Hugh Barnard (1910 to 2002, age 92)
Hugh de Beausire Barnard - (June 6, 1910-February 2002 Cause of death: dementia and influenza). Hugh was named after an uncle, Hubert Barnard, nicknamed Hugh who died age 16 in 1882.
The eldest son of George and Winifred, Hugh had black hair, brown eyes and a humorous mouth and was about 5'10" tall (shorter than his father). Hugh and Joan were the darkest of the 7 children and experienced prejudice in England so avoided going in the sun. Hugh was fearful of this and it affected his behavior since he was a quiet person, without Joan's outgoing and extremely attractive personality. He avoided any of the West Indian family who came to England and attempted to contact him (as did his oldest sister, Nibs). He was a gentle man, intelligent and thoughtful with a great sense of humor. He loved to recount amusing tales, though unfortunately I've forgotten most of them. He had a store of funny tales about the wild behavior of the “Barnard boys" of his generation. These included his younger brothers, and occasionally the exploits of his first cousins, Bertie, Cyrill and Denis.
Hugh was born when my mother, Lesley Winifred, was 16 months old and another sister, Naomi Isabel ("Nibs") was almost 4. With two older sisters and a younger sister, Joan Katherine two years later, he was nicknamed "Boy". Three more boys followed: David, Noel and Donald. Hugh and Lesley suffered the most from their father's abusive behavior and I assume that Hugh was also horsewhipped. According to Lesley, he was more affected by it, as he was a sensitive child. By the time the 3 youngest boys were born, their father was older and had mellowed. I actually blame their mother, Florence Winifred equally, as she was the one who would make them wait in the 'punishment room' till their father came home from working in the broiling tropical sun, knowing full well how they were to be punished.
Hugh visited us fairly frequently during my early childhood, prior to his marriage which took place when he was more than 40 years of age. He was the relative I knew best, though unfortunately I didn't see him much once I was an adult. He was the only man with whom my brother and I had any real relationship, little though it was. We enjoyed the excitement as he usually stayed for a few days and used to roughhouse with us. I recall a story about Noel. He was managing the family plantations and came home one afternoon to find a local preacher waiting for him in the house. Noel was a heavy drinker and enraged he drew his pistol and shot multiple times into the ceiling, causing the preacher to flee for his life. Shortly after that incident my grandfather removed him as manager. Another story was about his cousin, Denis Barnard, who bought a new black Jaguar automobile one afternoon, smashed it up on the way home and went back the next day to buy a white one. I don't know if there was insurance in those days, but since I was a small child and raised in poverty, I was both shocked and impressed by this story. More recently his son, Craig, told me that later in life, Denis carried a bullwhip about St. Lucia, to intimidate others.
Denis and his older brothers, Bertie and Cyril, had a terrible experience as children when their parents both died of flu within days of each other. Their father Walter Herbert Barnard and their mother, Ida (Child) had decided to move to England due to Walter's poor health. They were staying in a hotel in London and in the midst of buying a house in Maida Vale when first Walter died and then Ida a few days later. Some of their mother's relatives were also in London, attending a family wedding and Cyril was particularly upset when some of the women came to the hotel and helped themselves to his mother's jewelry.
According to a story told to Craig by his father Denis Barnard, (though another member of the family tells me he never heard the story and doubts it's true) the hotel management had no idea what to do with the boys but managed to locate an elderly relative, a French countess who lived in a chateau in the French countryside. Presumably a Dumourier relative from their mother's side. The boys were sent to stay there temporarily, while a more permanent arrangement could be made. They were there for several months, largely ignored except on Thursday afternoons when they had to join the countess in her salon for afternoon tea. Every other day of the week a large decanter of cherry brandy was brought to their rooms and they would drink themselves into a stupor. Fortunately another relative, Colonel Thorne, the husband of one of the Beausire girls, was located and agreed to act as guardian. so the boys returned to England and school. My grandfather, George Barnard was the Executor of their estate and kept some of their parents' valuables until they reached their majority. There is a copy of a deed acknowledging receipt of those items, signed by all three young men. While my grandfather was in charge of their affairs he used some of the assets to purchase at least one more plantation. Unfortunately when the time came to transfer the assets there was a major recession and the bottom had dropped out of the market for the items grown on the plantations. George was short of money and therefore transferred the estate of Dennery to the boys in lieu of money.
Hugh liked to tease me by singing a song that was popular at that time, "Hey Barbariba" and sometimes called me Barbarida ! I have no idea why ! I recall two occasions when he was critical of my mother. The first was a comment that "she falls out with everyone", when I was about ten. I thought the sun rose and set on my mother at that point in my life so it was a huge surprise when I realized it was true. The other occurred when I was about twelve. We were together in his car in town, waiting for her, when I heard him say, in a shocked tone, "Is that your mother?" I looked up and she was coming towards us. She was slightly overweight at that point and wearing a shapeless camelhair overcoat. I recall how taken aback I was to see her from his viewpoint.
He was 10 when he and my mother, 11 1/2, were taken to boarding school in England in 1920, as soon as it was safe to travel after World War I. Their older sister, Naomi, started boarding school at the age of 6 and except for the war they would probably have been sent away much younger, but the war began when Lesley was 6 and Hugh was 4. In the meantime they were educated at home by govenesses hired from England, when living at Park Estates - a large plantation in an isolated area; or at school in Castries, if they were living at Rosemount, a house on Barnard Hill. There is a record of them travelling by sea with their father, from New York to Southampton, in September 1920, while their mother, Winifred, stayed behind in St. Lucia with the younger children. The voyage to England was stressful to my mother due to a steward on board who kept staring at her and she became fearful of him and went to great lengths to avoid him.
Hugh was sent to boarding school at Pinewood School in the Cotswolds area of Wiltshire. a beautiful area of the countryside (if this is the correct school) and later attended Dover College as a preparatory student. During school holidays the older children lived with their maternal cousin, Hilda Barnard, in the seaside town of Ramsgate. At first Hugh and my mother enjoyed talking to each other in the singsong French patois they had used in St. Lucia, when in public, enjoying both the privacy and the attention it caused.
Hugh was friendly with my father, John Charles Oliver for most of his adult life. They lived in rented rooms near each other in London, where Hugh worked for an insurance agency for a while, and met through my mother.
Prior to his marriage Hugh travelled extensively. At one point he lived in British Honduras (Belize) raising pigs. These developed trichinosis and had to be destroyed. Hugh was left stranded and penniless. My grandfather provided enough money for him to return to England and for short term living expenses. Unfortunately all the boys needed help at one time or another and George provided it only after delays and with great reluctance. He resented the fact that his adult children were not self-supporting but their schooling had not prepared them for anything but the life of the idle rich. Once they left school he did nothing more than the bare minimum to help financially. “Aunt Hilda” was ill with cancer and died in June 1937, and there was no parental figure to go to for advice and no home in England for them, so it was hard for them to fend for themselves. All the girls went hungry on many occasions after leaving school. Sadly, after my grandfather died, large sums went for British probate taxes, since he was in the ‘super tax’ range.
After the start of World War II Hugh joined the British army and was in one of the convoys sent to Dunkirk on D Day, June 6, 1944, which also happened to be his birthday. He was shocked and traumatized by the experience and would never talk about it.
After the war he returned to office work until he married Frances in his late 40’s. The family moved to Worthing about 1957, a few miles from our house, where Hugh remained until his death. Like the rest of the children he was not raised to be a worker and had various jobs. John, my father, told me he was the reason Hugh married. Apparently he had commented that people would think Hugh was 'weird' if he remained single, and the next thing Hugh was engaged. My mother, brother and I attended his wedding to Frances in the 1950's, and also met her family. Frances was one of three girls, daughters of a vet, and I remember we all wondered why he wasn't marrying Frances' sister, Stella, since there was so much flirting going on between the two of them.
After his marriage he found his forte: buying large older homes and turning them into flats. He made quite a bit of money doing this. He and Frances had two sons, Timothy and Martin Barnard born 1955 and 1957. Their childhood was miserable with continual and dreadful fights between their parents, who could agree on nothing, not even which day of the week it was, according to Tim! In addition they were isolated from the rest of the family, and friends were not allowed over to visit during holidays. In fact Tim says he did not even realize that other children were allowed to invite friends to play until he was much older. Tim was a terribly shy child but Martin was more sociable. Tim didn't get to know any of the family until he was in his early 20’s, when he visited Naomi, Hugh's older sister.
When my brother, Richard, and his first wife Marion, separated, Frances refused to allow my brother to come to their house, since she sympathized with Marion. This caused a permanent rift and my brother never spoke to Hugh again.
Hugh's relationship with Frances was impossible and he fell in love with a gentle Welshwoman, Nella, in the 1970's, when she rented one of his flats. She was 14 years younger. He and Frances divorced. This was very upsetting to the boys since they felt abandoned, particularly since their mother was difficult and cold. Martin joined the Hare Krishna cult in his late teens and Hugh had difficulty extricating him from it. Hugh and Nella never married though they lived together for over 20 years. At first Hugh wanted to get married but Nella was unwilling, then later she wanted to and he didn't.
Although Hugh died shortly after inheriting a fairly considerable sum of money (c. $140,000 US), nothing was left to his sons, even though he had promised to do so. His Will was changed after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This caused both sons considerable hurt and dismay. Hugh was quite careful with money and possessions, to the point of being mean, a trait that seems somewhat common in some of the family, but his estate contained very little and what there was, was left to Nella. Tim did not mind too much, but Martin was most upset about it. I wrote to my brother saying it was unfair and that I was upset about it, but not all the family agreed with my opinion (he shared my email !!)
Tim lives in Devon with various dogs. and Martin is in Hove with his long time girlfriend. Neither has married. Tim has made money investing in rental property which keeps him busy but I have no information at present about Martin. Hugh's ex wife, Frances died in 2018 at the age of 102.
When Hugh went to St. Lucia, which he enjoyed doing occasionally, he visited his 2 younger brothers, family and friends. He usually stayed in the Morne where prices were more reasonable and in particular liked a placed called Hewanorra. He was particularly impressed with his cousin Mildred (who later died of cancer), commenting that she was one of the nicest people he had ever met. Denis Barnard at that point (1974) also had a house in the Morne. Hugh also mentioned a friend that he met - Madeline (nee Bouse).
Letters to my mother:
12 June 1974 from St. Lucia: "Somehow I never got around to writing onboard, which once again shows the less you have to do, the less you get done. I travelled on one of the Geest Line banana boats. Food reasonable. 1st class cabin to myself called a Stateroom. Air conditioned, phone, bedroom furniture, own bathroom and loo. I found...there were only 8 passengers. An elderly retired Colonel, a couple who own a small hotel with shooting and fishing rights for the wealthy. She was very nice but he was somewhat overpowering and everything he said seemed to revolve around some well-known person. A man who was from Cardiff and has his own wholesale leather business, whom I found companionable and the other three were Indians returning to their native St. Vincent. We all sat at the Captain's table. Rather formal and I'm not the club type who is full of anecdotes. However I have never known such a friendly lot as the ship's officers. It's not often one is invited to their mess and bar. The Purser, who would call me Hughie, noticed my birthday was on the 6th and kept referring to D-Day. I said I'd celebrated my birthday before I left and not to mention it. The blighter let on. A great big birthday cake was baked. As I took my seat at lunch, the Captain half rose and shook my hand.... (rest is lost)
P.S. David (his brother) is just like the old man. He can't get anything done and can't get or keep a cook as he thinks $20 a week is too much."
20 July 1976: "...when I was in Castries (1974) I scrutinized people's faces in case I knew them. There was an oldish chap standing on the corner as I approached. As he turned towards me I decided I didn't know him. When I was alongside he half turned and I did too. I thought 'this man thinks he knows me.' We both turned away and then looked at each other again. I thought he half held out his hand and being of a friendly nature, I did the same ! He said "You're Hugh aren't you?". Yes that's right, I said and you're? "Noel", he said. "My God", said I and stopped myself saying, I didn't recognize you !! His hair is white, like me he wears glasses. He's had an operation for cataract. He's OK now. For several years now he hasn't touched a drink and doesn't smoke. I'm told this is true. He nearly died you know."
Noel was his younger brother. At that time he was about 58 years old and lived in the Morne.
Hugh developed glaucoma in 1981, had an operation for a hernia in 1988 and a cataract operation in 1989. He had arthritis and difficulty walking after he was about 84 . He went to Sri Lanka with his son Tim in 1982. One of the last times I spoke to him on the phone he told me he couldn't walk much. I encouraged him to get a wheelchair or even an electric scooter like my mother's but he refused. He was always concerned about the cost of phoning and wouldn't talk long, even though I was the one to phone him as he never initiated any of the calls. He died in 2002 after developing flu in a nursing home where he was staying, while Nella took a short trip. He had dementia and was frightened by any changes, which probably contributed to that.
