The donation of the sign for the Canton Store mentioned last Newsletter in the Museum slot, prompted me to offer a few more details on the Chinese indentured labourers on St. Helena

The first group of Chinese who arrived in 1810 were numbered 54 and were agricultural workers. This was the reason for bringing them here initially although later they did many other jobs as well. They lived in the country around Plantation, not in town.There is no mention of which province they came from, and although all the Chinese who arrived here seem to have come from Macau or Canton, this is not mentioned until much later in the Records, and I never came across any indication that either group were better workers than the other – just that they did not get on! There were a few “riots” recorded.

The local Government decided to send for 100 more men and take others from passing ships returning to the East to save passage money!!( Sounds familiar!)

They were on 3-year contracts, later extended to 5 years. Single men without families, so naturally liaisons must have been formed locally, from which many islanders will have a Chinese ancestor.

The maximum number of Chinese indentured labourers on the island was 646 in 1817, after which time the Government decided to reduce the numbers.

There was reported to be a Chinese cemetery at the top of China Lane, where they built some ill fated Government accommodation, and also one at New Ground House, but I don’t know if there is still something one would call a “cemetery” left anywhere.

There is record of a Joss House - a place of worship – at the foot of Plantation Gardens.

There are also reminders of the Chinese labourers in

• Model Cottage, much altered over recent years with additions to the original building. This had an inscription saying it was “The Mess House of the Master Craftsmen”, but the one above the door now has been translated recently as something quite different, so maybe the original stone was plastered over during the many unfortunate alterations to this listed building.
• China Lane in Jamestown
• The water channels at Longwood and the wharf
• A gravestone from the New Ground cemetery found by a previous Government Secretary, and now placed in the porch at Plantation House with its inscription translated
• The painting by John Kerr from his Views of St. Helena, drawn in 1819, published in 1822 and dedicated to Lady Lowe, showing two Chinese in the grounds of Plantation, and one in 1833 of the races on Deadwood Plain by De Saison, which again shows people in Chinese dress.

The Report of 1832 commissioned by the British Government recommended that those who wished be allowed to stay after the Crown took over. However the British ordered them to be sent home, but somehow quite a few of the older ones at least remained on the island. Records from Capetown show that those who were sent home then never left Capetown and never returned to China – but that is another story.

Related Information