Rupert Dean was, among other things, a poet. In 1915, he wrote “Nation’s Prayer” during the First World War. It was published by Mosley’s Printing Works. An incredible 1,500 were sold.
He also carries the distinction of being the first Bahamian to ‘tar’ roads in Nassau, when he worked, as an overseer, for road building in the Public Works Department, just after the World War I.
Rupert Dean was born towards ebbing tide of the 19th century, in the year 1880. During his lifetime, he would have seen the introduction of electricity, the telegraph, the telephone, the first automobile in Nassau, and even talking pictures.
He was privileged to have lived a long life, residing most of his 75 years, in the very same house in which he was born.
After his early years education in Nassau and Miami, Rupert Dean returned home and joined the police force in 1902 at the age of 22. He would be permanently handicapped in 1905 trying to arrest a violent offender. Due to this handicap, he resigned from the Police Force in 1918.
Dean’s contribution to life and society in the Bahama Islands in the early 20th century was outstanding enough to have earned him the distinction of having a street named after him, in his lifetime.
Rupert Dean Lane, off Meadow Street, on New Providence, remains to this very day.
“Of his 53 years of active work, Mr. Dean had devoted nearly 30 to the service of his Government. The 75-year-old man saw New Providence and the Out Islands grow from small villages to districts of modern community life.”
The Nassau Guardian, Thursday 6th October 1955
“He was born in 1880 on a lane off Meadows Street which was later named after him. The house in which he lived up to the time of his hospitalisation was his place of birth.”
Mr. Dean was noted as a pastime poet. His “Nation’s Prayer,” written in 1915 during the First World War, was printed and published by Mosley’s Printing Works and 1,500 copies sold. In 1910 he wrote the words and melody to a hymn — “When on the Brink of Death I Tread…” The majority of his poems were dedicated to his wife.”
The Nassau Guardian, Thursday 6th October 1955
Importantly, naming of roads, streets, lanes and byways, is perhaps, one of the most forgotten aspects of Bahamian island history. More research and documentation should be done, in order to honour the memory and reasoning of the people and events that have shaped our past.
