Sir Woodville Marshall Debunks Long-Held Notion About Free Villages in Barbados
May 30, 2025
Sir Woodville Marshall greets Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor R. Clive Landis
A long-standing historical belief that free villages did not emerge in Barbados following emancipation has been firmly challenged by one of the region’s distinguished historians.
Sir Woodville Marshall’s latest work, Near a Plantation: Free Villages of Barbados 1840–1945, offers comprehensive and meticulously researched account of nearly 500 free villages established on the island between 1840 and 1945. The book was launched in March at The UWI Cave Hill Campus.
The publication directly counters a widely cited assertion by historian William Green that “free villages did not arise” in Barbados—a view that has been generally accepted by scholars for decades. Sir Woodville argues that this conclusion was based on an absence of local research and that serious scholarly attention had not previously been given to the post-slavery settlement patterns in Barbados.
Uncovering a Hidden History
The book explores how freed people in Barbados, despite major constraints, gradually acquired land and formed settlements independent of the plantation system. Among the major barriers to free village development were the island’s limited land availability, planters' opposition, and a high population density.
Sir Woodville identifies several factors that helped overcome these barriers over time. These include bequests of land by planters, the sale of small plots due to financial hardship, the activities of land speculators, and remittances from Barbadians who migrated to work in Panama.
The development of these villages occurred in three phases: an initial phase up to around 1870 marked by limited growth, a second phase to 1905 driven by economic pressures on planters, and a final phase up to 1945 marked by rapid expansion fueled by remittance income.
Impact Beyond Housing
By the 1940s, Sir Woodville contends, the majority of the descendants of formerly enslaved Barbadians were living in these free villages. The communities not only provided housing but also became centres of political and social life, contributing significantly to the modernization of the island.
