On 13 September, beneath the historic Rubber Tree in Warwick, Bermuda, the community gathered for a Service of Remembrance, Lament and Dedication, marking the lives of men, women and children of African descent buried at the site. Many were free and enslaved people whose graves were unmarked and 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 the Governor of Bermuda, Andrew Murdoch CMG CVO, followed in order of precedence by Joan Dillas-Wright JP, President of the Senate; members of the Senate and the House of Assembly; Neville Tyrrell JP MP, Chairman of the Warwick Parish Council; Paul Wilmot MP; 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 the Revd Canon Dr Sharon Prentis, Dr Evroyd Weeks, the Ven 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 organisations attended the service.

During the service, wreaths were laid at the Rubber Tree Memorial by the Governor, Andrew Murdoch CMG CVO; Neville Tyrrell JP MP; 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 Rt Revd Nicholas Dill, Bishop of Bermuda, who presided at the service, and by the Revd Carl W. O. Williams, the first black 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:

1. Adams, Clifford Wellington, aged 5 years, 4 months
2. Astwood, Phoebe, aged 60
3. Baptiste, Joseph, aged 63
4. Bascome, John, aged 45
5. Bascome, Edward, aged 20
6. Basden, Peter, aged 70
7. Basset, John, aged 23
8. Bean, Elizabeth, aged 65
9. Bean, Arthur Picott, aged 11 months
10. Beek, Joseph, aged 70
11. Bond, James, aged 70
12. Brangman, Richard, aged 3
13. Butterfield, Ann, aged 17
14. Caisey, Jane, aged 35
15. Conyers, Benjamin, aged 56
16. Conyers, James, aged 50
17. Conyers, Dinah, aged 65
18. Darrell, Robert Benjamin, aged 5
19. DeShield, William Henry, aged 7 months
20. Dickinson, Caesar, aged 78
21. Dilworth, Cecilia, aged 1
22. Facey, William Stanley, aged 32
23. Francis, Anthony, aged 75
24. Fubler, Edward, aged 2
25. Fubler, Sarah, aged 72
26. Fubler, Jane, aged 27
27. Geary, Nancy, aged 66
28. Geary, Rose Ann, aged 55
29. Gilbert, no name recorded, aged 5 months
30. Green, Joanna Susan, aged 3 months
31. Jennings, Ellen, aged 5
32. Jones, Venus, aged 45
33. Jones, William, aged 1 day
34. Lovell, Brown Beresford, aged 15 weeks
35. Matson, Lewis, aged 70
36. Mills, Maria Ann, aged 1
37. Morgan, Frances, aged 32
38. Morgan, Sarah Ann, aged 15 years, 11 months
39. Morgan, Susannah Catherine, aged 11
40. Nelmes, Sarah, aged 71
41. Parker, Nathaniel, aged 18 months
42. Pitt, Joe, aged 60
43. Raynor, Robert Benjamin, aged 14 years, 2 months
44. Reed, Benjamin, aged 80
45. Richardson, Jane, aged 10 months
46. Robinson, Matt, aged 75
47. Rolling, Sarah, aged 68
48. Sherlock, Eveleen, aged 14 years, 2 months
49. Simons, Sophia, aged 12
50. Simons, Caroline, aged 20
51. Simons, Peter, aged 70
52. Simons, Frances Adelaide, aged 14 months
53. Smith, Sarah Frances, aged 6 months
54. Smith, Margaret, aged 2
55. Smith, Betty, aged 90
56. Smith, Grace, aged 72
57. Stovell, Hannah, aged 73
58. Tacklyn, Merriman, aged 57
59. Talbot, Deborah, aged 70
60. Taylor, Sarah, aged 75
61. Tucker, Susannah Catherine, aged 21
62. Tucker, Mariah, aged 39
63. Tucker, Richard, aged 17
64. Tucker, Thomas, aged 76
65. Tucker, Joseph, aged 8 days
66. Tucker, James, aged 8 days
67. Walburn, Bessett, aged 60
68. Waldron, Joseph, aged 70
69. Waldron, Betty, aged 26
70. Waldron, Elizabeth, aged 2 months
71. Waldron, Luel Winifred, aged 8 months
72. White, Robert Benjamin, aged 65
73. Williams, Nancy, aged 22 or 25 days
74. Wilson, Dabby, aged 70
75. Wilson, Joseph, aged 4
76. Wilson, Benjamin, aged 2
77. Wilson, Israel, aged 60
78. Wilson, Harriett, aged 65

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.