop Young (1938-1942), on completion it was named after his wife, Lady Margaret Rose Young.

The valleys of Belmont, which can be seen clearly from Lady Young, are of great historical interest. Belmont Valley Road was the birthplaces of the Rada movement which started in 1868 following the arrival of Abojevi Zahwenu, of Dahomey (now Republic of Benin) in 1855.

Zahwenu, also called Papa Nanee, and Robert Antoine, purchased several acres of land for $135 at what was to be named Antoine Lane.
There he built a vodunkwe (a covered area for religious dancing), a house for his family and established a cemetery for burial of his followers.
The entire religious complex was dedicated to Papa Legba and Ogun, two deities of the Dahomean people. Antoine lived for almost 100 years and, upon his death, he left a wife and 18 children. During his lifetime, he held annual thanksgiving services which were attended by a wide cross-section of Trinidad's population.

Belmont's social history dates back to the 18th century.
Dr Quintin Bynoe, former medical doctor and resident of Belmont, recalled, "The old Belmont in the early years was vastly different from what obtains today. Modern buildings now occupy the big, open yards that were once filled with mango and other fruit trees. Wild animals could be seen roaming the steep hillsides of the northern range."

Tram cars, which were introduced in May 1895, became a new transportation system within the city. The electric cars were operated by Belmont Tramway Company. Donkey carts, used previously as local transportation, gradually disappeared.

Many aspects of Belmont's homegrown culture also disappeared. Street criers like "Sugar", "Bumpy Face" and stickfighter Joe Pringay no longer appeared on the cultural canvas. "Dey pass away a long time," said an old resident.
Older residents still remember Pringay a stick player with a chest like a barrel, arms as big as a mango tree.
"When he developed his muscles large crowds gathered to see and feel his iron muscles." He died at Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande, after he collapsed and fell near a culvert and broke his neck.

Change in every form was inevitable for Belmontians.
With the start of World War II (1939-1945), Belmont changed from a place in which residents kept their doors and windows open day and night to installation of burglar-proofing and alarm systems, geared to protect residents from intruders.

Architecturally it was an area with many churches representing different religions. Two major churches were St Margaret's Anglican (1890) and St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church (1902). St Francis, built in Romanique style, won the National Trust Award in 2007 for the Best Restoration.
Culturally there were major changes in Carnival presentations. The tamboo bamboo was replaced with steelbands, and ole mas with historical bands.
Houses of Victorian architecture were replaced with modern concrete mansions. The only thing that did not change were the narrow streets and lanes.

With little notice, a middle-class society emerged, spawning a number of leaders, sportspeople and politicians.
Among those on a short list were Ellis Clarke, Trinidad and Tobago's first Republican President; Stokely Carmichael, also known as Kwame Ture, a leading American civil rights leader; Albert Maria Gomes, political practitioner who emerged from the early Portuguese immigrant community who started to arrive in Trinidad in 1834 from Fayal; Hugh Wooding, a former chief justice, whose father was a humble shoemaker in Belmont; Wayne Berkeley, mas designer par excellence; Sir Pelham Warner, international cricketer, and many other distinguished people who put Belmont on the international map.

Among the caucasian community was the Warner family, from which came Charles Warner, one of the most outstanding attorneys general. When he died in 1887, he was buried at the Botanic Gardens.

Charles was the father of Sir Pelham Warner, an outstanding cricketer and former captain of the West Indies cricket team.

Much of the early history of Belmont is still unknown. What is highlighted in this article is at best a minuscule attempt to restate the importance of this community in the historical canvas of Trinidad and Tobago."