Agroaldea
Leacock, Harris and Douglas, indelible memory of the Canarian agriculture.
Crowd on Monday attended the inauguration of the exhibition "English in the North of Gran Canaria” in the House of the culture of guide. A specimen known to those characters of English origin, known from popular form as the Mister, that it had a strong presence in the northern region of Gran Canaria as agricultural entrepreneurs or managers of British firms with farms and businesses in the area during the late 19th century and early decades of the 20th.
The exhibition was inaugurated by the Mayor, Pedro Rodríguez, accompanied by the Councillor of culture and festivals, María de el Carmen Mendoza. Alongside them were also present Vanessa Cáceres Harris and Guillermina Baptist Harris (granddaughters of Mr. Harris) and people who have worked in the documentary part and location of photos, graphic design and Assembly of this exhibition: Francisco Suarez Moreno, Antonio Quesada Quesada, Augusto Alamo, Sergio Aguiar, Luis Jiménez, Monica Rodriguez, Omayra Rodriguez and Manolo Ortego.
The exhibition pays tribute to three outstanding British entrepreneurs of the past: David J. Leacock, Douglas Charles Fenoulhet and Anthony Harris.
Advanced 19th century and later in the twentieth, the three they were crucial in the promotion of the cultivation and export of Canary Island tomatoes and bananas. Sample, It will be open until October, has itinerant vocation by Gáldar, Agaete and village, municipalities in which all of them deployed its agricultural initiative.
Unpublished photographs of the three characters, utensils and variety of rustic details of the time make up a carefully mounted sample. Other objects include a banana pineapple wrapped with double layer of Kraft paper and pine needles, tied with pita thread, How was it exported in the early stages.
Old aluminum cans and other iron for storing oil and oil, respectively. An old covered wagon that was being towed by a yoke of oxen; pressure pipes built in Gáldar hole for irrigation water; hollow building blocks, introduced by Mr. Leacock for the first time in the industry; and, among other belongings, a truck of itinerant fruit of the era that advertised the Canarian banana in London with the legend “Are the best” (the best).
The Organization has not ruled out bail for the month of September the documentary “Canary Banana”, drawn up in 1935 by Richard Leacock, internationally recognized in the world of cinema, in order to project what the school visitors in this timely exhibition.
The Mayor guiense, Pedro Rodríguez, He stressed that both Harris and Leacock and Douglas, all of them are settled in the North region, “they brought with them their technology to make Canary Islands at the beginning of the last century into the largest producer of bananas, tomatoes and potatoes to cater mainly to the large cities of England. And such was the importance of this trade that gave rise to the so-called “Canary Wharf” (Canary Wharf), in London.
David John Leacock. (1890-1980) Industrial engineer, formed in Cambridge, of socialist ideology, He belonged to a well-known family of Parisian Huguenot origin, emigrated to London.
His father, John Milburne Leacock was the world's leading exporter of bananas, activity undertaken in Madeira, before moving to the Canary Islands. He died in May of 1915 When rested in Switzerland.
The obituary signed in La Provincia newspaper the day 28 in May of the same year, regretted the disappearance of “businessman's height, which contributed to the progress and enrichment of Gran Canaria”.
Some time later, his son David John bought in 1922 all of the Canarian inheritance to his four brothers. Its entrepreneurial dynamism in the agricultural sector was overflowing.
He wove a hydraulic infrastructure with more of 100 km only in pipes, It had before it more than thousand hectares for cultivation of Strawberry, pepper, banana, tomato, Eggplant, flowers and vegetables. Farms turkeys, cows, sheep and hives. Also, He participated in the Foundation of the German and English colleges, and it became a donor annual one million pesetas from then for charitable purposes, exclusively.
His testament was further evidence of one unusual generosity. He bequeathed all his heritage, valued at more than two billion pesetas, Eleven of his most loyal workers.
Anthony Harris. Came into the world the 19 October of 1887 in Haemoor (Cornwall) to the South-West of England. He chose to come to the Canary Islands, rather than integrate into the business of fruits and vegetables for his family in Liverpool.
He arrived in Gran Canaria after a few months in La Palma. David Leacock was his initial mentor export. Guillermina Jiménez married the guiense and set its initial residence in Gáldar. In his land he cultivated tomatoes, bananas, onions and aubergines, It had output through the ports of sardine and the village, the port of La Luz, and from this to the United Kingdom. He died in June of 1970.
Douglas Charles Fenoulhet, (1882-1927). Known by the nickname of El Niño he settled also in the Northwest region, specifically in Gáldar, Acting Manager in Gran Canaria of the company “Fyffes Limited”, with an extraordinary relevance in the field of the Canarian agricultural exports to England.
He died prematurely with 45 years of age. To the surprise of some, in his will he left as heir to his property to his housekeeper, Maria Mendoza Mendoza.
The family has retained valuable documents of the delegation of “Fyffes Limited Gáldar”. Also a voluminous Douglas Charles Fenoulhet photo album, ethnographic value is one of the main attractions of the exhibition guiense.