Nancy Clarke (entrepreneur)

Nancy Clarke (died 1812) was a Barbadian hotelier and free woman of colour who was known for the continued success of the Royal Naval Hotel. According to Professor Pedro Welch of the University of the West Indies, Clarke's history is indicative of the ingenuity Barbadian women of colour used in the 19th century to secure emancipation from slavery for themselves and others.

Nancy Clarke
Born
Saint Michael, Barbados
Died1811–1812
England
NationalityBritish
Other namesAnn Clarke, Nancy Collins
Occupationhotelier

Biography

Clarke took over the management of the Royal Naval Hotel in 1791, upon the death of Rachael Pringle Polgreen.[1] The hotel became one of the most popular in Bridgetown, under Clarke's management,[2] though she was known for her temper. A popular song of the time captured her fit of jealousy, which resulted in Clarke throwing acid in the face of another woman.[3] The hotel was frequented by sailors and soldiers, which beyond board and accommodation, provided women for domestic or sexual services.[4] Rather than serving merely rank and file soldiers, Clarke was known for her fetes which included high-ranking officers, as well as dignitaries, including the Governor of Barbados, Lord Seaforth.[5]

After running the hotel for a decade, Clarke moved to London, leaving the business to Charlotte Barrow (also known as Carolyn Barrow), who operated it until 1821,[Notes 1] when the business was lost in a fire.[1][2] When she sold the hotel, Clarke moved to London, living on Duke Street, St James's. She manumitted a slave named "Scipio" there in 1810.

While it is unknown why she initially moved to England, when she died in 1812, her executors filed paperwork to confirm that her property was not subject to escheat, forfeiture to the state. The attorney general ruled that he had seen her manumission papers and concluded there was no legal reason to seize her property. The bulk of her estate was left to her daughter Georgiana Brown. As per her request, her slave "Satira", was conveyed to James West, a surgeon from Liverpool, who per her instruction manumitted Satira.[2]

Her biography, along with other women of colour who were early hoteliers, was presented in Historic Bridgetown by Warren Alleyne.[7] Professor Pedro Welch of the University of the West Indies, has also studied Clarke and the ways women slaves and freedmen used their networks and contacts with whites to emancipate other people in bondage in Barbados.[8]

Notes
  1. Handler's date for the cessation of operation of the Royal Naval Hotel is 1812.[6]

References

Citations
  1. Hunt 2014, pp. 101–102.
  2. Welch 1999.
  3. Handler 1975, p. 28.
  4. Candlin & Pybus 2016, p. 262.
  5. Williams 2014, p. 181.
  6. Handler 1975, p. 29.
  7. The Barbados Advocate 2017.
  8. Barbados Today 2012.

Bibliography
  • Candlin, Kit; Pybus, Cassandra (2016). "15: Enterprising Women and War Profiteers: Race, Gender and Power in the Revolutionary Caribbean". In Forrest, Alan; Hagemann, Karen; Rowe, Michael (eds.). War, Demobilization and Memory: The Legacy of War in the Era of Atlantic Revolutions. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 254–268. ISBN 978-1-137-40649-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hunt, Tristram (2014). Cities of Empire: The British Colonies and the Creation of the Urban World. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-9600-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Welch, Pedro L.V. (December 1999). ""Unhappy and Afflicted Women?": Free Colored Women in Barbados: 1780-1834". Revista/Review Interamericana. San Germán, Puerto Rico: Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. 29 (1–4). ISSN 0360-7917. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Williams, Siân (September 2014). The Royal Navy in the Caribbean, 1756–1815 (PDF) (PhD). Southampton, England: University of Southampton. Retrieved 8 February 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wyvill, Richard A. (March 1975). Handler, Jerome S. (ed.). ""Memoirs of an Old Army Officer": Richard A. Wyvill's Visits to Barbados in 1796 and 1806-7" (PDF). The Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Bridgetown, Barbados: Barbados Museum and Historical Society. 35 (1): 21–30. OCLC 656301103. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2020.
  • "International Women's Day and the Emancipation of Women". The Barbados Advocate. Fontabelle, Saint Michael, Barbados. 12 March 2017. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  • "Women played key role". Barbados Today. Lodge Hill, St. Michael, Barbados. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
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