Anguilla-England Relation

uth America slowly made their way up through the chain of islands by raft or dugout canoe. They were skilled farmers and fishermen and were also good at pottery making. By the time the first English settlers arrived in Anguilla, in 1650, there was not a single Arawak on the island. However in 1656, an Amerindian raid from one of the neighbouring islands wiped out their settlement. The raiders “killed almost all the men, plundered and burnt the houses, but kept the women and children for slaves.” Further havoc occurred in 1666 when a French expedition consisting of 300 men attacked the island, terrorized the people and caused them to flee to the woods. Conditions in Anguilla in the latter part of the seventeenth century were extremely difficult. The poor returns from cotton, which had replaced to***co as the island's cash crop, created considerable hardships. More hardships were experienced in 1688 when a joint Irish and French attack on the island forced the colonists to seek refuge in Antigua. In 1694 several of them immigrated to the Virgin Islands. Despite these setbacks those settlers who remained at home continued to exploit the land. By the early eighteenth century sugar replaced cotton as the island’s principal cash crop. Sugar transformed a predominantly white society of small farmers into a society of predominantly African slaves labouring on sugar estates. The development of Anguilla's economy was frequently disrupted by European political conflicts, which spilled over into the Caribbean. In 1744 three hundred Anguillians, assisted by two privateers from St Kitts, captured the French half of St Martin. The French retaliated on 21st May 1745: two French frigates, under M. de la Touche, landed some 700 men at Crocus Bay in an attempt to take the island but the Anguillian militia forced them to retreat. Another French attack took place in 1796 when 400 men from two warships (Le Desius and La Vaillante) destroyed the island’s main settlements at South Hill and The Valley. The French were forced to withdraw, with great loss (including their two ships), when a British frigate, the HMS Lapwing, came to Anguilla’s rescue. Conditions in Anguilla were influenced not only by European conflicts but also by political expediency. In 1825 a legislative union between St Kitts and Anguilla was created when, on the recommendation of the British Government, the St Kitts House of Assembly passed an Act to allow the freeholders in Anguilla to send a representative to the said Assembly. Despite the freeholders’ strong protest, to Governor Maxwell, the legislative union took effect. Life in Anguilla worsened during the early 1830s after severe droughts destroyed all food crops. The resultant famine caused much distress especially among the slave population. At the time of emancipation in 1834 there were 2,354 slaves registered in Anguilla but they were virtually free for many of them owned land or rented or occupied plantation land that was abandoned or neglected by the planters. “Benevolent paternalism during slavery; manumission; and the system of land tenure . . . gave birth to an industrious peasantry, dependent on its efforts for subsistence.” During the 1840s, the harshness of conditions in Anguilla prompted the British Government to propose a plan to abandon the island and send the entire population to Demerara (in Guyana). Most Anguillians refused to go and the island settled down as a society of peasant farmers, fishermen and seafarers. It was against all official advice that the Anguillians decided to stay at home and eke out a living but not without difficulties. These difficulties heightened their resentment of the union with St Kitts. They made their resentment known to Queen Victoria whom they petitioned, in 1872, to dissolve the union and administer Anguilla directly from Britain. At the close of the nineteenth century Anguillians endured much suffering because of the great famine which started in 1890. A prolonged drought "obliterated" all food crops, destroyed most of the animals and caused many people to creep into “the woods and gather berries and herbs for food." It was in the wake of the hardships of the 1890s and the depression of the 1920s and 1930s that Anguillian men folk flocked to the Dominican Republic where they found employment in the sugar cane fields. They later took refuge in Aruba and Curacao. The depression of the 1930s resulted in a series of labour disturbances throughout the Caribbean. These hastened constitutional reform and limited franchise was introduced in St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla in 1936. Another consequence of the disturbances was the appointment of the Moyne Commission to study social and economic conditions in the British West Indies. One of its principal recommendations was the granting of universal adult suffrage to all territories. Universal adult suffrage for the Presidency of St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla came about in 1952. Further constitutional change affecting the Presidency of the St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla occurred in 1956 with the dissolution of the Leeward Islands Federation. The Presidency was re-styled Colony and when the West Indies Federation was created two years later the Colony was included as a single unit. Despite the various constitutional changes Anguillians remained powerless. Social and economic conditions continued to be most unsatisfactory. These conditions prompted a petition, in 1958, to Governor Williams. The petition asked him "to bring about the dissolution of the . . . political and administrative association of Anguilla with St Kitts" but it was ignored. After the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1962 the British Government attempted a federation of the "Little Eight”. When that failed most of the islands were granted new constitutions that provided for Statehood in association with Britain. The creation of the Associated State of St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla on 27th February 1967 and the inclusion of Anguilla against the wishes of its people sparked off the Anguilla Revolution. The Revolution was concerned with replacing St Kitts' colonialism with direct British colonialism essentially for social and economic reasons. Up until 1967 Anguilla remained relatively poor and undeveloped. There were no industries, paved roads, electricity, pipe-borne water, telephones nor proper port facilities. Health, sanitation and education facilities were grossly inadequate. These conditions and rampant unemployment had turned Anguillians into a nomadic people. The high point of the Revolution occurred on 30th May 1967 when a hostile crowd surrounded the Police Headquarters and expelled the 13-man contingent of St Kitts policemen which was stationed in Anguilla. Having seized power the Anguillians established a Peacekeeping Committee to manage the island's affairs until elections could be held. One of its first acts was to approve the launching of an armed attack on St Kitts. To this end an eighteen-man party landed in St Kitts at 2 am on Saturday 10th June 1967 and attacked the Defence Force Camp, Police Headquarters and Power Station. The attacks fizzled out and five Anguillians were captured. With a view to legitimizing the overthrow of the authority of the St Kitts Government the Peacekeeping Committee held a plebiscite on 11th July 1967. The result was an overwhelming vote in favour of secession and of the establishment an interim government. However, as Anguillians consolidated their Revolution the Commonwealth Caribbean Governments sought a peaceful resolution by convening a meeting, of the interested parties, in Barbados in July 1967. “Agreement” was reached on the conditions for Anguilla's return to constitutional rule under St Kitts but it was rejected by the people and the impasse remained unresolved. The impasse was broken in December 1967 when two British parliamentarians worked out an agreement for an (interim settlement) whereby a British official was appointed to "exercise basic administrative authority" over Anguilla, in conjunction with the Anguilla Council, for a period of one year. Towards the end of 1968 the St Kitts Government and the Anguilla Council failed to agree on an extension of the interim settlement and, following a plebiscite held 6th February 1969, Anguilla declared itself an "Independent Republic". This situation made the British Government embark on another attempt at finding a solution to the crisis and on 11th March 1969 William Whitlock, a Junior Minister, arrived in Anguilla with proposals for the establishment of an interim British administration. The proposals were unacceptable and Whitlock was expelled within a few hours of his arrival. The British Government's reaction was swift. On 19th March 1969 some 300 British troops invaded Anguilla and established an administration under a Commissioner. After several years of negotiations involving Britain, St Kitts and Anguilla, and a series of incremental constitutional changes, Anguilla became a separate British Dependent Territory on 19th December 1980. This marked the formal end of its people’s struggle to free themselves from colonial ties with St Kitts and to establish them directly with “Mother England”

by Colville L. Petty, OBE