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Butcher ? the first Aboriginal to play for WI

 
ProWI 2016-12-03 20:17:52 

The Story.

Many in the cricketing world will be surprised to learn that Basil Butcher was the first person of Amerindian descent to represent the West Indies in the English ball game of cricket.
His grandmother was a “full out” Amerindian and for Basil Fitzgerald Butcher, what or who she was hardly mattered except for the fact that she had produced a grandson who represented Guyana and the West Indies in the discipline of cricket.

 
Runs 2016-12-03 21:00:04 

In reply to ProWI

I remembered watching him as a youth after his WI playing days were over representing I think was Mckenzie in Case Cup. We were told that old man used to play for West Indies, we were awestruck. Very disciplined guy.

 
Oilah 2016-12-03 21:21:49 

In reply to ProWI

Do you know if he had bajan family...Butcher is a fairly popular bajan name but I don't know if it is also popular in Guyana

 
Narper 2016-12-03 22:27:49 

In reply to Oilah

ask his son....denoke

 
pugie 2016-12-04 00:24:40 

In reply to Runs

Basil Butcher was cricket coach and player for the Mckenzie Sports Club at Linden while he was still playing for the West Indies.He was paid by the Demerara Bauxite Company.....also played in the limited overs Bristol Cup competition in the 70's after he retired from test cricket...all that time he was living in Linden and also owned a liquor distribution store.

 
Norm 2016-12-04 02:34:03 

In reply to Oilah

Butcher's father was Bajan.

 
Kay 2016-12-04 04:31:01 

In reply to ProWI

Basil Butcher was the first person of Amerindian descent to represent the West Indies

Then Sars was the second.... smile

 
ProWI 2016-12-04 05:01:45 

In reply to Norm


About half of Guyanese are Bajan. Ask Chrissy.

Even one of my great-aunts went there around the end of the 19th.Century

 
Runs 2016-12-04 07:40:21 

In reply to pugie

Played into the early 80's cool

 
mikesiva 2016-12-04 07:45:17 

In reply to ProWI

Very interesting...thanks for that.

 
Norm 2016-12-04 08:37:51 

In reply to ProWI

Lots of Bajans and folks from the Windwards migrated to Guyana from about 1890 to 1960. Some came for farming and mining, while others were skilled craftsmen or professionals.

There were even professional cricketers in the lot, with some playing professionally in Guyana and representing regional teams before 1928, when WI was admitted to Test cricket. These professionals could not play in inter-territorial matches, but were allowed against visiting overseas teams.

Bajans sought economic opportunity and relief from race issues that plagued some areas of life in Barbados.

They were well received in Guyana. No Bajan bench there!

 
sudden 2016-12-04 09:33:24 

In reply to Norm

Bajans sought economic opportunity and relief from race issues that plagued some areas of life in Barbados
.

interesting. could you kindly post some race issues as oppose to economic issues that plagued Bim around this period?

They were well received in Guyana. No Bajan bench there!


just to remind you there was no such place as Guyana before independence and the people of BG had no choice but to accept what the British did

 
tc1 2016-12-04 10:16:38 

In reply to Oilah

Roland Butcher is a cousin of Basil.

 
Oilah 2016-12-04 10:46:52 

In reply to Norm

Thanks Norm and TC1

 
doosra 2016-12-04 11:16:05 

In reply to sudden

just to remind you there was no such place as Guyana before independence and the people of BG had no choice but to accept what the British did


there's still no Bajan bench in Independent Guyana

 
Kay 2016-12-04 12:25:38 

Jack Muh Nanny Gap

Mudheads in Barbados: A Lived Experience

 
sudden 2016-12-04 13:09:44 

In reply to doosra

i wonder why? big grin

 
sudden 2016-12-04 13:12:04 

In reply to Kay

that is a beautiful story. almost every family in Bim had some relative that went to BG or Demerara as they used to say.

at school we had about 3 teachers from Guyana and boys whose parents had moved to Bim from Guyana, and this was in the late 70s to early 80s. a lot of them were professional Guyanese moving back home, my grandmother would say

 
sudden 2016-12-04 13:34:34 

In reply to doosra
Link Text

But it was Barbadian social activist, David Comissioning, who made known for the first time that late Prime Minister, David Thompson, who headed the government at that time, had quietly ordered a halt to the deportations following a meeting between the two men.

Comissioning told the audience that he called Thompson, “in the midst of all the human dislocation and suffering” stating it was wrong and that there was a better way.

According to Comissioning, Thompson agreed to meet him along with then Permanent Secretary, Gilbert Greaves. “We talked it through. We looked at all the negative consequences of the policy, and basically David agreed to return to the original Barbados policy on immigrants.”

That policy permits illegal immigrants resident here for at least five years to apply for immigrant status and have their applications processed.

“Basically there was a reversion but he [Thompson] said he was not prepared to go publicly and state that he was going back to that old system, but he would issue the memo to the Chief Immigration Officer.”

Comissioning said this was done, resulting in a halt to the deportation of Guyanese.


this should never have been revealed. there was an understanding with that joker Commissiong

 
Norm 2016-12-04 15:12:20 

In reply to sudden

post some race issues as oppose to economic issues that plagued Bim around this period?

The race issues were about the White domination of Bajan society - in politics, business, sports, etc. That's why Snuffy Browne migrated to Guyana for example, because race issues in cricket and law angered him. He worked in Guyana as a magistrate after arriving.

there was no such place as Guyana before independence

Guyana is the original name of the land between the Amazon and the Orinoco. Other names included British Guiana and Demerara, the latter being a native word for the vegetation characteristic to the lower reaches of the river by the same name.

Guyanese refer to their country as "Guyana", using "British Guiana" only to assist those poor in geography. So, "Guyana" existed before Guyana independence in 1966, and before Europeans came to the Americas.

I can imagine that those brought up to think that the Brits were almighty and all-knowing would want to believe, however, that "there was no such place as Guyana before independence".

Though a colony, Guyana was ruled locally in the 19th century by the local Court of Policy, which was very independent from the control of the British Foreign Office. The Court decided how immigrants were received, where they were allowed to live upon arrival, etc. This was necessary because of the large number (hundreds of thousands) of immigrant workers that came to Guyana after emancipation.

 
NYCGURU 2016-12-04 15:14:04 

In reply to ProWI

You guys better be sure to post factual stuff because one of his Sons post here. Classy chaps his Sons.

 
Norm 2016-12-04 16:22:07 

In reply to NYCGURU

Classy chaps his Sons.

Butcher and sons have done a lot for Guyana cricket and Berbice cricket, without always receiving reciprocate gratitude.

 
sudden 2016-12-04 16:37:01 

In reply to Norm

ok i see from where you are coming when you said race issues. ok no problems there but i must point out altho the Brit never interfered with how the Dutch administered BG except to amalgamate Esse, Berbice and Demerara, the Brit governor had overarching direction over the Court of Policy

 
Norm 2016-12-04 17:06:17 

In reply to sudden

the Brit never interfered with how the Dutch administered BG except to amalgamate Esse, Berbice and Demerara, the Brit governor had overarching direction over the Court of Policy

The economic structure in Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice, including the physical and economic organisation of estates, were tied to Dutch law in the 1700's and early 1800's. Therefore, England allowed Dutch law to continue for close to a century after the separate colonies were amalgamated in 1812 (if I remember correctly).

Those laws affected land sales and distribution, water rights, property taxes, infrastructure, labor relations, company laws, etc.

British law was introduced piecemeal under the Court of Policy but elements of Dutch law still exist in Guyana.

 
Dukes 2016-12-05 06:59:32 

The Guyanese and Bajans who carry on as though we are sworn enemies are usually people who have no clue about their personal ancestry or the ancestry of many Guyanese and Bajans.On my mother's side,my mother's grandmother came to BG from Barbados when she was 3 years old.
On my father's side,2 brothers left Antigua as men in their twenties and went to BG.One of them is my great grandfather.Another brother left Antigua and went to St. Kitts.That brother had a daughter who migrated to St. Lucia and she had a son whose name is remarkably similar to mine and now this son has a daughter who is a doctor who is now engaged to a Guyanese doctor and they are both in Jamaica.
This is why this inter territorial rivalry amongst Caribbean people should be regarded as a family affair!!!!!!!

 
Norm 2016-12-05 07:10:09 

In reply to Dukes

No wonder you so darn mixed up! smile

Bajans have contributed significantly to the professions in Guyana, and to the development of Guyana's interior.

The good ones all migrated to "BG" years ago tho! smile

 
Bigzinc 2016-12-05 12:04:00 

In reply to Norm


Butcher did a lot for cricket in guyana. He played Case cup cricket in the 70's long after he retired. He should have been elected president of GCB but frenism and cronyism won the day...

 
Norm 2016-12-06 03:11:42 

In reply to Bigzinc

He should have been elected president of GCB but frenism and cronyism won the day...

Chetram Singh started the rot that is now propping up both the Guyana Cricket Board and WICB. He took over from Major General McLean in 1991, because everyone wanted a "capitalist" businessman to run cricket, after years of "socialist" hardship under one of Burnham's close associates.

Cricket, and Guyana, were suffering terribly under the government's foreign currency restrictions and Chetty promised to take the GCB out of debt, which he did. After getting in, he made sure no one got him out after that - just like the government of the day!

 
Stilbatn 2016-12-06 23:28:18 

In reply to ProWI

This STORY is not true

 
Norm 2016-12-07 02:46:24 

In reply to Stilbatn

This STORY is not true

Which part of it?

 
Stilbatn 2016-12-07 03:52:15 

In reply to Norm

That he is part Aboriginal/Amerindian--that is not true
I am surprised that so many people are believing this story sad sad

 
Stilbatn 2016-12-07 04:00:02 

Adam Sanford the Dominican born fast bowler who played for Antigua/Leeward Islands was the 1st and only part Aboriginal/Amerindian who has played any form of representative cricket for the West Indies
I would not say this unless I knew the facts Norm

 
Stilbatn 2016-12-07 04:05:38 

In reply to Kay

Good one lol

 
Norm 2016-12-07 05:36:24 

In reply to Stilbatn

That he is part Aboriginal/Amerindian--that is not true

Thanks.

I have seen this apparently incorrect claim that Butcher was part Amerindian before. It should be pointed out too that Sarwan is also NOT part Amerindian.

 
Stilbatn 2016-12-07 10:52:48 

In reply to Norm

Hmmmmmmmmmm--that one can be "tricky" Norm --will leave that one alone
Thank you

 
granite 2016-12-08 14:15:11 

Why do people come up with that shit, I once heard a Jamaican chap argue the fact, that Alvin Kallicharan was Amerindian.