Burchell Edward Marshal land the S. L. Horsford And Company Limited

The business was founded in 1875 when the firm of Geo. W Bennett & Co of St John’s, Antigua opened a branch in Basseterre, St. Kitts. Mr. Samuel Lamartine Horsford who was at that time the accountant at Geo. W Bennett & Co., was appointed as manager of the St. Kitts branch.

In February 1880 the business traded under the name “The Estates Agency Depot” and was a partnership between Messrs George W Bennett & Co and Mr. John Hardtman Berkeley, planter of Shadwell Estate, St. Kitts. In 1885, Mr. Samuel Lamartine Horsford purchased the business from its previous owners and started trading as S. L. Horsford and Co.

Che Davison told me her mother Sigrid, Langford Arthur Edwin Cranstoun’s wife worked at Horsford’s.

On January 31, 1912, a Company Limited By Shares and named S L Horsford and Co. LTD was registered on the island of St Christopher under The Companies Act 1884 (No 20 of 1884) of the Leeward Islands. In January 1929, Mr. Burchell Marshall purchased the shares owned by the late Mrs. Alberta Augusta Horsford (widow of Mr. S L Horsford Dec’d) and the four surviving offspring of Mr. & Mrs. Horsford. Samuel Lamartine Horsford sold the firm to his former office boy Burchell Marshall who tended it with great care and skill. Burchell Marshall (1873-1951) owned almost all the shares in the company and he brought in his six daughters to work with him and married off his 6 daughters to bright young men who worked for him. Old Burchell was a shrewd businessman and he purchased several sugar plantations and formed Marshall Plantations Limited.

Some of the plantations he owned in 1941 were La VaHee, Cranstoun’s, Brotherson’s, Lambert’s, Ottley’s and Stonefort in Trinity Parish, St. Kitts and they contributed $600 to the government for the purchase of a “Spitfire” aircraft for the British war effort.

S. L. Horsford and Company Limited ties the St. Kitts side of the family together very nicely and allowed me to complete the tree.

Burchell Marshall made all his children and their husbands shareholders and established a legacy which he left behind. All his son-in-law’s and daughter’s have passed but the firm remains stronger than ever.

His daughter, Daphne Marshall, married Edmund Alan Malone, brother of Frederick Walter Malone, married to Irene Evelina "Irenie" Cranstoun.

His daughter, Sylvia Marshall married Donald Llyod Matheson son of Donald F Matheson and Charlotte Mercer sister of Arthur Edward Rawlings Mercer who was married to Irene Cranstoun’s sister Alice Anne Louise Cranstoun. Sylvia and Donald were the parents of Mary Elaine Matheson, cousin to the Mercer children, and who married Hugh Sinclair Mallalieu after his wife Helen Elise Margaret “Daisey” Semper-Mallalieu died.

His daughter, Agnes Eulalie Marshall married Kenneth John Mallalieu who was the brother of Hugh Sinclair Mallalieu. So you can see the family was firmly entrenched into S. L. Horsford and Co. and the island of St. Kitts

Now, when Burchell Marshall died in 1951 the head of the company was his son-in-law William Eustace Llewellyn Wall who was married to his daughter Doris Esme Marshall. There was a battle for control of the company in 1957 between William Eustace Llewellyn Wall and the three sisters, Daphne, Slyvia and Bernice and William A. Kelsick, acting head of the company. In a nutshell the family did not like how William Wall was running the company and they ousted him in favour of William A Kelsick. The company ended up parting ways with William Wall and paid him off with a $14,000 severance.

On June 28, 1949, the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce was incorporated. The founding members were Patrick E Ryan, M I D Smith, Benson M Archibald, E S Delisle, H C Dinzey, Walter Frederick Malone and William Eustace Llewellyn Wall (representing S L Horsford & Co Ltd). The president from 1952 - 1958 was William A Kelsick and again from 1981 - 1983. So we can see from this that Walter Malone was still holding on to the business in 1949. Some of the members of the Marshall family are remembered for their accompaniments,

Marshall Family Tree

Richard Johnson Marshall 1845–1922 married Ann Maria Richardson 1847–1930

 

Children:

• Burchell Edward Marshall 1873–1951 married Margaret Johanna Cannonier 1868–1940 he owned S.L. Horsford Company.

• Elizabeth Marshall 1877–?

• Albert William Attwood Marshall 1878–?

• Edith Josephine Marshall 1881–1963

• Richard Attwood Marshall 1884–?

• Agnes Marshall 1888–?

• Cyril Kenneth Marshall 1891–1975

• William Marshall 1905–?

Burchell Edward Marshall 1873–1951 married Margaret Johanna Cannonier 1868–1940

Children:

• Eulalie Agnes Marshall 1899–1996 married Kenneth John Mallalieu 1924–2012
  
  
  
  Children:
  
  Kenneth Vernon Mallalieu - June 24, 1924 - July 11, 2012 in Basseterre, St Kitts
  
  Shirley Mallalieu - November 9,1936 - 1939 in Basseterre, St Kitts
  

• Bernice Marshall 1900–? married Cecil R. Blake

• Daphne Marshall 1905–1987 married Edmund Alan Malone
  
  
  
  Children:
  
  Leonie Malone born May 2, 1925 on St. Kitts, British West Indies married Kenneth Austin Slack
  
  Judith Malone married Frank Jeffery
  

• Doris Esme Marshall 1909–1990 married William Eustace LLewellyn Wall
  
  Doris Esme Marshall was born on January 12, 1909. She was the fourth daughter of Burchell Marshall and his wife Margaret Cannonier. Marshall was a business entrepreneur who built the firm S.L. Horsford and Co. Ltd and Marshall Plantations.
  
  As a child, Doris attended the small, private school run by Eliza Wattley. It was here that she started to show her love of music. At an early age she was sent to Penrhose College in Wales where she finished her education and became an accomplished pianist. She then returned to St. Kitts where she became involved in community and church activities. In 1931 Doris Marshall married William Eustace Llewellyn Wall of Montserrat. The wedding took place in Havana, Cuba where Wall was working at the time and Cuba was also the birthplace of their first child, Beatrice. However, the young family returned to St. Kitts eight months later when Wall was called home to help with the family business.
  
  As her daughters developed and matured, Doris Wall devoted time and energy to the teaching of piano and to the production of charity concerts and musical shows. Holidays in England and the USA fed her desire to experience musical events of a calibre rarely found in St. Kitts. Her passion for music infused the Wall household and as a result the Georgian House on South Independence Square Street echoed to the happy sounds of voices singing to her accompaniment on the piano.
  
  Children:
  
  Marguerite Wall
  
  Pamela Wall
  
  Beatrice Wall
  
  

• Sylvia Marshall 1914–? married Donald Lloyd Matheson 1914–1999
  
  Donald Llyod Matheson was appointed Education Officer in 1947. Under Matheson’s guidance, old structures were replaced by modern buildings and new ones were added where necessary. These included the West End
  Primary School and the Valley Secondary School in Anguilla, the Gingerland infant and Senior Schools, the New River Junior School and the Charlestown Secondary in Nevis and the Cayon and Molineux Schools in St. Kitts.
  
  The teaching staff consisted mostly of untrained or pupil teachers and students were taught by rote. Lloyd Matheson made it his mission to revitalize education in St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. His solution was the Primary School Intending
  Teachers’ Programme under which three year scholarships in the Grammar School and the Girls High School to the students with the best passes in Seven Standard Certification. On graduation, the students were bound to teach in an elementary school. An annual Easter Vacation Course for all teachers enhanced the skills of those already in the profession.
  
  During a trip to Trinidad, Matheson found the steel pan. He liked it and brought one to St. Kitts and made it available for interested persons to try. Among those who first played it was Cromwell Bowry who was soon able to tune other drums and before long bands started to rival each other on the streets of Basseterre on j’ouvert morning .
  
  Matheson was not daunted by hard work and in the 1950’s he served as Chairman of the Tourism Committee. Carefully the local administration was trying to expand the sources of revenue for the island. At Conaree, the Committee set up and maintained a number of bathing huts facing the Atlantic. It was one of the first attempts at providing an infrastructure for tourism development. He also served as income tax commissioner, Chairperson of the Water Board and was a member of numerous committees dealing with Social Welfare, Libraries, and Economic Development. From 1952 to 1955, Lloyd Matheson was appointed as Senior Administrative Secretary. It was during this period that he was called upon to act as Administrator.
  
  Following retirement from the Civil Service, Lloyd Matheson turned his attention to S. L. Horsford and Company Ltd where he held several positions in the company and its subsidiaries as he was married to Sylvia Marshall. In 1965, when the Society for the Restoration of Brimstone Hill was incorporated there was little interest in the restoration of the fortress. Lloyd Matheson saw potential, a historical site to be enjoyed by Kittitians and visitors alike. He and his Council of Management, together with numerous volunteers worked tirelessly to find funding from a variety of sources. Their efforts made a number of modest improvements possible in preparation for theroyal visit of 1966.
  
  The following year the Caribbean Conservation Association was formed and Lloyd Matheson was its first treasurer this also gave him the opportunity to promote Brimstone Hill. The Society for the Restoration of Brimstone Hill felt secure enough in 1971 to attempt a major restoration. Sufficient funds had been collected to allow for the restoration of the Prince of Wales Bastion which was in reasonably good condition. Two years later, at the invitation of Premier Robert Bradshaw, Prince Charles was asked to open the restored bastion. The timing was perfect. The newly appointed National Historical Committee of which Matheson was Chairperson, declared 1973 to be a Historical Year.
  
  Elaborate preparations were made for the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the arrival of Thomas Warner in St. Kitts. These included the publication of a booklet entitled the Thomas Warner Story by Matheson. The Society for the Restoration of Brimstone Hill continued to make progress, restoring several buildings. The passing of the National Conservation and Preservation Act of 1987 gave the society a great deal of autonomy and that same year it was legally reconstituted as the Brimstone Hill Fortress and National Park Society. A proposal was written to have Brimstone Hill nominated by UNESCO as a world heritage site of universal value. Matheson retired from the presidency of the Society in 1989 and the following year, by special resolution, the Council of the Society declared Donald Lloyd Matheson, President Emeritus for life and named the new visitor’s centre on the Hill in his honour. Matheson continued to attend meetings of the Council and even frequent the office and finally in 1998 a new proposal was made to UNESCO.
  
  Donald Lloyd Matheson died on August 25, 1999. The following year UNESCO placed Brimstone Hill Fortress on its Heritage List.
  
  Donald Llyod Matheson was the son of Donald F Matheson and Charlotte Mercer sister of Arthur Edward Rawlings Mercer who was married to Irene Evelina "Irenie" Cranstoun’s sister Alice Anne Louise Cranstoun.
  
  Charlotte Mercer and Donald F Matheson were also the parents of Mary Elaine Matheson, cousin to the Mercer children, and who married Hugh Sinclair Mallalieu after his wife Helen Elise Margaret “Daisey” Semper-Mallalieu died.
  

  Elaine Matheson, Daisey Semper-Mallalieu, Alice Cranstoun-Mercer