they excelled both academically and in their
co-curricular activities. Both became key players in
rugby, football, cricket, swimming and gymnastics, as
well as active members of Johnsons.
They were the sons of Ernesto Gomez, owner of
Caroni Sugar Ltd, one of the largest sugar companies
in the West Indies that was later bought out by
Tate & Lyle in the mid-1930s. The younger, Albert,
continued the tradition and went on to work as a
sugar technologist and Managing Director for the
world-famous Angostura Bitters. As Trinidadian British
nationals with Portuguese ancestry, their ‘exoticism’
was still fairly unusual in the school at the time.
Looking back now they serve as pioneers, embodying
what the school has become almost a century
later – academic and co-curricular excellence in an
environment that thrives from the internationalism
of its students.
An independent research project by
student Rebecca Cain-Renshaw celebrates
the school’s history of internationalism.
Above: Johnsons Senior
Cricket Team, 1929
Albert Gomez back, far left.
Francis Gomez front, far right.
My research, supported by Sevenoaks School’s
archivist Sally Robbins, has focused on two Trinidadian
brothers whose names I came across several times
when reviewing some of the school’s old documents.
What began as mere curiosity soon unfolded into
a rigorous investigation into the lives of these two
ex-students that led me not only through their school
careers at Sevenoaks, but through military service,
career advancements, marriage, and has recently put
me in contact with the living children of them both,
with whom I have been able to share and further the
research I have done.
As I intend to study history after leaving Sevenoaks,
being able to have this first-hand experience with
such a personal piece of history, especially to the
school, has been truly invaluable. I feel that our
understanding of and fascination with history tends
to favour the dazzling events of world history. We’re
drawn towards the gruesome wars and commanding
ideologies that have shaped entire nations, and in
doing so can become detached from the individuals
who have carried that history on their shoulders.
While it’s inspiring to study and imagine the expanses
of empires and the ruthlessness of their leaders,
it wasn’t until I mapped out Albert’s career, read
of the effect of Francis’s knee injury on his sports
performance in an old issue of this very publication,
or found the address for Johnsons House written in
a log of passengers on a ship sailing to Britain from
Trinidad 90 years ago, that I experienced an incredibly
intimate connection with the lives of these men,
these individuals from the past.
Rebecca Cain-Renshaw, Lower Sixth
The two brothers, Albert and Francis Gomez, attended
the school from 1927 to 1932, during which time
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