STORIES OF OUR FAMILIES
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
ROBERT LOUIS SHEPPARD
1920 - 1999
Robert Louis Sheppard was born on 10th March 1920, the eighth child of Charles and Elsie (Gomez) Sheppard's family of 13 children. At the time of his birth, the Sheppard family lived at Stone Street, Port of Spain. But in 1937 Grandpa Charlie bought a large property at 30 Richmond Street to accommodate his already large and increasing family. Four year old Robert and his nine siblings moved in.
My father, Andrew was the closest to Robert in age, born in 1922. They shared much of their childhood experiences, the most traumatic of which was the death of their father in 1933 when they were young boys. Their father Charles Sheppard died young, (my dad was not quite 9 years old, Robert was 11), leaving their mother to raise them all. Their widowed mother Elsie took in boarders to help out financially and the children also had to help.
When my father was 66, he wrote some stories about family life in the 1930’s, and not surprisingly, many of the memories he recalled included his brother Robert. He recalled the days when he and his brothers Robert and George were the bread delivery boys, using their big brothers’ bikes.
I've transcribed from my dad's own handwritten stories.
School Days
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"Trinidad was and is a predominantly Roman Catholic Country because of its Spanish and French origins. I was Presbyterian. Being the last of six sons, obtaining a place in the Government-run main secondary school was a problem for my brother Robert and I because we had four older brothers attending that college, Queen’s Royal College, and their regulations did not permit any more than four pupils from any one family.
Consequently, Robert and I found ourselves at St. Mary’s College, otherwise known as C.I.C. (College of the Immaculate Conception), almost entirely Roman Catholic. We were definitely out of place. Apart from studies, the only other activities that we could perform were football, athletics, boxing. We were not allowed to join the Sea Scouts, nor could we join choirs nor drama clubs. Cadets was also on the list of restricted areas. We were also prevented from entering the school chapel. Whenever our Catholic friends attended Mass, we were obliged to remain in our classrooms for the period under the supervision of a Protestant teacher or a Head Boy. It was uncomfortable and confusing to be in this situation. It was not our imagination either that non-Catholics were the victims of discrimination. We were always severely punished for any infringement of the rules of the school. Being late or forgetting poetry or not completing homework always guaranteed us a beating by the Dean of Studies or the Dean of Discipline.
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“Ten boarders, 6 cousins, 12 of us, Mama and “poor” little friends (usually 2), say 28-30 people to be fed each and every day, breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. We all ate a lot of bread, so Ma employed Harris, Barbadian baker who had a problem with testicular hernia always getting in his way. Harris would arrive home and start baking between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. He supplied us with 100 hops loaves, and 6 pan loaves, plus other sweet breads for tea. He also baked some 30 other pan loaves which had to be delivered to the customers before 7:00 a.m. These were friends of the family who lived the general neighbourhood. Ma had several bread bags made, some to hold one or two or more pan loaves. Each customer had a nail on the back or front porch to hold the stringed bread bag. The empty bag would be replaced by the full one. Each bag had the customer’s name. Problem – transportation. Andrew, Robert, George borrow Boysie’s, Bertie’s and John’s bicycles, surround the bicycles with bags of bread and make sure you return for the owners to get their bicycles to get to work. We “students” had to eat breakfast quickly and walk to school – and get there in time. Many times we failed as evidenced by the black and blues on our hands or backsides as administered by our school masters. But this was all part of life. We loved Mama and understood the situation.”
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"In spite of everything, Robert and I succeeded up to a point. Our widowed mother could no longer afford to pay the school fees of $12.00 per three month term each, so we had to leave and find gainful employment to assist in supporting our large family of twelve children. Robert got a job with a large, diverse commercial company as an office boy."
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Marriage and family life
Robert married the love of his life on 11 April 1942.. He had just turned 22 , his beautiful bride Angela de Souza was 20 years old. Like Robert, Angela's family roots were Portuguese. Her parents were Lucy Xavier and Henrique Rodrigues de Souza. Henrique was known as Henry, and was born in São Roque, Madeira. He was a merchant who ran an alcohol retail business, as well as a bakery and a couple of grocery stores in Chaguanas and Caripachaima. He owned the White Eagle Bar and Grocery, 97 Western Main Road, St. James, P.O.S., est. around 1910s-1930s. Angela's siblings were Henrietta, Jacintho “Sonny”, Theresa, Monica, Henry and Sheila de Souza. The Sheppard, Gomez and de Souza families became close, as Angela's brother "Sonny" married Robert's cousin, Angela McCartney, daughter of his mother's sister Edith Gomez and Thomas McCartney.
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Angela Lucy de Souza
1 November 1922 - 19 November 2004
Wedding Day - 11 April 1942
Standing next to Angela is Robert's bestman, my father Andrew, wearing his military uniform. Next to Robert is their sister Sybil, left is Theresa de Souza, the bride's sister Next to my father is another of the bride's sisters, Henrietta de Souza, and right is
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