Yesterday evening, beneath the historic Rubber Tree in Warwick, the community gathered for a Service of Remembrance, Lament, and Dedication, marking the lives of seventy-seven men, women, and children of African descent buried at the site. Many were free and enslaved people whose graves were unmarked and then later destroyed during the construction of the Warwick Post Office by the government of the day.
The service formed part of St. Mary the Virgin Church’s 400th Anniversary observances under the theme, “Generations of Faith: Honouring Our Past, Celebrating Our Present and Glorifying Our Future.”
The service was attended by His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Andrew Murdoch, CMG, CVO, followed in order of precedence by the Honorable Joan Dillas-Wright, JP, President of the Senate; Members of the Senate and the House of Assembly; the Honorable Neville Tyrrell, JP, MP, Chairman of the Warwick Parish Council; MP Paul Wilmot; the Hon. Douglas DeCouto, JP, MP; former Members of Parliament Dale Butler and Terry Lister; C25 PLP candidate Joanne Ball-Burgess, C27 OBA candidate Dion Smith; and other invited guests.
Participating clergy included Canon Dr. Sharon Prentis, Dr. Evroyd Weeks, the Venerable Archdeacon John Stow, and members of the Warwick Ministerial Alliance, along with clergy and congregations from churches across the island.
Present were members of St. Mary’s Church; Ed Christopher, Town Crier; and the Cedar Hill Salvation Army Band, under the direction of Bandmaster Warren Jones, who provided the evening’s musical offerings.
Representatives from Purvis Parish School, Warwick Academy, Warwick Preschool, CURB, the Human Rights Commission, the African Diaspora Trail Committee, Warwick Workmen’s Club, the PHC Zebras, the Irish Lodges in Bermuda, the Progressive Labour Party, the Bahá’ís of Bermuda, and other community organizations attended the service.
During the service, wreaths were laid at the Rubber Tree Memorial by His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Andrew Murdoch, CMG, CVO; the Hon. Neville Tyrrell, JP, MP; the Hon. Douglas DeCouto, JP, MP; the Ministerial Alliance of Warwick; the African Diaspora Trail Committee; CURB; the Irish Lodges in Bermuda; PHC Zebras; Warwick Workmen’s Club; the Progressive Labour Party; and the Bahá’ís of Bermuda.
At the unmarked grave in St. Mary’s Cemetery, wreaths were laid by the Right Reverend Nicholas Dill, Bishop of Bermuda, who presided at the service, and by the Reverend Carl W. O. Williams, Priest-in-Charge of St. Mary the Virgin, Warwick, who assisted throughout the liturgy and offered prayers at the grave.
During the service, the recovered names of those interred at the Rubber Tree were read aloud. Through the research of historian Andrew Bermingham and Janet Bento, these individuals have been identified and their names documented.
The recovered names identified thus far are:
Research into those buried at the site continues.
Through prayer, music, reflection, and wreath-laying, those in attendance commemorated the site’s history and the lives of those buried there.
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