On 1st August, 1838, slavery was officially abolished in Guyana. But for four years preceding this occurrence, the slaves served a period of apprenticeship through which they earned small amounts of compensation for their labour. From their meagre wages, they resolutely saved some of their earnings, which they later pooled to purchase abandoned plantations. Plantation Northbrook was the first to be purchased, in November 1839, by 83 labourers. It was renamed Victoria after the British monarch of the day.
Next, one hundred and twenty-eight of their fellow labourers from plantations between Lusignan and Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara, pooled their resources to acquire the 500-acre Plantation New Orange Nassau from its proprietor, James Archibald Holmes, for $50,000, in April 1840. The newly established village was renamed Buxton in honour of Thomas Fowell Buxton, a British Member of Parliament, who had campaigned tirelessly for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies.
It should be noted that although Victoria was purchased before Buxton, Buxton obtained its transport first-2nd January, 1841.
In 1841, another 168 labourers came together and purchased Friendship, a 500-acre plantation adjacent east of Buxton for $80,000. They then merged the two communities to form the largest village in the country, commonly referred to as Buxton.
The founding fathers proceeded to lay out housing lots at the front of the village and corresponding farm lands at the back. They worked tirelessly building roads, digging drainage trenches and planting crops. They also created an administrative body, the Buxton-Friendship Village Council to oversee the maintenance of village infrastructure, collect property taxes, and to ensure residents adhered to a strict code of decency and morality by imposing fines on violators who committed such offences as public intoxication, use of profane language, gambling and fighting.
Religious worship and Education were also very important to villagers. Places for the establishment of Christian churches and schools were allocated to the Congregational, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches. The Anglican Church had already planted roots in the community before it was acquired by the former slaves. According to Eusi Kwayana’s Buxton Friendship in Print & Memory (pp 27), “They made it clear that this was in gratitude for what God had done for them in relieving them from their captivity.” These institutions were later followed by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Church of God, The Lutheran Church, Brethren Church, the Jordanites, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Assemblies of God, Full Gospel Church, and a number of small ‘Faithist’ groups.
Except for a small number of East Indians who reside around the northwestern border of the village, Buxton-Friendship has remained largely a village of African descendants. As a result, it boasts a culture deeply rooted in African and Christian traditions.
