Not All British Left: The Ones Who Stayed, Loved, and Became Part of Belize
We often talk about the British in Belize as if they were just one thing — colonizers who came to extract, rule, and leave. And many of them did. They cut mahogany, exported logwood, drew maps, and disappeared with our history in their cargo.
But not all of them left.
Some stayed.
Some married Maya, Creole, or Garifuna women.
Some built families and futures in villages they once marked on maps.
And their descendants are still here — not in museums or archives, but in the everyday heartbeat of Belize.
This post is about them.
It’s about the British who became Belizean — not just in name, but in blood, memory, and love.
🇬🇧 To Our Visitors from the UK: You Might Already Be Part of the Story
If you’re reading this from the UK — and Belize keeps whispering your name — pause and listen.
It might not be wanderlust. It might be recognition.
Maybe your grandfather served at the BATSUB base in Ladyville.
Maybe your great-grandmother was born in British Honduras, and the story was buried.
Maybe your last name — Garbutt, Westby, Leslie, Hoare, Usher, Fairweather, Patt, Bowen — still echoes in villages you’ve never seen.
This isn’t tourism.
This is return.
🧭 For UK Travelers Tracing Their Roots in Belize
If you’re in the United Kingdom and you’ve ever wondered why your family holds a connection to Belize — this post may hold the beginning of your answer.
Whether your surname has ties to British Honduras, or your family speaks about ancestors posted overseas, you may not be planning a holiday.
You may be beginning a journey home.
And we welcome you.
🪵 The Westby-Garbutt Line: Proof That Some British Never Left
Let me give you a name: Abner Levi Westby (c. 1865–1933).
He arrived in Placencia around 1900, originally from Crooked Tree — the son of a family of logwood cutters.
He purchased land from the Garbutt family, another surname rooted in British settlement, and married Jane Panting, with whom he had 8 children.
He is considered the patriarch of all Westbys in Placencia.
But his story goes deeper.
Abner Levi was the grandson of George Ashley Westby, an Englishman sent by the British Crown.
George served as the Keeper of Records for the Belize Settlement, beginning with the 1816 census, and was later appointed Royal Commissioner to oversee High Criminal Courts in the region before it became the Crown Colony of British Honduras.
This was no casual visitor — this was a British official, a bureaucrat of empire.
And yet, his bloodline now runs through the southern coast of Belize, carried by fishermen, tour guides, teachers, and families who no longer look or live like their ancestor — but carry his surname in the sea breeze of Placencia.
I know this story because it runs through me.
My name is Alvin J. Brown, and I am a licensed Belizean tour guide and the founder of Belize With Alvin — a platform built to walk people into the real Belize: the layered, human, sacred Belize we rarely see in brochures.
My family descends from the Garbutt line in Placencia, and the names in this post — Westby, Eiley, Panting — are not distant history to me.
They’re part of why I exist.
👣 Some Names Stayed. And Became Us.
When we say British, we don’t just mean soldiers and settlers.
We mean fathers, husbands, and grandfathers who stayed.
Surnames like:
- Garbutt – from early landowners in Monkey River and Placencia
- Westby – descended from English officials, now fully Belizean
- Eiley – Abner Levi Westby’s half-brother, who received land in Placencia as a wedding gift
- Leslie – widely known across Belize
- Fairweather, Usher, Hoare, Smith, Patt, Flowers…
These names hold colonial beginnings, but today they carry Belizean lives.
And in my case, they carry my own bloodline.
🌱 Why This Matters Today
If you’re a traveler from the UK and you carry one of these names, or know someone who does, you may be closer to Belize than you think.
Maybe you weren’t told the full story.
Maybe your family never spoke about where your great-great-grandfather went after the Empire pulled out.
Maybe you thought Belize was just a beautiful escape.
But sometimes, a place isn’t calling you to escape — it’s calling you to return.
🙏 How to Return with Respect
✅ Trace Your Family Roots
Ask questions. Dig into family records. We can help you explore Crooked Tree, Placencia, Belize City, and other areas where colonial and Belizean stories overlap.
For UK-based resources, the UK National Archives – Caribbean Family History Guide
may also help you begin your research.
✅ Support the Culture That Endures
Avoid cruise terminals and surface-level excursions. Book with locals. Walk slow. Listen more. Learn from people whose ancestors held machetes, not maps.
✅ Let the Land Speak
🚢 From Ships to Planes: The Sea Still Knows Our Names
The first British came across the sea — on ships carrying flags, weapons, and intentions.
They came for timber.
Some stayed for love.
Some left children behind.
The Caribbean Sea was the route of arrival — and for many of us, the route of erasure.
But that same sea… now waits quietly.
Today, travelers arrive by plane, but their stories follow the same current.
If you come from the UK — and you carry a surname like Westby, Garbutt, Eiley, Fairweather, Hoare, or Smith — then this isn’t just a vacation.
This is the return journey the ship never finished.
The one the plane can finally complete.
🌀 The Sea Connects. And Remembers.
Just as the Caribbean once brought colonizers to these shores, it now carries memory. And maybe, forgiveness.
Today, travelers from the UK are landing at Philip Goldson International Airport without realizing the water below them once carried the people who gave them their names.
But the sea hasn’t forgotten.
And neither have we.
✈️ Coming to Belize from the UK?
Most travelers from the UK reach Belize by connecting through the United States or Mexico (Cancun). If you’re planning a journey rooted in ancestry, I’m happy to help guide the best routes — and make your return as meaningful as possible.
✈️ Ancestry Isn’t Always Behind You. Sometimes It’s in Front.
Belize isn’t just where your family may have been.
It may be where you belong now.
If your journey starts with a last name — let it continue with a walk through the places that made it real. The villages. The coast. The forest trails where history hasn’t been cleared away yet.
That’s what I offer through Belize With Alvin — not just tours, but truthful walkings.
I guide with story. I guide with memory. I guide with the understanding that some people are coming back to Belize not to see something new, but to finish something old.
📣 Share Prompt
They came on ships.
You can return by plane.
But either way, if Belize is in your story — it’s waiting for you to walk it gently.My name is Alvin J. Brown — Belizean guide, Garbutt descendant, and storyteller.
If this post speaks to your roots or reminds you of something buried but real… share it. Someone else might be carrying a name that leads them home, too.
