BORN IN THE PARISH of St Philip in 1892, and with little hope of self-improvement, James Arthur Tudor found himself picking cotton at Sterling plantation at the age of 12.
Not satisfied with the low wages of six cents per week paid at the time, Tudor and his family set out for St Michael and took up residence at Quakers Road, Carrington Village, a year later.
There, he found work as a porter, pushing handcarts through The City. He also worked for provision merchants such as John D. Taylor, M.G. Bourne, J. C Mayers and Alexander Lewis and managed to save $50 from the wages he received.
The young James worked very hard and, at the age of 25, established his own business. He was of humble origin and underprivileged, but became a very successful businessman, owning many properties throughout Barbados.
In a 1974 interview with social commentator, Elton Elombe Mottley, Tudor recalled a statement in 1911 by his white employer, John D. Taylor, which changed his ideological stance.
Tudor related: “After serving him for many years, I took sick, came out and went back again to help him. And one day I hear he used remarks that he wouldn’t help a blasted nigger.
“. . . That thing went to my soul . . . . I left him and went and lived with a black man called Alexander Lewis. I worked for Alexander and refused to work for him (Taylor) anymore.”
Tudor was also influenced by some of his close friends who openly opposed the policies of the planter-merchant class. These included radical newspaper editor Clennell Wilsden Wickham, Dr Charles Duncan O’Neal, James A. Martineau and J. T. C. Ramsay.
Fired by the racial remarks and not content with what he considered menial jobs, he borrowed $100 from his mother-in-law (in addition to his savings) and opened a dry goods shop at Upper Roebuck Street, on the outskirts of The City in the 1920s. By 1937, he had established 28 shops throughout the island, and by 1952 he owned over 35 shops.
One social commentator insists that by the late 1950s, Tudor had 98 shops. It is clear that his business did not expand into a commission merchant house. He stocked his shops with goods supplied on credit by the commission merchants, a situation which made him vulnerable and eventually accounted for his demise.
He was a shopkeeper, an undertaker, drinks manufacturer and provision merchant. However, his expansion was an encroachment on white business territory in two ways. First, his capital accumulation was significant because it allowed him to diversify his enterprise.
Second, his employment of almost 100 persons as shopkeepers elevated many black working-class people to the level of shop manager. Some of those such as Norman Howard, used this experience and wealth gained to establish supermarkets.
At least one, Howard’s Supermarket in Bush Hall, is still operating today.
Familiarly known as “Daddy Tudor”, he was always generous and sought at all times to share something with someone. He was a deeply religious man who held yearly Thanksgiving services at his home, Lemon Grove, situated near Westbury Cross Road.
In 1935, he fought a tough battle and won a seat in the House of Assembly representing the parish of St Lucy.
This well-known merchant and pioneer industrialist was honoured in 1984 by the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association for his contribution to the development of manufacturing in this island. He was the father of former educator, diplomat and Deputy Prime Minister Sir James Cameron Tudor.
James A. Tudor died on January 8, 1985, at the age of 92. The roundabout near the Globe Cinema was named in memory of this most illustrious black businessman on October 1, 1992, the centenary of his birth.
