Arthur William Hodge - Ramifications

Ramifications

The ramifications of the execution of Hodge are difficult to gauge. Some historians suggest that the "case stirred up feverish feelings in the islands, and even echoed to the outside world ... it was revolutionary for the times: this was an unprecedented trial, where a white man was proven guilty for the murder of a black man and sentenced to death." While the trial and execution may have shocked the slave owning communities in the British West Indies, it does not appear to have had any immediate effect other than that on Hodge's plantation. There may have been other slave owners in the British West Indies who were as cruel as Hodge, but there does not seem to have been a move to put them on trial. And white slave owners do not appear to have voluntarily moderated their treatment of their black slaves after the trial. There appear to be no records of any slave owners in the British West Indies being tried for the murder of their slaves.

Within the British Virgin Islands themselves, outside of Hodge's estate, slaves were treated relatively well, which is not surprising in light of the growing value of slaves since the abolition of the African slave trade. While slaves would not be free for another twenty plus years, enslaved people in the British Virgin Islands enjoyed greater protection from cruelty and injury by white slave owners.

Trying Hodge had an impact on the British Virgin Island's finances. The British Virgin Islands spent nearly six hundred pounds sterling, and cost Hodge's estate nearly nine hundred pounds sterling, both extravagant sums for the time.