Background
Moses Leverock was born in 1814, Saba.
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Moses Leverock
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Saba native and reformer Moses Leverock is best remembered for his idiosyncratic sense of justice. Appointed by the Dutch government as lieutenant governor in 1863, his legacy on this small island in the Netherlands Antilles was underscored when he granted freedom to all slaves within his first week in office.
Education
Moses Leverock was educated locally.
Career
Leverock's leadership exemplified the paternalistic role that characterized men's positions in leadership at that time. Initially, he received no salary; his income was based on his ability to collect taxes. For seven years, he fought for a change and was finally successful in 1875, the year of his death. His town, The Bottom, was quite behind the times even for the standards of those days. Streets were unpaved, and the construction of houses followed no established pattern. When it rained, the village would turn into a giant mud pool; when it was dry, the dust was overwhelming. There was no such thing as sanitation or garbage removal and refuse was just thrown outside. As the rocky remains of an extinct volcano, Saba is characterized by its abundance of rocks strewn about the island. Leverock is remembered for the changes he helped to bring about on the island as well as his sense of justice.
Describing how Leverock handled issues of justice gives us insight into what life was like on Saba at that time. Typical problems were boisterousness and quarreling for which the lieutenant governor imposed fines and sometimes short prison sentences. Cases involving quarrels, disturbances of the peace, robberies, and the like were considered too minor for the court of law (which was based on Dutch jurisprudence) and were handled by Leverock.
Leverock used prison labor as a means of cleaning up The Bottom. Lazy youngsters were imprisoned, then released a few hours a day and made to pick up stones, thus making public roads more accessible and clean. With immediate consequences for unlawful behavior, the jail that had been built in 1837 soon became too small to hold all the prisoners.
Achievements
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During his years as leader of Saba, Moses Leverock's efforts in establishing order on the island made him a respected and loved figure. In 1868 the citizens of the island honored him by officially changing the name of the capital from The Bottom to the Town of Leverock. He stepped down from his official duties that year and continued to live as a citizen of Saba until his death in 1875.
