DR RITA PEMBERTON

The most extensive rituals of possession that occurred on the island of Tobago were those imposed by the British. The island's tenure as a British colony lasted from 1763-1781 and 1793-1962, with a French interruption in 1801/1802.

The rivalry between Britain and France for possession of Tobago, which intensified from the 1740s, was temporarily halted when the island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War.

But it was not a victory that was easily conceded and the authorities in Britain were conscious of the fact that embittered France had not abandoned hope of regaining possession of the island. Subsequent intelligence confirmed that France was planning a future strike to reclaim Tobago.

The British therefore acted with urgency to impose their stamp of possession on the island from 1763 onwards. After planting the British flag and taking the island in the name of the King of England, given the prevailing tensions with France, provisions for the defence of the new possession became priority. At first, two troops were stationed on the island to ward off any attacks of rival nations.

The next step was to establish a form of government that mirrored the British administrative tradition. Tobago's colonial administration was established with the appointment of a governor for the group of ceded islands. The administration comprised a lieutenant governor, assisted by a council, clerk of council, an elected Assembly with a speaker and clerk of the Assembly; chief justice, naval officers, provost marshal, Customs officials, public treasurer and an agent for handling the islands affairs in London. This made the transfer of British legal practices possible.

Next in the stamping process with which the newly established administration was mandated was to quickly establish a permanent and significant British presence in Tobago. This required acceleration of the conjoined processes of settlement and production on the island. Establishing a large resident British population and stimulating economic activity were indicators of possession, but the presence of a significant resident population with interests to defend also offered possibilities for the enhancement of the island's defence system.

In 1764, commissioners for the sale of land were appointed and surveyors were hired. Chief surveyor James Simpson devised a plan for the island with divisions into parishes, each with districts and towns. Simpson and his crew surveyed and divided the island into saleable lots and one year later, in 1765, the first land sales were made in a process that was completed in 1771.

The terms of sale facilitated the establishment of large plantations. Land allocations were up to a maximum of 500 acres and purchasers were required to be equipped with their labour and bring a portion of the land into cultivation within two years of purchase.

This process of land sales had several consequences. First, the Bri