James “Dick” Richards – the first Black person to own a hotel licence in Bermuda – was an extraordinary businessman whose impact has spanned generations.
He built the Canadian Hotel, which became a key Hamilton landmark for several decades, and owned several other establishments, while also using his self-made wealth to support the community here and in his native Jamaica.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of his death.
Mr Richards was born into poverty in Jamaica in 1872 and was orphaned at a young age. By the age of 15, according to the Bermuda Biographies website, he had developed an initiative to make his own way through life and walked more than 100 miles to Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, where he found work in a bakery.
He arrived in Bermuda in his early 30s, when he was posted here with the West Indies Regiment in 1903.
He was discharged within a few weeks but stayed in Bermuda to find jobs at the Bermuda Bakery, and as a labourer and canteen assistant with the British Royal Engineers at Prospect, Devonshire.
His skills and charisma did not go unnoticed, and within a few months he became manager of the canteen at Casemates in Dockyard.
THE PLACE TO BE SEEN
It was after marrying Jane Smith that Mr Richards’ career as an entrepreneur took off. With his wife’s encouragement, he opened the Harbour View Bar on Front Street in 1909, and another establishment followed on Reid Street.
By 1918, Mr Richards became the first Black man on the island to own a hotel licence when he built the Canadian Hotel on the corner of Reid Street and Court Street.
The four-storey Canadian Hotel – with its distinguishing stone lion on the fourth floor – became the home of a high-society nightclub which provided live music for a mainly Black Bermudian audience.
The so-called Lion’s Deck was the place to be seen in Bermuda. Dress standards were very high: men wore tuxedos and smoked cigars; women wore locally made designer dresses and wore the finest perfume and jewels.
Mr Richards acquired other properties later in life, including Ripleigh and the Metropolitan Buildings, but the Canadian Hotel remained closest to his heart, and he continued to operate it until his death in 1965, aged 92.
Friends had celebrated his 90th birthday with an all-day party at the Canadian Hotel; he was even playing a card game on the premises when he passed away two years later.
PHILANTHROPIST
Mr Richards was also a philanthropist. He helped underwrite the cost of the stained glass windows, organ and balcony of St Paul AME Church – the place where 800 people later attended his funeral.
He also donated to scholarships, the Salvation Army and started a fund for a new library at the Berkeley Institute.
Back in Jamaica, he donated funds for a new building at Beersheba Primary School, which he attended as a child, built a Salvation Army church to serve eight communities and left money in his will for scholarships.
He acquired the name “Bermuda King” because, on trips home to Jamaica, he would load up a large trunk with goods and distribute them to poor people, leading to the phrase: “Bermuda King come”.
In Bermuda, his legacy was continued by nephew Wesley Gayle, who owned Sunset Lodge, the guesthouse on North Shore which catered to Black tourists during the segregation era.
The Canadian Hotel lay derelict in its final years and was demolished in 2019. Although the site remains vacant, its owners, Stonehaven Development Company, have outlined plans to restore its glory days by building an upscale hotel.
