Barbadian Banishment: The forgotten Irish of the world’s newest republic

The country that next Tuesday will become the world's newest republic, Barbados, is home to one of the lesser celebrated Irish diasporas. They're known locally as "Redlegs", and by other vaguely disparaging terms, reflecting their status as misfits.

Unlike other branches of the wild geese, they do not appear to have multiplied over the centuries, perhaps because of an historic tendency to marry within their community. There are only some 400 left today.

The Barbadian-Irish originated as indentured servants, forcibly exported – along with many Scots and English undesirables – during the 1600s

Insofar as they have attracted attention in recent years, it has often been because of their appeal to certain dubious political agendas, especially in the US, where they have been used to illustrate the claim that “the Irish were slaves too”. But it is true that the Barbadian (or Bajan in the popular abbreviation) Irish did originate as indentured servants, forcibly exported – along with many Scots and English undesirables – during the 1600s.

The first shipment predated Cromwell's arrival in Ireland. It left Kinsale in 1636 with 61 people on board. Many more followed after the Cromwellian clearances, although exact numbers are still debated.

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Unlike slaves, typically, the indentured servants could at least buy themselves out eventually. But as a collective, they seem never to have escaped poverty and a sense of displacement.

As Sheena Jolley, an Irish photographer who recorded their lives during visits in 2000 and 2008, has written: "Today, most Red Legs have bad or no teeth due to poor diet and lack of dental care. Illnesses and premature deaths due to haemophilia and diabetes have left men blind and without limbs." She noted, "School absenteeism, poor health, the ill-effects of inter-family marriage, large families, little ownership of land and lack of job opportunities have locked those remaining... into a poverty trap."

Probably the world's most famous Barbadian, the singer Rihanna, was born Robin Rihanna Fenty, her surname inherited from a Bajan-Irish father

On a more cheerful note, visitors have also noted that they are a caring community whose members look after each other, happily sharing scarce resources. And a few have escaped both poverty and obscurity, in one case to a spectacular extent.

Probably the world's most famous Barbadian, the singer Rihanna, was born Robin Rihanna Fenty, her surname inherited from a Bajan-Irish father, who did indeed marry across the ethnic boundaries. Her childhood was blighted by his alcoholism and cocaine addictions, but she rose above that and other disadvantages to become a global pop star. Music aside, she has also made her surname (a presumed variant of Fenton) fashionable, via a make-up label called Fenty.

The Bajan Irish are concentrated in the east-coast parish of St John, on the opposite side of the island to the capital Bridgetown. Fentys aside, their surnames include Downie, Dixon, McCarthy, O’Brien, Norris, and Banfield.

Although Barbados has not much more than the population of Cork city, it has been self-governing since 1966. The date chosen for the republic’s inauguration – November 30th – will be the 55th anniversary of independence.

It had remained in the British Commonwealth but adopted its own flag and anthem from the start, both unusual. The new flag was a pointed exercise in more ways than one. It was taken from the old colonial badge, which featured Britannia and her trident. In the flag, only the top of the trident survived. It now features on the gold centre, flanked by panels of blue.

The anthem, In Plenty and In Time of Need, was written by New York Barbadian Irving Burgie, better known by the stage name Lord Burgess, a prolific writer of hits for Harry Belafonte and a major figure in the popularisation of calypso and reggae music. He died aged 95 only last November, a year and a day before the birth of the republic.

His anthem is not a calypso or reggae number, alas. And perhaps also unfortunately, the best-known song about Barbados in this part of the world may still be an act of cultural appropriation committed by an English band called Typically Tropical in 1975.

It was the proverbial one-hit wonder but it was unavoidable on the airwaves that year. As people of a certain age will recall, it described (in faux Caribbean accent) the homecoming holiday of a Brixton bus-driver, flying with “Coconut Airways” and looking forward to an reunion with his girlfriend “Mary Jane”.

Even in 1975, Mary Jane sounded strangely unexotic for a Barbadian. And until very recently, I might have suspected she was a Redleg too. But the truth is even more oblique, it seems, as it took me 46 years to discover that her name was a veiled reference to marijuana.