Recently I received an e-mail that simply but puzzlingly read: “It’s gone — lot scraped down to nothing.” Needless to say I responded: “What’s gone?” The response came quickly: “St Alban’s is gone!”

Although my parents spoke of St Alban’s, I was a child and had never attended guild celebrations with them. However, I did know that although it sat insignificantly overlooking St John’s Road, it held great significance and meaning for generations of Bermuda’s Black community. For me the news of its demise was shocking, but then again, I am an historian and the history of Black Bermuda has always played significantly in the recording and writing in the work I do. I also know that oftentimes we destroy our own history as in the astonishing and shameful destruction of Watlington House, where our National Hero Mary Prince was prepared for sale and so it should not be surprising when others, not familiar with our culture or history, demolish our buildings as well.

Today I write an obituary, a tribute, but also from the memories of those whose lives were touched and moulded within the walls of St Alban’s, the little building that accepted us when others did not.

St Alban’s has been described by The Bermuda National Trust in its 2017 book on Pembroke as a building of historical importance.

Information gathered from the BNT Heritage series was extensively researched by Linda Abend and states that the land upon which St Alban’s once stood was part of the Inghamville property and owned by the heirs of Charles Henry Robinson. It is not known whether there was a structure on the property but it is known that in 1899 it was purchased by schoolteacher Rosalie Melissa Butterfield, who ran it as a government-aided school attended by about 57 coloured children.

In 1907 it became the Pembroke West Sunday School with an attendance of 37 under Superintendent Jeremiah Darrell while Miss Butterfield continued her day school during the week.

Miss Butterfield died in 1919 but her little school formed the foundation for the school we know today as West Pembroke Primary School. It is also known that after Ms Butterfield’s death, Oscilton Francis held an elementary school there until Miss Butterfield’s brother sold it to Jairus Charles Swan, the Reverend Rufus James Stovell and Alexander Marshall Hodgson, who ran it until 1927, when it was purchased by St John’s Church, becoming its third outpost, and renamed it St John’s Church Hall. It was used as a day and Sunday school for Black children and a community centre but everyone continued to call it St Alban’s.

In her book Guild of the Good Shepherd, author Michelle Simmons states that on June 22, 1920, the Guild of St Alban’s Mission was formed by Canon Groves, Pilot Robert Kennedy and Delia Robinson.

During the era of racial segregation, Black Anglicans formed guilds to assist one another with reading, writing, Bible classes, sewing and cooking classes as well as music lessons. They also assisted with the financial needs of the Anglican church and a Bermudian missionary in Africa.

One delightful lady interviewed recalled that in 1937 at age 7, she walked with other children from her home on Woodlands Road to Mrs Paynter’s school, which was held in the St Alban’s building. She did not recall wearing a specific uniform but she remembered carrying a slate, a piece of chalk and her sixpence-a-week school fee. School began at 9am and everyone was punctual as the children feared the truant officer. Everyone walked home for lunch at noon and returned before 1pm. The school day ended at 3pm. The children played on the field across the road as there was no playground.

Teachers taught all subjects. The headteacher was Mildred Outerbridge-Paynter, who lived with her husband in Smith’s Parish but travelled to school by train, disembarking at the Tennis Stadium stop and walking to Paynter’s School. She described it as having “three labels”. It was a day school, a Sunday school and a community centre where the Sea Scouts under Pilot Robert Kennedy met. There were dances, pantomimes and other events held there.

Other teachers remembered were Esmay Warner, Henrietta Jackson-Ingham and Ina Peets as well as Sunday school teacher Phyllis Place.

The school was in the large hall divided in three with a stage where the younger children were taught. There were also classes held in the building beside St Alban’s where the older children received their education.

On Ash Wednesday, the children and teachers from St Alban’s walked to St John’s Church. The Black children were made to wait outside until all the White students came down the hill from Saltus and were seated. The coloured children were seated to the back or in any space remaining. This was a particularly degrading and humiliating experience that stands out in the minds, until this very day, of every senior who attended an Ash Wednesday service as a coloured child in an Anglican Church before integration.

Returning to St Alban’s became a comforting refuge where the singing of the hymn Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world whether red, yellow, black or white, all are precious in his sight provided a comforting reminder that despite that sad experience, they were loved and important.

When the Government completed the building of the West Pembroke Primary School in the 1940s, the children walked up Sandy Hill through the area now known as Pembroke Park.

Pilot Robert Kennedy and Wilfred Robinson formed the St Alban’s Sea Scouts in the basement of Mr Robinson’s home on Sea Gull Lane with nine boys. In 1936, they moved to St Alban’s Hall.

In 1937, Sea Scouts Palmer Wade and Richmond Smith were selected to represent Bermuda at a jamboree in Washington DC.

Sea Scouts were so well trained that during the Second World War, when merchant ships assembled in Bermuda to travel in convoys, Pilot Kennedy took one of them with him in the pilot boat and boarded the ship by Jacob’s Ladder. They would then travel with the ship until it had taken up its station in Murray’s Anchorage. The name of the ship was then reported to Fort George. Wartime security prohibited the use of the wireless and for this reason the responsibility was given to the Sea Scout to make the report by semaphore. A signal man at Fort George would reply with a similar response.

(Semaphore is a visual signalling message system using flags, lights or physical movement of arms or body).

By 1943, the group had increased to 48 Sea Scouts and 18 Rangers (boys 17 and older)

Mansfield (Jim) Brock Jr joined the St Alban’s Sea Scouts 83 years ago at the age of 11. In 1947, he travelled to England with Kenneth Russell Leverock where they had the honour of meeting King George VI and Lord Llewellin. From London they travelled to Moisson, France to attend a jamboree. Mr Brock attended as a patrol leader, Mr Leverock as troop leader. This was the Sixth World Jamboree and the first jamboree after the Second World War and after the death of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of scouting. There were 25,000 Scouts from 38 countries in attendance.

The troop owned two boats and a gig that at that time was the last one in operation. Often they rowed from Ordinance Island to the Stalls in Hamilton. On one occasion our National Hero, the late Sir John Swan, who was also a St Alban’s Sea Scout, questioned why there was a cork at the bottom of the gig. To everyone’s horror, he pulled it out, causing quite a frantic effort to reinsert it and bail out the gig.

The boys were often taken on camping trips to Hawkins Island, Port’s and Grace Island. During summer camp when Pilot Kennedy piloted a ship past Hawkins Island, the boys would lower the Bermuda flag in salute and the ship would dip its flag in acknowledgement.

Mr Brock remained with the troop until he went abroad to university at the age of 18. His dedication to the Sea Scouts was such that when he returned from University, he resumed his role in Sea Scouting. In the 1950s, he travelled to Surrey, England, to complete a leadership training course and was awarded the Wood Badge certificate awarded to adult volunteers and professionals in scouting. Mr Brock was promoted to assistant scout master, a position he held throughout his years of teaching at The Berkeley Institute and until he was appointed the principal of Sandys Secondary School.

Eighty-six-year-old Pilot Warden Keith Battersbee began his interest in sailing as a Cub Scout at St Alban’s at the age of 9. Pilot Kennedy — or Uncle Bob, as the boys called him— was a disciplined man. Mr Battersbee also recalled camping at Daniel’s Head and in St David’s. Pilot Kennedy impressed upon all the boys the value of astronomy in sailing. They would lie on their backs at nights to study the stars while he educated them on their value in the world of navigation in sailing. Mr Battersbee was proficient in the use of semaphore and recalled men such as Norman Dyer Sr, who was a signalman for the Royal Navy.

In 2004, Pilot Battersbee became the first Black Bermudian Pilot Warden to be appointed as acting director of the Department of Marine and Ports. During his leadership, he introduced the Cadet Training Module, with a focus on training at a British-based facility. This enabled trainees to receive a British certificate accepted throughout Europe, thus passing on the forward thinking and encouragement of his childhood mentor — Pilot Robert Kennedy all those years ago at St Alban’s.

Towards the mid-1940s Odessa Robinson, the sister of Walter Robinson, one of the founding members and leaders of the Progressive Labour Party, opened a school for the blind at St Alban’s. She was visually impaired, saw a need, and taught other blind members of the community Braille and methods of negotiating their everyday world.

Over the years, St Alban’s has also been used as a cobbler’s shop, a karate school, a friendship club for seniors, a church guild meeting place and a mother’s union.

In 1961, extensions were made to the hall, and in 2015 it was rented to the Jewish Community Centre of Bermuda, who recently purchased the building.

It is the hope of many in this community that when the new owners rebuild they will remember in some way the generations of our people who sought refuge at St Alban’s when Bermuda, in its past history, felt they were unworthy.

With sincere thanks to my research partners Linda Abend, my husband, Lionel Simmons, and the many others whose memories assisted in the writing of this article. For those interested in more information on this building and other aspects of Bermuda history, please see The Guild of the Good Shepherd, by Michelle Simmons, 2020; The Bermuda National Trust Pembroke Book, 2017; The Bermuda Heritage Museumand The Bermuda Recorder, 1934.

• Cecille Snaith-Simmons is a retired nurse, historian, writer, author of The Bermuda Cookbook and Fellow of the Bermuda College