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]
Meta Davis Cumberbatch MBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | Meta Davis (1900-05-04)4 May 1900 San Fernando, Trinidad |
| Died | 29 December 1978(1978-12-29) (aged 78) The Bahamas |
| Education | Trinity Girls School Bishop Anstey High School |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Music |
| Occupation | Pianist, composer, poet, playwright and cultural activist |
| Children | Zoë Maynard |
| Relatives | Kathleen Davis (sister) Allyson Maynard Gibson (granddaughter) |
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]
Davis Cumberbatch died at home in the Bahamas on 29 December 1978, aged 78.[23]
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]