S.S. Toddings Sr. was the founder and long-time editor of the Mid-Ocean News and the most prominent newsman of his generation. Most intriguingly, he was the son and grandson of freed slaves—a fact that has only recently come to light. His Black ancestry was apparently an open secret during his lifetime, according to the late historian and former Royal Gazette editor William Zuill. But he was able to cross the racial divide in segregated Bermuda and live as a white man.
During his 65-year career as publisher and editor, first of the Colonist then the Mid-Ocean, he courted controversy for his strong opinions and earned respect for his courage. He was sued at least twice for libel, and spent several days in jail for refusing to reveal a source.Toddings was the first publisher to print full reports of parliamentary debates, which allowed for greater transparency into local politics.
He was also a Member of Parliament, and a church organist, first at St Peter’s in St. George’s, then at St. Theresa’s in Hamilton, following his conversion to Catholicism.
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Nineteen acres of public land in Paget were renamed the Bermuda Botanical Gardens. Governor Sir John Woodall did the honours on the first day of the Agricultural Exhibition.
The name change was a reflection of the need to develop the gardens’ horticultural side after tourism supplanted agriculture as the island’s major industry.
The Botanical Gardens property dates back to 1898 when ten acres of land known as the Public Garden were put under the control of Government’s Board of Agriculture.
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