Mary Evelyn Wood’s handiwork acquired by National Museum

The Cayman Islands National Museum has received two special items, both handmade by national hero, politician and nurse Mary Evelyn Wood.

The items, a crocheted handbag and an embroidered handbag, will be added to the national collection. Museum director Veerle Poupeye said memorabilia like this allows the museum to add a personal dimension to its exhibits about historical figures.

“The bags were made by Mary Evelyn Wood herself, who was apparently part of a crochet group with other community members and relatives. This is a subject we want to research further, so that our records reflect the whole story behind the bags,” Poupeye said.

The artefacts give a glimpse into the textile and fibre traditions in the Cayman Islands, Poupeye said, adding that the subject is of great interest to the museum.

“The bags need minor conservation, which we are looking into, but we intend to use them in our exhibitions on the national heroes and a future exhibition on textile and fibre arts in the Cayman Islands,” Poupeye said.

A national hero

Wood trained as a nurse and worked in her community in the profession, visiting new and expectant mothers and sick people. She provided care to victims of a typhoid epidemic in the late 1930s.

She was among the women who signed a 1957 petition in support of women’s suffrage, which succeeded in 1959.

In 1965, Wood received the Cayman Islands Certificate and Badge of Honour for her service to the community. In 2011, Wood was among five Cayman Islands national heroes formally recognised during the National Heroes Day celebrations.

‘A very no-nonsense person’

The bags were passed on to Joy Basdeo, a relative of Wood, as keepsakes after Wood’s death.

“I don’t remember how long I have had these, but I am sure in excess of 30 years. Aunt Evie, who was my father’s aunt – therefore, my grand aunt – lived in Bodden Town with her sister, my grandmother Alida Jackson, and my grandfather Lionel Jackson,” Basdeo said.

“I saw her often as their house was next to the Town Hall, which was the all-age school that I attended, and my father was the headmaster. My father and I ate breakfast there most mornings on the way to school, and lunch there every day.”

Basdeo said, as she recalled, “Aunt Evie was not a cook, but she was a superb craftswoman, and I have a lot of crochet from her, which I inherited along with the handbags.”

“She was away from home a lot because she was a nurse and nursed people at home. I remember when my first child Dax Basdeo was born, she came to West Bay to help me through those first frightening days of coming home from hospital with a little person who I was responsible for.

“I remember her showing me how to give him his first bath. She was a very no-nonsense, practical person, but very loving to her family and we all appreciated her very much,” Basdeo shared.

Basdeo said that beyond Wood’s professional life, Wood had an active church life.

“She was also very involved in the Webster Memorial Church, all the different activities. She organised a play every New Year, although as a director/producer not as an actor, and she co-founded a cooperative venture in Bodden Town for crafts and items like cakes and jams,” she said.

“I thought it was important to give these artefacts to the museum to remember her as a person and a woman.”