Lefroy Brownlow Sinclair Place lived through an era most of us know only as “history”.
Born in 1916, he witnessed over a century of transformative change before passing away on July 23 last year at the age of 107. His lifetime spanned pivotal events, including the arrival of electricity, the collapse of Bermuda’s racial segregation, the rise of trade unionism, the introduction of universal adult suffrage in 1968, the riots of 1977, the advent of the internet and the Covid-19 pandemic.
THE RECORDER YEARS
His experiences were fascinating, and he eagerly shared them with anyone willing to sit and listen.
It’s a passion that likely stemmed from his father, Alfred Brownlow Place, who with Henry Hughes, David Augustus, Joaquin Martin and James Rubaine founded the Bermuda Recorder in 1925 in an effort to chronicle the lives and news of Black Bermudians.
When his son left school at 13 however, the newspaper editor encouraged him to train as a plumber. Mr Place and his friend, the actor Earl Cameron, would cycle to Ferry Reach from their Ewing Street, Hamilton neighbourhood.
However, the job didn’t stick. Mr Place joined his father at the Recorder. He often explained that he was inspired by Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League, an organisation that promoted Black nationalism by celebrating African history and culture.
In 1928, Mr Place was among the crowd that gathered to hear the political activist deliver a speech from a boat moored in Hamilton after authorities refused to let him disembark.
“We were looking for leadership because we didn’t have any Black leadership,” he told The Royal Gazette.
“So, we followed the Marcus Garvey movement. In doing so, the movement in Bermuda grew quite rapidly.”
POLITICS AND SPORT
Mr Place supported the Progressive Labour Party from its inception in 1963 and, at every Cup Match, was a staunch Somerset fan. He had an “astonishing ability to describe events” and could list off the names and personalities of top players.
In 2014 he lamented that the annual match had grown “commercialised” in recent years.
“The sportsmanship is not there like it was,” he said.
“I can recall the time when the Cup Match teams would only pick players from the parishes; no outsiders could get into those teams.”
FAMILY MAN
In 1940 he married Sadie Marguerite Bassett. The couple had three children: Brownlow Tucker-Smith Place, Glenda Walker and Charlene Tyrrell.
After leaving the Recorder, Mr Place joined the Corporation of Hamilton where he worked as a custodian and mail courier until he retired at age 85. Despite living in St David’s, he was always an hour early for work throughout his 30 years there.
He told the Gazette: “In life, you can’t afford to be late. You’d miss too much.”
He drove until he was 103 when the carelessness of other drivers forced him to stop.
“There are too many people on bikes overtaking on the inside and doing various antics that are unnerving me,” his good friend Cecille Snaith-Simmons recalled him saying.
“I know I can still drive, but I do not need the aggravation. I know I will be safer on the bus.”
Mr Place was often asked the secret to his long life. As a Christian, his response was usually that it was “God’s will”.
“I have been blessed,” he told Ms Snaith-Simmons.
