E.M. Shilstone (1889–1969)

Eustace Maxwell Shilstone (19 December 1889–31 July 1969)

Eustace Shilstone was a Solicitor and one of the founders and later President of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, and also a prolific and frequently anonymous contributor to the Barbados Museum and Historical Society Journal.

He was born in Barbados on the 19 December 1889, the last of six children of the lawyer Maxwell Shilstone (1857–1915) and his wife Helen Lee (nee Bayley, 1857–1945). His siblings were Herbert Maxwell Shilstone (1881-1955), Daisy Shilstone (1882-), Helen Margaret Armstrong (1883-), Ernest Nelson Shilstone (1884-), and Theodore Maxwell Shilstone (1888–1909).

Eustace was privately educated, and at Combermere School and qualified as a Solicitor in 1912. Later he became a partner in the firm of Cottle Catford & Co., Solicitors (then at 17 High Street, Bridgetown), and eventually its Senior Partner. He was a sound lawyer and his opinions were much respected. In 1918, he married Mary Elizabeth T. (1893–1974), daughter of Edward Benjamine Bovell (c1830–1944) and wife Alice Maude Cummins. For many years he was Clerk of the Barbados House of Assembly and Registrar of the Ecclesiastical Synod.

His interest in local history was both immense and scholarly. In 1924, he edited Richard Hall's ‘General Account of the First Settlement and of the Trade and Constitution of the Island of Barbados, 1735’; for which he also wrote a foreword.

It was as a young boy that he had visited the island’s only Jewish synagogue with members of the Daniels family, with its Nidhe Israel Cemetery in Synagogue Lane dating from 1654 to 1929. This later set him on an endeavored to buy the properties in 1934, but the owner rebuffed him and partly destroyed the site. On the latter's death two years later, Eustace prevailed on the government to put the cemetery in perpetual trust in the deeds of the islands for the use of the new community of Jews then arriving from Europe.

He was a diligent researcher known for his accuracy, and his knowledge of local history and island families was considered "second to none”. In 1924 he edited Richard Hall's 'A General Account of the First Settlement of Barbados (Bridgetown)' and in 1933 published 'Notes on Controverted Elections (Bridgetown)'.

In 1933 he created a Barbados Museum (on Dalkeith Road, Bridgetown) in the former prison near the Garrison and included several items from the synagogue in its collection, among them a pew, a clock, a brass Hanukah menorah, and an alms box. He then proceeded to teach himself Hebrew, Spanish, and Portuguese, had the cemetery cleared of tropical growth, and copied the 472 surviving epitaphs on all the tombstones including translating them into English.

The first issue of the Barbados Museum Historical Society (BMHS) Journal was issued in November 1933, in it the first editor wrote:

“*… we have waited over 300 years to
found a historical society, but once
this was founded there has been no
delay in issuing a journal …[which
from now on] will be issued regularly
each Quarter*”.

This first issue contained an article on the Society’s Corporate Seal by Eustace himself, an account of the history of the formation of the museum, including a partial list of the hundreds of items in the ‘Watson Collection’, and the report of the Committee of 1910 on the ‘Historic Sites and Buildings of Barbados’. Other important topics in that first year were: a seminal article on the geology of Barbados by Sir John Saint, the first of many fascinating extracts from old newspapers – “The Barbadian, 1822 – 1823”, “Historic sites re-visited", "An Account of the Fatal Hurricane which Barbados suffered in 1831”, and the “Centenary of the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire”.

In February of 1937 King George VI awarded Eustace Maxwell Shilstone, Esq., the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contribution to public services in Barbados. Then nearly two decade later, in January of 1955, he was once again awarded for public services to Island by the new Queen, Elizabeth II, this time the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) and named the King’s Solicitor.

In the following year he finally published his work ‘Monumental Inscriptions in the Burial Ground of the Jewish Synagogue at Bridgetown, Barbados’ (London and New York, 1956) includes an interesting history of Jews in Barbados.

He had been Honorary Secretary of the BMHS since its formation until he became President in 1959 — a post he held until the end of 1961, when he retired due to ill health. He was still elected a Member of the Council in 1962, but was unable to attend any of its Meetings. At his request he was not re-elected in 1963. For many years after the Society’s formation he was it’s most active member, and the Museum and Society would not have succeeded without his driving force. Barbados and its people owe an irreparable dept.

Eustace died on the 31 July 1969 and is buried in the west side of St. Michael's Cathedral cemetery, Barbados. Sadly after his death, the self-appointed leader of the new Jewish community conceived the unfeasible notion of digging up the tombstones and plastering them into the walls, with the resultant ruin of hundreds of the stones.

After Eustace’s death the Shilstone Memorial Library was created and now houses a rich collection of over 6,000 books, journals and pamphlets, covering subject areas such as Caribbean and Barbadian history, archaeology, pre-history, natural and social history, some American, European and African history, as well as furniture, antiques, silver, art, architecture and craft. In December of 2009, with a small grant of US$5,000, the BMHS was finally able to proceed with the digitising some of its resources. The money would be used to digitise the ‘Shilstone Notebooks Collection’ and the next annual museum journal. They will then form part of the new resources on the Internet via the Museum website. There are 208 Shilstone documents, made up of Note Books, folders, diaries and binders, all written by hand. They examine a variety of subjects, including genealogical records, Jewish and Quaker records, House of Assembly records, Slavery in Barbados, Church History, the Clergy and Governors of Barbados. These notebooks have constantly proven to be a significant research resource for individuals who have gone on to publish articles and books and digitisation will allow more scholars access to their information.

Published Works

General Account of the First Settlement and of the Trade and Constitution (Bridgetown, 1924)
Notes on Controverted Elections (Bridgetown, 1933)
Monumental Inscriptions in the Burial Ground of the Jewish Synagogue at Bridgetown, Barbados (London and New York, 1956)