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John Lamont in Trinidad

John Lamont of Benmore in Trinidad - Article written by Peter G.Lamont Cole, 27.2.07


During a brief visit to friends in Barbados last year my wife and I decided to fly over to Trinidad for a couple of days to see if we could discover a bit more about the early Lamont plantations on the Island. In particular I was wondering about “the fine stone mansion” 1 on the River Estate in Cascade, west of Port of Spain, where John Lamont died in 1850, and the ‘family burial ground’ at Canaan, where he was buried next to his brother Boydon (who had died in 1837). My interest was because my great grandfather, Georgee Cole, was John Lamont’s close friend, and cousin by marriage, as well as being his agent for selling the sugar in Glasgow.

We only had two full days on the island, and on the first of these we drove to San Fernando, where we discovered a suburb called Canaan. There we found two elderly inhabitants who told us there was supposed to be the grave “of some white man” not far from the local Presbyterian school. Enquiries at the school elicited the information that a local resident had been forced to stop building a second house in his garden when he came across some old graves, and one of the teachers was able to tell us exactly where they were. While still not sure whether these were the Lamont graves, we went to the house and made tentative enquiries. The obliging owner pointed out some iron railings just visible on a rise at the bottom of his heavily overgrown garden, and on hearing that I had Lamont connections he offered to lead us to them. Hacking a path through the thick undergrowth we came, in about 100 yards, to the railed enclosure. Inside, when the growth, some of it over six feet high, had been cleared away, were three adjoining graves, each with a marble headstone.



 Lamont  Tombs in Canaan
Lamont Tombs in Canaan

John Lamont's Headstone
John Lamont's Headstone

Lamont Graveyard in Canaan
Lamont Graveyard in Canaan

Inscriptions on the headstones commemorated Sir Norman Lamont (1949) in the centre, with John Lamont (1850) and Boydon Lamont (1837) on either side. It looked as if the stones for John and Boydon could be the originals, but that for Sir Norman was obviously a century later. There were also at least two more headstones without inscription outside the enclosure. Our photographs were not good, as there was unseasonably heavy rain that day, but the owner of the house has promised to take some more on a sunny day. He told us that no one was responsible for looking after the graves. What a find, -- “the family burial ground in Canaan”! -- but how sad to see it so terribly neglected.



 John Lamont's House
John Lamont's House

John Lamont's Estate
John Lamont's Estate

Waterwheel at Cascade
Waterwheel at Cascade

On the second day we decided to try and find traces of the Lamont estates around Port of Spain. We knew John Lamont had ‘a fine stone mansion’ on the River Estate in the Diego Martin Valley, and a local guide book said there was ‘an old plantation museum and waterwheel’ in that area. This seemed an obvious place to start, and with luck might lead us to the remains of the old house. Imagine our surprise when on declaring our interest in John Lamont we were greeted with enthusiasm by the lady curator. It turned out that the museum building was none other than John Lamont’s house itself and the first and main item was about him !! There were life-size figures in contemporary dress alongside the notice describing him as the principle landowner in the area, -- though it would be tempting fate to think that these were based on any true likeness of him. The curator didn’t know. The house itself was of course heavily restored, and it had never been a typical European style stone mansion, the remains of which we had foolishly been expecting to find. It was a square two storey dwelling, unremarkable if over here, but no doubt dominating the landscape in its day. And the waterwheel was huge, -- at least 20 foot in diameter.

We considered our two days well spent and I hope this brief account, and the accompanying photographs, will be of some interest to clan members. While we may, in this bicentenary year of the abolition of the slave trade, have misgivings about some aspects of how the sugar plantation owners made their profits, this article is not meant as a condonation of slavery. It is offered simply as a piece of historical research.


Peter G.Lamont Cole, 27.2.07

Owner of originalPeter G.Lamont Cole
Linked toJohn Lamont

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