JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Lord Harris, an innovator

by

20130419

In­ter­na­tion­al Coun­cil on Mon­u­ments and Sites (ICO­MOS) T&T, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Cit­i­zens for Con­ser­va­tion, is cel­e­brat­ing In­ter­na­tion­al Day for Mon­u­ments and Sites with a se­ries of ar­ti­cles fea­tur­ing her­itage build­ings in the T&T Guardian.

To­day is the sec­ond in­stal­ment in the se­ries and fea­tures Har­ris Square, Port-of-Spain.

The theme for the In­ter­na­tion­al Day for Mon­u­ments and Sites is the Her­itage of Ed­u­ca­tion.

Through­out his­to­ry and in dif­fer­ent geo-cul­tur­al con­texts, ed­u­ca­tion was prac­tised in a wide range of places or build­ings.

Open spaces, or the pro­tec­tive shad­ow of a tree, could be use­ful for the trans­mis­sion of knowl­edge, but so too were spe­cif­ic in­sti­tu­tion­al build­ings, such as schools, uni­ver­si­ties, church­es, acad­e­mies, li­braries, monas­ter­ies, etc.

Many of those build­ings, groups of build­ings or sites are recog­nised as bear­ing, not on­ly so­cial or in­sti­tu­tion­al val­ues, but al­so his­toric or artis­tic ones and have there­fore be­come a sig­nif­i­cant part of our cul­tur­al her­itage.

ICO­MOS T&T seeks to raise pub­lic aware­ness of the full di­ver­si­ty of cul­tur­al her­itage places and land­scapes of na­tion­al or lo­cal sig­nif­i­cance.

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion on the day, pre­vi­ous themes, sup­port ma­te­r­i­al and the cal­en­dar of ac­tiv­i­ties around the world, go to the In­ter­na­tion­al Day for Mon­u­ments and Sites page of the ICO­MOS In­ter­na­tion­al Web site.

Har­ris Square, be­tween Pem­broke and Aber­crom­by streets, Port-of-Spain, es­tab­lished in the ear­ly 1900s, is named as a trib­ute to Lord Har­ris, gov­er­nor of Trinidad be­tween 1846 and 1854.

Lord Har­ris was one of Trinidad's most pro­gres­sive gov­er­nors. Af­ter the abo­li­tion of slav­ery and the in­tro­duc­tion of in­den­tured labour from In­dia, Lord Har­ris was caught be­tween the pres­sures of the planters and im­por­ta­tion of labour.

In 1849 and 1851 he halt­ed im­mi­gra­tion from In­dia. In 1852 im­mi­gra­tion was re­opened with safe­guards, in­clud­ing the pres­ence of a pro­tec­tor of im­mi­grants and free pas­sages for the wives of im­mi­grants and their chil­dren.

Lord Har­ris was al­so re­spon­si­ble for es­tab­lish­ing an ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem based on "gen­er­al in­struc­tion on sec­u­lar lines," out of which Queen's Roy­al Col­lege was es­tab­lished.

He al­so es­tab­lished the Mod­el Train­ing School for Teach­ers. He al­so, with Jus­tice Knox in 1851, es­tab­lished the pub­lic li­brary on Knox Street in Port-of-Spain and es­tab­lished the first pipe-borne wa­ter sys­tem from cis­terns in Mar­aval to Port-of-Spain.

In 1849 Lord Har­ris passed an or­di­nance as the old Span­ish quar­ters bar­rios and parish­es no longer func­tioned prop­er­ly, re­or­gan­is­ing Trinidad in­to north­ern and south­ern dis­tricts, each fur­ther di­vid­ed in­to four coun­ties each, as it is to­day.

He pro­mot­ed the ex­ploita­tion of as­phalt from the Pitch Lake and was re­spon­si­ble for de­vel­op­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tions through road sys­tems, in­clud­ing, in 1853, a road through the Oropouche La­goon and Trinidad's first rail­way con­nect­ing San Fer­nan­do to the Cipero Creek used pri­mar­i­ly for trans­port­ing sug­ar.

Lord Har­ris mar­ried Trinida­di­an Sarah Cum­mins. His son, George Robert Can­ning, the fourth Lord Har­ris and known as the "crick­et­ing Lord Har­ris," was re­spon­si­ble for pro­mot­ing crick­et through­out the British colonies.

?


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday
Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford’s holistic mission

to transform the lives of girls

Yesterday
Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Nicole Drayton’s breast cancer journey–Fear, faith, and fighting back

Yesterday