A. C. Shillingford

Albert Cavendish Shillingford (11 May 1882 — 7 March 1938) was a Dominican businessman.

Early life

Albert Cavendish "Gerald" Shillingford was born in Saint Joseph, Dominica, the son of Albert Charles Shillingford and Anne Marie Pinard of Newtown, Saint George. He attended the Dominica Grammar School in Roseau.

Career

After receiving his druggist license upon completing training at the Roseau Hospital, Shillingford partnered with fellow student Sidney Green to establish ''Shillingford & Green, Druggists'' in 1905. After five years, the partnership was dissolved, leading to the creation of their respective businesses, Shillingford's being ''The Phoenix.''

Shillingford later expanded his business ventures, drawing inspiration from his uncle, Thomas Howard Shillingford, who had successfully opened shops in villages along the west coast. He implemented a similar strategy in Roseau, the capital, founding ''A. C. Shillingford & Co''. Over time, the company grew into a diversified enterprise encompassing the pharmacy, a grocery store, 3 dry goods stores, an insurance company, a hardware retail and wholesale business, apparel stores, and an auto dealership. He also co-founded the ''Dominica Tribune'' newspaper, was a member of the board of the ''Dominica Banana Association'', and served as a trustee of his alma mater, the ''Dominica Grammar School''.

With the support of relatives including his cousin; politician and planter Howell Donald Shillingford, he expanded into agriculture, acquiring estates that produced limes, oranges, bananas, sugarcane, and other crops. In 1924, he established a lime processing factory in Newtown, followed by another in Soufrière. His operations later expanded to neighbouring islands, where he constructed additional lime processing plants in Trinidad and Grenada. This expansion broke the monopoly held by the British-owned '' L. Rose & Co.'', allowing local yellow lime growers to secure better prices for their produce.

By the 1930s, the extended Shillingford family led by "A. C. S." and "H. D. S." held significant influence in Dominican society, they owned a lot of the island's plantations and controlled most of the commercial interests in Roseau, which while wandering around, Leigh Fermor wrote that "every shop appeared to be called Shillingford". This combined with their membership of the legislature made them both directly and indirectly politically powerful.

Politics

Shillingford opposed British political dominance by supporting the Dominica Taxpayers Reform Association. He was a financial backer of the 1932 Dominica Conference, which was attended by regional political figures, including Arthur Cipriani of Trinidad and Theophilus Marryshow of Grenada. The conference advocated for a federation of the British West Indian Territories. He was an early ally of Dominican barrister and activist Cecil Rawle, whom married his sister Eva.

Shillingford was noted by the British colonial administration for his criticism of the treatment of West Indian soldiers who served in World War I. He protested their assignment to labor battalions under poor conditions, arguing that they had been unfairly treated despite their service to their "mother country" Britain.

Death

On Monday morning 7th March 1938 at the age of 56, Shillingford died in a drowning accident off the coast of the Hatton Garden Estate bay, Marigot, whilst sea bathing with his cousin Howell and the estates overseer Mr Riviere. His funeral garnered a large number of people from all walks of life, the procession began by leaving his home at New Street, In Roseau, where all the shops closed and the banks flew their flags at half-mast to pay their respects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shillingford, A.C.
1882 births
1938 deaths
Dominica businesspeople