Jump to content

Meta Davis Cumberbatch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Proscribe (talk | contribs) at 11:21, 17 September 2018 (details + refs). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Meta Davis Cumberbatch MBE (4 May 1900 – 29 December 1978)[1] was a Trinidad-born pianist, composer, poet, playwright and cultural activist, who spent the majority of her life in The Bahamas, where she became known as the "Mother of the Arts".[2] At the 2014 Independence anniversary celebrations in Nassau she was honoured as a Bahamian "Cultural Warrior".[3]

Biography

Meta Davis was born in San Fernando, Trinidad, on 4 May 1900, to James Augustus Davis and Ruth O'Neill Davis, who were both from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.[4] After attending Trinity Girls School and Bishop Anstey High School in Port of Spain,[5] Meta and her younger sisters Beryl and Kathleen were sent by their parents to England in 1919 with the intention that they study medicine at Bristol University.[6][7] However, from medical studies Meta transferred to the Royal Academy of Music, where she trained as a concert pianist, and would eventually win acclaim playing on the stages of Wigmore Hall, London, and Carnegie Hall in New York,[8] as well as throughout Europe and the Caribbean.[9]

In 1923, she married fellow Trinidadian Dr Roland Cumberbatch,[10] and after he accepted a post through the Colonial Medical Service in 1926 the couple settled in The Bahamas,[11] helping to build the country and becoming part of the black professional opposition to racism.[12] According to her grandson Dr Peter Maynard, author of the 2010 biography Great Awakening: Meta Davis Cumberbatch, "Mother of the Arts": "There were so many artistic and cultural forms that were not being widely expressed. ...She saw her purpose as developing the arts in the Bahamas."[7]

She taught piano[13] drama and dance, and encouraged and promoted indigenous crafts using local materials.[2] In the early 1960s, she originated and ran an annual national Festival of Arts and Crafts, as well as initiating the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts,[7][14][15][16][2] In addition to composing music, she wrote poetry, plays and essays – collected in Complete Works of Meta Davis Cumberbatch: Poems, Plays, Music and Essays, edited by Peter Maynard – and also helped to form the Council of Women and supported the women's suffrage movement.[17]

In the 1966 New Year Honours she was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) "for public services in the Bahamas",[18] and the award was presented by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Caribbean in February that year.[19]

She died at home in the Bahamas on 29 December 1978.[20]

Legacy

In 2014, at the 41st Independence anniversary celebrations under the theme "Celebrating our Culture: A Commitment to Peace", Meta Davis Cumberbatch was one of 41 "Cultural Warriors" honoured by the Bahamian government for dedicating their lives to cultural development.[21][22][23]

Further reading

  • Complete Works of Meta Davis Cumberbatch: Poems, Plays, Music and Essays, edited by Peter D. Maynard, with a foreword by Nicolette Bethel, Rakuten Kobo, 2010, ISBN 9789769526204.
  • Peter D. Maynard, Great Awakening: Meta Davis Cumberbatch, "Mother of the Arts" (Foreword by Nicki Kelly), Rakuten Kobo, 2010, ISBN 9789769526211.

References

  1. ^ Peter D. Maynard, Great Awakening: Meta Davis Cumberbatch, "Mother of the Arts", 2010, pp. 146, 153.
  2. ^ a b c "Meta Davis Cumberbatch – Pioneer of The Arts", Our Culture Warriors.
  3. ^ "Great Cultural Icons to be Celebrated at the 41st Independence!", Bahamas Press, 2 July 2014.
  4. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), pp. 150, 153, 159.
  5. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 155.
  6. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 160.
  7. ^ a b c Jeffarah Gibson, "Meta-Davis Cumberbatch's Legacy Lives On", Tribune 242, 18 June 2013.
  8. ^ Synopsis, Complete Works of Meta Davis Cumberbatch, by Peter Maynard.
  9. ^ "A History of The Performing Arts in The Bahamas", Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, The Government of the Bahamas.
  10. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 163.
  11. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 167.
  12. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), pp. 42–43, 181.
  13. ^ Craton and Saunders (2000), p. 479.
  14. ^ "A mutually beneficial performance", National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, 5 September 2015.
  15. ^ Alan West Durán, African Caribbeans: A Reference Guide, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 23.
  16. ^ Michael Craton and Gail Saunders, Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People – Volume Two: From the Ending of Slavery to the Twenty-First Century, University of Georgia Press, 2000, p. 476.
  17. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 205.
  18. ^ '"M.B.E.", Supplement to The London Gazette, 1 January 1966, p. 25.
  19. ^ "Queen Elizabeth to make award to Bahamian Artist", Jet, 10 February 1966, p. 4.
  20. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 146.
  21. ^ Pam Burnside, "Jackson Burnside to Also Be Honoured For His Contribution To Junkanoo In The Visual Arts", Creative Nassau, 5 July 2014.
  22. ^ Jones Bahamas, "41 Cultural Warriors Honoured", The Bahama Journal, 9 July 2014.
  23. ^ "41 Bahamian Cultural Legends Honoured", Bahamas National.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meta_Davis_Cumberbatch&oldid=859953001"