Bermuda Biographies - James "Dick" Richards

James “Dick” Richards overcame the loss of his parents at an early age and a childhood of poverty in his native Jamaica to become one of Bermuda’s richest black men.

He was reportedly the first black person in Bermuda to have a hotel licence and was the Island’s oldest bar owner at the time of his death. The Canadian Hotel, a hotel turned boarding house on Reid Street, Hamilton, was the business enterprise he was mostly identified with, and the most notable of the properties he amassed.

A colourful personality, he died at age 92 while playing cards with friends at the Canadian Hotel.

Richards had seen active service in Africa before he was posted to Bermuda in 1903 with the Third Battalion of the West India (Indies) Regiment. The soldiers were called ‘Bully Roosters’ because of their colourful costumes.

Initiative

Born near Black River, in the parish of St. Elizabeth in Jamaica, Richards lost both parents at very early age. It forced him to rely on his own initiative to make his way through life, he later said.

In 1887, at the age of 15, he left home to find work in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital. He made the 115-mile journey by foot, because he could not afford boat or train fare. The trip took four days—he started his journey on a Tuesday at around 6 p.m. and reached Kingston on Saturday at 5 p.m. He found a job in a bakery, but was required to work day and night, including Sundays, a schedule which no doubt helped develop his appetite for hard work.

Embarrassment

In 1890, he enlisted in the West India Regiment, which was a division of the British Army. Five years later, he was posted to West Africa to fight in the Ashanti War. In 1897, he went to London with his Regiment to take part in Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

In 1898, his unit was shipped off to South Africa to fight in the Boer War. He spent only six weeks in Pretoria, before being transferred to St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic, away from the action. He later said it was because it created an embarrassment for the British “for black West Indians to be allowed to fight for the Queen when black Africans were preventing from doing the same.” His next posting was to Sierra Leone in 1901. He served there for two years. He arrived in Bermuda with his unit on January 10, 1903 and was discharged two months later.

His first job was at the Bermuda Bakery, but he later found employment with the British Royal Engineers at Prospect, Devonshire, working as a labourer by day and assisting in the canteen at night.

He so impressed the canteen manager, that within four months, he was offered a job managing the canteen at Casemates in Dockyard, which was run by Gosling’s. He held the post for about five years.

Business

In 1907, he married Jane Victoria Smith, a Montserrat native. She encouraged him to form his own business. He took her advice, opening the Harbour View Bar in January 1909 on Front Street, Hamilton. Other establishments, either a bar, or a restaurant with bar, followed on Reid Street East, which became the centre of his enterprises.

In 1919, he purchased the Canadian House on Reid Street and changed its name to the Canadian Hotel, becoming the first black man in Bermuda to own a hotel licence. He later enlarged the hotel with the purchase of an adjoining property.

Richards went on to amass a string of properties, including Ripleigh on the corner of King and Victoria Street in Hamilton and the Metropolitan Building, on the corner of Union and Dundonald Street. He acquired both properties in the 1940s.

He spent his newfound wealth on numerous causes—scholarships, the Salvation Army and Berkeley Institute. He was a major benefactor of St. Paul AME Church, helping to underwrite the cost of its stained glass windows, organ and balcony. He also contributed to charities in Jamaica.

Cricket

Richards also sponsored sporting events. Like labour leader Dr. E. F. Gordon, a contemporary and fellow Caribbean immigrant, Richards was an avid cricket fan. Gordon was instrumental in bringing the first West Indies cricket team to Bermuda in 1939 and Richards, along with Gordon and others, helped fund the cost of the tour.

Richards also organized a women’s version of Cup Match, which was played at White Hill Field during the1930s. For years, billiards players in participating bars competed for the Dick Richards Trophy.

Richards, an imposing man whose physical stature matched his personality, lived a full life. He celebrated his 90th birthday by inviting friends to drop by Canadian Hotel all day until midnight, when he cut his cake. By then, the property was operating as a boarding house, catering to about 70 residents.

He told a reporter from The Royal Gazette on that occasion: “I get on well. I make good progress from giving freely to charity. I don’t think anything is better than giving to charity. That’s my success.”

He died in the midst of a card game one month before his 93^rd birthday on January 14, 1965. About 800 people braved blustery weather to attend his funeral at St. Paul AME Church on January 17.

He was survived by his wife, two daughters, Ellen Richards and Doris Pearman, and three grandchildren. Other relatives included nephew Wesley Gayle, who became a successful entrepreneur in his own right as the owner of Sunset Lodge, a large guesthouse on North Shore, Pembroke West that catered to black tourists in the 1950s and 1960s, during the era of segregation.

Today, his surviving direct descendants include grandson James “Jimmy” Richards, who is based in Jamaica; granddaughter Carol Raveneau and great-granddaughters Rebecca Raveneau as well as Sia and Sasha Castle, the daughters of Terry Castle, who is deceased.

Richards’ family sold the Canadian Hotel in 1984. Despite its dilapidated state, the building remains a Hamilton landmark. It was last used as a rooming house for single men and has been slated for development for several years.