My paternal grandfather (Aja), John Babu Lachmansingh, was born at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice in British Guiana, now Guyana, in 1864. He was the eldest of five children of Pariag Singh and Akagee who arrived from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India as indentured labourers to work at Bath, a sugar plantation. Aja had two brothers Ramdhan and Kawall and two sisters Laganee and Mary Subachan. I am not sure of the amount of schooling that he received but most likely he did receive some. He worked on the sugar estate as a labourer and eventually reached the position of driver (supervisor) of a work gang. He must have shown leadership qualities to have been put in that position.

When slavery was abolished in 1834, there was a shortage of labour on the sugar plantations in Guyana. The freed slaves were unwilling to work in the fields. Immigrants (freed slaves) from the West Indies were then encouraged to work in Guyana but that experiment ended in failure. Immigrants from China, Madeira, Germany and Ireland were also brought to Guyana but they did not adjust easily to the harsh climate. During the same period, Mauritius, which had experienced the same labour shortage as Guyana, had found that Indians made excellent labourers on its sugar plantations. John Gladstone, owner of two sugar estates in Guyana and father of the famous British statesman John Gladstone, solicited and obtained the help of the East India Company. That paved the way for the importation of labourers from India. The first arrival of immigrants from Calcutta, India was on May 5, 1838 on the ship Whitby with 233 men, 5 women and 6 children. There were 5 deaths during the voyage which took 112 days. It would seem that my paternal great grandparents arrived in Guyana some time later during the period 1860-1863.

I do not have any information about my grandfather’s youth and working years. After leaving Plantation Bath he lived in Bel Air, which is between Hope Town and Bush Lot. According to Dwarka Nath in A History of Indians in Guyana, “land settlements were established at Huist Dieren in 1880, at Helena and Bush Lot in 1897 at which they were offered grants of land in lieu of their return passage rights”. As indicated earlier, the colony was suffering from an acute shortage of labour. It was therefore necessary for immigrants to be discouraged from returning to India. Reverend John Basnett Cropper, a Canadian Presbyterian missionary was delegated to help in organizing the village.

The Canadian Presbyterian Mission established a combined School-Church in Bush Lot and my grandfather who had settled there, was the first villager to be converted from the Hindu religion to Christianity. I was told that there was strong opposition from his relatives. They interrupted his baptism and in a scuffle, Rev. Cropper’s gown was torn. My grandmother quietly opposed his conversion and remained a Hindu throughout her life.

It would appear that my grandfather was pressured into converting to Christianity. It was in a sense a ticket to making progress. At that time teaching jobs in the Church-controlled denominational schools were only given to Christians. I would assume that my uncles got their teaching jobs because they were Christians.

Aja was a leader in Bush Lot. Villagers came to him for advice and he was not afraid to approach Government officials on their behalf. He helped to settle disputes and lent a helping hand to those in financial difficulties. He was fairly successful with rice cultivation and other general farming (mango, cassava, coconut etc.). He encouraged and supported his son Joseph, married with a family, during his medical studies at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Aja was a diabetic and died in 1937 at the age of 73, one year after my birth.

My Ajee, paternal grandmother, Mahadei was born in India. As a child she travelled with her parents from Calcutta to Guyana on the ship Ganges in 1871. According to information passed on in the family, she being a female, was destined to be killed. I feel that this had to do with the dowry system which still existed in India. I was told that her parents escaped to Guyana. She had four brothers: Baichoo, Chatterpaul, Inderjeet and Prettipaul. When she was very young she was sent to live with a wealthy Bramhin family who lived in the same area as her parents. The reason for this is not clear to me. She was married at seven years but continued to live with that family. In 1880, when she reached fourteen or fifteen, she went to live with her husband, my grandfather. I am not sure if she was able to read Hindi. She must have received no formal education and must have been illiterate in English. This is quite amazing because her eldest son Joseph Pariag became a medical doctor--Dr. J. P. Lachmansingh. Another son Joshua Ramjeet was a headmaster. Dr. J. P. Lachmansingh and his youngest brother Bally were Members of Parliament.

Ajee – My paternal grandmother

Ajee was a tall, attractive lady. She always wore a rummal, a head dress; she had a nose ring and foot rings and never wore shoes. She was always working--feeding the animals in the yard or working in the garden. My parents, uncles and aunts called her Didi. Didi is the Hindi word for sister. Most likely when they were children they heard that name from her brothers. Her brother Baichoo lived next door but he and Ajee were not on speaking terms. I do not have fond memories of Ajee. As a child, my perception was that she never showed any affection for me, my brothers and sisters, and did not like my mother. She seemed to favour my cousins, Aunty Sill’s children. Ajee lived with Aunty Sill, her daughter. She died in 1951 when I was fifteen.

Relatives of my grandfather and my grandmother settled in Bush Lot area and the surrounding villages Bath and Kingelly. In 1990, when my son Ramon was visiting Bush Lot, he made the observation that there were a very large number of people in the village who were related to me.

In 1995, Lachmansingh Primary School celebrated its Golden Jubilee. The school was built to honour my grandfather who played a significant role in Bush Lot during its early years.

My father's siblings
	Elijah Dadhibal Lachmansingh -My father (5th child of family)
	Ruth Phulmat Rachpaul -My father's sister
	Beatrice Pulkaur Bankay (Aunty Babe) -My father's sister
	Dr. Joseph Priag Lachmansingh -My father's brother
	Silkoar Mohabir (Aunty Sil) -My father's sister
	Joshua Ramjeet Lachmansingh (Uncle Ramjeet) –My father’s brother
	Miriam Pankuar Persaud (Aunty Bayba) -My father's sister
	Sarabjeet Lachmansingh (Uncle Sarab) –My father’s brother
	Samuel Maila Balish Lachmansingh (Uncle Bally) –My father’s brother
Other Pictures
	Lachmansingh Primary School, Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, Guyana
	Lachmansingh Primary School Golden Jubilee Celebrations (1995) Dr. David Lachmansingh, Esmond Lachmansingh, Arnold Persaud, William Rachpaul (grandsons of John Babu Lachmansingh)

Chapter 5

My Father’s Ancestors