This is the fourth video in a series where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados focusing in this episode on the Drax and Codrington families.
John has recently setup a YouTube channel: @TheUntoldHistoryOfBarbados. It’s about: The Untold History of Barbados – Amerindians, Quakers and Slavery. As John adds to his series of informative videos we will look to share them here on BajanThings.
The wills of the Drax and Codrington families
This video presents the Will of Henry Drax who died in 1682/3. It shows like those covered so far that he was a Quaker. His familial connection to Christopher Codrington, himself a Quaker, is apparent from the will extract.
He names two sets of executors each comprised of named Friends. One set was located in England to deal with his estate there and the other in Barbados to deal with his estate here. He was clearly a powerful man with connections on both sides of the Atlantic World.
The natural circulation of currents known as the North Atlantic Gyre is highlighted to explain why and how Barbados obtained its pride of place as a colony and describes the flourishing trade that developed with American ports on the Eastern Seaboard. More on this in a later video.
Click here to see the all videos in the series where John Knox tells the untold story of The Quakers in Barbados.
Some background:
John Knox is a mapping aficionado and is merging his love of engineering with his love of Barbados history in this series of YouTube videos starting with the Quakers in Barbados. These videos merge maps, place names, on-the-ground research, wills, deeds and trade to document the untold history of the Quakers in Barbados.
John was awarded a Barbados Scholarship in 1975 and Dutch Government Fellowship in 1979. He holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering and Physics and a Masters in Electronic Engineering. He worked at Intel in Barbados from 1980 and gained experience at their facilities in the US and Far East.
When Intel in Barbados closed in 1987, he joined a start-up company providing technical services, building services engineering and product development. John went out on his own in 1995 concentrating on product development mapping and modelling Barbados. From 2002 to 2007 he also taught various courses in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
John started hiking with Richard Goddard and Colin Hudson and others in 1988 and led the Barbados Hiking Association (BHA) medium group from the early 1990’s to the mid 2000’s. Recently John has concentrated on documenting and sharing the knowledge he gained from exploring Barbados.
