Meta Davis Cumberbatch

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Meta Davis Cumberbatch

MBE
Born
Meta Davis

(1900-05-04)4 May 1900
San Fernando, Trinidad
Died29 December 1978(1978-12-29) (aged 78)
The Bahamas
EducationTrinity Girls School; Bishop Anstey High School
Alma materRoyal Academy of Music
OccupationPianist, composer, poet, playwright and cultural activist
ChildrenZoë Maynard
Parent(s)James Augustus Davis and Ruth O'Neill Davis
RelativesKathleen Davis (sister);
Allyson Maynard Gibson (granddaughter)

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 used her talents to enhance the country's cultural development,[2] becoming known as the "Mother of the Arts".[3] At the 2014 Independence anniversary celebrations in Nassau she was honoured as a Bahamian "Cultural Warrior".[4]

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 originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.[5] Meta's musical talent manifested itself early and she could pick out a tune on the piano before she could write her own name.[6] After attending Trinity Girls School and Bishop Anstey High School in Port of Spain,[7] 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.[8][9] However, as Meta said in a 1972 interview, her ambitions lay elsewhere: "I couldn't even stand the sight of blood.... I begged my father not to send me because everyone knew me as 'Meta the Musician', and I loved music."[6] She nevertheless did spend a short time at the university, though often so engrossed at the piano that she forgot to attend lectures.[6] So from medical studies she 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,[10] as well as throughout Europe and the Caribbean.[11]

In 1923, she married fellow Trinidadian Dr Roland Cumberbatch,[12] and after he accepted a post through the Colonial Medical Service in 1926 the couple eventually settled in The Bahamas,[13] helping to build the country and becoming part of the black professional opposition to racism.[14] According to her grandson Dr Peter Maynard, author of the biography Great Awakening: Meta Davis Cumberbatch, "Mother of the Arts" (2010): "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."[9]

She taught piano, drama and dance (her protégés included Winston Saunders, Hubert Farrington, and Clement Bethel),[15][16] and encouraged and promoted indigenous crafts using local materials.[3] 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.[3][9][17][18][19] 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.[20]

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",[21] and the award was presented by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Caribbean in February that year.[22]

She died at home in the Bahamas on 29 December 1978, aged 78.[23]

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.[24][25][26]

Her work is included in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[27][28]

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. ^ "Tributes pour in following the passing of Zoe, Lady Maynard this morning…". Bahamas Press. 10 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Meta Davis Cumberbatch – Pioneer of The Arts", Our Culture Warriors.
  4. ^ "Great Cultural Icons to be Celebrated at the 41st Independence!", Bahamas Press, 2 July 2014.
  5. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), pp. 150, 153, 159.
  6. ^ a b c "Meta Davis, artist of Bahamas", The New Courier, 18 March 1972, p. 13.
  7. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 155.
  8. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 160.
  9. ^ a b c Jeffarah Gibson, "Meta-Davis Cumberbatch's Legacy Lives On", Tribune 242, 18 June 2013.
  10. ^ Synopsis, Complete Works of Meta Davis Cumberbatch, by Peter Maynard.
  11. ^ "A History of The Performing Arts in The Bahamas", Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, The Government of the Bahamas.
  12. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 163.
  13. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 167.
  14. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), pp. 42–43, 181.
  15. ^ Craton and Saunders (2000), p. 479.
  16. ^ "Who We Are – Our Founder – Edward Clement Bethel". The Nassau Music Society. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  17. ^ "A mutually beneficial performance", National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, 5 September 2015.
  18. ^ Alan West Durán, African Caribbeans: A Reference Guide, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 23.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 205.
  21. ^ '"M.B.E.", Supplement to The London Gazette, 1 January 1966, p. 25.
  22. ^ "Queen Elizabeth to make award to Bahamian Artist", Jet, 10 February 1966, p. 4.
  23. ^ Maynard, Great Awakening (2010), p. 146.
  24. ^ Pam Burnside, "Jackson Burnside to Also Be Honoured For His Contribution To Junkanoo In The Visual Arts", Creative Nassau, 5 July 2014.
  25. ^ Jones Bahamas, "41 Cultural Warriors Honoured", The Bahama Journal, 9 July 2014.
  26. ^ "41 Bahamian Cultural Legends Honoured", Bahamas National.
  27. ^ Paul Burke, "New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent edited by Margaret Busby", NB, 28 March 2019.
  28. ^ Selwyn R. Cudjoe, "New Daughters of Africa", trinicenter.com, 8 April 2019.

External links[]

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