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Captain Joseph Oliver Cutteridge

Appointed 2nd lt in the Labour Corps 13 May 1917.[1]

Became an instructor in catering and transferred to the general list on 22 May 1918.[2]

Promoted to temporary rank of lieutenant 13 November 1918 but also held additional temporary rank of captain whilst employed as instructor in catering.[3]

3 November 1918 appointed an assistant inspector of Quartermaster-General's Services, retaining temporary rank of captain.[4]

Relinquished that role 3 November 1919 and lost the temporary rank of captain[5] On the same day he relinquished his commission, and was granted the substantive rank of captain on the general list.[6]

Appointed MBE in 1932 King's Birthday Honours for his work as assistant director of education and chief inspector of schools to the colony of Trinidad and TObago.[7]

Appointed as a member of the Legislative Council of T&T 5 April 1934.[8]

Re-appointed member of LC 23 May 1938.[9]


Director of education in Trinidad from 1934 to 1942. Had taught in a number of different settings in England, including regular schools, technical schools and teacher training collehes. Continued the work of his predecessors George Mackay (1922-25) and Frederick Marriott (1926-1934), under whom he had worked as assistant director, to introduce more prohressive methods to education in Trinidad. Cutteridge was particularly noted for his innovations in primary education and teacher training. He taught teachers how to introduce crafts into the curriculum as a subject and a method of teaching.[10]

Cutteridge introduced field trips to geography teachers and phonetics in the teaching of English. The Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago's school in Caroni County was used as a model for teaaching in rural Trinidad. He published five volumes of Nelson's West Indian Reader, seven of Nelson's West Indian Arithmetic and one of Nelson's Geography of the West Indies and Adjacent Lands between 1927 and 1931. They were introduced into the classroom without consultation with the teachers. There were complaints from Garveyite teachers about jis includsion of African and Trinidadian folk tales in the reading books, which were seen as insulting to those of African descent. Cutterighe had no university degree.[11]

One of his readers had to be revised after protests that in some of the drawings black people resembled gorillas. There were also complaints about inaccuracies in his Arithmetics books and too much trivial detail in his geography volume. Critics accused Cutteridge of cutting off black children from wider learning by focusing on African folklore in his readers and not including enough guidance on grammar. Critics claimed there was a conspiracy to keep black people ill educated. Pupils were expected to progress through the volumes of the readers, leading to complains about the expense of buying seven volumes of books for one child. The proportion of folk tales in the readers fell from 22.5% in volume I progressively to 2.3% in volume VII. The Readers had a local focus but all, except VOlume II, included material on foreign lands. His arithmetic works featured sums reminsicent of slavery and working class life including plantians, yams, cutlasses and hoes.[12]

Cutteridge defended his works by stating that children learned better when the subject was something they were familiar with and that this was based on modern psychological principles.[13]

A 1928 survey of headteachers in the colony found 282 approved of the new methods and only one disapproved, though was criticised for not reflecting actual opinion as the feedback was not anonymous. Cutteridge provided more resources for schools, allowing them better eequipment and to put on more perforamcnces and excursions. [14]

The previous reading material used in Trinidad, such as the Royal Reader focussed on white culture.[15]

Future prime minister Eric Williams worked under Cutteridge at teh Gocernment Teachers' Training COllege. Cutteridge lobbied for Williams to receive a scholarship in 1936. Cutteridge was principal of the Tranquility Boys Intermediate School from 1921, Williams won a scholarship to attend the school the following year and Cutteridge became his patron. In 1932 Cutteridge provided Williams with a post as lecturer in EWnglish and history at the Government Training College.[16]

Retired to the Isle of Man. One question in the reader asked "what common customs in the West Indies are very foolish? Explain why they are foolish and why the may do harm rather than good".[17]

Died August 1952. His works continue dto be revised and printed into the 1960s.[18]

The calypso singer Mighty Sparrow reference Cutteridge in his song "Dan is the Man in the Van" "The poems and the lessons they write and send from England / Impress me they were trying to cultivate comedians / Comic books made more sense / You know it was fictitious without pretence / J.O. Cutteridge wanted to keep us in ignorance".[19]

Arrived in Trinidad in 1921 aged 34. Was later principal of the Government Training College for teachers and then Senior Inspector of Schools before his director positons[20]

Was an officer in WWI. Fellow of the RGS. Was appointed to the role in Trinidad ahead of a local candidate. Sought to move away from the traditional approach of rote learning.[21]

The Garveyites saw the use of crafts an demphasis of grammar as hindering students preparing for Civil Service roles and working against self-determination for the colony. Cutteridge drew all the pictures for his Readers.[22]

https://www.proquest.com/openview/4f337bbf855dc6a4cc96fd77775c447a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1817061

https://oro.open.ac.uk/27242/2/81E63686.pdf

  1. ^ "No. 30117". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1917. p. 5605.
  2. ^ "No. 30819". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 July 1918. p. 8989.
  3. ^ "No. 31121". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 January 1919. p. 691.
  4. ^ "No. 31216". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 March 1919. p. 3125.
  5. ^ "No. 31661". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 November 1919. p. 14658.
  6. ^ "No. 31670". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 December 1919. p. 15008.
  7. ^ "No. 33831". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1932. p. 3580.
  8. ^ "No. 34041". The London Gazette. 13 April 1934. p. 2388.
  9. ^ "No. 34513". The London Gazette. 24 May 1938. p. 3349.
  10. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 98. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  11. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 99. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  12. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 100. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  13. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 101. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  14. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 102. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  15. ^ Campbell, Carl C. (1996). The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1834-1939. Press University of the West Indies. p. 103. ISBN 978-976-640-011-8.
  16. ^ The Economic Future of the Caribbean. Majority Press. 2004. p. xi. ISBN 9780912469379.
  17. ^ Robert, Luke (2024). Living in History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781399519878.
  18. ^ Fraser, Robert (2018). Literature, Music and Cosmopolitanism. Springer International Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 9783319684802.
  19. ^ Ashcroft, Bill (2009). Caliban's Voice The Transformation of English in Post-Colonial Literatures. Taylor & Francis. p. 53. ISBN 9781134030071.
  20. ^ Thieme, John. The Web of Tradition Uses of Allusion in V.S. Naipaul's Fiction. Dangaroo Press. p. 213.
  21. ^ Malouf, Michael G. (27 January 2022). Making World English: Literature, Late Empire, and English Language Teaching, 1919-39. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-350-24386-6.
  22. ^ Malouf, Michael G. (27 January 2022). Making World English: Literature, Late Empire, and English Language Teaching, 1919-39. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-350-24386-6.
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