The Sardinha de Paiva, Jardine and Sousa families

Hyacinth Isadora Sardine nee Ambrose, was born on 12 January 1913, fifth child of fifteen born to Theresa Eleanora De Sousa Chapman and Joseph Ambrose from Stubbs on the Windward side of St Vincent. Her siblings were Eileen, Percival, Victor, Paul then Hyacinth, below her Laurelle, Oswald, Nina, Theresa, Alphonso, Eugenia, Cecilia, Agnes, Magdelene and Patrick.
Grandpa Joseph, as my mother and grandmother told us, grew vegetables at Stubbs and sold them in Kingstown market, an honest living and she herself was famous for her sewing. She made anything from school clothes to wedding dresses to hats and in fact she made Hyacinths wedding dress for her marriage to Monty, she also made for the other daughters too. My Grandmother made wonderful cakes from the local Arrowroot flour. My mother was a wonderful cook.
Grandpa Joseph Ambrose was a heavy drinker and there are many stories she related to us of her trials and tribulations she had with old Joseph, these will be told in my book.

The Ambrose girls, Hyacinth 2nd from left Aunt Elsa on the right

It was not a great living and between the two it was difficult to make ends meet.
Hyacinth, despite having ambitions of her own had to leave school and went to work in 1928 aged fifteen years to help feed the younger siblings and two years later in 1930 Joseph died. He was pushed off a flight of steps at a place he frequently went to drink,and so leaving her as the main bread winner for the family. Her brother Percy also contributed greatly to the household by paying the morgage on the property. Percy eventually cancel the death on the property, made out the will for Granny. Mum was very close to her mother in these early years but also later when her mother lived with her and was cared for by her and Monty for many years. There was never a cross word between them, nor with Dad. They never took a holiday away from her mother.
Mum did initially work at the Sanitary Bakery in Kingstown but, in the mid 1950's, Dad refurbished the downstairs at Long Wall, which had been rented out as rooms to the very poor, and Mum opened a food shop and store there which she ran for many years, throughout my school days. For the store she would import cotton fabrics, particularly flowered designs, leather shoes and all sorts of other household and clothing items, toys for the christmas sale.

Hyacinth on Globetrotter

Mum had learned many traditional recipes from Dad that had been handed down to him from his father and some of these came to the fore in the food shop. I remember the cakes and biscuits, but also the number of people that used to come and buy her Sea Moss and the Mauby that she would make. There was a Fridge and freezer in the back and she used to sell even then De Norbriga ice creams and sweet drinks and of course Juicy’s. Mum also did crochet, and created Orlanda's wedding dress. (see picture)

Later, when the Royal Bakery was purchased she preferred to be more in the background. She made all the savoury meats for the pastries and the jams for the jam puffs and all sorts of other fillings for the speciality products that Sardines Bakery was famous for, actually the only producer of speciality bakery items at the time.
The rest of Mums time was in the main taken up looking after the family and of course her mother. She was a carer, right down to the animals, many times when chicks or ducklings or rabbits were ill she would feed them with a dropper, not that she could ever kill these for dinner, so she would have the gardener do this.

Landa in the crochet dress

Though she had spent many years running the shop she hated shopping herself, and I don’t think I ever saw Mum in a supermarket or clothes shop in my life. The older ones would do the shopping and as they got older and flew the nest the younger ones took over that duty.
Our home at Long Wall was always lively as with any big family. We went on river picnics with other Portuguese families, Veira's, de Nobriga's, de Riggs, Cumberbatch, sometimes cooking crayfish and callaloo, other times we would carry food cooked at home with us. Some Sundays we would go to the Coronation Club at Indian Bay, which was owned by Sylvester de Freitas and where the Portuguese families met, these are the special times that stand out in my memory. Today, the land where the club once stood is owned now by the Balcombe family who owned the rum distillery and arrowroot factory, and one of my father's friends. Sylvester de Freitas, the clubs owner is buried just off the beach on one of the large rocks standing in a large cross, and can be seen from a distance.

Mum and Dad in Kingstown

Hyacinth with my daughter Christine 1986

An affectionate moment