Historic Jamaica

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Title: Historic Jamaica
Author: Cundall, Frank
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Historic Jamaica" ***

HISTORIC JAMAICA

Is it nature or by the error of fantasie that the seeing of places we
know to have been frequented or inhabited by men whose memory is
esteemed or mentioned in Stories, doth in some sort move and stirre us
up as much or more than the hearing of their noble deeds or reading of
their compositions?

_Montaigne_

The care which a nation devotes to the preservation of the monuments of
its past may serve as a true measure of the degree of civilization to
which it has attained.

_Les Archives Principales de Moscou du Ministère
des Affaires Etrangères, Moscow, 1898._

[Illustration:

UP-PARK CAMP IN 1840

From a coloured lithograph by Joseph B. Kidd
]

HISTORIC JAMAICA

FRANK CUNDALL, F.S.A.

SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN OF THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

_WITH FIFTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS_

PUBLISHED FOR
THE INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA
BY THE WEST INDIA COMMITTEE
LONDON
1915

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. LTD.
AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
LONDON, ENGLAND

PREFACE

In the year 1900 the present writer published a small volume entitled
“Studies in Jamaica History,” giving the records of certain historic
sites in the colony.

In its issue of October 27, 1908, the Editor of the “West India
Committee Circular,” commenting on the appointment of a Royal Commission
to enumerate and report upon the historical monuments in England, drew
attention to the need for the preservation of historic sites and
buildings in the West Indies, and stated that a letter on the subject
had been addressed by the West India Committee to the Colonial Office.
On November 24 he was able to state that the Secretary of State for the
Colonies (the Earl of Crewe) sympathised with the object of the West
India Committee and had forwarded their representations to the governors
of the various West Indian colonies, recommending them to their
consideration.

In Jamaica the present writer, at the request of the Governor (Sir
Sydney Olivier) and with the consent of the Board of Governors of the
Institute of Jamaica, undertook to prepare a list, parish by parish, of
historic sites, buildings and monuments, stating in each case the nature
of its interest and the name of its owner. This list was published as a
special supplement to the “Jamaica Gazette” on December 23, 1909; and in
November 1912 it was reprinted as part of a report relating to the
preservation of historic sites and ancient monuments and buildings in
the West Indian colonies presented to Parliament.

In the meantime the present writer had commenced a series of articles in
the “West India Committee Circular” dealing with historic sites and
monuments in Jamaica, which appeared from October 1909 till October
1914.

At the suggestion of various persons interested in the subject it was
decided to reprint these articles. In doing this it has been thought
well to arrange them parish by parish and to add a few words of general
history, taken in part from the writer’s contributions to the “Handbook
of Jamaica,” and of descriptions of sites and monuments which have not
been treated of individually.

It is hoped that the following notes may not only serve the double
purpose of evoking interest in the history of the colony in the minds of
its inhabitants and proving a source of information to visitors, but may
be the means of steps being taken to preserve old buildings and other
monuments alike from decay and the hand of man.

A list of works consulted in the compilation of the notes embodied in
this volume would comprise almost all the books in the Jamaica section
of the West India Library of the Institute of Jamaica, some 1400 in
number.

My thanks are due to Mrs. Lionel Lee for making the illustrations and to
Mr. Algernon E. Aspinall for kind assistance in seeing the work through
the press.

F. C.

KINGSTON, JAMAICA.
1915.

CONTENTS

PAGE

LISTS OF OFFICIALS

Governors, Presidents of the Council, Speakers of the
Assembly, Chief Justices, Attorney-Generals, Naval
Commanders-in-chief at Jamaica, Agents for Jamaica in
Great Britain xiii

INTRODUCTION

Aboriginal inhabitants, Arawâks: physical features,
language, beliefs, habitations, implements, name of
Jamaica, other Arawâk names: Spanish occupation, hatos,
towns, buildings, names: English possession, ancient
monuments, buildings, slavery, politics, forts, religion,
agriculture, education, printing, maps, parishes,
counties, place-names, Jamaica overseas 1

I. PORT ROYAL

The Point: Shirley: Jackson: Forts: Residence of the
Governor: Church: Buccaneers: Myngs: Morgan: Earthquake of
1692: Spanish bell: Fire of 1703–4: Hurricane of 1722:
Attempt on Cartagena, Ogle, Smollett: Rodney:
Water-supply: Rodney’s Look-out: Fort Charles: Nelson’s
Quarter-deck: Rodney’s victory over De Grasse: the Convoy:
Prince William Henry: Lady Nugent: Gosse: Hill: _Urgent_ 45

II. ST. CATHERINE

Passage Fort: Jackson: Penn and Venables: Spanish-Town:
Raymond and Tyson: Cathedral, monuments, plate, rectors,
Earl of Effingham, Countess of Elgin: House of Assembly:
Eagle House: Sir Hans Sloane’s House: King’s House: Rodney
Memorial: St. John’s, Guanaboa Vale: Church of St.
Dorothy: Colebeck Castle: Galdy’s Tomb: Ferry Inn: Fort
Augusta: Rodney’s Look-out: Port Henderson 81

III. KINGSTON

Earthquake, site: Lilly, plan: Fire, 1780: Corporation:
Fires, 1843, 1862, 1882: Earthquake, 1907: Names of
streets: Parish church, Knight, Lewis, Hakewill, plate,
rectors, records, Benbow, monuments: Scotch Church:
Headquarters House: Thomas Hibbert: General officers: Old
Mico: Blundell Hall: Institute of Jamaica: Arawâk pottery:
Chancellor’s purse: maces: Monuments, Sir Charles
Metcalfe, Queen Victoria, Edward Jordan, Dr. Bowerbank,
Father Dupont, Rev. John Radcliffe, Rev. W. J. Gardner:
Wharves 147

IV. ST. ANDREW

Liguanea: Halfway-Tree: Old Burial-Ground: Church of St.
Andrew, records, monuments, rectors: Lundie’s pen: King’s
House: Admiral’s Pen: Rock Fort: Fort Nugent: Constant
Spring: Raymond Hall: Up-Park Camp: Berthaville: Mico
College: Stony Hill Barracks: Garden House: Hope: Jamaica
College: Lumb drinking-trough: Newcastle: Jewish
Burial-Ground: Hunt’s Bay: Kitchen-middens: Norbrook:
Hope: Long Mountain: Caves: Dallas Castle: Bloxburgh:
Silver Hill: Cane River Falls: Hagley Gap: Catherine’s
Peak: Gordon Town: Dallas Castle: Manning’s Hill: Salt
Hill: Morce’s Gap: Hardwar Gap: Scarlett 197

V. ST. THOMAS

Name: Yallahs, church, plate: Luke Stokes: Stokes Hall:
Stokesfield, Estate accounts: Morant Bay: Rebellion: Eyre,
Gordon: Church, Bath, Spring, Court House: Botanical
Gardens: Dr. Dancer: Belvedere: Lyssons, Sir John Taylor,
Simon Taylor: Hordley, Monk Lewis: Albion: Arawâk remains
at Cambridge Hill and Botany Bay: Cow Bay and Bull Bay 236

VI. PORTLAND

Name: Titchfield: Early settlement: School: St. George:
Olivier Park: Carder Park: Moore Town: Muirton:
Darlingford: Low Layton: Spring Garden: Modyford’s Gully:
Balcarres Hill: Seaman’s Valley 254

VII. ST. MARY

Name: Gray’s Inn, Spanish remains: Decoy, Tomb of Sir
Charles Price, Gardens: Sir Charles Price’s rat: Agualta
Vale: Dryland: Fort Haldane: Prospect: Heywood Hall 259

VIII. ST. ANN

Historic interest: Liberty Hill: Arawâk remains: Dry
Harbour: Landing of Columbus, 1494: Don Christopher’s
Cove: Residence of Columbus, 1503–4: Mendes, rebellion of
Porras, appeal to Hispaniola, bravery of Bartolommeo
Columbus: Sevilla Nueva, Sloane’s account, Peter Martyr,
Ocho Rios, Chireras: Doyley’s defeat of Sasi: Rio Nuevo in
St. Mary, Final defeat of Sasi: Runaway Bay: Sevilla
Nueva: Cardiff Hall: Edinburgh Castle, Hutchinson:
Moneague Tavern: Forts, Mammee Bay, St. Ann’s Bay, Windsor
Fort: Priory: Dixon Pen: Geddes: York Castle: Dry Harbour
Caves: Walton, Jamaica Free School 267

IX. TRELAWNY

Falmouth: Martha Brae: Bryan Castle, Bryan Edwards and his
writings: Fort Dundas: Hyde Hall: Kitchen-middens 306

X. ST. JAMES

Montego Bay: Close Harbour: Church, rectors: Mrs. Rosa
Palmer: Maroons, Block House, Maroon Town, Accompong, War,
Walpole, Treaty, Balcarres, Gillespie, Maroons in Nova
Scotia: Duckett’s Spring, the Scarletts: Rose Hall: Arawâk
Middens and Caves 319

XI. HANOVER

Lucea, church: Rusea: Shettlewood 343

XII. WESTMORELAND

Savanna-la-Mar, church: Bluefields and Gosse: Cornwall and
Monk Lewis: Roaring River, Fort William and Williamsfield
and Beckford 346

XIII. ST. ELIZABETH

Black River: Munro and Dickenson: Lacovia: Catadupa 369

XIV. MANCHESTER

Mandeville: Sir William Scarlett: Bridges 372

XV. CLARENDON

Carlisle Bay: Vere Church, rectors, monuments: Church of the
White Cross: Morgan’s Valley: Chapelton Church: Halse
Hall: Longville: Kellets 373

INDEX 398

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_With the exception of the full page-plates and the two maps, the
illustrations are from sketches by Mrs. Lionel Lee._

PAGE

Arawâk Bowl 1

Mealing-stone 2

Arawâk Pestle 3

Sketch Map of Jamaica, _circa_ 1661 7

Branding-iron 15

Sketch Map of Jamaica, _circa_ 1866 41

PORT ROYAL
Nelson’s Quarter-deck 68

Kingston Harbour in 1774. _From an engraving in Long's
"History of Jamaica"_ _facing_ 70

Figure-head of the _Aboukir_ 71

ST. CATHERINE
Passage Fort 83

Cathedral, Spanish Town 90

King’s House, Spanish Town 104

Court House, Spanish Town 104

Rodney’s Statue, Spanish Town 105

House of Assembly, Spanish Town 105

The _Lady Juliana_ in tow of the _Pallas_ in 1782. _From
an aquatint by Robert Dodd_ _facing_ 122

Colebeck Castle 134

The Ferry Inn 139

KINGSTON
Kingston, Harbour Street in 1820. _From a coloured
engraving in Hakewill’s “Picturesque Tour of Jamaica”_ _facing_ 150

The Parish Church 157

Date-Tree Hall in 1906 180

Statue of Sir Charles Metcalfe 187

Statue of Queen Victoria 194

ST. ANDREW
Halfway-Tree Church in 1906 200

King Edward’s Clock Tower, Halfway-Tree 208

Admiral’s Pen 211

Rock Fort 212

Fort Nugent 215

Raymond Hall 219

Up-Park Camp in 1840. _From a coloured lithograph by Joseph B. Kidd_
(_Frontispiece_)

ST. THOMAS
Stokes Hall 241

Albion Estate 252

PORTLAND
Port Antonio in 1770. _From an engraving_ _facing_ 256

ST. MARY
Tomb of Sir Charles Price 261

ST. ANN
Dry Harbour 268

Don Christopher’s Cove 273

Rio Novo 285

Cardiff Hall 294

Moneague Tavern in 1844. _From a daguerreotype by Adolphe
Duperly_ _facing_ 302

Slave Punishment Cell at Geddes 303

TRELAWNY
Bryan Castle 307

ST. JAMES
Block-house, Maroon Town 324

Rose Hall 341

WESTMORELAND
Fort William, Aqueduct 360

Fort William Estate, from the site of old Great House 361

Roaring River Estate in 1774. _From an engraving by Thomas
Vivares after a painting by George Robertson_ _facing_ 364

Savanna-la-Mar in 1840. _From a coloured lithograph by
Joseph B. Kidd_ _facing_ 366

CLARENDON
Carlisle Bay 375

Vere Parish Church, at the Alley 382

Morgan’s Valley 394

Halse Hall Great House 396

LIST OF OFFICIALS

The following tables are inserted for reference. The list of Governors
is complete. The others are as complete as it has hitherto been found
possible to make them. There are portraits in Jamaica History Gallery in
the Institute of Jamaica of those to whom an * is suffixed.

GOVERNORS OF JAMAICA[1]

Footnote 1:

Administrations during temporary absences of Governors have not been
included.

1661–62. General Edward Doyley. Governor.
1662. Thomas, Lord Windsor.* „
1662–64. Sir Charles Lyttelton.* Dep.-Governor
1664. Colonel Edward Morgan. „
1664. Colonel Thomas Lynch. President.
1664–71. Sir Thomas Modyford, Bt. Governor.
1671–74. Sir Thomas Lynch. Lieut.-Gov.
1674. Sir Henry Morgan.* „ „
1675–78. John, Lord Vaughan.* Governor.
1678. Sir Henry Morgan. Lieut.-Gov.
1678–80. Charles, Earl of Carlisle.* Governor.
1680–82. Sir Henry Morgan. Lieut.-Gov.
1682–84. Sir Thomas Lynch. Governor.
1684–87. Colonel Hender Molesworth. Lieut.-Gov.
1687–88. Christopher, Duke of Albemarle.* Governor.
1688–90. Sir Francis Watson. President.
1690–92. William, Earl of Inchiquin.* Governor.
1691–92. John White. President.
1692–93. John Bourden. „
1693–1700. Sir William Beeston. Lieut.-Gov.
1700–02. „ „ „ Governor.
1702. Maj.-Gen. William Selwyn. „
1702. Peter Beckford.* Lieut.-Gov.
1702–04. Colonel Thomas Handasyd. Lieut.-Gov.
1704–11. Sir Thomas Handasyd. Governor.
1711–16. Lord Archibald Hamilton. „
1716–18. Peter Heywood. „
1718–22. Sir Nicholas Lawes. „
1722–26. Henry, Duke of Portland. Governor.
1726–28. John Ayscough. President.
1728–34. Maj.-Gen. Robert Hunter. Governor.
1734–35. John Ayscough. President.
1735. John Gregory. „
1735–36. Henry Cunningham. Governor.
1736–38. John Gregory. President.
1738–52. Edward Trelawny. Governor.
1752–56. Admiral Charles Knowles.* Governor.
1756–59. Henry Moore. Lieut.-Gov.
1759. General George Haldane. Governor.
1760–62. Henry Moore. Lieut.-Gov.
1762–66. William Henry Lyttelton. Governor.
1766–67. Roger Hope Elletson. Lieut.-Gov.
1767–72. Sir William Trelawny. Governor.
1772–74. Lieut.-Col. John Dalling. Lieut.-Gov.
1774–77. Sir Basil Keith. Governor.
1777–81. Colonel John Dalling. Lieut.-Gov.
1781–83. Maj.-Gen. Archibald Campbell.* „ „
1783–84. „ „ „ Governor.
1784–90. Brig.-Gen. Alured Clarke.* Lieut.-Gov.
1790–91. Thomas, Earl of Effingham.* Governor.
1791–95. Maj.-Gen. Adam Williamson. Lieut.-Gov.
1795–01. Alexander, Earl of Balcarres.* „ „
1801–06. Lieut.-Gen. George Nugent.* „ „
1806–08. Sir Eyre Coote.* „ „
1808–11. William, Duke of Manchester.* Governor.
1811–13. Lieut.-Gen. Edward Morrison. Lieut.-Gov.
1813–21. William, Duke of Manchester. Governor.
1821–22. Maj.-Gen. Henry Conran.* Lieut.-Gov.
1822–27. William, Duke of Manchester. Governor.
1827–29. Maj.-Gen. Sir John Keane.* Lieut.-Gov.
1829–32. Somerset, Earl of Belmore.* Governor.
1832. George Cuthbert. President.
1832–34. Constantine, Earl of Mulgrave.* Governor.
1834. George Cuthbert. President.
1834. Maj.-Gen. Sir Amos Norcot. Lieut.-Gov.
1834–36. Peter, Marquis of Sligo.* Governor.
1836–39. Sir Lionel Smith. „
1839–42. Sir Charles Metcalfe.* „
1842–46. James, Earl of Elgin.* „
1846–47. Maj.-Gen. Sackville Berkeley. Lieut.-Gov.
1847–53. Sir Charles Edward Grey. Governor.
1853–56. Sir Henry Barkly.* „
1856–57. Maj.-Gen. E. Wells Bell. Lieut.-Gov.
1857–62. Captain Charles Darling.* Governor.
1862–64. Edward John Eyre.* Lieut.-Gov.
1864–66. „ „ „ Governor.
1866. Sir Henry Storks.* Governor.
1866–74. Sir John Peter Grant.* „
1874. W. A. Young. Administ.
1874–77. Sir William Grey.* Governor.
1877. Edward Rushworth. Lieut.-Gov.
1877. Maj.-Gen. Mann. Administ.
1877–80. Sir Anthony Musgrave.* Governor.
1879–80. Edward Newton. Lieut.-Gov.
1880–83. Sir Anthony Musgrave. Governor.
1883. Col. Somerset M. Wiseman Clarke. Administ.
1883. Maj.-Gen. Gamble. „
1883–89. Sir Henry Norman.* Governor.
1889. Col. William Clive Justice. Administ.
1889–98. Sir Henry Arthur Blake. Governor.
1898. Maj.-Gen. Hallowes. Administ.
1898–04. Sir Augustus W. L. Hemming.* Governor.
1904. Sydney Olivier. Administ.
1904. Hugh Clarence Bourne. „
1904–07. Sir James Alexander Swettenham. Governor.
1907. Hugh Clarence Bourne. Administ.
1907–13. Sir Sydney Olivier. Governor.
1913. Philip Clarke Cork. Administ.
1913– Sir William Henry Manning. Governor.

PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL OF JAMAICA

1661. General Edward Doyley, _Governor and President_
1664. Colonel Thomas Lynch
1671. Major-General James Bannister
1674. Colonel Hender Molesworth (_afterwards Baronet_).
1688. Sir Francis Watson
1691. John White
1692. John Bourden
1702. Peter Beckford
Francis Rose
1722. John Ayscough
1735–51. John Gregory
1774. Archibald Sinclair
1775–96. Thomas Iredell
1797. John Palmer
1798. Thomas Wallen
1805. John Scott
1806. Nathaniel Beckford
1811. John Lewis
1821. George Pinnock
1825. George Cuthbert
1838. William Rowe
1840. James Gayleard
1856. John Salmon

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

1866–91. The governor for the time being
1892. Dr. J. C. Phillippo
1893 _et The governor for the time being
seq._

PRIVY COUNCIL

1866 _et The governor for the time being
seq._

SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OF JAMAICA

1664. Robert Freeman
1664. Sir Thomas Whetstone
1671. Samuel Long
1672–73. Major John Colebeck (_pro tem._)
1673. Samuel Long
1677. Lieut.-Col. William Beeston
1679–88. Samuel Bernard
1688. George Nedham (_pro tem._)
1688. Roger Hope Elletson
„ Thomas Rives
„ John Peeke
1691–92. Thomas Sutton
1693. Andrew Langley
1694. James Bradshaw
1698. Thomas Sutton
1701. Andrew Langley
1702. Francis Rose
1702–03. Andrew Langley
1704. Edward Stanton
1705. Matthew Gregory
1706. Hugh Totterdale
„ John Peeke
„ Matthew Gregory
1707–11. Peter Beckford, jun.
1711. William Brodrick
„ Samuel Vassall (_pro tem._)
1711–13. Peter Beckford, jun.
1714. Hugh Totterdale
1715. John Blair
1716. Peter Beckford
1718. William Nedham
1719. Edmund Kelly
1721–22. George Modd
1722. William Nedham
1724. John Manley (_pro tem._)
1725. Francis Melling
1727–28. Thomas Beckford
1731. John Stewart
1733. William Nedham
1745. Charles Price [afterwards Sir Charles, Bt.] (_pro tem._)
1747. Richard Beckford (_pro tem._)
1751. „ „
1755. Edward Manning
1756. Thomas Hibbert
1756. Charles Price
1763. Charles Price, jun. [afterwards 2nd Baronet]
1764. Thomas Fearon (_pro tem._)
1765. Charles Price, jun.
1766. William Nedham
1768. Edward Long
„ Phillip Pinnock*
1770. Nicholas Bourke
„ Charles Price, jun.
1775. Phillip Pinnock
1776. Sir Charles Price (2nd Baronet)
1778. Jasper Hall*
1778–93. Samuel Williams Haughton
1781. Thomas French (_pro tem._)
1782. William Pusey (_pro tem._)
1787. William Blake (_pro tem._)
1793. William Blake
1797. Donald Campbell
1798. Keane Osborn
1802. Philip Redwood
1809. James Lewis
1821. David Finlayson
1830. Richard Barrett
1832. Robert Allwood
1838. Richard Barrett
1839. Edward Panton
1842. Samuel Jackson Dallas*
1849. Charles McLarty Morales*
1861. Edward Jordon (_pro tem._)*
1864. Charles Hamilton Jackson*

CHIEF JUSTICES OF JAMAICA

1661. Philip Ward
„ Samuel Barry
1663. William Mitchell
1664–65. Lynch
1671. John White
1675. Sir Thomas Modyford
1676–79. Samuel Long
1681. Robert Byndloss
1685. Samuel Bernard
1688. Robert Noell
1689. Roger Elletson
„ Richard Lloyd
1695–98. Richard Lloyd
1698. Nicholas Lawes
1703. Peter Beckford
„ Peter Heywood
1706. John Walters
1714–15. Peter Heywood
1716. Peter Bernard
1724. John Ayscough
(_d._ 173 6) Edward Pennant
1733. Richard Mill
1733–35. John Gregory
1735. James Hay
1736–39. George Ellis
1739. John Gregory
1742. Dennis Kelly
1746. William Nedham
1749. John Hudson Guy
1751–56. John Palmer
1756–64. Thomas Fearon
1765. George Ellis
1766. Thomas Beach
1770. Peter Haywood
1776. Edward Webley
1779. Richard Welch
1780–83. Thomas French
1784–91. John Grant
1790. Thomas Harrison (_pro tem._)
1792. William Jackson
1801. John Henckell
1802. John Kirby
1808. John Lewis
„ Philip Redwood
1818. Thomas Witter Jackson
1821. Sir William Anglin Scarlett*
1832. Sir Joshua Rowe*
1855. Sir Bryan Edwards*
1869. Sir John Lucie-Smith
1884. Sir Adam Gibb Ellis*
1895. Sir Henry James Burford-Hancock
1896. Sir Fielding Clarke
1910. Sir Anthony Coll

ATTORNEY-GENERALS OF JAMAICA

1671. Edmund Ducke
1688. Sir Richard Dereham
1686–91. Simon Musgrave
1693. William Brodrick
1698. Thomas Barrow
1698. Charles Brodrick
1703. Edward Haskins
„ Robert Hotchkyn
1711–15. William Brodrick
1719. Edmund Kelly
1724. William Monk
1732. Alexander Henderson
1732. Thomas Howe
1732–44. Matthew Concanen
1744. Thomas Hill
1744–49. Robert Penny
1754. Henry Morgan Byndloss
1755. Richard Beckford
1760. Gilbert Ford
1760. Edward Penny
1766. Thomas Gordon
1766. Thomas Beach
1769. Thomas Harrison
1784. Robert Sewell
1796. George Crawford Ricketts
1802. William Ross
1806. Thomas Witter Jackson
1807. William Ross
1810. Thomas Witter Jackson
1818. William Burge
1829. Hugo James
1832. Fitz Herbert Batty
1833. Dowell O’Reilly
1857. Alexander Heslop*
1872. E. A. C. Schalch
1876. G. H. Barne
1877. E. L. O’Mally
1881. Sir Henry Hicks Hocking
1896. (Sir) Henry Rawlins Pipon Schooles
1906. Thomas Bancroft Oughton
1910. Ernest St. John Branch

NAVAL COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF AT JAMAICA

1655. Sir William Penn, Admiral and General-at-sea*
1655–57. Vice-Admiral William Goodsonn
1656–57. Vice-Admiral Christopher Myngs*
1662. Col. Mitchell, chief over the sea-officers
1662–64. Vice-Admiral Christopher Myngs
1663. Sir Thomas Whetstone, commanded a fleet at Jamaica
1669. Henry Morgan, “Commander-in Chief of all the ships of war”
of Jamaica (commission from Governor)
1676. The Duke of York was Admiral of Jamaica and all other his
Majesty’s Plantations and Dominions
[1692. Commodore Wrenn, commanded in the West Indies
1692. Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Wheler, commanded in the West
Indies]
1702. Vice-Admiral Benbow*
[1703. Vice-Admiral John Graydon, commanded a fleet in the West
Indies]
1703–05. Sir William Whetstone, Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies
[1706. Commodore William Kerr, commanded a fleet in the West Indies
1706. Sir John Jennings, commanded a fleet in the West Indies]
1707–09. Rear-Admiral Charles Wager*
1710–12. Commodore James Littleton
1712. Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker
1720. Commodore Vernon, Commander-in-Chief of all his Majesty’s
ships in the West Indies*
[1726–27. Vice-Admiral Francis Hosier, commanded a squadron in the
West Indies]
1727. Commodore Edward St. Lo, in command of West India Station
1728. Vice-Admiral Edward Hopson, in command of West India Station
1728–29. Rear-Admiral Edward St. Lo, in command of West India Station
1729. Commodore William Smith
1730–33. Rear-Admiral the Hon. Charles Stuart, in command of West
India Station
1732. Commodore Richard Lestock
1732–39. Commodore Sir Chaloner Ogle*
1736–37. Captain Digby Dent
[1739–42. Admiral Edward Vernon, commanded in the West Indies]*
1742–44. Rear-Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle.
[1744. Vice-Admiral Thomas Davers, died at Jamaica]
1746. Captain Cornelius Mitchell
1747. Captain Digby Dent
1747–49. Rear-Admiral Charles Knowles
1749–52. Commodore the Hon. George Townshend
1755–57. Rear-Admiral the Hon. George Townshend
1757. Rear-Admiral Thomas Cotes
1760–61. Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes
1762. Commodore Sir James Douglas
[1762. Admiral Sir George Pocock, Commander-in-Chief of expedition
against Havana]
1762–64. Rear-Admiral Viscount Keppel
1764–66. Rear-Admiral Sir William Burnaby
1766–69. Rear-Admiral W. Parry
1769–70. Commodore Arthur Forrest*
1771–74. Rear-Admiral Sir George Rodney*
1774–78. Vice-Admiral Clarke Gayton
1778–82. Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Parker*
[1779. Captain Horatio Nelson, commanded in Fort Charles, Port
Royal]*
1782–83. Rear-Admiral Joshua Rowley
1783–84. Vice-Admiral James Gambier
1785. Commodore John Pakenham
1785. Captain Alan Gardner*
1786. Rear-Admiral Alexander Innes
1786–89. Commodore Alan (afterwards Lord) Gardner
1790–93. Rear-Admiral Philip Affleck
1793–95. Rear-Admiral John Ford
1796. Rear-Admiral William Parker
1796. Commodore Richard Rodney Bligh*
1796–1800. Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker*
1800–01. Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour*
1802. Rear-Admiral Robert Montague
1803–04. Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth*
1804–08. Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres*
1809–11. Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Samuel Rowley*
1811–13. Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Stirling, Bart.
1812. Vice-Admiral James Vashon
1813–14. Rear-Admiral William Brown*
1814–16. Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis
Cochrane, K.B., Commander-in-Chief on the Jamaica Station,
Windward and Leeward Islands, and Coast of North America
1816–17. Rear-Admiral John Erskine Douglas
1817–20. Rear-Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham, K.C.B.*
1820–23. Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Rowley, K.C.B.
1823. Commodore E. W. C. R. Owen
1824–27. Vice-Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halstead, K.C.B.
1828–29. Vice-Admiral the Hon. Charles Elphinstone Fleeming
1829–32. Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys, K.C.B.
1833. Commodore Sir Arthur Farquhar, C.B., K.C.H. K.S.
1833–36. Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn

COMMODORES ON JAMAICA DIVISION OF NORTH AMERICAN AND WEST INDIAN STATION

1838. Sir John Strutt Peyton, K.C.H.
1839–41. Peter John Douglas
1843. Hon. Henry Dilkes Byng
1844–45. Alexander R. Sharpe, C.B.
1846. Daniel Pring
1849–51. Thomas Bennet
1855. Thomas Henderson
1860. Henry Kellet, C.B.
1861. Hugh Dunlop
1864–65. Peter Cracroft, C.B.
1865. A. M. De Horsey (acting)
1865–68. Sir Francis Leopold M’Clintock*
1869–70. Augustus Phillimore
1871–72. Richard W. Courtenay
1873–75. Algernon F. R. De Horsey
1875–78. Algernon McLennan Lyons
1878–80. William John Ward
1880–82. William S. Brown
1882. Edward White
1883–86. F. M. Prattent
1886–89. Henry Hand
1889–92. Rodney M. Lloyd
1892–95. T. S. Jackson
1895–98. H. W. Dowding
1898–99. William H. Henderson
1900–01. Edward H. M. Davis, C.M.G.
1901–03. D. Mc. N. Riddel
1903–05. (Sir) F. W. Fisher
Dockyard close, March 1905

AGENTS FOR JAMAICA IN GREAT BRITAIN

1664–66. Sir James Modyford
1682. { Sir Charles Lyttelton
{ William Beeston
1688. Ralph Knight
1698–1713. { Sir Gilbert Heathcote
{ Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu
1714. F. Marsh
1725. Alexander Stephenson
1725–6. Edward Charlton
1728–1733. Charles de la Foy
1733. John Gregory
1733–1757. John Sharpe
1757–1762. Lovel Stanhope
1764–1795. Stephen Fuller
1795–1803. Robert Sewell
1803–1812. Edmund Pusey Lyon
1812–1831. George Hibbert
1831–1845. William Burge
1845, Dec Office abolished
8.

INTRODUCTION

Studies in Jamaica archæology and history naturally fall into three main
groups: Aboriginal, Spanish and English.

Though, owing to the high form of civilization there attained, research
has in Egypt revealed very full information concerning the condition of
life in the Nile valley thousands of years before the Christian era, it
has hitherto told us very little about the aborigines who inhabited
Jamaica a little more than 400 years ago. How long they had been here
when Columbus discovered the island no one can say for certain, though
the thickness and extent of their middens, some thirty of which have
been opened from time to time, offer evidence of value.

[Illustration:

ARAWÂK BOWL
]

As in Hispaniola, the natives of Jamaica were ruled over by caciques or
chieftains. The estimates of historians of the number of inhabitants in
the West Indian islands differ widely. Las Casas says that the islands
abounded with inhabitants as an ant-hill with ants, and puts them down
at 6,000,000. But Peter Martyr gives but 1,200,000 to Hispaniola and,
taking this as a guide, there would probably have been about 600,000 in
Jamaica—or, roughly speaking, three-quarters of its present population.
Not many were left when the English took the island in 1655.

Judged by the English standard, Indians are short in stature. The
Arawâks of Guiana to-day are described as being of a red cinnamon in
colour. The hair on the scalp is thick, long, very straight and very
black. The features of the face are strikingly like those familiarly
known as Chinese (Mongolian), and the expression is decidedly gentle.
Physically they are weak, and life hardly ever exceeds fifty years. The
natives of Jamaica—as a few skulls found from time to time
testify—possessed, in common with other West Indian tribes, the
peculiarity of tying boards on to the foreheads of their children in
such a way that the skulls assumed and permanently retained an
extraordinarily flat shape.

Peter Martyr, who heard it spoken, said that the language in the Greater
Antilles was “soft and not less liquid than the Latin,” and “rich in
vowels and pleasant to the ear.” Of words of West Indian origin, those
most frequently in use in the English language are avocado (aguacate)
pear, barbecue, buccaneer, canoe, Carib and its derivative cannibal,
guava, hammock, hurricane, iguana, maize, manatee, pirogue, potato and
tobacco.

Columbus has told us of a cacique of Cuba who believed in a future state
dependent on one’s actions in this world, but Sir Everard im Thurn found
nothing of the kind amongst the Indians of Guiana, and it is probable
that Columbus’s guide from Guanahani (Watling Island) only partially
understood the cacique, or that Columbus only partially understood his
guide. Their houses were primitive alike in shape and construction. In
Jamaica, they were probably circular, and were provided with walls of
wattle work plastered with mud, and with a high-pitched roof of palm
leaves; they probably had no windows. The Indians slept in hammocks. The
weapons of the Arawâks of Jamaica and the other large islands consisted
of darts and war clubs; but they apparently did not possess bows and
arrows, which were the form of weapons preferred by the Caribs, and the
use of which gave them a great advantage over their more peaceful foes.

[Illustration:

MEALING-STONE
]

Ornaments were more worn by the men than the women. Painting was the
simplest form of ornamentation; the colours used being blue, black,
carmine, white and yellow, derived from plants and earths. They wore
necklets of hogs’ teeth and stone beads, crowns of feathers in their
heads, aprons of palm-leaves or woven cotton, and bands round their arms
and legs. Their chief occupations and means of living were hunting and
fishing and agricultural pursuits with, in some cases, a certain amount
of trading. As they required nothing more than canoes for travelling on
the water, simple houses to live in, baskets for domestic purposes,
hammocks for rest, rude weapons of the chase, and implements such as
hatchets and chisels, earthen vessels, and a few ornaments and articles
of dress, these, with a few crude rock-carvings, formed the sum total of
their arts and manufactures.

In common with the other aborigines of the West Indies generally and
with the natives of New Zealand and with all the nomad tribes of the new
world from Patagonia to the Arctic circle, the Arawâks of Jamaica were,
when discovered, without any knowledge of the metals as such. From their
kitchen middens we know that they were great fish eaters.

[Illustration:

ARAWÂK PESTLE
]

Until 1895, but few remains had been discovered to testify to the
existence of a tribe which not so very long ago lived by gathering the
fruits of the land and sea of Jamaica. During that and the following
years several collections of Indian remains were found.[2] They are
scattered fairly throughout the island, except curiously enough, the
eastern end, and are thickly grouped in St. Andrew and Vere, in St. Ann,
and in the west end of Westmoreland. They all supply objects similar in
character and giving evidence of no very high advance in civilization or
the arts; being considerably below those of Mexico and Peru. The objects
consist for the most part of petaloid or almond-shaped polished celts of
metamorphic or igneous rocks, found somewhat abundantly all over the
island; circular or oval, shallow, unglazed bowls of baked pottery, with
but crude ornamentation, used in the preparation of food, and some as
mortuary vessels for the heads of their chiefs—found here and there in
the caves and on the sites of dwellings; calcedony beads, hitherto
found, curiously enough, only in Vere; stone and wooden images and
rock-carvings and the rock-pictures; and a few shell and flint
implements and mealing-stones rarely found.

Footnote 2:

For this subject consult “Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica. By J.
E. Duerden, A.R.C.Sc., Kingston, Ja., 1897.”

It is to be regretted that many of the objects shown at an exhibition of
native remains held at the Institute of Jamaica in 1895, following on
the discovery of the Halberstadt cave, as well as others discovered
later, should have been allowed to leave the island. Such things once
lost can rarely be regained.

Some of the early Spanish historians—putting as they frequently did X
for J—wrote the name of the island _Xaymaca_, but it appears in its
present form as early as 1511 in Peter Martyr’s “Decades.” He called it
_Jamaica_ and _Jamica_. The island is unnamed in Juan de la Cosa’s map
of 1500.

Its first appearance in cartography is on the map made by Bartolommeo
Colombo, Columbus’s younger brother, to illustrate the admiral’s fourth
voyage, where it is spelled _Jamaicha_. In Cantino’s map (1502–04) it
appears as _Jamaiqua_: in Caneiro as _Jamaiqua_ and in Waldseemüller’s
map of 1507 as _Jamaiana_. In the so-called Admiral’s map of 1507 it
appears as _Jamaqua_: the name does not appear in Ruysch’s map of 1508,
but in the Ptolemaeus edition, Strasburg 1513, it is given as
_Jamaiqua_, and in the Waldseemüller map of 1516 it is also _Jamaiqua_.

In the Maggiolo map of 1519 it is _Jamaica_, but in the Maggiolo map of
1527 it is _Jamaicha_: in Ribero’s “Antilles” of 1529 and in Mercator’s
map of 1541 it is _Jamaica_: but in Herrera’s map of 1601, it goes back
to the old form _Xamaica_, and as late as 1734 in Charlevoix’s “L’isle
Espagnole,” it appears as _Xamayca_. Amongst Englishmen who wrote of it
from personal knowledge immediately after the British occupation,
Commissioner Butler (1655) wrote it _Gemecoe_ and _Gemegoe_. Daniell
(1655) calls it _Jamico_, Gwakin (1657) wrote it _Jammaca_, and General
Fleetwood (1658) wrote it _Jamecah_.

Columbus on his return from his first journey was told by the natives
when off Tortuga, that if he sailed in a certain direction two days he
would arrive at Babeque, where he would find gold. Columbus mentions
Babeque many times in his journals, but he never found it, at least
under that name. The “Historie,” of 1571, identifies it with Hispaniola
but this is doubted. Las Casas thought that it might refer to Jamaica.

In common with most other West Indian native names Jamaica has come to
us through a Spanish source; and the native pronunciation was possibly
something like Hâmîca. Several derivations have been given of the
meaning of the word. The most extraordinary is that which seeks to
connect it with James II. On Moll’s map of the island, published early
in the eighteenth century, it is stated that it was first called St.
Jago by Columbus, who discovered it, but that the name was afterwards
changed to Jamaica, after James, Duke of York. In this connection it is
somewhat sad to note that not one of the Greater Antilles retained the
name given to it by Columbus. Española, Santiago and Juana, went back to
their native Hayti, Jamaica and Cuba; and St. Juan Bautista became Porto
Rico, but Hispaniola still survives to some extent and is the most
convenient name for the island which contains two republics. Of the
smaller islands, the names of Trinidad, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat
and Guadeloupe still remind us of their great discoverer.

James Knight, in the rough draft of his history of Jamaica (1742) in the
British Museum, gives the following derivation of the word Jamaica: “In
the original it was Jamajaco. Jamo in the Indian language is a country,
and Jaco is water.”

John Atkins, in his “Voyage to the Guinea, Brazil, and the West Indies”
(1737), says that “Jamaica was altered by King James, it being a
compound of his name and ‘_ca_’ an island.” He was possibly not far
wrong in regard to the “island.” The West Indian word for an island,
_cai_ (or the Biscayan word cay) is supposed to appear in Lucayos
(Bahamas), “Men of the Island”; in the Caicos islands, and also in
various cays or keys in the West Indies; albeit modern etymology makes
cay or key the same word as the Welsh cae.

Long wrote in 1774 that “it is not improbable that Jamaica is a name of
Indian extraction, perhaps derived from Jamacaru, the Brazilian name of
the prickly pear, which overspreads the maritime parts of the south
side, where the aboriginal Indian discoverers of this island might have
first landed,” but this derivation has found no supporters among later
writers.

Bryan Edwards, writing in 1793, says: “The early Spanish historians
wrote the word _Xaymaca_. It is said to have signified in the language
of the natives, a country abounding in springs.”

Bridges, who as a rule displays a more fertile imagination than Long
without half his trustworthiness as a historian, says, writing in 1828:
“In the speech of Florida, _Chaübaan_ signified water and _makia_ wood
(Lescarbot, I.6, c.6). The compound sound would approach to Chab-makia;
and, harmonized to the Spanish ear, would be Chamakia, or some such
indistinct union of these two significant expressions, denoting a land
covered with wood, and therefore watered by shaded rivulets, or, in
other words, fertile.” This suggested origin has been usually adopted by
later writers. Why Bridges sought in Florida the meaning of words of
Jamaica, he does not explain. Carib and Arawâk are probably the only two
languages which Columbus heard spoken in the Greater Antilles. Wood, in
Arawâk, is _ada_; woods are in Arawâk _konoko_ and in Carib _eotch_; and
water is in Arawâk _winiab_ (Hillhouse) or _comiaboo_ (im Thurn), and in
Carib _tona_.

Bryan Edwards points out that Fernando Columbus’s “Historie” states that
the Indian name of Antigua was Jamaica, and he adds: “It is a singular
circumstance that this word which in the language of the larger islands
signified a country abounding in springs, should in the dialect of the
Charaibs have been applied to an island that has not a single spring or
rivulet of fresh water in it.” Until further research proves the
contrary Jamaica must remain, what it truly is, the land of woods and
streams.

Apart from the name of the island itself, there are few names of native
origin left. These will be referred to in the body of the work as they
occur.

There is some difficulty in discriminating between the native Indian and
Spanish origin of West Indian names: and too great a faith in the laws
of philology are apt to lead one astray. Placenames are not infrequently
rather evolved in accordance with the rule of phonetics.

On this subject Long wrote: “From the resemblance which the language of
these islanders bears in some respects to the Spanish, I am apt to
suspect that many of their words have been altered by the Spanish mode
of pronunciation, and the difficulty which the discoverers found in
articulating and accenting them without some intermixture of their own
patronymic. In some this is exceedingly obvious, where the letter _b_ is
used indiscriminately for _v_, agreeably to their idiom. This perversion
may easily lead us to ascribe a Spanish or Moorish origin to the names
of places, such as rivers, mountains, headlands, &c., which in fact are
of Indian derivation. Thus the article _gua_, so commonly met with both
in these islands and on the Southern continent, was often prefixed or
appended to the Indian names of places and things; and even of their
provincial _caciques_. Of the latter were Gua-rionexius, Gua-canarillus,
Gua-naboa, and others. Of the former a vast multitude occurs, as
Gua-nama, Xa-gua, Gua-há-gua, Camayá-gua, Aicayazá-gua, Má-gua,
Nicará-gua, Verá-gua, Xará-guo, Gua-ríco, Ni-gua (Chigger), etc., which
may seem to confound them with derivatives from the Spanish or Moorish
word _agua_ (water). So the terminations, _ao_, _ana_, _coa_, and _boa_
or _voa_, as Manabax-ao, Cib-ao, Gu-ana, Magu-ana, Yagu-ana, Ligu-ana,
Zav-ana (Savannah), Furac-ana (Hurricane), Caym-ana, Guaiac-ana
(Guiacum), Haba-coa, Cuana-boa, and so forth. The names therefore
occurring in our island of Liguana, Cagua, Tilboa, Guanaboa, Guadibocoa,
and others of similar finals are with more propriety to be traced from
the Indian than the Spanish dialect.”

With regard to the Spanish occupation of the island both history and
archæology are almost as scantily supplied as in the case of the
Arawâks.

It is estimated that when Jamaica fell into the hands of the English the
population of the capital was half Spanish and Portuguese or their
descendants and half slaves; but it is a curious fact that a negro is
mentioned as holding the position of priest of the Roman Catholic
church.

The more important islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, to say nothing of the
rich mines of South America, offered greater attractions to the
Spaniards than did Jamaica, where—then, as now—the field had to be
ploughed before the harvest could be reaped. They utilized for their
_hatos_, or pastures, the low-lying lands on the sea-coast, which had
formerly been used by the native Arawâks for the cultivation of Indian
corn and cassava.

Of these hatos the principal were, going from east to west, Morante (the
name of which still lives in Morant Bay), Ayala (Yallahs), Lezama (where
Mona now is), Liguanea (Lower St. Andrew), Guanaboa (the name of which
still exists), Guatabaco (about Old Harbour), Yama (in Vere), Pereda
(Pedro Plains), El Eado (behind Bluefields) and Cabonico (near
Savanna-la-Mar).

[Illustration: JAMAICA, CIRCA 1661]

They had settlements at St. Jago de la Vega (the present Spanish town,
established in 1520), Puerto de Esquivella (Old Harbour, named after the
first governor about 1501), Parattee (still bearing the same name),
Oristan (Bluefield, named after a town in Sardinia then subject to the
crown of Spain), Savanna-la-Mar, Melilla (in the north-west corner of
St. James, named after a town on the coast of Barbary, then in the
possession of Spain), Sevilla Nueva (St. Ann’s Bay), Chireras (Ocho
Rios), Rio Nuevo and Hibanal (somewhere near Buff Bay).

Roads ran from Puerto Antonio westerly along the coast to Punta
Negrilla, connecting their townships of Santa Anna, Melilla and Manteca.
From Manteca a road ran southerly to where Savanna-la-Mar now is, and
thence easterly to Old Harbour, and thence northerly to Santa Anna.

There are but scanty remains of Spanish masonry in the island; none of
great importance. The “Columbian Magazine” in 1796 recorded that an old
Spanish tavern, with laths of bamboo, was taken down to make way for
Rodney’s statue, and the adjacent buildings, but there is, of course, no
certain proof that this was Spanish work. The only known relic of
Spanish Jamaica is the church bell from Port Royal now in the Institute
of Jamaica.

Of their buildings in general, Sir Hans Sloane, who was here in 1687–88,
only thirty-three years after the conquest, says that they were “usually
one storey high, having a porch, parlour, and at each end a room, with
small ones behind. They built with posts put deep in the ground; on the
sides their houses were plastered up with clay or reeds, or made of the
split trunks of cabbage trees nailed close to one another and covered
with tiles or palmetto thatch. The lowness, as well as fixing the posts
deep in the earth, was for fear their houses should be ruined by
earthquakes, as well as for coolness.” It seems strange, according to
modern ideas, to build a house one storey only for coolness; although
one might do so for fear of earthquakes.

Long tells us that “a certain number of posts of the hardest timber,
generally _lignum vitæ_, brazilletto, or fustick, of about 18 feet in
length and 6 to 8 inches in diameter, being first well-seasoned and
hardened in smoke, were fixed at proper distances to the depth of 2 or 3
feet in the ground; then a wall of brick, enclosing these posts, was
carried up with very strong mortar to the plate, which was pinned with
wooden spikes to the tops of the posts. The main rafters were small, but
being of the like hard wood, and perfectly well-seasoned, were
sufficiently strong; these were likewise pinned upon each other, and at
their angle of intersection at top formed a crutch to receive the ridge
pole. The smaller rafters were of the lesser ebony trees, stripped of
their bark, hardened in smoke, notched at bottom, and being placed at
the distance of about 18 inches from each other, were pinned to the
plate. Athwart these on all rafters a stratum of the wild cane (_Arundo
Indica_, bamboo species), previously smoked, was tied on by way of
wattling with straps made of the bark of mahoe or mangrove trees. Upon
these wattles some mortar was laid, to the thickness of about 4 inches;
and the whole covered with large pantiles, well bedded in. The thickness
of these roofs, from the outward shell or tile-covering to the ceiling
within, was about 8 or 10 inches. A canopy of so solid a texture was
certainly well contrived to shelter the inhabitants from the
disagreeable effects of a vertical sun,” and accordingly it is found by
experience that these old Spanish houses are much cooler than our modern
ones covered with shingles. After regretting the failure to establish a
manufacture of tiles, and the importation of North American shingles,
Long goes on to say: “The chief error the Spaniards committed in their
buildings was the placing their ground floors too low; these were nearly
on a level with the surface of the earth out of doors, or at most raised
only a few inches higher.” In his time there were, he tells us, upwards
of fifty Spanish houses remaining in Spanish Town “very little the worse
for time or weather.”

Of Spanish names given to towns and villages, St. Jago de la Vega (St.
James of the plain) still survives in custom, although supplanted
officially by Spanish Town. So also do Ocho Rios, Savanna-la-Mar (the
plain by the sea) and Oracabessa; Esquivel became Old Harbour soon after
the British occupation.

Of the Spanish names of rivers, many survive; the principal being Rio
Alto (deep river), Rio Cobre (copper river), Rio Grande, Rio Minho, Rio
Bueno (the good river), Rio Magno (the great river), Rio Novo (new
river), Rio d’oro (golden river), Rio Pedro (Peter’s river). It is
thought that Rio Pedro may be a corruption of Rio Piedra (stony river).
The Rio Minho is said to have been named after a river in Portugal or,
as Long says in another place, after some mine in the neighbourhood. It
is thought by some that it should be Rio Mina, (the river by the mine).
Others are named after rivers in Spain.

Amongst districts we have Santa Cruz (Holy Cross); as well as Pedro both
in St. Ann and in St. Elizabeth. The former is said to have been named
after Pedro Esquivel, the Spanish governor.

The following derivations of Spanish names in Jamaica are given by Long.
Notes by the present writer are added between square brackets:

_Auracabeza._ Aura, air or breeze; Cabeza, head or high land. [This is
now Ora Cabessa in St. Mary. Others derive it from Oro Cabeza, the
golden head.]

_Alta Mela._ Deep Gap. (Alta Mela, Savannah, St. James.)

_Agua Alta Bahia._ Deep water Bay, corruptly Wag-Water. [Still known
as Wag Water.]

_Los Angelos._ The Angels. [Angels in St. Catherine was the first
terminus of the railway.]

_Rio Bonito._ The Pretty River.

_Cabo Bonito._ The Pretty Cape. [In St. Catherine.]

_Cabarita Punta._ Kid or Goat Point. [In Westmoreland, where there is
a river of the same name; there is another Cabaritta Point in Old
Harbour Bay, and a Cabaritta Island in Port Maria Harbour.]

_Rio de Camarones._ Perhaps from Gambaro, a crab, from the abundance
of black crabs hereabouts.

_Cobre Rio._ Copper River, or Cobra Port, Snake River. [Still known as
Rio Cobre.]

_Caborido._ _Quasi_ Caba Arido, the dry or withered cape (part of
Healthshire highlands.)

_Carvil or Caravel Bahia._ Caravela signifies a light round kind of a
ship formerly used by the Spaniards.

_Diablo Monte._ Devil’s Mount. [Now called Mount Diavolo.]

_Escondido Puerto._ The hidden harbour. [In Portland; now called
Turtle Crawle Harbour.]

_Flora Ria._ Flower River.

_Fortaleza Punta._ Fort Point. [On Blome’s map there are two in St.
Ann.]

_Gallina Punta._ Hen Point. [Galina Point is in St. Mary.]

_Guada Bocca._ Guada, brook of water; boca, mouth.

_Hoja Rio._ River of leaves, now corruptly Riho Hoa. [Now called Rio
Hoe.]

_Jarisse Punta._ Cross-bow or arrow, probably refers to some action
with the Indians.

_Javareen._ Rustic expression, signifying a wild boar.

_Lacovia._ _Quasi_ Lago-via, or the way by the lake. [A village in St.
Elizabeth. Elsewhere Long suggests it may be a corruption of La agua
via, the watery way. It was once in the possession of the Gladstone
family.]

_Liguanea._ Lia-withe-guana, the name of an animal, probably one
frequent in that part of the island. [That part of Lower St. Andrew,
bordered by the Long Mountain, the St. Andrew Mountains and the Red
Hills.]

_Moneque or Monesca Savannah._ Savannah of monkeys. [Now confined to
the village of Moneague.]

_Mari bona._ Maria-buena, Mary the Good. [Maria Buena Bay is in
Trelawny.]

_Multi-bezon Rio._ Multi, many; buzon, conduit.

_Macari Bahia._ Macari, a tile, such as is made for floors, which the
Spaniards universally used here and probably manufactured them near
this bay, the soil being proper for that purpose.
[Long adds as a footnote to Macari: “Or perhaps it may derive more
properly from the Indian word Macarij (which signifies bitter), and
allude to the tree commonly called the Majoe, or Macary-bitter which
grows in great abundance along this part of the coast, and with
whose leaves, bark and root, which are all of them extremely bitter,
some very notable cures in cases of inveterate ulcers, the yaws, and
venereal distempers, were some years ago performed by an old negress
named Majoe, in commemoration of whom it took its name.” Macary Bay
is in Vere. Majoe Bitter, or Macary Bitter (_Picramnia Antidesnia
Sus._) is a shrub about 8 feet high, with small whitish green
flowers, and berries first scarlet, then black.]

_Mantica Bahia._ Butter (now Montego Bay). This part abounding
formerly with wild hogs, the Spaniards probably made here what they
called hog’s butter (lard) for exportation. [In a very old deed of
conveyance of land in St. James a road is marked as leading to Lard
Bay.]

_Ocho Rios_ said to mean eight rivers. [In St. Ann. It was more
commonly called Chareiras in Long’s time; and indeed as late as
1841, William Rob wrote “Ocho Rios, called to this day by the old
inhabitants ‘Cheireras,’ its early and appropriate name ‘the Bay of
the Water-Falls,’ but has now gone back to Ocho Rios.” It is not
unlikely that the present form Ocho Rios and the derivation from
eight rivers is wrong, and that the real name is Chorréra, a spout.
There is a Chorréra River in Cuba, near Havannah.]

_Perexil Insula._ Samphire Island.

_Sombrio Rio._ Shady river. [Now called the Sambre.]

_Yalos._ Frosts (whence, perhaps corruptly, Yallahs), the high white
cliffs having the appearance of a frosty covering. [Now called
Yallahs. Long was probably wrong in connecting Yallahs with Yalos.
The Hatô de Ayala extended from Bull Bay nearly to Morant Bay, and
the name is probably a personal one. Pedro Lopez de Ayala was a
celebrated poet and politician in the fourteenth century; Pedro de
Ayala was Spanish envoy to the Court of St. James in 1498; and,
curiously, a recent Spanish representative at Havana bore the name
de Ayala. There was a Captain Yhallahs, a privateer who flourished
in Jamaica in and about 1671, and the locality may have been named
after him.]

_Luidas._ Perhaps from Luzida; gay, fine. [Lluidas Vale is in St.
Catherine.]

_Martha Brea._ Martha, a woman’s name; Brea, tar; perhaps a nickname
of some Spanish sailor’s Dulcinea like the English vulgar
appellation _Jack Tar_. [Martha Brea village and river are in
Trelawny. The name is a corruption of Rio Matibereon.]

No traces are to be found to-day of the following: Alta Mela, Rio de
Camarones, Caborida, Carvil Bahia, Guada Bocca, Jarisse Punta, Javareen,
Multi Bezon Rio, Perexil Insula.

Of corruptions of Spanish names the best known are: Agualta (Agua Alta,
the deep river); Bog Walk (Boca d’Agua, water’s mouth); and Mount
Diablo. Cagua became with the English Caguay, then Cagway when it was
renamed Port Royal.

Those who see in Porus a survival of the name of Columbus’s companion,
Porras, are probably drawing on a fertile imagination. Columbus and his
companions saw little of the interior of the island. It is more probably
called after some well sunk there, or from the porous nature of the
soil, “pitted with holes.” In the English edition of Ferdinand
Columbus’s “Historie,” we read that the Morant Cays were called by
Columbus _Los Poros_ because “not finding water in them they dug pits in
the sand”; but in the Italian edition (Venice, 1571) they are called “le
pozzi” (the pits), and in the Spanish edition of 1749 they are called
“Las Poças” (the pits). It is possible that in the case of Porus, as in
that of the Morant Cays, there has been a confusion between _Poros_ and
_Pocas_; and that the town in Manchester should be called Poças. The
Spaniards called the Black River, el Caovana (the Mahogany River).

In the English section of Jamaica history for the two centuries from
1655 to 1855, there is a wide field of exploration.

What with earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, the march of time, and
rebuilding, the typical old-time planter’s houses are getting scarcer.
Then, again, there are the monuments and gravestones which contribute to
our knowledge of Jamaica genealogy and history. Captain Lawrence-Archer,
in the middle of the last century, did much in his “Monumental
Inscriptions of the British West Indies,” to put this information in a
handy form, but his work, which is often inaccurate, by no means covers
the whole field. Something of late years has been done in that direction
by Mr. Oliver in “Caribbeana.”

Although Jamaica is probably no worse than other countries in its
disregard for ancient monuments, that there is need for improvement
cannot be denied by those who have looked into the matter. The Spanish
invaders burned the Arawâk huts; the old-time English planters despoiled
Spanish buildings to find material for their sugar works; and in our own
day a ruined seventeenth-century building which withstood the recent
earthquake was later pulled down by peasants for the sake of its stones.
When Lawrence-Archer wrote less than fifty years ago, he recorded a
statue by Bacon to Richard Batty in the cathedral. Only a fragment of it
remains to-day. The author of his epitaph little thought that the
literal truth of part of it would be so early established when he wrote
in 1796:

“Yet vain the Record, which sculptured stone
Would raise to those pre-eminently known.”

The most strongly constructed building will wear out with time and, in
the tropics especially, vegetation is apt to interfere with monuments
and gravestones; but a little care without much expense should be all
that is needed to render unnecessary an expensive restoration, which
many individuals and bodies find themselves unprepared to meet and
which, after all, can never take the place of preservation.

In 1672 Port Royal contained 800 well-built houses, “as dear rented,”
Blome tells us, “as if they stood in well-traded streets in London.”
Twenty years later, when it was at its zenith, the number was 2000, “the
greatest number of which were of brick, several storeys in height.” In
1692, as is well known, a large part of the town perished by an
earthquake, and from that event Kingston dates its origin, Port Royal
being partially destroyed again, by fire, in 1703 and by hurricane in
1722.

Charles Leslie, writing in 1739, says of Jamaica: “One is not to look
for the beauties of architecture here; the public buildings are neat but
not fine. The churches in the town are generally in form of a cross,
with a small cupola a-top, built high in the walls, paved within, and
adorned with no manner of finery.” The churches, he says, except those
at Spanish Town and Halfway-Tree, are “decent small houses, scarce to be
known for such,” and he adds, “the clergy trouble them little, and their
doors are seldom open,” in marked contrast to the present state of
affairs. “The gentlemen’s houses,” he says, “are generally built low, of
one storey, consisting of five or six handsome apartments, beautifully
lined and floored with mahogany.... In the towns there are several
houses which are two storeys, but that way of building is disapproved of
because they seldom are known to stand the shock of an earthquake or the
fury of a storm.”

On Craskell and Simpson’s large map of Surrey, of the year 1763, is
shown a view of a presumably typical Jamaica house, two storeys high,
with an open veranda in front only. It is evident from what Long says
that, at all events for the first century of the island’s occupation by
the British, not much attention was paid to domestic architecture by the
planters of the island. “It is,” he says, “but of late that the planters
have paid much attention to elegance in their habitations; their general
rule was to build what they called a makeshift; so that it was not
unusual to see a plantation adorned with a very expensive set of works,
of brick or stone, well executed, and the owner residing in a miserable
thatched hovel, hastily put together with wattles and plaster, damp,
unwholesome, and infested with every species of vermin. But the houses
in general, as well in the country parts as in the towns, have been
greatly improved within these last twenty years.”

In this connection mention may be made of the aqueducts on some of the
sugar estates, which are amongst the best pieces of architectural work
in the island. They and some of the old stone bridges compare more than
favourably with the modern bridges, many of which—excellent monuments of
engineering skill as they may be—their best friends would never venture
to call works of art. Moreover the stone bridges will probably be
standing when the iron ones have perished by decay.

Peter Marsden, writing a little later (1788), says: “Except a few
excellent houses which have lately been built of brick and two or three
of stone, after the English fashion, by rich merchants, the houses are
in general of wood, very often mahogany, which is plentiful in this
island. They consist but of a room or two below stairs, with piazzas all
round and a storey above.” Stewart, whose account of the island was
published in 1808, gives much the same account of the domestic houses,
but goes on to say: “As for bridges and other public structures of the
kind, in this part of the world there are few that deserve mention,
except a neat cast-iron bridge imported from Great Britain and some
years ago thrown across the Rio Cobra. There is, indeed, often a marked
deficiency here of public spirit in undertakings of this sort.”

Many of the houses on the sea-coast were, in the eighteenth century,
made defensible with loopholes and fortified by guns, so as to guard
against the attacks in war time of the enemy’s privateers. In other
cases a like precaution was taken against the risings of slaves; houses
in some instances being supplied with towers at the corners, each of
which commanded two sides of the building.

Of direct records of slavery days there are not many prominent relics.

Here and there a punishment cell is found, with indications of the
fixing of shackles; but of stocks and such-like implements no traces
remain. A few examples of branding-irons exist. In this connection it
may be of interest to quote Bryan Edwards’s account of the method
adopted in branding slaves:

“A gentleman of my acquaintance, who had purchased at the same time ten
Koromantyn boys and the like number of Eboes (the eldest of the whole
apparently not more than thirteen years of age) caused them all to be
collected and brought before him in my presence, to be marked on the
breast. This operation is performed by heating a small silver brand
composed of one or two letters, in the flame of spirits of wine, and
applying it to the skin, which is previously anointed with sweet oil.
The application is instantaneous and the pain momentary. Nevertheless,
it may be easily supposed that the apparatus must have a frightful
appearance to a child. Accordingly when the first boy, who happened to
be one of the Eboes, and the stoutest of the whole, was led forward to
receive the mark, he screamed dreadfully, while his companions of the
same nation manifested strong emotions of sympathetic terror. The
gentleman stopt his hand, but the Koromantyn boys, laughing aloud, and,
immediately coming forward of their own accord, offered their bosoms
undauntedly to the brand, and receiving its impression without flinching
in the least, snapt their fingers in exultation over the poor Eboes.”

A branding-iron such as that mentioned above, in the Institute of
Jamaica, is shown in the accompanying illustration. It is 6⅞ inches in
length.

[Illustration:

BRANDING-IRON
]

Doyley’s Council had been elected by the people, and so, in a sense, was
a forerunner of the Assembly. But the first regular Assembly was
summoned by Lyttelton and met at Spanish Town on January 20, 1664, and
from that day until the Assembly of the time resigned its powers to the
Crown on December 21, 1865, the political destiny of the colony is to be
read in the pages of its Journal and its Votes.

The first Assembly chose as its speaker Robert Freeman, who represented
Morant, one of the then twelve districts that returned members.

The troubles which Doyley, the first governor, had had in inducing
adventure-loving soldiers to become planters had given place to a more
settled state of affairs, and when the House rose on February 12, 1664,
it “parted with all kindness and feastings, having passed as good a body
of laws as could be expected from such young statesmen.” But this
peaceful condition was not destined to last. Familiarity with
legislative functions bred contempt for the opinions of others, and
unreasonable demands on the part of these young statesmen were met by
high-handed actions on the part of the Crown.

In his opening speech to the Assembly Carlisle said that the King looked
on Jamaica as “his darling plantation, and has taken more pains to make
this island happy than any other of his colonies.” These kind words
were, however, nullified by the fact that the new governor had brought
with him forty acts which Charles had had drawn up (and to which he had
affixed the great seal of England) in lieu of the acts which the
Assembly had passed under Vaughan, and that he was instructed to get the
House to pass them. This plan had been suggested in a letter written in
England by a Mr. Nevil (who was evidently acquainted with Jamaica) to
Carlisle just before he started to take up his appointment, and had been
adopted because—to quote the words of the Lords of Trade and Plantations
to the King in Council—“of the irregular, violent and unwarrantable
proceedings of the Assembly.”

The virtual point of difference was this, that under the original
constitution the island (through the Governor, Council and Assembly)
made its own laws in accordance with what it conceived to be its needs
and sent them home for approval, they remaining in force for two years
till the royal pleasure was known, while under the new arrangement
(based on Poynings’s Law, or the Statutes of Drogheda, in use in
Ireland), the laws were to be made in England (on the advice of the
Governor and Council), and remitted for the approval of the Assembly.
The style of enactment was altered from the “Governor, Council and
Assembly, etc.” to the “King, by and with the advice, etc. of the
Assembly.”

This proposed change, which had been decided on by the Lords of Trade
and Plantations, in opposition to the advice of Lynch, who knew Jamaica
well—the Assembly resisted with might and main, but though they were in
a very great measure successful, it was not until 1728 that the complete
legislative power for which Jamaica contended was granted.

Lynch, when he returned as governor, was able to tell the people of
Jamaica, “His Majesty, upon the Assembly’s humble address, was pleased
to restore us to our beloved form of making laws, wherein we enjoy
beyond dispute all the deliberative powers in our Assembly that the
House of Commons enjoy in their House.”

In return for the constitution now conceded the Assembly pledged itself
to grant to the King a fixed revenue, which if not perpetual should at
least last for seven years. The quarrel, however, with regard to the
revenue bills lasted up till 1728; the Crown desiring a perpetual
revenue, the Assembly persistently declining to do more than grant bills
for a few years’ duration. The Crown on the other hand declined to
approve many of their laws. In 1728 the Assembly gave way and settled a
permanent revenue in return for the royal confirmation of various acts
of importance to the island and a concession as to their past laws which
they regarded as “the grand charter of their liberties.”

To return for a moment to the early struggles, we find that under the
Duke of Albemarle, a very unwise governor, matters were far from
satisfactory. He dissolved the House suddenly because one of the
members, John Towers, in a debate repeated the old adage _salus populi
suprema lex_, in protesting against the Speaker’s refusal to grant him
permission to attend a race meeting. Albemarle had the offender taken in
custody and fined £600. In his dispatch on the subject he wrote: “The
Assembly have done very little, the major part having made it their
business to wrangle and oppose all things that are for the King’s
service and the good of the country.” The freedom of election was
grossly violated by the duke, who admitted hosts of servants and
discharged seamen to the poll at the election, and actually imprisoned
many legal voters of wealth and consideration. He imposed fines on the
latter to a large amount, and threatened to whip two gentlemen for
requesting a habeas corpus for their friends. In spite of this he had
the effrontery to write home to the Board of Trade and Plantations:
“While the elections were going forward there were unwarrantable
oppositions made in most parishes as well as malicious practices to
prevent fair election!”

His successor, Inchiquin, met with considerable opposition from a
section of the Assembly whose temper had been ruffled by Albemarle’s
arbitrary government, and whom he treated in a somewhat tactless manner.
That they would not do what he wanted he considered “an indignity and
affront to himself and the board.” He finally rejected their address of
congratulation, and “then it was thrown to them with some contempt.”

The franchise established by the law of 1681 for appointing the members
of the Assembly was still in force in 1812: “Freeholders in the same
parish where the election is to be made.” At a by-election in 1804, in
St. Andrew, seventy-nine freeholders voted, forty-six for the successful
candidate.

The House met usually from October to Christmas, the time of the year
when the planters could be absent from their estates with least
inconvenience.

The closing scene in the life of the Assembly was acted on December 21,
1865, around amendments to the “Act to alter and amend the Political
Constitution of the Island,” and especially to that to the second
clause, which ran:

“It shall be lawful for Her Majesty’s Imperial Government to assume
the entire management and control of the affairs of this island, and
by orders in Council or otherwise, as Her Majesty may be advised, to
conduct the affairs of this island as Her Majesty may think fit: and
such orders shall have the effect and force of law.”

The Council’s amendment was as follows:

“It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen to create and constitute
a Government in this island, in such form and with such power as to
Her Majesty shall seem fit, and from time to time to alter and amend
such Government.”

The Legislative Council had adjourned while their amendments to the
Constitution Bill were being discussed by the Assembly, and some of them
were in the House during the discussion. So soon as they saw that the
amendments had passed, they retired and formed a board, which passed the
bill in almost ten minutes after it left the Assembly.

In proroguing the assembly on the following day Governor Eyre said:

“In releasing you from further attendance upon your legislative
duties, I cannot lose sight of the probability that you may never be
called upon to exercise these duties again, under the existing form of
constitution, and that this general sacrifice has been consummated by
yourselves from an earnest and sincere desire, regardless of all
personal considerations, to benefit the colony.

“On behalf of the colony and of the many interests associated with it,
I return you the thanks which are so justly your due. History will
record the heroic act, and I trust that history will show from the
ameliorated state of the country, and a renewed prosperity, that your
noble self devotion has not been in vain.”

In concluding, he said, with reference to the Morant Bay outbreak:

“The session which is now about to terminate has been the most
important that has ever taken place since Jamaica became a dependency
of the British Crown.

“It is impossible to help regretting the necessity which has enforced
the abandonment of institutions so deservedly dear to every British
heart, and which, even in this colony, have remained unchanged for a
period of 200 years; but it is wiser and better, circumstanced as we
are, to give up institutions which are valued rather for the
associations which are connected with them, than for any advantages
which have resulted to the colony from their existence in Jamaica, and
to substitute in their place a perhaps less showy and less
time-honoured form of Government, but which is certainly more
practicable and better suited to the altered circumstances of our
position.

“Well, I think, it is that we have taken warning by the terrible
circumstances which have forced upon us the conviction that a
Government, to be effective, in times of difficulty and danger, must
be a strong and united one; and well will it be if by a voluntary
reconstruction, the community may receive some compensation in future
good government, for the dreadful calamity with which it has just been
afflicted.”

The House took a deep interest from time to time in the barracks for
which they voted funds. In 1702 orders were received from home to build
barracks to receive 3000 men. Handasyd, the Lieutenant-governor, said
that it would cost more than £40,000 “where such buildings are
unreasonably dear” to build such as were built in Ireland, but that
suitable barracks could be built of wood for £3000.

The following account of the state of the forts and barracks in the
island in May 1745, taken from the “Journals of the House of Assembly,”
may be fittingly quoted here.

“Then the House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House,
upon the report made on Friday last, of the number and condition of
the barracks already built, and of such others as were necessary to be
provided; and the plans laid before the House, and the said report,
being read, is in the words following:

MR. SPEAKER,—Your Committee, appointed to make enquiry into the number
and condition of the barracks already built, and what more shall be
necessary to be provided, have accordingly done the same; and, by the
best information they have been able to get, find to be as follows:

_Port-Morant._ A complete barrack, newly built by the Parish of
St.-Thomas-in-the-East, framed, boarded, and shingled, in good order,
which will contain about sixty men.

_Manchioneal._ A barrack, formerly built by the said parish of
St.-Thomas-in-the-East, which will contain thirty men; the body built
with stone, a framed roof, wants new shingling, and already ordered to
be forthwith done, and to be put in good repair.

_Morant-Bay._ A new barrack now building at the expense of the
aforesaid parish of St.-Thomas-in-the-East for twenty-five men.

_Yallahs Bay._ A large house with proper conveniencies belonging to
Mr. Donaldson, already hired for a barrack, to receive twenty-five
men.

_Cow-Bay._ A barrack for twenty men going to be built, by Mr. Vallete,
in the room of the former barrack destroyed by the hurricane.

_Westmoreland._ A barrack already built, capable of receiving a whole
company, situate at Savanna-la-Mar, as informed by Mr. Hall.

_St. Ann’s._ A barrack now building at St. Ann’s Bay, and is
calculated to be a crutched house, wattled and plastered, and capable
to receive fifty men, as informed by Mr. Whitehorne.

_Moneague._ A barrack which now lodges twenty men, and capable of
holding thirty; is at present water-tight, but will soon want new
shingling, as informed by lieutenant Troah.

_Vere._ The barrack was blown down in the late hurricane but the
parish has agreed with Mr. Pusey for his storehouse in Carlisle Bay,
which is boarded, shingled and in good order and capable to receive
one hundred men.

_St. Elizabeth._ A barrack situate at Black-River; it being a crutched
house, wattled and plastered, injured by the storm, but is now ordered
by the parish to be repaired.

_St. James._ A barrack at St. James, of a hundred feet long and twenty
feet wide, with a stone wall, a framed roof, well shingled, in good
order, which will completely contain fifty men as informed by Mr.
Hall.

_Hanover._ A barrack situate at Lusea-Fort, which will be capable of
receiving fifty men; a crutched house, wattled, plastered and
thatched, in good order; and a convenient house for the reception of
four officers, well shingled and floored.

_Port Antonio._ A barrack in good order, which now lodges one company,
and will soon be in a condition to receive another, by the information
of lieutenant Bailey.

_St. Mary’s._ No barrack built in said parish, but as the Committee
are informed his excellency intends to send some soldiers for their
protection, a barrack is necessary to be forthwith built.

_Old Harbour._ No barrack built, but the parish of St. Dorothy have
hired a house for a detachment of thirty soldiers, as informed by Mr.
Edmund Pusey.

_Spanish Town._ The barrack-house is in good order, the officers’
cook-room wants repairing, the cook-room for the private men is
entirely down, and the palisado enclosure, on the back part of the
out-houses, carried away by the late storm; said barrack contains
sixty men.

The Committee are informed that his excellency intends four companies
of soldiers to be in this town, if proper lodgements were provided for
them; and, as the barrack contains so few, it will be necessary either
to enlarge the present barrack or to buy such house or houses as may
be convenient and sufficient to lodge the aforesaid four companies, as
are intended for this town; but as we are informed that the house
belonging to the estate of the late Colonel Heywood is as proper and
convenient for the purpose aforesaid as any building in this town, and
to be sold, we think proper to lay before the house a plan relating
thereto, as also a plan of a barrack to be built adjoining to the
present barrack, or such other place as shall be judged most
convenient; all which is submitted to the consideration of the house.

_Kingston._ No barracks built, and his excellency is willing to let
this town have one or more companies of His Majesty’s troops was there
proper lodgement to receive them.

_Port Royal._ The barracks in that town being too small for receiving
the number of men intended to be quartered there, your Committee are
informed that said barracks are to be enlarged for that purpose.

And, after some time spent in the Committee, Mr. Speaker resumed the
chair, and Mr. Chief Justice, from a Committee, reported that they had
gone through the matter to them referred, and come to several
resolutions, which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered them
in at the table; where they being again read were agreed unto by the
House, and are as follows:

1. _Resolved._ It is the opinion of this Committee, that it be
recommended to the House, to appoint a Committee to bring in a bill
for obliging the several parishes to repair and keep up the respective
barracks already built.

_Ordered._ That Mr. Fuller, Mr. Fearon and Mr. March be a committee
for that purpose.

2. _Resolved._ It is the opinion of this Committee, that it be
recommended to the House, to appoint a committee to treat with the
attornies of Abraham Elton and Mary Heywood for the purchase of a
house and footland, late of James Heywood, deceased, for a barrack for
the service of the public.

_Ordered._ That Mr. Arcedeckne, Mr. R. Beckford and Mr. Fuller be a
committee for that purpose.

3. _Resolved._ It is the opinion of this Committee that a barrack be
built at Kingston, at the expense of the parish of Kingston.

4. _Resolved._ It is the opinion of this Committee that the barrack at
Port-Royal be enlarged.

_Ordered._ That it be an instruction to the committee appointed to
bring in the bill for obliging the several parishes to repair and keep
up the respective barracks already built, to insert a clause therein
to oblige the parish of Kingston to build a barrack at the expense of
the parish.”

We learn from Foster’s “Alumini Oxonienses” that William Dennys, of New
College, a chaplain who took his B.A. degree in 1652, obtained leave of
absence from the parliamentary visitors, for special service at sea in
1654, and died at Jamaica in 1655. He probably came out with Penn and
Venables, and predeceased Thomas Gage who was chaplain to the
expedition.

In 1655, the very year in which the English took the island, Admiral
William Goodson, one of the Commissioners charged with the conduct of
Penn and Venables’s expedition, requested that “some godly ministers
with monies for their maintenance” should be sent out. Two years later
the want of ministers in Jamaica was referred by the Council of State to
the Committee for America for suggestions. It was one of the
instructions to Doyley, when he was made governor in 1661, that he
should give the best encouragement to ministers “that Christianity and
the Protestant religion, according to the profession of the Church of
England, may have due reverence amongst them”; and later in the year it
was resolved that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London
should choose five able ministers to be maintained in Jamaica at the
King’s expense for one year, the governor to provide for their
maintenance afterwards.

In 1664 Sir Thomas Modyford, the governor, stated that there was “but
one church (in the whole island) at St. Katherine’s [at Spanish Town],
being a fair Spanish Church ruined by the old soldiers, but lately in
some measure repaired by Sir Charles Lyttelton; but they are now levying
contributions to raise churches in some of the richest parishes.” There
were then five ministers in the island, Henry Howser (a Switzer) being
at St. Catherine’s.

In 1671 Sir Thomas Modyford replied to enquiries of His Majesty’s
Commissioners that: “Their Lordships will find among the statutes with
these presented a law for the maintenance of the ministry; until this
His Majesty was piously pleased to pay five ministers £100 each, but
since they were left upon the charity of the inhabitants, he has
encouraged them to enlarge their payments at St. Katherine’s, where he
lives, from £50 to £140, and at Port Royal £200. At St. Katherine’s, Mr.
Howser, a Switzer, officiates; at Port Royal, Mr. Maxwell, a Scotchman;
at St. John’s, Mr. Lemmings, an Englishman, lately sent by my Lord of
London; and in St. Andrew’s, Mr. Zellers, another Switzer; all these are
orthodox men, of good life and conversation, live comfortably on their
means, and preach every Sunday. Mr. Pickering, of St. Thomas and St.
David’s, at Port Morant and Yallows, is lately dead, and they have none
to supply his place. But, alas, these five do not preach to one-third of
the island, and the plantations are at such distance that it is
impossible to make up congregations; but they meet at each others’
houses, as the primitive Christians did, and there pray, read a chapter,
sing a psalm, and home again; so that did not the accessors to this
island come so well instructed in the article of faith, it might well be
feared the Christian religion would be quite forgot. I have, my Lords,
and shall use all the persuasive means I can to advance this people’s
knowledge of the true God, as also of all Christian and moral virtues.”

In 1675 a Mr. Crandfield reported that there were six churches and four
ministers, and two years later there were but three clergy in the
island. In a MS., once in the House of Assembly Library, entitled “The
State of the Church in His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica,” dated May 1675
(which was allowed to perish after Richard Hill quoted from it in 1864),
it was stated, after enumerating the then stipended ministers of
religion: “All the other parishes on the northside, and St. Elizabeth’s
on the south, are great and ill-settled, without churches, they being
almost planted in Sir Thomas Lynch’s time, who ordered Glebe lands to be
reserved in two or three places in every parish, that in time may prove
convenient.”

In 1677 Howser and Zellers, “His Majesty’s chaplains in Jamaica,”
petitioned that they might receive the pay promised to them, and
declared that “the island, in regard of its great poverty, is not able
to allow maintenance for four chaplains resident there.” In the same
year the Bishop of London represented the ill-usage of ministers in the
Plantations, and their too great subjection to the vestrymen, especially
in Jamaica; and the Lords of Trade and Plantations resolved that the
clergy should, in future, “make a part of the vestry in the regulation
of all matters, except in the settlement of their maintenance.”

In 1681 an Act was passed for the maintenance of ministers and the poor,
and erecting and repairing churches. Ten vestrymen and two churchwardens
were yearly elected by the freeholders of each parish. The law provided
for the keeping of a register of births, christenings, marriages and
burials. Port Royal was to pay £250 to its minister, St. Catherine £120,
St. Thomas, St. Andrew and St. John £100, and other parishes £80. These
stipends were apparently not sufficient inducement, for in 1706 an Act
was passed “for the encouragement of good and able ministers to come to
this island.” The salary of St. Catherine was fixed at £150 (or £250 if
the vestry wished); for St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. Dorothy, Kingston,
Vere, and Clarendon, it was £150 (or £200), and for the other parishes
(including Port Royal, by reason of its recent disasters) £100 (or £150
if the vestry wished). This system of payment of the rectors by the
parishes was continued till late in the eighteenth century, when they
were placed on the Island Establishment.

In 1682 Sir Thomas Lynch sent home to the Bishop of London a detailed
report of the state of the Church in Jamaica. He says: “At St. Jaga de
la Vega the minister is also a Swiss, Mr. Howsyer; he has £140 a year by
law, and, since I came, £150. He is a reasonable preacher, a good liver,
well esteemed, and very rich. The church is a Spanish church, and the
parsonage good. The parish is called St. Catherine’s.”

When, by an Act passed in 1789, burying in churches was prohibited, on
penalty of £500 imposed on any rector who permitted it, the rectors
received compensation in lieu of fees, the largest amount falling to the
rector of Kingston, who received £100 per annum, St. Catherine being
next with £70.

As evidence of the relative value of the livings in the island at the
time it is interesting to quote from the “Jamaica Magazine” that in
November 1814, “The Reverend Alexander Campbell has been translated from
the living of Kingston to that of St. Andrew’s, vacant by the death of
his father, the reverend John Campbell; the Reverend Isaac Mann to that
of Kingston; the Reverend William Vaughan Hamilton from St. Elizabeth’s
to St. Catherine’s; and the Reverend William Peat from St. Dorothy’s to
St. Elizabeth’s.”

In 1800 Ecclesiastical Commissioners were appointed. But it is evident
that they had not been able to effect much by April 1802, when Lady
Nugent wrote: “I will conclude my tour through the island with a few
remarks. In this country it appears as if everything were bought and
sold. Clergymen make no secret of making a traffic of their livings; but
General N—— has set his face against such proceedings, and has refused
many applications for the purpose. He is determined to do all he can
towards the reformation of the Church, and thus rendering it
respectable. It is indeed melancholy to see the general disregard of
both religion and morality throughout the whole island.”

Matters were much improved when the see of Jamaica, which then included
the Bahamas and British Honduras, was formed in 1824; and in 1870, when
Disestablishment threw the Church almost entirely on to voluntary
resources, it gave to it a new vitality.

Many of the old Baptismal, Marriage and Burial registers are deposited
for safe keeping in the Record Office at Spanish Town, where all the old
church registers should be, as they would there have a chance of longer
life than when exposed to the vicissitudes of local vestries, and would,
moreover, be more readily available for research than when scattered
throughout the island.

It may be convenient to give here a list of the earliest date of the
Baptismal, Marriage and Burial registers for the island, taken from
“Sketch Pedigrees of some of the early Settlers in Jamaica. By Noel B.
Livingston, Kingston 1909.”

EARLIEST DATE OF PARISH REGISTERS

Parish Baptisms Marriages Burials
Kingston 1722 1721 1722
Port Royal 1728 1727 1725
St. Andrew 1664 1668 1666
St. Thomas ye East 1709 1721 1708
St. David 1794 1794 1794
Portland 1804 1804 1808
St. George 1806 1807 1811
St. Mary 1752 1755 1767
Clarendon 1690 1695 1769
St. Ann 1768 1768 1768
Manchester 1816 1827 1817
St. Catherine 1668 1668 1671
St. John 1751 1751 1751
St. Dorothy 1693 1725 1706
St. Thomas ye Vale 1816 1816 1816
Metcalfe 1843 1843 1843
Westmoreland 1740 1740 1741
St. Elizabeth 1708 1719 1720
Trelawny 1771 1771 1771
St. James 1770 1772 1774
Vere 1696 1743 1733
Hanover 1725 1754 1727

John Roby, Jamaica’s most celebrated antiquary, published (from notes
made in 1824) in 1831, at Montego Bay, where he was then collector of
customs, “Monuments of the Cathedral Church and Parish of St.
Catherine.” The information therein given was included and supplemented
by Lawrence-Archer in his “Monumental Inscriptions of the British West
Indies,” published in 1875: and annotations to Lawrence-Archer’s
account, by the present writer and Mr. N. B. Livingston, were published
in “Caribbeana” for January and April 1910. A full account of the
history of the Church of England in Jamaica may be gathered from the
work of the Rev. J. B. Ellis, published in 1913, “The Diocese of
Jamaica.”

The history of the Department of Public Gardens and Plantations, now
known as the Agricultural Department, is intimately connected with the
various vicissitudes through which the island has passed. The following
particulars have been taken in great measure from the account in the
“Handbook of Jamaica for 1900.”

Directly and indirectly during the last hundred years and more the
Department has been the means of introducing and propagating some of the
most valuable plants, now the sources of the staple products of the
island.

It is a striking fact that with the exception of pimento and a few
others of comparatively little value, most of the staple products of the
island are derived from exotics or plants introduced from other parts of
the globe, either by accident or by direct intention.

The sugar-cane, though here in the time of the Spaniards, was first
cultivated by the English, by Sir Thomas Modyford, in 1660; but its most
valuable varieties, the Otaheite and Bourbon canes, were introduced in
His Majesty’s ships by Captain Bligh as late as 1796. Coffee was
introduced by Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes in 1718. The mango, brought by
Captain Marshall of Rodney’s squadron in 1782, was first planted in
Hinton East’s botanic garden, in Liguanea, and is now one of the
commonest trees in the island. The plentiful and free-growing logwood
was introduced from Honduras by Dr. Barham, the author of “Hortus
Americanus,” in 1715. The beautiful akee was obtained by Dr. Thomas
Clarke, first Island Botanist, from a West African slave ship in 1778.
The cinnamon came with the mango in Captain Marshall’s ship in 1782, and
was distributed from the Bath Garden by Dr. Dancer. The ubiquitous but
graceful bamboo is also an exotic and owes its introduction to M.
Wallen, who brought it from Hispaniola and first planted it in the
parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East. To Wallen, formerly owner of Cold
Spring and Wallenford, the friend of Swartz and a successful botanist,
we are no doubt indebted for the first plants of the watercress,
chickweed, wild pansy, groundsel, dead nettles, dandelion, common
honeysuckle, black-berried elder, evening primrose, nasturtium, common
myrtle, the English oak, white clover, and the sweet violet, now common
on the Port Royal and Blue Mountains, being possibly escapes from his
garden at Cold Spring, which even in 1793 was well stocked with choice
selections of introduced flowers and European trees and shrubs. For the
cherimoyer we are indebted to Hinton East, who introduced if from South
America in 1786; to East and his magnificent garden we also owe the
jasmines and many species of lilies, many convolvuli, the oleander, the
horse-radish tree, numerous roses, the trumpet-flower, monkey-bread, the
camellia, _Calla æthiopica_, the weeping willow, the mulberry tree, the
_Arbor vitæ_, and the sweet-scented mimosa. Dr. Clarke, on his arrival
as Island Botanist in 1777, brought with him the jujube tree, and the
litchi, the purple dracæna, the sago palm, and the valuable camphor
tree; at the same time there came the now common “almond tree,” the tea
tree, and the “sunn” hemp plant. The wanglo, or zezegary, was sent by
Sir Simon Haughton Clarke in 1801. The nutmeg tree, first brought by
Rodney in 1782, was reintroduced by Dr. Marter in 1788, together with
the clove and black pepper, for which he received the thanks of the
House of Assembly and an honorarium of £1000. The seeds of the valuable
and now indispensable Guineagrass were accidentally introduced from the
West Coast of Africa as bird food in 1745. Scotch grass received its
name from having been first brought from Scotland to Barbados.

Pindars were brought to Hinton East from South America; the afou, the
acorn and Guinea yam, and indeed all but one of the cultivated yams, are
from the coast of Africa or East Indies. The seeds of the guango were
brought over from the mainland by Spanish cattle. Cacao is indigenous to
Central America. The shaddock was brought to the West Indies from China
by Captain Shaddock, hence its name. The genip was brought to Jamaica
from Surinam by one Guaf, a Jew. The ginger is a native of the East
Indies, introduced to Jamaica by a Spaniard, Francisco de Mendiza. The
locust tree and blimbling were brought to Jamaica from the South Seas in
H.M.S. _Providence_ in the year 1793. The orange, both sweet and
Seville, the lime, the lemon and citron, were brought hither by the
Spaniards. The Jerusalem thorn is from the Spanish main. The prickly
pear is a Mexican plant.

It appears that the first public garden established in the island was
the old Botanic Garden at Bath; and in the Journals of the House of
Assembly mention is made of Dr. Thomas Clarke, “Practitioner in Physic
and Surgery,” who came to the island in 1777, at the particular instance
and request of Sir Basil Keith, to superintend two botanic gardens, then
intended to be established in the island. One was to be a European
Garden, which however was not established till long after, at Cinchona,
and the other was the Tropical Garden at Bath.

A private garden possessing many rare and valuable plants had already
been formed by Hinton East in Liguanea (Gordon Town), which, on the
death of the founder, became the property of his nephew, E. H. East,
“who with great generosity offered it to the Assembly of Jamaica for the
use of the public at their own price.”

Bryan Edwards remarks that “the Assembly of Jamaica, cooperating with
the benevolent intentions of His Majesty (to introduce valuable exotics
and productions of the most distant regions to the West Indies)
purchased in 1792–93 the magnificent Botanical Garden of Mr. East and
placed it on the public establishment, under the care of skilful
gardeners, one of whom, Mr. James Wiles, had circumnavigated the globe
with Captain Bligh.”

An interesting catalogue of the plants in this garden, at the time of
East’s decease, was prepared by Dr. A. Broughton, and forms an appendix
under the title of “Hortus Eastensis” to Bryan Edwards’s “History of the
British West Indies.”

From a letter addressed to Sir Joseph Banks by the Botanic Gardener,
Jamaica, 1793, we gather that the bread-fruit trees “were upwards of 11
feet high, with leaves 36 inches long, and the success in cultivating
them has exceeded the most sanguine expectations; the cinnamon tree is
become very common, and mangoes are in such plenty as to be planted in
the negro grounds. There are, also, several bearing trees of the jack or
bastard bread-fruit ... and we have one nutmeg plant.” For his services
in introducing the bread-fruit tree, 1000 guineas were granted in 1793
to Captain Bligh and 500 guineas to Lieutenant Portlock.

The Botanic Garden at Liguanea continued to be under Wiles’s care
(superintended by a Committee of the House of Assembly) for many years,
while that at Bath was entrusted to Dr. Dancer as Island Botanist. The
allowance for the two gardens was fixed at £800. The duties of the
Island Botanist were defined as follows: “To collect, class and describe
the native plants of the island; to use his endeavours to find out their
medicinal virtues; to discover if they possess any qualities useful to
the arts, and annually to furnish the House with a correct list of such
plants as are in the Botanic Gardens, together with such information as
he may have acquired relative to their uses and virtues.”

For the purpose of distributing the bread-fruit and other valuable
plants from the Botanic Garden the Committee of the House “appointed
several Committees for each county, to receive and distribute the
allotments destined for them,” and, according as sufficient numbers were
prepared for propagation, the Chairmen of the County Committees were
apprised and their respective proportions delivered and distributed, “by
which means,” it is quaintly remarked, “the public has derived all the
advantages to be expected from these establishments.”

During the years 1791–1807 the Committee in charge of the Botanic
Gardens, with Shirley as Chairman, greatly developed and improved them.
Enquiries were made everywhere for new products; thanks and gratuities
were voted for the introduction of valuable plants, and these were
cultivated and distributed with great assiduity and care. In order to
make the islands less dependent on America for supplies every
encouragement was given to the cultivation of yams, cocoas, maize,
plantain, and such products as the bread-fruit, zezegary or wanglo,
nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, pindars and coffee, it being believed that the
“cultivation of these valuable exotics will without doubt in a course of
years lessen the dependence of the Sugar Islands on North America for
food and necessaries; and not only supply subsistence for future
generations, but probably furnish fresh incitements to industry, new
improvements in the arts, and new subjects of commerce.”

These beneficial efforts, long and successfully maintained, were however
greatly relaxed after the year 1807, and under the influence of domestic
troubles, want of due appreciation of the value and nature of botanic
gardens, or the need of strict economy, a bill was introduced into the
House of Assembly in 1810 “for vesting the Botanic Garden in Liguanea in
the Commissioners of the Board of Works, to be sold and the money to be
brought to the credit of the public.” This bill was finally passed
December 1810, and, the garden passing to private hands, many of the
valuable plants contained in it, and collected with so much care and
industry, were entirely lost.

The garden at Bath was however maintained, though in a very reduced
state. Dr. Stewart West acted for some time as Island Botanist, and was
engaged in collecting the plants that had been lost from the gardens,
for the purpose of propagating and distributing them.

The first record to be found of any agricultural society in Jamaica
occurs in 1807. The society, which had evidently been in existence for
some little time, belonged to Cornwall. As it was called the
Agricultural Society it was presumably the only one of its kind in
existence. In 1825 a Jamaica Horticultural Society was formed at
Kingston, which two years later became the Jamaica Society for the
Cultivation of Agriculture and other Arts and Sciences, which did good
work till it ceased to exist in 1850.

In the year 1824 an effort was made to restore the value and usefulness
of the botanic gardens, and Sir M. B. Clare, from the Committee
appointed to enquire into the state of the Botanic Garden, reported:
“That the Botanic Garden in St.-Thomas-in-the-East, established more
than fifty years ago, has during that period received and transmitted
for propagation throughout the island many valuable plants. That the
royal munificence of his late Majesty promoted the object of this
institution by vessels of war employed to collect plants in the
settlements of the east and south seas, some of which are now
naturalized in this island, and more might be added, greatly to the
advantage of its inhabitants. Your Committee therefore recommend that
proper care may be taken to preserve the valuable plants which the
Garden now contains. That in addition to the above considerations, Your
Committee are of opinion that one object of this institution of chief
importance has never been properly attended to, namely, the
investigation of the many unknown native plants of this island, which,
from the properties of those already known, it is reasonable to infer
would prove highly beneficial in augmenting our internal resources, by
supplying various articles either for food, for medicine, or for
manufactures, to be cultivated, prepared and exported as staple
commodities, by which great commercial advantages might be obtained;
among others the various vegetable dyes claim particular attention as
promising a fruitful field for discovery. That it appears to your
Committee that the person fit for undertaking such enquiries ought to be
a well-educated and scientific man, combining with his botanical
knowledge sufficient information in experimental chemistry to enable him
to discover the useful qualities of such indigenous plants, and improve
the productions of those already known; but at the same time your
Committee strongly recommend that such person should not be a medical
man, as his whole time and attention ought to be applied to promote the
above objects. Your Committee recommends to the House to instruct the
Commissioners of Correspondence to direct the Agent to apply for such a
person to the President of the Linnean Society in London.” As a result
of this proposal James Macfadyen was selected and approved of as a
botanist, and arrived in the island in 1825.

At the same time it was felt that the botanic garden at Bath was too
distant from Kingston and the seat of government to answer the intention
proposed, and it was recommended that a bill be brought in for
purchasing a proper place for such a garden in the vicinity of Kingston
and Spanish Town.

This proposal was, however, never carried into execution, and the garden
at Bath on the removal and death of Macfadyen, “fast falling to decay,”
was placed in charge of Thomas Higson; and his petitions addressed to
the House of Assembly during 1830–32 show that the allowances made were
not sufficient for the maintenance of the garden even in its reduced
state, and that no remuneration had been made to him for its
superintendence.

In 1833, in another fit of economy, owing to domestic troubles and the
need for retrenchment, a Committee was appointed to “report on the best
means of diminishing the contingencies and expenditure of the island and
to consider whether the Botanic Gardens at Bath could be sold for the
benefit of the public.” The report was made at the close of the year and
ordered to lie on the table. Nothing further, however, appears to have
been done for the garden till 1840, when the sum of £300 was “voted for
the improvement of the Garden at Bath and for the services of a
Botanist.” This sum, afterwards reduced to £200, was placed in the hands
of the members of St. Thomas-in-the-East, Portland and St. David, by
whom it appears to have been administered down to the year 1852, when
the garden was transferred to the Board of Directors of the Bath of St.
Thomas the Apostle. Nathaniel Wilson was appointed Curator of the Garden
in 1847, and devoted many years, often labouring under great
discouragements, in maintaining and improving the garden and introducing
new plants. His yearly reports contain sufficient evidence of the value
of the garden, small as it was, to an island entirely dependent for its
prosperity on its agricultural interest; and, assisted and encouraged by
the Rev. Thomas Wharton, Wilson laboured most successfully in the
propagation and distribution of valuable plants, and especially in
developing the “fibre” resources of the colony.

In 1842 we find there were local agricultural societies in St. Dorothy,
St. John, St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. Thomas-in-the-East, St. Catherine,
St. Andrew, St. James and Trelawny. In the following year a general
Agricultural Society was established, with the governor as patron, with
eighteen vice-patrons, and local committees in each of the parishes. In
1845 this society became the Royal Agricultural Society of Jamaica. In
1854 a Jamaica Society of Arts was established, which two years later
became the Royal Society of Arts of Jamaica. This in 1864 was
amalgamated with the Royal Agricultural Society—the two becoming the
Royal Society of Arts and Agriculture, but it ceased after about 1873:
the present Jamaica Agricultural Society being established in 1895.

In 1857 a grant was passed by the Legislature for purchasing land and
for a botanic garden at Castleton, in the parish of St. Mary, nineteen
miles from Kingston, and steps were at once taken to establish the
garden and remove such plants as could be spared from Bath.

Writing in 1861 Wilson referred to the successful introduction of seeds
of the valuable cinchona tree to Jamaica, through the liberality of the
British Government and recommendation of Sir W. J. Hooker of Kew. By the
month of October 1861 Wilson reported that he had over four hundred
healthy plants quite ready for planting out. As the climate of Bath was
unsuitable for the successful growth of cinchona, by the kindness of Dr.
Hamilton, they were tried at Cold Spring coffee plantation in St.
Andrew, at an elevation of 4000 feet. Here Wilson found “the climate and
soil to be all he could desire,” and as it afforded every facility for
carrying out so valuable an experiment he at once availed himself of it,
and planted out in the coffee fields, November 1861, several plants of
each species.

The garden at Castleton was then finally established, and ultimately the
government Cinchona plantations were opened in 1868, and placed under
the management of Robert Thompson, who on Wilson’s retirement had been
appointed superintendent of the Botanic Gardens. The cinchona trees
flourished, but the industry was killed by the cheaper production of
bark from India.

Thompson retired in 1878, and was succeeded by Mr. (now Sir) Daniel
Morris till 1886, then Mr. William Fawcett till 1908, when the
Department was changed into an agricultural Department, with Mr. H. H.
Cousins as Director and a Farm School and Stock Farm were added to the
Hope establishment. At the same time the Government Laboratory,
originated in 1870 as a separate department, and in 1901 brought into
direct connexion with agricultural work, was amalgamated with it.

The Palisadoes plantation of coco-nuts, which in 1884 had some 23,000
palms in bearing, was while in the care of lessee later attacked by
disease.

Mining operations have been carried on with more or less success in
Jamaica from time to time. In 1857 there were four mining companies
operating: the Clarendon Consolidated Copper Mining Company in
Clarendon, where mining has recently been reintroduced; the
Wheal-Jamaica, with a capital of £100,000; the Ellerslie and Bardowie
Copper Mines (capital £50,000) in St. Andrew; and the Rio Grande Copper
Mine (capital £60,000) in Portland.

The earliest reference to Education in the history of Jamaica occurs
under date February 23, 1663, when a warrant was issued to prepare a
bill for the king’s signature authorizing the treasurer of the exchequer
to pay the sum of £500 yearly to Thomas Povey to be by him transmitted
and equally distributed to five ministers serving in Jamaica or to four
ministers and a schoolmaster as shall seem fit to the governor.

Jamaica then apparently preferred preaching to teaching—there being at
the time obviously few children of a teachable age—for there is no
further reference to the schoolmaster.

In 1671 the last of twenty-four enquiries sent to the governor, Sir
Thomas Modyford, was “what provision for instructing the people in the
Christian religion and for paying the ministry?”; but there was no
mention made of secular education.

In 1675 Sir Thomas Lynch reported that “Mr. Lemon, a sobergoing man and
a very good preacher, is minister of Guinaboa, St. John’s parish; he has
£100 per annum from the parish, and about as much from Colonel Coape for
keeping a free school he has erected.” To John Coape, who was a member
of the first Council, Custos of Precinct VII (consisting of the parishes
of St. John, St. Ann, St. George and St. Mary) and a Quaker, is due the
honour of having spent the first money recorded in the cause of
education in Jamaica.

The art of self-defence was not neglected. Sara Lyssons, of St. Thomas,
employed John Lookmore, “a master of the noble science of defence,” to
teach her sons, in 1678.

Till the end of the seventeenth century the safety of trade and
commerce, the means of defence against Spanish or French invasion, the
encouragement of immigration, government, and legislation, formed the
subjects of discussion with the home government, and the comparatively
newly formed colony was too unsettled to think of imparting knowledge to
the rising generation.

The only reference to education found in the legislation of the century
is in an “Act for Confirmation of Pious, Charitable and Public Gifts and
Grants,” to “erecting or maintaining of Churches, Chappels, Schools,
Universities, Colledges, or other places for education of Youth or
maintenance of men of Learning, or any Alms-houses or Hospitals, or any
other uses whatsoever, heretofore made, and hereafter to be made within
the time aforesaid.” But it was long ere “Colledges” came into being,
and the Universities are as yet in the future.

In the year 1688, Sir Henry Morgan, of buccaneering fame, gave £100 to
aid the bequest of £100 sterling by Joachim Hane to found a school in
St. Mary, but nothing was rendered available to the establishment of
such a school.

Bridges tells us that “in the year 1695 Sir Nicolas Lawes bequeathed his
estate, in default of heirs, to found a free school for the benefit of
the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew. A school was consequently
incorporated, with a seal, bearing the founder’s arms, but it failed for
want of sufficient means, and the land was attached to the rectory.
Twelve years afterwards Zacariah Gaulton left £80 per annum to pay a
master and £500 to build a schoolhouse, and in 1721 Benjamin Cotman
bequeathed his estate for the same purpose.” As a matter of fact Sir
Nicholas Lawes’s will is dated August 21, 1730, and the bequest was not
to _establish_ a school, but “unto the Governors of the Free School of
St. Andrews in the Island of Jamaica for the time being, and in case
there be no Governors at that time as the Law directs then to such
Governors as the Chancellor or Commander-in-Chief of the said Island
shall direct and appoint Governors of the said Free School then I say I
give to such Governors of the said Free School and their successors for
ever the estate and premisses aforesaid for and towards the maintenance
of the Masters Teachers and other Officers of the said Free School the
repairing and making new Buildings more fitt and comodious large house
or houses on the land at Halfway Tree which I formerly gave for that use
finishing and furnishing the same and for and towards the maintenance
support education and learning of so many Scholars (native youths of
Jamaica) as the said Governors of the said School or the major part of
them shall from time to time think fitt to admit to that benefit and the
said bequest can support and maintain.”

But this bequest never took effect, for all his children who were living
when he made his will—his sons James and Temple and his daughter Judith
Maria—survived him.

Roger Elletson, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and Chief Justice, in
the year 1690 gave £20 towards the foundation of a school in St. Andrew.
Edward Harrison, in 1695, and Charles Delacree, in the succeeding year,
each bequeathed £10 per annum for the same purpose. The bequests,
however, were allowed to lie dormant until the year 1789, when the
principal and interest were estimated at £14,710, no part of which was,
however, recovered.

John Mills, in 1711, after several entails, left money to establish a
free school in St. Elizabeth, but no such institution ever existed.

In the year 1736, Edward Pennant left £200 for a school and books, in
Clarendon; and a school was founded in Old Woman’s Savannah, aided by
subscriptions to the amount of £2000. It flourished about the year 1758,
when, by some ill-management, it failed; the premises were vested in
trustees for sale, and the institution vanished.

By the end of the seventeenth century the need of education for the sons
and daughters of the colonists must have become pressing. The plan
usually adopted by those who could afford it was to send their children
(often the illegitimate as well as the legitimate) home; and so it
continued in the main till the end of the following century, and indeed
far into the nineteenth. Many a son of Jamaica acquired a good education
in England, and not a few graduated at the universities. A manuscript
“Catalogue of Men born in the Island of Jamaica who matriculated at
Oxford 1689–1885 extracted from Alumni Oxonienses. (To which I have
added a few stray names of men connected with the island.) By William
Cowper, M.A.,” in the Library of the Institute of Jamaica, contains 268
names of men known to have matriculated at Oxford. Peter Beckford, who
matriculated in 1688, and afterwards became lieutenant-governor of
Jamaica, is the first on the list which includes other well-known names,
such as Garbrand, Dawkins, Nedham, Ellis, Price, Gale, Gregory,
Haughton, Morant, Barham, Lawrence, Lewis, Clarke, Barrett, East,
Dallas, Dwarris and Scarlett.

A review of the state of education in the middle of the eighteenth
century is given by Leslie in his “New History of Jamaica” (1740). He
says:

“Learning is here at the lowest Ebb; there is no publick School in the
whole Island, neither do they seem fond of the thing; several large
Donations have been made for such Uses, but have never taken Effect.
The Office of a Teacher is looked upon as contemptible and no
Gentleman keeps Company with one of that Character; to read, write and
cast Accounts, is all the Education they desire, and even these are
but scurvily taught. A Man of any Parts or Learning, that would employ
himself in that Business, would be despised and starve. The Gentlemen
whose Fortunes can allow it, send their Children to _Great Britain_,
where they have the Advantage of a polite generous Education; but
others are spoil’d, and make such an inconsiderable Figure ever after,
that they are the common Butt in every Conversation. Mr. _Beckford_[3]
has lately bequeathed £2000 _sterling_, for a Free-School: It is
doubtful whether this Gentleman’s Intentions will be answered by the
Managers; for by their way of proceeding there is small Appearance
they design to encourage Men of Merit to take upon them such an
Office. Several have lately offered themselves who were every way
qualified for the Undertaking; and some promised themselves Success,
from the good Disposition they perceived in many to encourage their
Design; but after a Trial were of Necessity obliged to quit it. ’Tis
Pity, in a Place like this, where the Means could be so easily
afforded, something of a publick Nature should not be done for the
Advantage of Posterity; but when such a Spirit will appear, is hard to
determine. There are indeed several Gentlemen who are well acquainted
with Learning, in some of its most valuable Branches: but these are
few; and the Generality seem to have a greater Affection for the
moodish Vice of Gaming than the _Belles Lettres_, and love a Pack of
Cards better than the Bible. To talk of a _Homer_, or a _Virgil_, of a
_Tully_, or a _Demosthenes_, is quite unpolite; and it cannot be
otherwise; for a Boy, till the Age of Seven or Eight, diverts himself
with the Negroes, acquires their broken way of talking, their Manners
of Behaviour, and all the Vices which these unthinking Creatures can
teach: Then perhaps he goes to School; but young Master must not be
corrected; if he learns, ’tis well; if not, it can’t be helped. After
a little Knowledge of reading, he goes to the Dancing-school, and
commences Beau, learns the common Topicks of Discourse, and visits and
rakes with his Equals. This is their Method; and how can it be
supposed one of such a Turn can entertain any generous Notions,
distinguish the Beauties of Virtue, act for the Good of his Country,
or appear in any Station of Life, so as to deserve Applause? Some of
the Ladies read, they all dance a great deal, coquet much, dress for
Admirers; and at last, for the most part, run away with the most
insignificant of their humble Servants. Their Education consists
intirely in acquiring these little Arts. ’Tis a thousand Pities they
do not improve their Minds, as well as their Bodies; they would then
be charming Creatures indeed.”

Footnote 3:

Peter Beckford, the grandfather of William Beckford of Fonthill, who
behaved badly with respect to the Drax property.

That the object of those few who, amongst a community indifferent to
such matters, wished to benefit education in Jamaica, had been in the
main disregarded during the eighteenth century, is evident from a report
of a Committee of the Assembly presented in November 1791 by Bryan
Edwards, the historian. The Committee had been appointed to “enquire
into and prepare an account of the several charities and donations that
have been made and devised from time to time, by well disposed persons
for the establishment of free-schools in the different parts of this
Island, and which have not been carried into effect agreeably to the
intention of the donors; and further to report a state of the landed and
other real property, funds, and securities for money, which, in the
judgment of the Committee, are at this time subject and liable to such
donations; and their opinion what steps are proper to be taken for the
recovery and establishment thereof for the purposes intended.”

They reported “that the committee, limiting their enquiries to such
charities or donations only, in the recovery whereof there appears at
this time any visible property to which resort can be had, confine
themselves to the several Parishes of St. Ann, St. Andrew, Vere, and
Westmoreland: In each of these parishes donations have been made for the
purpose in the resolution of the House mentioned; some of which
donations have not been carried into full effect, and others have
remained wholly unapplied and unaccounted for by the several devisees,
executors, purchasers, or possessors, under the original granters or
donors of such estates or properties as were specially charged with such
donations.”

That matters had not much improved by the beginning of the nineteenth
century is evident from “An Account of Jamaica and its Inhabitants,”
published in 1808. “Literature,” the author says, “is little cultivated
in Jamaica, nor is reading a very favorite amusement. There is a
circulating Library in Kingston, and, in one or two other places a
paltry attempt at such a thing, these collections of books not being of
that choice and miscellaneous nature which they ought to be, but usually
composed of a few good novels mixed with a much larger proportion of
these ephemeral ones which are daily springing up, and which are a
disgrace to literature, and an insult to common sense.”

John Rippingham, the author of “Jamaica considered in its Present State,
Political, Financial, and Philosophical” (1817), presented a memorial to
the Assembly, setting forth that “there is no establishment provided by
this Island for the education of sons of gentlemen, that he had had
considerable experience in the higher departments of education, and had
published several works upon intellectual improvement, and that he
offered his abilities, acquirements, and assiduity to supply the
deficiency and craved the aid of the house.” The matter was referred to
a Committee and the House agreed, on their report, that they did not
consider it expedient to adopt any measure on the subject. Whether the
House thought higher education was not necessary or doubted Rippingham’s
ability to give it, is not stated.

Bridges, writing in his “Annals,” gives some account of the educational
efforts of the past. He reports “no endowments of any kind” in the
parishes of Trelawny, Manchester, St. Dorothy (now part of St.
Catherine), St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, and St. Thomas-in-the-East or in St.
James, although the Legislature had early in the eighteenth century
appropriated £1400 per annum for the purpose.

In 1843 the Charity Commissioners of England reported on the schools of
Jamaica:

“With this view, then, we may be permitted to observe that almost all
the schools in question have been greatly modified by, and that many owe
their very existence, or their increased income to, acts of the
Legislature. The original bequest to the Jamaica Free School would
probably have been lost to that institution, but for the interference of
the Legislature, and a great part of its present funds was derived from
a grant of the Crown. So at Vere, the Act 2 Geo. 4, c. 19, recites that
the school was failing for want of scholars, and its original
constitution was accordingly varied, by throwing it open for the
reception of children from the adjoining and other parishes. Grants
have, from time to time, been made to each of these schools for
temporary purposes, _e.g._ repairs, etc., and a permanent rate of
interest amounting to no less than 8 per cent. is paid by the Receiver
General to both. It is not, therefore, we think, too much to say that
the Legislature has thus acquired (even if it did not necessarily
possess it) a right to deal with the funds of these institutions, in
such manner as it may deem expedient. Least of all can this be denied
where the object is not to divert them from, but to apply them more
usefully to the great purpose of education, for which they were
originally intended. More especially does this remark apply to the
Jamaica Free School, which appears by the Act 18, Geo. 3, c. 25, s. 5,
to have been expressly intended to fulfil this end, and was even
permitted to incorporate with its own funds those of any other
charitable institution, which were either unappropriated, or which
parties were willing to transfer to it, with a view to carry out this
very object.”

Of the condition of education in the middle of the nineteenth century,
Gardner, in his “History” (1873), states:

“Another Commission, first appointed in 1843, was also discharging the
duty of enquiring into the extent and management of the different
charities of the island, and quietly preparing the way for some
wholesome reforms. Many painful facts were brought to light relative to
the culpable alienation of benevolent bequests from their intended
purpose; and other facts equally discreditable, in reference to the mode
in which existing charities were managed.”

Robson, in “The Story of our Jamaica Mission” (1894), says:

“In 1855 the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly, in a despatch to the Colonial
Secretary, said: ‘By far the most creditable institution in the island
is the Presbyterian Academy, principally intended for training young men
of the ministry or the scholastic profession. It still held a foremost
place and was accomplishing excellent work; there were twenty-four
missionary students and fifty-six public scholars in attendance. But the
expense to the Home Church, amounting to nearly £500 a year, appeared to
call for some more economical scheme.’”

In a chapter in his “History” devoted to “Religion, Education, and
Social Progress, from 1839 to 1865,” Gardner makes no reference to
Secondary Education, unless the foundation of Calabar College in 1843
for the training of a native Baptist Ministry can be so considered.

In 1865 an Act (28 Vic., c. 23) was passed by which the Government
appropriated the sums of money deposited from time to time in the Public
Treasury by various charities and institutions at varying rates of
interest, and became responsible for the payment of perpetual annuities
in lieu thereof, thereby preventing for the future so far as those funds
were concerned any of that misapplication alluded to in the reports of
the Committee of 1791.

Under that able organizer, Sir John Peter Grant (1866–1874), elementary
education was put on a sound basis of encouragement and support; by him
was also founded the too ambitious and short-lived College at Spanish
Town which aimed at providing a university education for a community
that was not yet ready for it.

During the governorship of Sir Anthony Musgrave the needs of Secondary
Education—which was defined as being the encouragement of education of a
higher grade “among those classes of the community who would value it,
if placed within their reach, but whose means do not enable them to send
their children to Europe for the purpose of obtaining it”—received full
consideration.

By the creation in 1879 of the Jamaica Schools Commission, which
exercises over endowed schools in Jamaica the same sort of supervision
formerly exercised by the Charity Commissioners in England over English
schools, means were afforded for placing the old endowed schools of the
island under suitable management. The Jamaica High School was
established, the Jamaica Scholarship was started, and the Cambridge
Local Examinations were held for the first time in 1882; and later in
1891 the University of London was induced to hold its examinations in
the colony.

The Wesleyan Church started their High School at York Castle, in St.
Ann, in 1876; and the Institute of Jamaica for the encouragement of
Literature, Science and Art was founded by the Government in 1879.

In 1892 a Secondary Education Law (32 of 1892) was passed, empowering
the Governor in Privy Council on the recommendation of the Board of
Education—a Board formed with the main object of advising on elementary
education—to declare any important centre of population to be without
adequate provision for secondary education and to establish a school
there, to be managed by a local committee of management under the
supervision of the Board. A subsequent act of the Legislature
transferred the duty of supervision of all such schools from the Board
of Education to the Jamaica Schools Commission. In 1911 the secondary
schools of the island were first inspected and reported on by an English
school inspector.

Taverns must have existed in Jamaica from early times. They are
mentioned in the Deficiency law, by which one white hired or indentured
servant had to be kept for every tavern or retail shop; and White’s
Tavern in Kingston is referred to in the Journals of the Assembly in
1730. That there was a tavern at Dry Harbour in 1769 is evident from a
rare view published in that year entitled “Dry Harbour in the Parish of
St. Ann’s, Jamaica, taken from the West end of the Tavern, with the Fort
and Barracks, now in Ruins.”

But when one considers the large amount of travelling by road that was
done in Jamaica in the past, there were, comparatively speaking, few
taverns or posting houses, the truth being that planters and even
strangers relied in the main on the proverbial hospitality of the
inhabitants. Of “the Permanent natives, or Creole men,” Long tells us in
his history (written in 1774), “their hospitality is unlimited; they
having lodging and entertainment always at the service of transient
strangers and travellers; and receive in the most friendly manner those,
with whose character and circumstances they are often utterly
unacquainted.” And he adds as a footnote: “One obvious proof of this is,
that there is scarcely one tolerable inn throughout the whole Island,
except at a great distance from any settlement.” He refers to
Knockpatrick, now in Manchester, and “two good taverns” at Lacovia in
St. Elizabeth. He says: “The Tavern at Knockpatrick (belonging also to
Mr. W—stn—y), the next settlement we come to, stands very commodiously,
and enjoys a most excellent climate. The English beans, pease, and other
culinary vegetables of Europe grow here in most seasons of the year, to
the utmost perfection. A gentleman who supped here could not help
remarking, that the victuals were literally brought smoaking-hot to
table, a phenomenon seldom observed in the low lands, where the air is
so much more rarefied.” Elsewhere he states that “Mr. W—stn—y” is said
to be a natural son of the late “Duke of L—ds.”

Bryan Edwards in 1806 says: “As Mr. Long has remarked, there is not one
tolerable inn throughout all the West Indies.” He then goes on to
contrast the general plenty and magnificence of the Jamaica planter’s
table and the meanness of their houses and apartments: “it being no
uncommon thing to find, at the country habitations of the planters, a
splendid sideboard loaded with plate and the choicest wines, a table
covered with the finest damask, and a dinner of perhaps sixteen or
twenty covers; and all this in a hovel not superior to an English barn.”

Monk Lewis, writing on his visits to the Island in 1816 and 1818, in his
“Journal of a West India Proprietor,” alluded to a “solitary tavern
called Blackheath” near Claremont, and to a lodging-house in St. Ann’s
Bay where he found “an excellent breakfast at an inn quite in the
English fashion;” to the “Wellington Hotel” at Rio Bueno in Trelawny; to
“Judy James’s” in Montego Bay, in St. James; to “Miss Hetley’s” inn at
Yallahs in St.-Thomas-in-the-East; to a “solitary tavern” at Bluefields
in Westmoreland, where he met “the handsomest creole that I have ever
seen,” Antonietta by name, of Spanish-African parentage; and to “West
Tavern,” which must have been somewhere near Ewarton, as it was nineteen
miles from Spanish Town on the north road. He also alludes to “The
Gutturs” in St. Elizabeth, where they found “everything that travellers
could wish.”

Lewis says: “All the inns upon this road [the western half of the north
side] are excellent, with the solitary exception of the Blackheath
Tavern, which I stopped at by mistake instead of that at Montague [an
obvious misprint for Moneague].” While elsewhere he says: “Inns would be
bowers of Paradise if they were all rented by mulatto ladies like Judy
James.”

A strangely long time was allowed to elapse after the settling of the
various islands in the West Indies before printing presses were
established. Perhaps some of the governors thought like Berkeley of
Virginia, who, in his report to the Lords of Trade in 1671, wrote: “But
I thank God, _there are no free schools_, nor _printing_, and I hope we
shall not have, these hundred years; for _learning_ has brought
disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world, and _printing_ has
divulged them, and libels against the best of government. God keep us
from both.”

The earliest printing press in America was set up in Mexico before the
middle of the sixteenth century.

The first printing press in English Colonies was set up in Massachusetts
in 1638. In Jamaica it was established in 1721, sixty-six years after
the acquisition of the colony by the British. The first almanac printed
in the colonies was produced at Cambridge in 1639. Unfortunately no copy
is known to exist: the earliest existing being one issued at Cambridge
in 1646 in private possession. Printing was practised at Havanna, in
Cuba, as early as 1729, and in Martinique as early as 1727; a Royal
printing house was established in St. Domingo in 1750. The “Barbados
Gazette,” published weekly, has been called the earliest British West
Indian newspaper. Its first issue appeared on May 18, 1731, but Isaiah
Thomas, in his “History of Printing,” says that the “Weekly Jamaica
Courant” was published at Kingston as early as 1722.

The first Jamaica wall almanac and the earliest piece of Jamaica
printing known to be extant dates from 1734, a copy of which is in the
Library of the Institute of Jamaica. The earliest Jamaica-printed book
known is the “Merchant’s Pocket Companion,” printed in Kingston—be it
observed, not in Spanish Town, the then capital of the island—in 1751.
The next oldest Jamaica-printed book known is a volume of Love Elegies
by Peter Pindar of the year 1773. A copy of each is in the Institute
Library. The best known of the early Jamaica newspapers was the “St.
Jago de la Vega Gazette.” There may be early volumes of the “St. Jago de
la Vega Gazette” (founded in 1756) in existence, but the earliest in the
Institute Library bears date 1791, and the earliest of the “Royal
Gazette” (founded in 1779) there bears date 1780. The earliest example
of a Jamaica newspaper in the Library is an issue of “The St. Jago
Intelligencer” of Kingston of the year 1757, possibly the earliest copy
of a Jamaica newspaper extant.

In Hickeringill’s “Jamaica View’d,” published in the year 1661, appears
what is probably the oldest English map of the island. With the
exception of Guanaboa, The Seven Plantations, The Angels, and St. Jago
de la Vega, only towns on the sea-board are mentioned in it, and there
is no attempt to divide the island into parishes.

In a census taken in 1662 the Island was divided into ten districts, as
follows: the Precincts of Port Moranto; Morant; Yealoth; and Legene; the
town of Saint Angelo Delvega [St. Jago de la Vega]; Between Black River,
Bower Savanna and thereabouts; In the Angles Quarter; In the Seven
Plantations, Macaria, Quathebeca; In the Quarters Quanaboa and
Quardelena; and Point Caugway.

Sir Thomas Modyford, in his “View of the Condition of Jamaica, the 1st
of October, 1664,” reprinted in the appendix to the first volume of the
“Journals of the House of Assembly” ([Spanish Town] 1811), says “there
is in the said island but seven established parishes: _videlicet_, the
town and parish of St. Katherine’s, St. John’s, the town and parish of
Port Royal, Clarendon, St. David’s, St. Andrew’s, and St. Thomas, which
are very large, and in them all but one church, that at St.
Katherine’s.”

The parish of St. David was part of the precinct of St.
Thomas-in-the-East, and St. George was part of the precinct of St. Mary.

As a result of the survey ordered by Sir Thomas Modyford, and made by
“Serjeant-Major John Man, Surveyor-General for His Majesty,” who
calculated that the island comprised seven millions of acres, a map was
prepared by Man and copied by “Mr. Innians, the surveyor,” and published
in Blome’s “Description of the Island of Jamaica” in 1671. There are
included on this map, in addition to two unnamed precincts occupying
approximately the positions of the present Hanover and Manchester, the
precincts of St. Catherine, St. Andrew, Port Royal, St. David, St.
Thomas, St. George, St. Mary, St. John, St. Ann, St. James, St.
Elizabeth and Clarendon.

In the year 1673, Vere was formed by cutting off a portion of Clarendon,
but it still remained part of the precinct of Clarendon; and in 1675
when an Act was passed for dividing His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica into
several parishes and precincts, St. Thomas-in-the-Vale was taken from
St. Catherine; and Clarendon lost another piece out of which was formed
St. Dorothy, which parish became part of the precinct of St. Catherine.

In “The State of Jamaica under Sir Thomas Lynch, His Majesty’s present
Captain-General and Chief Governour, September 20th, 1683,” prefixed to
the “Laws of Jamaica” (London 1684), it states “since that time (1661)
it has been divided into Fifteen Parishes and they into eight Provinces
or Precincts.”

[Illustration:

JAMAICA
]

The first act on record having reference to the parishes of the island
was read on the 11th of May, 1675, by the Council, and sent to the
Assembly with this amendment, that the Magotty be annexed to the
sixteen-mile-walk, but continue still to pay all parochial duties to St.
John’s except to the repairing of the highways, until a church be built
and a parish settled in the parish of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale. A law was
passed in 1677. The law itself had not been preserved, but it is recited
in a law passed in 1681 (33 Car. 2), “An Act for the maintenance of
Ministers and the Poor, and erecting and Repairing of churches.” (“The
Laws of Jamaica,” London 1684): “and whereas this Island, in the
twenty-ninth year of His Majesty’s reign, by an Act of this Country, was
divided into fifteen parishes, which were called, distinguished and
known, by the several names hereafter mentioned, that is to say, _St.
Thomas_, _St. Davids_, _Port Royal_, _St. Andrews_, _St. Katherines_,
_St. Dorothys_, _St. Thomas in the Valley_, _Clarendon_, _Vere_, _St.
Johns_, _St. Georges_, _St. Maries_, _St. Anns_, _St. James_, and _St.
Elizabeths_; Be it therefore enacted and ordained by the Authority
aforesaid, That all and every of the said Parishes, rest, remain, and
for ever hereafter be distinguished and known by the aforesaid
respective Names, and by no other whatsoever, anything in this or any
other Law to the contrary notwithstanding.”

In 1692, on the destruction of the greater part of Port Royal by
earthquake, most of the inhabitants that survived settled in hastily
erected buildings in St. Andrew, on the harbour, and in the following
year the parish of Kingston was formed.

In 1703 Westmoreland was formed out of a portion of St. Elizabeth. In
1723 Portland was formed, the land being taken partly from St.
Thomas-in-the-East, and partly from St. George (by 10 Geo. 1); and
Hanover was formed out of part of Westmoreland. In 1739 (12 Geo. 2, ch.
6) parts of the Carpenters Mountains, heretofore esteemed part of St.
Elizabeth and Clarendon, were transferred to Vere.

In 1758 the three counties of Surrey, Middlesex and Cornwall were
created (by 31 Geo. 2, ch. 15) with a view to the more convenient
holding of courts of justice. The middle county was appropriately called
Middlesex; the westernmost was named after the most western county in
England, Cornwall; and the eastern division was called Surrey, probably
because, like Surrey in England, its principal town was Kingston.

Kingston was declared the county town of Surrey; St. Jago de la Vega,
that of Middlesex; and Savanna-la-Mar, that of Cornwall. In the
first-named were the seven parishes of Port Royal, Kingston, St. Andrew,
St. David, Portland, St. George and St. Thomas-in-the-East; Middlesex
comprised St. Catherine, St. John, St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. Dorothy,
Clarendon, Vere, St. Ann, and St. Mary; while Cornwall had but four
parishes, St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover and St. James. The next
change was in 1770, when Trelawny was formed out of a portion of St.
James. In 1814 Manchester was created by taking parts from Clarendon,
Vere and St. Elizabeth, thus transferring a portion of Cornwall to
Middlesex.

In many old maps of the island, notably James Robertson’s (published in
1804) the names of the owners are given rather than the names of
properties, and in many instances these proper names exist to this day;
and to-day the negro peasantry are often able to tell one the name of
the owner when they are ignorant of the name of the estate or house.

In 1809 a law was passed (50 Geo. 3) for fixing the boundaries of the
several counties and parishes of this island, by which the extent and
boundaries of the counties and parishes as laid down and delineated in
the three maps of the counties and the general map of the island, made
and published by Robertson, were taken as the bounds of the counties and
parishes, and printed copies of the maps were recognized as evidence in
all courts of justice in the island.

In 1831 McGeachy and Smith, surveyors, proposed to publish by
subscription maps of the three counties at £20 apiece. They received the
names of eighty-six subscribers, but the maps were never published, as
we learn by “St. Jago de la Vega Gazette” for February 12, 1831.

In 1841 the last parish to be created in the history of Jamaica,
Metcalfe, was formed out of the parishes of St. Mary and St. George,
whereby Middlesex again gained land, this time at the expense of Surrey.
The parishes then numbered twenty-two. In 1844 an Act (8 Vic. c. 39) was
passed defining the boundaries of Kingston Harbour.

In 1867, as part of the reformation scheme of Sir John Peter Grant, was
passed the law for the reduction of the number of parishes. In Surrey,
Kingston, was increased by taking part of St. Andrew, a part of the
parish and the whole town of Port Royal. St. Andrew took the remaining
part of Port Royal parish; and St. David was merged into St.
Thomas-in-the-East, and St. George into Portland, which also took the
Manchioneal district of St. Thomas-in-the-East.

In Middlesex the recently created parish of Metcalfe was merged into the
parish of St. Mary. St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. John, and St. Dorothy
were all merged into St. Catherine, and Vere again became part of
Clarendon; St. Ann and Manchester remaining as they were. In Cornwall
there was no alteration, the five parishes remaining as they were.

In 1900 Port Royal was made a separate parish for municipal purposes,
remaining still part of the electoral district of Kingston.

Of names given owing to natural features, there are numbers in
Jamaica—the Blue Mountains; the Red Hills; the Great, White, Swift, Dry,
and Milk Rivers; Green Island; Dry Harbour; Dry Mountains; the Round
Hill (in Vere), and so on.

The Y. S. River (pronounced Wyers) is, Long tells us, so called from the
Gallic word Y. S., which signifies crooked or winding. Another authority
says the name of the property was Wyess, and its commercial mark for
shipping purposes was Y. S.

Labour-in-vain Savannah in St. Elizabeth is a name perfectly descriptive
of its nature. So, too, is Burnt Savannah.

The struggle for and the success of emancipation have left their names
on many a free negro settlement; some of which, it is to be feared, have
not realized their early promise: Clarkson Ville, Sturge Town,
Wilberforce, Buxton, Liberty Hill and others.

Some names are typical of the simple faith and language of the negro,
such as Wait-a-bit and Come-see. Me-no-sen-you-no-come, in Trelawny,
must have been named by folk of recluse habits. Others are not
euphonious—Fat Hog Quarter, Running Gut (which Lawrence Archer, in his
“Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies,” thinks may
probably be a corruption by some seafaring man of _Harangutta_, a branch
of the Ganges), Starve Gut Bay; and one rather wonders whether they are
not vulgar corruptions of different designations. We find, however,
similar names in the other islands: _Dos d’Ane_ in Dominica, and _Mal
d’Estomac_ in Trinidad. On the other hand _Kick-em-Jenny_, the rock
between St. Vincent and Grenada, is said to have been originally called
_Cay qu’on gêne_—the islet that bothers one, from the roughness of the
neighbouring sea.

Many names of townships and properties have been translated from the old
country—Oxford, Ipswich, Cambridge, Newmarket and the like—and the
number of Bellevues, Belvideres, Contents, speak little for the
inventive faculties of those who named them.

Of its trade with the outside world Jamaica has evidences in Jamaica
Bay, in Acklin’s Island, Bahamas; in Jamaica (as old at least as 1699),
Long Island; in Jamaica Plain near Boston; in Jamaica Street in Glasgow;
in Jamaica Street in Greenock; and formerly in the Jamaica coffee house
in London.

The Jamaica coffee house was in St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, which
runs out of Cornhill to the west of St. Michael’s church. This alley is
famous as having contained the first coffee house established in London.
The Jamaica coffee house is kept in memory there by the Jamaica wine
house which adjoins the office of a wine merchant (E. J. Rose & Co.) and
by Jamaica buildings. Like all city alleys, the place has been entirely
rebuilt.

Jamaica Street, one of the busiest streets in Glasgow, leading to
Jamaica Bridge over the Clyde, was named in 1763, and its name was
doubtless suggested by the business connexion. There are other evidences
in Glasgow of West Indian trade in St. Vincent Street, Tobago Street,
and the “Havannah” (Street); but the name of Kingston Dock has no
connection with Kingston, Jamaica.

There is a Jamaica Road in Bermondsey and a Jamaica Street in Shadwell.

I
PORT ROYAL

The chief interest of Port Royal lies rather in the silent witness which
through two and a half centuries she has borne to the naval activities
of the island of Jamaica, and in a measure to those of the British
fleets which have from time to time visited these waters, than in any
part which she has played in the internal domestic development of the
colony, although she has now and again sent to the Assembly such notable
members as William Beeston, Samuel Long, Marmaduke Freeman, Peter
Beckford, Matthew Concanen, Roger Hope Elletson and Samuel Jackson
Dallas. The three last, however, were connected, not with “the Point,”
but with that portion of the old parish of Port Royal which now forms
part of St. Andrew and is known to-day as the Port Royal Mountains.

In these days of pageants, Port Royal would fittingly make either
background or proscenium to many a stirring episode illustrative of the
island’s history.

Though Jamaica since its occupation by the English has escaped the
capture and recapture which was the fate of many of the smaller West
Indian islands which are now British, and its forts have never had to
face besieging ships, the vessels sent out from its harbour from that
date till the early years of the last century played no insignificant
part in the sum total of Britannia’s naval history; and Port Royal was a
toll-gate on Britain’s path of Admiralty at which many heavy tolls were
paid.

From the _Swiftsure_, Admiral Penn’s flagship in the expedition which
gained the island for England, to the _Suffolk_ and _Sydney_, many of
the finest ships in the British Navy have sailed or steamed past Port
Royal’s shores; and the flags of not a few of England’s most celebrated
seamen have waved near its walls—Myngs, Morgan (who was buried there),
Nevell, Benbow (who died there), Vernon, Hosier, Ogle, Keppel, Rodney,
Peter Parker, Nelson, Joshua Rowley, McClintock, and lastly Admiral
Lloyd.

Columbus, who was intimately acquainted with the north side of Jamaica,
probably only saw Port Royal from the _Niña’s_ deck as he, after
discovering the island on his second voyage, in 1494, beat slowly
homeward along the south side, after having exchanged courtesies with
the caciques in Old Harbour bay, putting in here and there for shelter
from the contrary wind.

During the Spanish occupation the Point remained unoccupied and the
harbour of Kingston was disregarded till 1520, when the Spaniards
removed their northside capital to St. Jago de la Vega.

In January 1596–97, the inhabitants of Port Royal, had there been any,
would have seen that adventurous soldier of fortune, Sir Anthony
Shirley, sail up the harbour, whence he plundered the island and burnt
St. Jago; in March 1643, the buccaneering hero Captain William Jackson,
with his marauding company of three ships sent out from England by the
Earl of Warwick, recruited at Barbados and St. Kitts, again insulted the
powerless or supine Spaniards, passing Port Royal, which was then an
island; and in May 1655, the inhabitants fell an easy prey to a
ragamuffin army of 8000 troops contained in thirty-eight ships under
Penn and Venables, who tried to atone thereby for their ineffectual
attempt on Hispaniola. This was probably the largest fleet which up to
that moment had entered Kingston harbour.

The English conquerors soon saw the strategic advantage of Cagua (which
they corrupted into Cagway), or the Point, as they called it, as a
protection to the harbour and the capital at St. Jago de la Vega.

The earliest act of this motley crew, when they tired of killing the
cattle which the Spaniards had been at great pains to breed on the
sea-washed savannahs on the south side, was to erect a fort at Cagway
under Sedgwick in March 1656. At the Restoration it not unnaturally
received the name of Fort Charles, and the collection of houses that
grew up around it was called Port Royal, at the dictates of loyalty or
sycophancy, according to the political creed of the members of the new
colony. But the governor and council had often great difficulty in
persuading the Assembly to vote the funds necessary for its upkeep and
improvement. A writer during Sir Charles Lyttelton’s governorship,
1662–1664, says it was called Port Royal from the excellency of the
harbour; but it was apparently not till February 1674 that that became
its official name, when the Assembly voted “Point Conway (an obvious
misprint for Cagway) to be called Port Royal.” In addition to Fort
Charles there were three other principal forts called James, Carlisle
and Rupert.

For a time Port Royal was the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor,
while the Governor’s official residence was at Spanish Town. In November
1661, it was ordered “that no person remain on Point Cagua without
giving security to a Justice of the Peace not to be chargeable to the
inhabitants for more than one month. Any waterman bringing a person
likely to be chargeable to pay a piece of eight and carry him back
again.” In 1664 the Assembly desired and advised the Council that the
Court of Common Pleas should be held constantly “in St. Jago de la Vego
and no more at Port Royal,” and the Council agreed. In March 1674–5
Peter Beckford wrote home:

Lord Vaughan arrived on the 13th inst. at night and landed at Port
Royal; next day his commission was read, and he was entertained as
well as the island could afford; 15th, he remained on Port Royal,
viewing the fortifications; came next day to St. Jago, being received
at the seaside [at Passage Fort, probably] by 150 horse and a company
of foot, besides the gentlemen of the country and seven coaches, all
which attended him to the town, where he was received with two
companies of foot, and dined with Sir Thos. Modyford.

By 1675, residence by the Governor at Port Royal had gone out of favour.
In that year was passed a resolution to the effect that—the
“Captain-General’s salary to be £2000 per annum, residing usually at St.
Jago, his residence at Port Royal to be omitted.”

In 1680, the custos of Port Royal was Sir Henry Morgan, J.P. The judges
of court of common pleas were William Beeston, Reginald Wilson and
Anthony Swimmer. The justices of the peace were, besides the judges,
John White, Theodore Cary, Prichard Herne and Harbottle Wingfield.

Sir Thomas Lynch wrote, in 1682, to the Bishop of London, of Beeston:
“You may be disposed to credit him as Dr. Beeston’s brother, and a very
ingenious man, to whose skill and zeal we owe the building of our church
at Port Royal, the handsomest in America....” This church, called
Christchurch, perished in the earthquake. The present building, erected
in 1725–26, contains monuments to many of those who succumbed to yellow
fever. Its most notable monument is that to Lieutenant Stapleton (d.
1754) by Roubiliac. Of the rest the most interesting is that to Captain
de Crespigny (d. 1825), who had served under St. Vincent, Nelson and
Collingwood, and during his career saved no less than sixteen lives. The
carved organ loft was erected in 1743.

In the Council minutes for June 1685, occurs the valuation of two
parcels of land taken for the public use. One “contiguous to the breast
work” (probably identical with the “Redoute” in Lilly’s plan) was valued
at £125.

As early as 1661 there were in Fort Charles “some as good cannon planted
as the Tower of London would afford,” but it was not ever thus. The fort
was “not shook down, but much shattered” by the earthquake of 1692.
Seven or eight years later it was reconstructed by Colonel Christian
Lilly, an engineer officer of considerable ability, who had laid out the
town of Kingston in 1694, and who, in 1734, was captain of the fort. He
was probably the author of “An Account of Commodore Wilmot’s Expedition
to Hispaniola” of the year 1696, in which occurs a very caustic
description of the “small fort” at Port Royal, which he regarded as

Of little significance in case of an attack. It is something like a
square redoubt of forty or fifty paces to a side with two small
bastions towards the town, but nothing towards the sea but a small
semi-circular advance in the middle of that side, capable of
containing three or four pieces of cannon. The walls are built after
the ancient way of fortifications and are not cannon-proof. The
embrasures are arched over, and so large as to be more like gates for
the enemy to enter at than port-holes. There is not so much as a
trench or palisade round it, and I believe not six pieces of cannon
that can bear at one time upon a ship when opposite to it. Outside
this fort, when I was there, there was a long line of cannon; but so
extremely exposed to the enemy’s fire that it would be hard matter for
any one to use them in case of an attack, and they are of no use at
all in case an enemy gets into the harbour, for they can then be taken
in reverse. This is the chief artificial fortification of Port Royal,
and the natural fortification is not much except that it is now an
island, for the town is all open to the harbour and partly to the sea.
In my opinion, therefore, there would be no difficulty for a small
fleet to master it, and less risk than in encountering two stout
men-of-war, were it not for our own ships in the harbour, as I can
explain if required. This place, being the bulwark and gate to the
conquest of the island, should be better secured. The side of the fort
towards the sea, already falling down, should be rebuilt in some
figure better suited for its defence, and the whole should be
surrounded by a good deep ditch and a row or two of strong palisades.
The embrasures should be lessened to two feet at most to protect the
gunners at their guns. The battery on the east side should be made
defencible and cannon-proof. The plot of land to north-west of the
fort should be taken into a horn-work and fitted for several guns, to
defend it against attack in reverse. To eastward of the town a work
should be thrown up to cover it against the isthmus, and to guard
against surprise by boats on that side. These fortifications could
also be built of earth and wood; which would save much expense and
would suffice if they lasted to the end of the war.

This account tallies with a description of Port Royal, dated October 25,
1699, signed by Lilly himself.

Sir William Beeston, writing to the Council of Trade and Plantations in
February 1700, said—with all the self-sufficiency of one in authority:

The storehouses are finished and of great use, and so is Fort Charles
with all the advantage the ground will afford. Captain Lilly would
have had it built in another figure, but that was more to show his
desire it might be done by his directions than of any use, for, as he
proposed, there would have been much less room, and the spurs were not
capacious enough to contain any guns. I had the approbation of all
people in the figure I proposed, and it’s not only very useful but
very beautiful also. The next public work we go about is to lay a line
of thirty or forty guns in good stone work to the eastward of Fort
Charles, which guns will be right up the channel where all ships come
in, and make the place not easy to be attempted by sea.

From the earliest times the members of the House of Assembly, ever ready
to insist on their rights, were admitted to view the forts and
fortifications, and a joint committee of the Assembly and Council used
to report annually on Fort Charles. After pointing out various defects
for thirty or forty years, the committee in 1736 got angry, and
complained “that the present state and condition of the fortifications
in Port Royal, which is very defenceless, require the immediate
consideration of the Legislature, as they are the strength and security
of the island,” and that “little or no notice had been taken to remedy
the grievances complained of.”

Towards the close of the eighteenth century there were thirty forts and
batteries in the island. At present there are but three worthy of the
name—Fort Nugent at Harbour Head, Fort Clarence, opposite Port Royal,
and Rocky Point, on the Palisadoes.

As the island became more settled under the British colonists, vessels
which had at first been equipped for home defence began to assume the
position of private men-of-war, or privateers, and to bring into Port
Royal, sometimes with the warrant of the governor, sometimes without,
spoils from the Spaniards. When it suited the home programme the local
Governor was praised for zeal in Imperial service. When the complaints
of the Spanish court became too insistent, he was made a scapegoat and
recalled. But the habit of plundering the hated Spaniard had got into
the blood of men who were ill-fitted to lead a sedentary life, and the
steps from authorized privateersmen, first to unauthorized buccaneer,
and then to pirate and murderer, were easy. And no close scrutiny was
placed upon the origin of the wealth poured into Port Royal, which its
owners squandered in drinking and gaming as quickly as they had gained
it. Port Royal was then the centre of much debauchery.

Modyford, the governor, wrote home, “The Spaniards wondered much at the
sickness of our people, until they knew of the strength of their drinks,
but then they wondered more that they were not all dead.” The
buccaneers, another writer tells us, “have been known to spend 2000 or
3000 pieces of eight in one night.”

The memory of the wild deeds done by those who put off from Port Royal’s
shore is kept alive in the name of =Gallows Point=, where many notorious
pirates were, when condemned, hung up, and where the last of those
executions, of which one is graphically described by Michael Scott in
“Tom Cringle’s Log,” took place in 1831. Rackham, another pirate, was
executed on the cay which still bears his name.

The following interesting account of Port Royal is given, in Francis
Hanson’s account of Jamaica, written in 1682, appended to the first
printed edition of the “Laws of Jamaica”:

The Town of Port Royal, being as it were the Store House or Treasury
of the West Indies, is always like a continual Mart or Fair, where all
sorts of choice Merchandizes are daily imported, not only to furnish
the Island, but vast quantities are thence again transported to supply
the Spaniards, Indians, and other Nations, who in exchange return us
bars and cakes of Gold, wedges and pigs of Silver, Pistoles, Pieces of
Eight and several other Coyns of both Mettles, with store of wrought
Plate, Jewels, rich Pearl Necklaces, and of Pearl unsorted or
undrill’d several Bushels; besides which, we are furnished with the
purest and most fine sorts of Dust Gold from Guiney, by the Negroe
Ships, who first come to Jamaica to deliver their Blacks, and there
usually refit and stay to reload three or four Months; in which time
(though the Companies Gold may be partly sent home) yet the Merchants,
Masters of Ships, and almost every Mariner (having private Cargoes)
take occasion to sell or exchange great quantities; some of which our
Goldsmiths there work up, who being yet but few grow very wealthy, for
almost every House hath a rich Cupboard of Plate, which they
carelessly expose, scarce shutting their doors in the night, being in
no apprehension of Thieves for want of receivers as aforesaid. And
whereas most other Plantations ever did and now do keep their accounts
in Sugar, or the proper Commodities of the place, for want of Money,
it is otherwise in Jamaica, for in Port-Royal there is more plenty of
running Cash (proportionably to the number of its inhabitants) than is
in London....

One of the earliest to bring lustre to the crown of Port Royal was
Admiral Myngs, by his capture in 1662 of St. Jago de Cuba, and other
naval exploits.

Then came Sir Henry Morgan, the conqueror of Panama, whose deeds of
undoubted valour were smirched by cowardly conduct towards priests and
defenceless women. In later life he turned respectable, even to the
extent of persecuting his former comrades, when he acted as
lieutenant-governor. But the old spirit died hard, and we are not
surprised when we read that the governor, Lord Vaughan, complained that
Morgan made himself “so cheap at the port drinking and gaming at the
taverns” that he intended to remove thither himself, from Spanish Town,
for the credit of the island. In justice to Morgan’s memory it may be
said that some historians hold that Oexmelin’s account of the buccaneers
is a libel on Morgan, and that he was not nearly so black as he has been
painted: and when we find his methods of warfare, and worse, adopted by
a nation that has hitherto claimed to be in the forefront of
civilization we are tempted to forgive Morgan much. As admiral of the
Jamaica fleet, Morgan at the time commanded twenty-eight English-built
ships and eight taken from the French—thirty-six in all, with a tonnage
of 1585, the size of a small passenger steamer of to-day.

The Council was sitting at Port Royal on June 7, 1692, when by the ever
memorable earthquake of that day many important colonists lost their
lives. Houses, said to have been as good as many in the city of London,
were destroyed; and the part of the town bordering on the sea entirely
disappeared, owing to insecure foundations. A century later remains of
these houses were still visible. Lewis Galdy, a French immigrant, was
swallowed and cast up again, and lived many years. He will be referred
to in the chapter on St. Catherine. The mace brought out by Lord Windsor
in 1662 (erroneously supposed to have been the bauble which Cromwell
ordered out of the House of Commons), was damaged at the time of the
earthquake, and repaired after it; but it has since disappeared. The two
maces in the Institute of Jamaica are of later date.

The principal authorities usually quoted on the earthquake of 1692 are
Sir Hans Sloane’s account in the “Philosophical Transactions”; the
description given by Long, in his History of Jamaica; and a letter by
the rector of the parish which appeared in the “Gentleman’s Magazine”
for 1750, and was reprinted by Bridges—all of which information was
epitomized by Gardner in his history.

In addition to these is available a broadside in the British Museum, a
copy of which is in the Institute of Jamaica. The key and letter which
form part of the broadside appeared in the “Journal of the Institute of
Jamaica,” in 1892.

The following accounts of the earthquake have also been printed in the
“Journal of the Institute of Jamaica”:

(1) Sir Hans Sloane’s account consisting of (_a_) “An account ...
which I wrote myself being present in it.” (_b_) “Extract from a
letter from one in Jamaica who was in the terrible earthquake.” (_c_)
“Extract of a letter ... giving an account of the sickness that
followed the earthquake.” (_d_) “Part of a letter ... giving a further
account from another hand.” (_e_) “Part of another from the same
hand.” (_f_) “Part of a letter from a gentleman in Jamaica ... not
being present in the earthquake ... very curious.” (2) Notes by Mr.
Maxwell Hall on an article by Colonel A. B. Ellis in “Popular Science
Monthly” for 1892. (3) “A full account of the late dreadful earthquake
at Port Royal in Jamaica written in two letters from the minister of
the place [Dr. Heath],” which is copied incompletely and incorrectly
by Bridges. (4) An account by Mrs. Akers of Nevis, printed in a
“Natural History of Nevis ... by the Rev. Mr. Smith ... 1745.” (5)
“The Truest and Largest account of the earthquake in Jamaica ...
written by a Reverend Divine there to his friend in London ... 1693,”
a copy of which is in the West India Library in the Institute. The
letter is dated “Withy Wood in the parish of Vere,” and it is possible
that the “Reverend Divine” was Thomas Hardwicke, who was appointed
Rector of Vere by the Earl of Carlisle. (6) “A letter to a friend from
Jamaica, Spanish Town, the 29th of June, 1692,” by John Pike, printed
in a pamphlet, a copy of which is in the British Museum.

There were also two letters dated from Port Royal on June 20 and June
28, 1692, given in “Earthquakes explained and Practically Improved ...
by Thomas Doolittle, M.A., Jamaica’s Miseries show London Mercies ...
London, 1693.”

In addition to all these there is a letter sent home by the Council to
the Lords of Plantations, which is given in an abbreviated form in the
“Calendar of State Papers (Colonial Series)—America and West
Indies—1689–1692.” The following is copied in extenso from the
manuscript Council minutes in the Colonial Secretary’s office, Jamaica,
a manuscript copy of which is in the Library of the Institute:

A letter from the President and Council of Jamaica to Lords of Trade
and Plantations of the date June 20 from on board the _Richard and
Sarah_, Jamaica. May it please Your Lordships on the seventh instant
it pleased God to afflict this whole island with an earthquake, the
dreadfullness whereof will sensibly enough appear in acquainting Your
Lordships that in the space of two minutes [the “Calendar of State
Papers” has ten] all the churches, the dwelling houses and sugar works
of the whole island were thrown down: two-thirds of Port Royal
swallowed up by sea, all its forts and fortifications demolished and a
great part of its inhabitants miserably either knockt o’th head or
drowned. As we are become by this an instance of God Almighty’s severe
judgment, so we hope we shall be of Your Lordships compassion. We have
in the midst of this confusion applied ourselves with all vigour to
the restoring of things. We have taken into Their Majesties’ service
the _Richard and Sarah_, a merchantship, where though to a great loss
in the neglect of our own private affairs, we sit _de die in diem_ in
Council; protecting the merchants in their fishing on the ruins of
their own houses; preventing robbery and stealing amongst the ruins;
deciding controversies and punishing quarrels too frequently arising
from the uncertain right of things. In sinking floating carcasses,
taking care of the sick and wounded; lastly, in feeding and sustaining
the necessitous which must now be done out of the Country stock, all
kinde of stores being lost in the ruin of Port Royall. We have sett
the masters of ships to the sounding a channell leading further up
into this harbour, where we are like to have a scituation equal to
Port Royall in everything and exceeding it in its being capable of
relieving the country or being on any invasion relieved by it. This
may it please Your Lordships we doe in all humble confidence hoping
Your Lordships will consider us as we are all open and exposed to the
attempts of enemyes by sea as well as by land. At land at this instant
we are contending against a party of French who have been for some
time ravageing the north side of the island, and though we have sent a
proportionable force against them both by sea and land, yet by reason
of the violent rains and earthquakes at land and blowing weather at
sea it has not pleased God as yet to make us able to give much account
of them as we still hope to doe. Among other accidents of the
earthquake, their Majesties ship the _Swan_, which was lying at the
wharves for careening, was suckt among the houses of Port Royall, has
lost her guns, rigging, cables, and anchors, and her keel damaged, and
is on survey cast, and we must inform Your Lordships that could
repeated persuasions or even threats have prevailed on Captain Nevill
to any degree of diligence, the _Swan_ had either been out of harbour
or rid out of danger. Many of the guns of the fortifications are two
fathoms under water, and are in danger of being lost. The small arms
of the country are generally broke by the fall of the houses, which
gives us apprehensions from the slaves. This being the true state of
our condition we must humbly beseech Your Lordships effectually to
intercede with their most gracious Majesties that we may have a
proportionable reliefe in time, and in all humility we think till we
shall be able to fortify it cannot be less than three fifth Rates with
one or two good fourth Rates for a battery, together with four or five
hundred land soldiers and all sorts of arms and ammunition (great shot
excepted), and that Your Lordships would procure us such a Governor
whose generous care and charity may be equall to the needs of this
distressed place, and we humbly take leave to inform Your Lordships
that a tollerable choice may be made from amongst ourselves till, by
the blessing of God and the just and equal administration of the
Government, it may again grow to be fitt reward for greater persons.
We humbly beg that this advice sloop may be speedily returned and the
master and men protected. All which is humbly submitted. We are, may
it please your honours, Your Lordships most humble servants, John
White, P.C., John Bourden, Peter Heywood, Samuell Bernard, John
Towers, Nicholas Laws, Francis Blackmore, Charles Knight, Thomas
Sutton.

Postscript—Since the foregoing their Majesties’ ship _Guernsey_ with
the sloop which we sent out against the French that had landed on the
north side of this island are come into port and have had good
success, having burnt the enemy’s ship and taken and destroyed all the
men both by land and sea, except eighteen which escaped in a sloop.

In all humility we are your Lordships most humble and obedient
servants.

Jamaica. From on board the _Richard and Sarah_, June the 20th, 1692.

The old bell in the Institute of Jamaica, is said to have been sunk
originally by the great earthquake, and to have been recovered during
some dredging operations off Port Royal. Tradition said that it was
given to the old Spanish church at Port Royal, by a convent in Spain,
but this is obviously incorrect as the Spaniards had no church, or in
fact, any building at the Point. It is, of course, possible that the
early English settlers took it from the ruins of some Spanish Town
church, for use in the church they built at the Point, or it may have
been taken to Port Royal at a later date. In any case it is curious that
the only Spanish bell known in Jamaica should have been discovered at
Port Royal and not at Spanish Town or at St. Ann’s Bay, where the first
Spanish settlement stood.

[Illustration:

SPANISH CHURCH BELL
]

Either in the ordinary course of events by the continual beating of the
clapper, or through a flaw in the metal, or through its fall at the time
of the earthquake or at some other time, the bell was cracked; but after
its recovery the crack was stayed by a drill hole, and the bell is said
to have been hung in the new church which had been built at Port Royal
in 1725.

In 1855, as the crack had extended in two directions and rendered the
bell useless, the “whitewash and plaster” churchwardens of the day sold
it for old metal. During the administration of Sir John Peter Grant it
was pointed out to the Government that it was lying in an old curiosity
shop in Kingston, in imminent danger of being melted down; and it was
purchased by the Government and deposited at the Ordnance Wharf, whence
it found its way to the Institute of Jamaica. It is 2 feet 1¾ inch in
height and 6 feet 7 inches in circumference at the base. Round the edge
runs the following inscription:

_Ihesv Maria et Verbum Caro Factum Est et Abita_.

In the Vulgate, the 14th verse of the 1st chapter of St. John’s Epistle
commences thus: “_Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis_.”

The bell also bears a cross made of a series of stars, and two small
designs in relief placed in duplicate on opposite sides, representing
the one the Virgin and Child, and the other, a saint, probably St.
George or St. Michael.

The bell, in the opinion of an expert to whom a photograph was sent, is
certainly Spanish; the cross and letter are from fifteenth-century
moulds, but the small designs are later, probably sixteenth century. In
casting, old moulds were frequently used. The cross is decidedly
Spanish.

In September 1692, the Council wrote home, “Port Royal which was our
chief stay and where we could muster two thousand effective men is,
since the earthquake, reduced to about two hundred men.”

The old plan of Port Royal which was reproduced on page 442 of the “West
India Committee Circular” of September 23, 1913, was formerly in the
Dockyard there, having been presented to that office by Commodore the
Hon. W. J. Ward, in August 1880. It was handed over to the Institute of
Jamaica by the last commodore after the dockyard was given up. It is
obviously a copy of an older plan in the Colonial Secretary’s office. In
mistake it is stated on it that the original plan was surveyed in June
1857. It should have been 1827.

The wording on the original plan is as follows: “A general plan of the
town, forts and fortifications, etc., of Port Royal, performed by an
order from His Grace William, Duke of Manchester, Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica and the territories
thereon depending in America, Chancellor and Vice-Admiral of the same.
Surveyed in June 1827 by Philip A. Morris, Crown Surveyor.”

On the original plan are the following notes: “All within the yellow
lines is Crown property.” “The blue lines represent the town of Port
Royal before the great earthquake of 1692.” “The red line is what
remained of the town after the earthquake.” “The ochre colouring
represents the town as it now stands.” “True copy from Morris, original
Survey. The blue, red and yellow lines added by me.” (Signed) Thos.
Harrison, Govt. Surveyor, 20th September, 1870; (Signed) J. R. Mann, D.
of Rds. and Surveyor-General, 24th October, 1870.

The following interesting experience of a diver during his visit to
submerged Port Royal, appeared in the “Falmouth Post,” of October 7,
1859.

SIR,—Being aware that many erroneous statements regarding my
explorations of old Port Royal have been circulated, I beg to offer
the public, through the medium of your valuable journal, the following
statement, should you deem it worthy a place in your columns.

I first went down on the remains of the old Port Royal on the 29th
August, and found that what I had heard with regard to some of the
buildings being seen when the water was clear was correct. I landed
among the remains of ten or more houses, the walls of which were from
3 to 10 feet above the sand. The day was rather cloudy and I could
only get a view of a small portion at a time.

After repairing H.M. Ship _Valorous_, I went down again on the 9th
instant, at what is called at Port Royal, “The Church Buoy,” but which
ought to be called the “Fort Buoy,” it being placed on the remains of
old Fort James; but the day was unfavourable, the water being muddy—so
that I could not see much; and being impressed with the idea that it
must have been the remains of the church on which I was, my
explorations that day were not satisfactory. About 12 o’clock (being
then down four hours) the water cleared a little, and getting a better
view I concluded that the ruins which I was on must have been those of
a fort. But soon after I found a large granite stone somewhat the
shape and size of a tombstone, which was covered with a coral
formation, so that I could not tell whether it had an inscription or
not. Fancying this stone to have been a tombstone, thereby indicating
the vicinity of a churchyard, I was not satisfied what the character
of the building could have been. I came to the surface about 1 o’clock
determined to wait a more favourable day. In the meantime Mr. de Pass
was so good as to obtain for me, from the collection of Henry
Hutchings, Esq., a map of the old town as it stood before the
earthquake, by which I learnt that the ruins, of the nature of which I
had all along my doubts, were in fact the ruins of old Fort James, and
that the Church stood about the east end of the present dockyard.

Monday, the 19th instant, being a very clear day, I went down about 2
o’clock, and had a very good view of the Fort. At times I could see
objects 100 feet each away from me. The Fort forms an obtuse angle to
the west, on a line with the north end of the hospital—the wall of the
angle runs in a N.E. direction, the other in a S.S.E. The walls are
built of brick, and are as solid as so much rock. I have traced and
examined several of the embrasures and have no doubt but that the guns
in them are covered with coral; that known as “brain stone,” being
large and numerous on the fort. After being down about two hours, I
found an iron gun in one of the embrasures almost covered in the
ruins, with a heavy copper chain to the breech. After sending up the
gun next day, I found the end of another chain not far from where the
gun lay. On heaving it out of the sand and mud, I found it was
attached to a granite stone similar to the one I had seen before. I
have no doubt these stones were part of the embrasures and that the
copper chains were used for slinging the guns. The gun which I found
had no trunnions to it, and therefore could not have been used on a
carriage.

I am of opinion, from what I have seen of old Port Royal, that many of
the houses remained perfect after the earthquake, though sunk in the
water, and that the sand has been thrown up, and the mud settled
around and in them from time to time, until all the largest buildings
are covered over, so that the remains of the houses which I have seen
may have been the top part of the highest buildings; which is
apparently the case from the irregularity of the heights.

I intend paying another visit to the ill-fated town, in a week or two;
and I will take the first opportunity of informing you, and through
you the public, of anything new that may come to my notice.

I remain, Sir, &c.,
(Sgd.) JEREMIAH D. MURPHY.

It would be interesting to know what became of the gun referred to.

Port Royal as a town, never recovered from the effects of the earthquake
of June 17, 1692.

Shortly after, the town of Kingston rose on the mainland across the
harbour, and thither much of the wealth of Port Royal went, and the
principal commercial and shipping street was not unnaturally called Port
Royal Street.

In August 1702, brave old Benbow sailed into Port Royal after his fight
with Du Casse off Santa Marta, extending over five days (a fight which,
thanks to his cowardly captains, was one of the darkest blots on
Britannia’s shield) only to die here of his wounds two months later....
He was buried in Kingston parish church.

In 1703 arrived from Massachusetts one good foot company of volunteers,
“the first men in armes that ever went out of this Province, or from the
Shoar of America”: they were intended for a further expedition.

In January 1703–04, a fire destroyed that part of Port Royal which the
earthquake had spared. The occurrence is thus described by Christian
Lilly: “Between 11 and 12 of the clock in the morning a fire hapn’d thro
carelessness to break out in a warehouse at Port Royall which before
night consumed all ye Town, and left not one house of it standing, by
which meanes a great many people, especially merchants are ruin’d. For
this Town being scituated upon a small Cay, now, of about Thirty Acres
of Land surrounded with the sea, and the whole place taken up with
houses and the streets and lanes extreamly narrow, the poor people had
not that conveniency of saving their goods as might have been expected
in a place where they might have been more at large.”

In 1708, Admiral Sir Charles Wager, commander-in-chief of Jamaica, met
and conquered a Spanish treasure ship, and though, owing to the
cowardice of two of his captains, much of the treasure (said to have
been worth from four to ten millions) was lost, Wager became a wealthy
man. During his command (1707–9), a greater number of prizes were taken
than at any former period of like duration.

On March 23, 1692–93, Beeston, in writing home, had said: “But there is
little of Port Royal left, being now a perfect island of about
twenty-five acres and too small to hold the trade and people.” After the
fire a bill was passed in the Assembly to prevent the re-settling of the
town, but this was warmly opposed and in October 1703 another bill was
passed entitled “an Act for making the Key, whereon Fort Charles and
Fort William are erected, a port of entry”; and in a letter written from
Jamaica in 1712, Port Royal is referred to as a “small island about
fourteen miles from Spanish Town”: In 1716, William Wood, in his preface
to “The Laws of Jamaica” says, “The Town of Port Royal, formerly much
larger and very populous, is built on a key, which before the great
earthquake, joyned to an Isthmus of Land that divides the sea and the
Harbour of Kingston,” and there is additional evidence that, at various
stages in the history of the Palisadoes, channels were formed by the sea
across what is, after all, nothing but a string of islands more or less
closely connected by drifted sand and stone. And an engraving, in Long’s
History, as late as 1774, shows it as an island.

A manuscript chart, in the Institute of Jamaica, entitled “A plan of the
Harbour of Port Royal in Jamaica, survey’d in the year 1724, and
carefully examin’d in the year 1728, by Capt. John Gascoigne,” tells of
the severe shocks which the town and harbour have received within
historic times. As we see by the map, the hurricane of 1722 once more
cut it off from the isthmus to which it is now connected, if, indeed,
the passage existing ten years before had silted up.

Professor Robert T. Hill, in “The Geology and Physical Geography of
Jamaica,” writes:

The Kingston formation is the oldest of the formations of old gravel
and other alluvium occurring upon the plains of the Liguanea type.
This is the formation upon which the city of Kingston and suburbs are
built, including the strip of land known as the Palisades, and the
plain extending back of Kingston to the foot of the mountains. The
material consists of boulders, gravel, and pebble of varying sizes,
usually very angular, and representing every known material of the
Blue Mountain series. These are embedded in a matrix of dull red
arenaceous clay, producing a chocolate soil and derived from the Minho
beds so completely exposed _in situ_ in the mountains north of
Kingston.

With reference to the chart, Mr. Charlton Thompson, R.N., the harbour
master, wrote in 1907 as follows:

“I have always been of opinion that the Palisadoes were originally
coral cays joined gradually by sand-spits. To my knowledge of Port
Royal Point (thirty-one years), I am sure it had grown out about 50
feet during that time, which portion sank during the last earthquake;
and the depressions or subsidences which took place then were all
made-up land. There were also subsidences in the Palisadoes.”

The following account of the hurricane of 1722 above referred to is from
“A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West Indies; in His Majesty’s ships
the _Swallow_ and _Weymouth_” by John Atkins, a naval surgeon (2nd
edition, London, 1737).

The present hurricane was a week after our arrival; began at eight in
the morning, two days before the change of the moon, gave at least
forty-eight hours notice, by a noisy breaking of the waves upon the
kays, very disproportioned to the breeze, a continued swell, without
reflux of the water; and the two nights preceding, prodigious
lightnings and thunder; which all the old experienced men foretold
would be a hurricane; or that one already had happened at no great
distance. I was ashore at _Port Royal_ and found all the pilots
returned from the windward part of the island, (where they customarily
attend the coming down of ships,) and observing upon the unusual
intumescence of the water, so great the day before, and beat so high,
that our boats could not possibly put on shore at _Gun Kay_ to take
the men off that were set there, to the number of twenty, for trimming
up our cask; themselves making signals not to attempt it. Betimes next
morning, the wind began in flurrys at N.E. and flew quickly round to
S.E. and S.S.E. where it continued the stress of the storm, bringing
such quantities of water, that our little island was overflowed 4 foot
at least; so that what with the fierce driving of shingles (wooden
staves used instead of tiling upon their houses) about our ears, and
the water floating their boats, empty hogheads, and lumber about the
streets, those without doors were every moment in danger of being
knocked on the head, or carried away by the stream. Within it was
worse, for the waters sapping the foundations, gave continual and just
apprehensions of the houses falling, as in effect half of them did,
and buried their inhabitants! Nor indeed after the storm had began,
was it safe to open a door, especially such as faced the wind, lest it
should carry the roofs off; and escaping thence, there was no place of
retreat, we remaining in a very melancholly scituation, both from wind
and water. _The perils of false brethren was nothing to it._ It may be
worth notice, what became of the purser in this common danger; I was
regardless at first, as suspecting more of timidity in the people,
till finding myself left alone proprietor of a shaking old house, the
streets full of water and drift, with shingles flying about like
arrows; I began to meditate a little more seriously upon my safety,
and would have compounded all my _credit_ in the victualling, my
hoops, and bags, for one acre (as _Gonzalo_ says in the _Tempest_) _of
barren ground, long heath, or brown furze_, to have trod dry upon. Our
neighbours had retreated towards the church, as the strongest
building, and highest ground, which I was luckily too late to recover;
but endeavouring to stem upwards for a safer station, was taken into a
house in the lower street, with an old woman wading in the same manner
from her ruined habitation. We were no sooner in, but new fears of
this also falling, thrust us into the yard (the water then at eleven
o’clock, breast high) where we helped one another upon a low
brick-built outhouse, that being more out of the wind, and surrounded
with others, kept the water still. The unhappiness of those who
suffered in stronger, was their facing the wind, which brought the sea
upon them with violence. A platform of one and twenty guns and mortars
were drove some of them to the market-place; the two lines of houses
next the sea, with the church, was undermined and levelled with the
torrent, and in their ruin was our safety; for altho’ we had a greater
depth, they were by such a bank made motionless. The whole rise of the
water was computed at 16 or 18 foot, very admirable at a place where
it is not ordinarily observed to flow above one or two. At 5 in the
evening the waters abated, and with so quick a retreat as to leave the
streets dry before 6; when every one was congratulating his own safety
in condolancies upon the loss of their friends. Of 50 sail in this
harbour, only four men-of-war and 2 merchant ships rid it out, but
with all their masts and booms blown away. All the men we left at _Gun
Kay_ were washed off and perished, except one _Indian_ that drove into
harbour upon a broken gallows that had been there erected. Wrecks and
drowned men were everywhere seen along shore; general complaints of
loss at land (least at _St. Jago_) which made it a melancholy scene,
and to finish the misfortune, the slackness of the sea-breezes, calms,
and lightning, stagnating waters, broods of insects thence, and a
shock or two of earthquake that succeeded to the hurricane, combined
to spread a baneful influence, and brought on a contagious distemper,
fatal for some months through the island. There being no volcanos, the
earthquakes felt here are always after great rains, on a parched earth
that admits their penetration; and possibly nigher the coast, as at
_Port Royal_, may be from the sea in a long process of time
undermining in some manner a loose earth, or finding in its deep
recesses new caverns; or subterranean heats working towards them, the
dreadful contest shocks.

The hurricane occurred on the tenth anniversary of one that visited
Jamaica on August 28, 1712. In it about four hundred persons perished,
and August 28 was appointed by the House of Assembly as a “perpetual
anniversary fast.”

At this time it was “ordered that all masters of sloops and vessels
employed as sugar-drogers in and about this island, shall before they
are permitted to pass His Majesty’s fort at Port Royal, be obliged to
bring one load of stones each, in order to repair the damages done to
the fortifications by the late hurricane.” The Marquis Duquesne got into
trouble with the assembly owing to the manner in which he enforced the
order, and generally in his duties as captain of the fort, and had to
vindicate his position, in “The Marquis Duquesne vindicated in a letter
to a noble lord,” published in 1728.

In a petition presented by the garrison of Fort Charles to a committee
of the Assembly that was inspecting the fort in September 1725, the
following representations occur:

That abundance of us from time to time have been swept away into our
graves; besides several of us, by reson of divers sorts of lingering
distempers, are rendered incapable of doing further service:

“... You are sensible, sirs, our beds are the hard stones, our
covering nothing but the expanded canopy of the heavens! This
certainly is very grievous, especially when we see the company at
Spanish-Town lie in beds, and having barracks fit for men of their
function. Are they more loyal subjects, or more dutiful soldiers, than
we are? Be it far from us to reflect on them or their happiness! but
with sorrow and regret we behold our own misfortunes.

In 1733 Fort Charles was considered not sufficient protection to
Kingston Harbour and a fort at Mosquito Point was suggested; this was
the origin of Fort Augusta.

In 1734 was passed an act to vest Lands in Port Royal in His Majesty,
His Heirs and Successors for the use of His ships of war. The property
consisted of “Lands, tenements, hereditaments or shoal water.” The act,
in the edition of 1738, is accompanied by a plan of land proposed to be
acquired to the north-east of Port Royal. From this it appears that
there was at the time a town wall on the sea front.

In the first half of the eighteenth century smuggling was prevalent in
the British colonies, and subject to violent repression on the part of
Spain. The well-known case in 1731 of Robert Jenkins, master of the brig
_Rebecca_, who lost his ear on his way from Jamaica to London was not
unique. Rear-Admiral Stewart, who then commanded on the Jamaica station,
saw that the fault lay largely with the Jamaica merchants, but the
English merchants made their wrongs felt in the House of Parliament, and
Vernon was amongst their warmest supporters. He pleaded for the
destruction of Porto Bello (where the Spanish guardacostas fitted out),
and offered to effect it with six ships; which he did to his own renown
and the gratification of the English nation in general and the Jamaica
merchants in particular. While in command on the Jamaica station, Vernon
issued an order, which was quickly adopted by the Admiralty, and made
marked improvement in the discipline and efficiency of the British navy,
and enriched the English language with the word grog. The order was to
the effect that the sailors should qualify their rum with water—a quart
of water to half a pint of rum. The sailors did not like their “grog,”
as they nicknamed the new drink, adopting the nickname of Vernon,
derived, it is said, from his using a grogram boat cloak.

Writing about 1740, Leslie, in his “New and Exact Account of Jamaica,”
says:—“Port Royal was once the fairest seaport in America, it flowed in
Riches and Trade, now it is only a small place, but yet it consists of
three handsome streets, several cross lanes and a fine Church. They have
a Hospital for sick or disabled Sailors, and there is lately built a
Yard for the King’s Naval Stores and conveniency of Workmen employed
about His Majesty’s Ships of War.”

Although doubt had been expressed as to the wisdom of appointing Port
Royal as a rendezvous, “for fear of the soldiers staying too long there,
and getting sickness, by drinking too much rum, as has usually been the
case,” on January 17, 1740–41, by far the largest force that ever
assembled in Jamaica waters was gathered together. On that day
twenty-four ships of the line under Sir Chaloner Ogle, with nine
thousand soldiers under Brigadier Wentworth, reached Port Royal as a
reinforcement for Vernon’s fleet. The attempt on Cartagena was a
miserable failure, owing to divided command, lack of ability on
Wentworth’s part, disease caused by the rainy season, and general
mismanagement, which was exposed by Smollett, the novelist, who was
surgeon’s mate on one of Ogle’s vessels. He married a Jamaica lady (the
original of Narcissa in “Roderick Random”) and lived for a time in
Jamaica.

Ill-feeling also between Vernon and Wentworth was responsible for the
lack of success which attended the attack on St. Jago de Cuba.

During a storm in 1744 the larger part of the fleet was luckily at sea
under Sir Chaloner Ogle, but there were in the harbour nine men-of-war
and ninety-six merchant-ships. One hundred and four were stranded,
wrecked or foundered, so that only the _Rippon_ rode it out with the
loss of her masts. A great number of marines perished.

We learn from a petition from the inhabitants of Port Royal to the
Assembly, in October 1751, that during the hurricane of that year, the
sea “by forcing up the sand to a level with the wall, has rendered it
quite unserviceable, as it gained, by that means, a free and easy
passage into the town, and filled the greatest part of it with such a
quantity of water, that many of the inhabitants, in the extremity of the
weather, were obliged to abandon their houses, and fly for shelter to
places of greater safety.” It then appeared that the law of 1717
arranging for the repairing of the wall had been a dead letter since
1737.

When Rodney assumed command in 1771, he found that apartments only were
provided for the admiral at Port Royal, and it was doubtless due to his
action that “Admiral’s Pen” near Kingston (the present poor-house), was
purchased just before he left in 1774. One of the chief objects to which
he devoted his attention while on this station was the watering of the
fleet—the water having hitherto been purchased by the naval authorities;
and he, after investigation at Kingston and the Rio Cobre, decided on
Rock Fort, Vernon’s old spot, at =Harbour Head= as a source of supply.
The sailors, when they found themselves spared the task of rolling heavy
water casks long distances in the hot sun, said “God bless the Admiral,”
but when they realized that improved methods of watering meant shorter
leave on shore, they changed their tune and said, “The devil take the
Admiral.”

Till about the year 1902, when pipes were laid along the Palisadoes to
Port Royal, that town had its water conveyed to it, from Rodney’s source
at Rock Fort, in a sailing ship fitted for the purpose.

Rodney, in order to get timely notice of the approach of foreign ships,
had a look-out erected on the top of the Healthshire Hills on the
opposite side of the harbour from Port Royal; and on the site of
=Rodney’s Look-out= there is still a mark for navigation.

It is quite likely that during the voyage which Nelson made to the West
Indies in 1771–72 in a merchant ship he visited Jamaica, as the ship
belonged to a Jamaica firm; but no such visit has been recorded.

On September 19, 1771, Rodney wrote from Port Royal:

Since my letter to their Lordships [of the Admiralty] of the 4th
instant, giving their Lordships an account of the violent earthquake
which happened the day before, which has been attended with frequent
shocks till within these few days and, in the opinion of the
inhabitants, done more damage than any since the great one in 1692,
particularly in the towns of Port Royal and Kingston, in the former of
which there is not a single house that has not been damaged, I find
His Majesty’s dockyard has suffered considerably. The pitch-house is
split up the middle of the arch, the chimney thrown down, the coppers
and chimney where the people cook while at the wharf are rendered
useless; the smith’s shop split in several places, and so shaken as to
be quite unserviceable. The foundations of the capstern and
mast-houses have likewise received much damage.

His Majesty’s hospital at Port Royal seems to have suffered more than
any other building, the chimneys shaken down, the walls shattered; the
partition walls and gable end of the northern wing, and a southern
wall next the dispensary greatly damaged.

As the sick men were very much alarmed, and really in danger, I found
it necessary to order the surgeon and agent to repair it with all
possible despatch. There have been nine shocks since the first, but as
each has appeared weaker, I hope we shall experience no more of them.

The most brilliant period of Port Royal’s glory was perhaps the command
of Sir Peter Parker, from 1778–1782.

Of all the forts which have been erected from time to time round the
coast of Jamaica for its protection the oldest, and most important from
an historic standpoint, is undoubtedly =Fort Charles= at Port Royal. It
was not the first fort built at The Point, for Sedgwick writing home in
November 1655, to the Commissioners of the Admiralty, said, “Are
building a fort at the harbour’s mouth, and 9 or 10 guns are mounted.”

[Illustration:

Nelson’s Quarter-deck
]

The construction of Fort Charles, named after Charles II, was commenced
in the reign of that monarch. When originally built it was washed by the
sea on two sides. In course of time Chocalatta Hole became silted up,
and is now the parade-ground. It is thus referred to in a “Journal Kept
by Colonel William Beeston from his first coming to Jamaica,” in
connection with a fear that the Spaniards, enraged by the loss of St.
Jago de Cuba, might meditate revenge, and make some attempt on the
island:

“Therefore what money was due to the King was called in, and in November
[1662] about forty men hired to work on the fort, which is now called
Fort Charles, with intent to finish it, which hitherto lay open, with
only a round tour of stone and banks of board and sand towards the
sea....”

And on May 29, 1678, he writes: “Being the King’s birthday, and all the
flags abroad upon all the forts, the great flag of Fort Charles blew
down, which we doubted was ominous, being so noted a day and on the most
noted Fort....”

The fort was “not shook down, but much shattered” by the earthquake of
1692. It was subsequently reconstructed in 1699 by Colonel Christian
Lilley, who had laid out the city of Kingston four years earlier, and
who in 1734 was captain of the fort.

From the earliest times the members of the House of Assembly were
admitted to view the forts and fortifications, and a joint committee of
the Assembly and Council used to report annually on Fort Charles.

Long, writing in 1774, says: “The Captain of the fort [Fort Charles] has
of late years been appointed by the Governor’s warrant, upon the
nomination of his Ministry. His salary is only £109 10_s._ per annum,
but the profits of this post make it far more considerable.”

In June 1779, war was declared with Spain, and on the 11th of that month
Nelson was promoted to the command of the _Hinchinbrook_, thus becoming
a post-captain while yet four months under twenty-one years of age. The
ship was then at sea, and had not returned by July 28, when Nelson wrote
from Port Royal to his friend Captain Locker, and she apparently did not
return till September 1. During this period Nelson was in command of the
batteries at Port Charles, as he twice mentions in his published
correspondence—once when writing under date August 12, 1779, to Locker,
and once in the “Sketch of My Life,” written twenty years later. At this
time Jamaica was, to use Nelson’s own words, “turned upside down” by
fear of capture of a French fleet. In his own letter to Locker he says,
speaking of the measures of defence taken:

Five thousand men were encamped between the Ferry and Kingston, 1000
at Fort Augusta, 300 at the Apostles’ Battery, and we expect to have
500 in Fort Charles, where I am to command. _Lion_, _Salisbury_,
_Charon_, and _Janus_ in a line from the Point to the outer shoal;
_Ruby_ and _Bristol_ in the narrows going to Kingston, to rake any
ships that may attack Fort Augusta; _Pomona_ and _Speke_ Indiaman
above Rock Fort, and _Lowestoffe_ at the end of the dock wall.... I
have fairly stated our situation, and I leave you in England to judge
what stand we shall make; I think you must not be surprised to hear of
my learning to speak French.

In his sketch of his life, Nelson tells us:

In this critical state [_i.e._ fear of invasion] I was by both Admiral
and General entrusted with the command of the Batteries at Port Royal,
and I need not say, as the defence of this place was the key to the
port of the whole naval force, the town of Kingston, and Spanish Town,
it was the most important place in the whole island.

The admiral was Sir Peter Parker, Nelson’s lifelong friend and patron;
the general was the Governor, Dalling.

This was Nelson’s first actual command after he was posted, though it
lasted probably but three or four weeks, and gave him no opportunity of
showing what he could do in that capacity.

Nelson’s reputation still survives in Port Charles itself, and there
still exists his wooden “quarter-deck” from which he could, while pacing
up and down, command a view to windward.

There is also an inscription to his memory in gilt letters on a white
marble tablet fixed into the brickwork of the west wall of Port Charles.
In size the tablet is 2½ feet by 1½ feet, and the following is a copy of
the inscription:

IN THIS PLACE
DWELT
HORATIO NELSON.

You who tread his footprints
Remember his glory.

Nelson’s memory was kept green in Jamaica for many years. Monk Lewis
saw, at Black River, at New Year, 1816, a “Nelson’s Car” with
“Trafalgar” written on it, which formed part of the procession of Blue
Girls in the John Canoe festivities. But there is no monument to the
great hero in Jamaica as there is at Barbados; and yet the larger island
owes just as much to Nelson as does the smaller.

[Illustration:

KINGSTON HARBOUR IN 1774

From an engraving in Long’s “History of Jamaica”
]

[Illustration:

Figure-head of the Aboukir
]

The following, amongst others, commanded at Fort Charles: Major Man
(1661–64), Major Byndloss (1664–65), Sir James Modyford (1667), Col.
Theodore Cary (1675), Col. Charles Morgan (1682), Col. Molesworth
(1683), Col. James O’Brien (1691–92), Peter Beckford (1692), Col. Knight
(1703), Major Howard (1713), Col. Joseph Delawnay (1715), Gabriel,
Marquis Duquesne (1723–25), Captain Dalrymple (1730–33), Col. Christian
Lilly (1733–35), Captain Charles Knowles (1734), Col. Philips (1737),
Captain Newton (1742), Captain Hamilton (1743), Lieut.-Col. Spragge
(1753), Captain Trower (1762), Exelbee Lawford (1776), John Dalling
(1776–77), Horatio Nelson (1777), Edward FitzGerald (1777–79),
Montgomery Mathan (1779–80), Hans Carsden (1780).

A portrait bust in wood, which formed the figurehead of the _Aboukir_,
port guardship from 1862 to 1877, and now rests in the dockyard
(alongside the figureheads of the _Imaum_, the port guardship from 1856
to 1862; the _Argent_, the port guardship from 1877 to 1903, and the
_Megaera_, wrecked on Bare Bush Cay in 1843), was until quite lately
thought to represent Nelson; but recent investigation has tended to
prove that it is a portrait of the celebrated general Sir Ralph
Abercromby, who received his death wound in the hour of victory at the
battle of Alexandria, on August 1, 1801 (when he was conveyed to
Nelson’s old flagship, the _Foudroyant_): the blind eye of the
_soi-disant_ Nelson has been removed, and the figure painted to
represent Abercromby. If this be the true version, one rather wonders
what wag had the audacity to transform it into a Nelson.

After a cruise of a few months in his ship, the _Hinchinbrook_, Nelson
wrote to Locker from Port Royal on January 23, 1780, “Our mess is broken
up. Captain Cornwallis and myself live together.... I have been twice
given over since you left this country with that cursed disorder, the
gout.” Early in 1780, Nelson went on that ill-fated expedition to
Nicaragua, originated by Dalling, the governor, in which Dr. Dancer, the
island botanist, and the unfortunate Colonel Despard took part.

This expedition, while it laid the foundation of his subsequent fame,
nearly cost Nelson his life. On his return to Port Royal he was
suffering so much from fever and dysentery that he had to be carried
ashore in his cot to the lodging-house of his former black nurse, Couba
Cornwallis, a favourite nurse with naval officers. From Couba’s hands
Nelson passed under the care of Sir Peter and Lady Parker, who first
nursed him at Admiral’s Pen, and afterwards sent him to Admiral’s
Mountain[4] (as the Admiral’s hill residence was named) to recuperate;
but there he missed their kind attention, and wished himself back with
Couba. While at Jamaica Nelson made many friends—in addition to his
naval companions, Parker, Prince William, Locker and Collingwood—such as
Simon Taylor, a wealthy sugar planter and Hercules Ross, the Navy agent,
to whose son Horatio, afterwards a celebrated sportsman, Nelson stood
godfather. A portrait of Charles II (said to have been painted in 1679
and to have been in the possession of Bishop Falconer), presented by
Hercules Ross, for many years hung in the Royal Artillery and Royal
Engineers’ mess at Fort Charles, and now adorns the former residence of
the commodores, now used as the mess room.

Footnote 4:

This was probably in the Red Hills, but has never been identified. It
was possibly Mount Salus.

Towards the close of Parker’s service at Jamaica, Rodney gained his
celebrated victory over the brave De Grasse off Dominica, on April 12,
1782. De Grasse after fighting hard all day till only himself and two
men remained unwounded, at the setting of the sun and the arrival of the
_Barfleur_ fresh to the fray, lowered with his own hands his flag on his
ship the _Ville de Paris_, the gay Lutetia’s present to Louis XV, and
thus completed the British victory which had commenced the moment that
Rodney’s flagship the _Formidable_ had broken the French line.

On April 24, news reached Jamaica from St. Lucia, that both French and
English fleets had sailed. The worst was feared, and the suspense was
intense; but on the morrow arrived the joyful news from Rodney that
Jamaica was saved from invasion.

On the morning of Monday, April 29, Rodney’s fleet with nine prizes was
seen approaching, and though it was evident that it would be near sunset
before the ships could be moored we can imagine that that would not have
restrained many from starting off from Kingston to Port Royal to witness
the triumphal entry.

Those, however, who remained behind and lined every vantage spot of
view and every housetop, witnessed a goodly sight, for a long line of
tall ships, on the tallest of which flew the lilies of France with the
Red Cross of St. George of England surmounting it, followed by ship
after ship each bearing similar signs of subjugation, and attended by
a brave show of their captors, swept in slow but stately array past
the Palisadoes with the last of the sea breeze, and rounding the point
brought up in good order, their enormous wooden anchor stocks causing
such a splash as they fell from their bows as to be visible by help of
a good glass from Kingston Church tower.

The _Ville de Paris_, was, it is said, the first first-rate man-of-war
ever taken and carried into port by any commander of any nation. A
painting by Pine, of Rodney in action aboard the _Formidable_, attended
by his principal officers, is, with a volume of charts taken from De
Grasse’s cabin, and a series of prints illustrating the engagement, in
the Institute of Jamaica. The prizes were sent home under convoy, which
was of course a special one. In those days the planters, merchants and
others interested were wont to meet and settle the rates of freight to
be paid by the fleet of merchantmen which went home four times a year,
under the convoy of a man-of-war. In war time the rates were nearly
three times as high as in peace. The merchantmen were then wont to
assemble at Bluefields in order to await their convoy for England.

The _Ville de Paris_ and the other prizes encountered a hurricane on
their way to England on September 16; and being hove to on the wrong
tack, and perhaps overladen with the captured battering train and other
stores, besides being weakened by the heavy fire to which they had been
exposed, they with the exception of the _Ardent_ foundered with 1200
men; several ships of the convoy also sank.

A series of four aquatints by Robert Dodd, published in 1783,
illustrates the fate of this convoy with special reference to the _Lady
Juliana_.

It is worthy of record that two sons of Flora Macdonald went down in the
late flagship of the Comte De Grasse.

In this connection the following extract from the Minutes of a Meeting
of the West India Merchants—now the West India Committee—held on January
29, 1782, Mr. Long presiding, may be of interest:

The following letter from the Chairman, and Deputy Chairman, to Mr.
Stephens, was read.

SIR,—We take the Liberty of desiring you to submit to the Lords of the
Admiralty, to recommend to their Commander in Chief, the request we
made at the Board some time ago, of having _early and frequent_
Convoys home, both from Jamaica and the Leeward Islands, instead of
the Ships being sent home in such large and delayed Fleets, which in
the present Situation of Affairs, is found to be attended with great
Inconveniences, and very severe losses, besides, a greater Object of
Attention to the Enemy.—Early Convoys are particularly desirable, from
the Produce being extremely wanted, on account of its scarcity, and
coming home in a favourable season for safe Passages, the Strength of
the Convoys may be regulated by the number of the Trade in each.

We decline naming the Times of the Appointment of the Convoys (as has
been usually done) in order to prevent their expected arrival in
Europe being known to our Enemies.

We are, etc.,

10th January, 1782. (Signed) BEESTON LONG.
RICHD. NEAVE.

From 1796 to 1800, Sir Hyde Parker was commander-in-chief of Jamaica,
and the cruising ships as stationed by him were exceptionally fortunate,
and brought into Port Royal a great many prizes, merchantmen, privateers
and ships of war, “by which both himself and his country were materially
benefited.”

From October 1782 to July 1783, Nelson was cruising under Hood in West
Indian waters, and more than once put into Port Royal.

In 1783, William IV, as a midshipman on the celebrated _Barfleur_, came
into Port Royal, the first prince of the blood royal of England to put
foot on Jamaica’s shore. He then made the acquaintance of Couba
Cornwallis, the _chère amie_ of the admiral of that name and the kindly
nurse of Nelson, who lived till 1848.

Lady Nugent in her voluminous Journal, does not make much reference to
Port Royal. On their arrival in July 1801, she records:

It is now seven o’clock in the evening and we have only just anchored
in Port Royal Harbour. An express is just sent off to the Governor at
Spanish Town. Colonel Ramsay of the Artillery, and Captain Coates of
the 69th Regiment, with a Navy officer from Lord Hugh Seymour, came on
board immediately. I am disappointed. I hoped to have landed
instantly, but there is so much etiquette about it, that it is settled
we are not to stir till to-morrow morning.

29th [July]. General N. landed at six o’clock under salutes from the
forts and all the ships of war in the harbour. The _Ambuscade_ fired
on his leaving the deck, and I lay down to my cot, with a pillow over
my ears, the noise was so stunning.

All this is in marked contrast to the simpler landing of a governor in
these days—even on his first arrival.

In March 1804, Lady Nugent records:

Dress by candle-light, and our whole party proceeded to Port Royal
where the Admiral gave us a grand breakfast on board the
_Hercules_.... The _lion_ for the morning for the gentlemen was a
large cannon, taken from the French, but I own it did not interest me
much.

This was probably one of those cannons which were removed to the present
King’s House on the shutting up of the dockyard.

In 1806, Port Royal saw the victorious Duckworth bring in three French
ships taken off Santo Domingo after what was called, before the days of
Togo, “one of the completest victories on record.”

In the memorable year 1805, Dacres was commander-in-chief of Jamaica,
and he detained at Port Royal for the protection of the island four of
the six ships (of Cochrane’s squadron), which had come out in chase of
Missiessy, and Nelson had hoped would reach him at Barbados, when he
sailed in pursuit of the French fleet under Villeneuve, immediately
before Trafalgar.

With Trafalgar, Port Royal’s chief importance as a naval station may be
said to have ended. Nothing of great moment, except the almost complete
destruction of the town by fire in 1815, occurred afterwards, although
Jamaica remained as a separate station for some twenty years more.

Monk Lewis writes in February 1816:

The Jamaica canoes are hollowed cotton-trees. We embarked in one of
them at six in the morning, and visited the ruins of Port Royal,
which, last year, was destroyed by fire: some of the houses were
rebuilding; but it was a melancholy sight, not only from the look of
the half-burnt buildings, but the dejected countenances of the ruined
inhabitants.

Bleby records in his “Scenes in the Caribbean Sea” (1854) having seen as
he entered the harbour in 1831, several slavers captured by British
cruisers and sent in here to be condemned and broken up.

In “The Wanderings of a Marine,” a series of letters to a friend
comprising descriptive sketches at sea and on shore, at home and abroad,
written in 1831—a manuscript volume in the West India Library of the
Institute of Jamaica, we read:

As we approached Port Royal Bay a novel and pleasing sight was again
displayed to our view. The hills now gradually gave place to gentle
slopes and green knolls till towards the entrance the land became
perfectly level. Still advancing, we found ourselves in a narrow
channel between the projecting headlands beautifully ornamented with
cocoanut trees and separated from each other by a very small distance,
scarcely sufficient to permit two large vessels to pass. At the
extremity of these headlands, where the bay begins to sweep, there are
placed two very strong forts, and there is a third at the opposite
side so that no enemy can force an entrance if a good outlook is kept.
The water in this channel is remarkably clear, and exhibits with great
distinctness the tops and chimneys of houses at the bottom. It is now
many years since a dreadful earthquake destroyed great part of the
town of Port Royal and covered it with the sea, by which means the
site of the harbour was completely changed, and what was formerly dry
land, on which stood the town, became part of the entrance of the bay.

In the “Statistical Report of the Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding
Among the Troops in the West Indies,” published as a Parliamentary paper
in 1838, the following is the account given of Port Royal:

... The barracks stand at the very extremity of the peninsula on which
the town is built, only three feet above the level of the sea, and
frequently at high water a great portion of the parade-ground is
inundated by the tide. The hospital is in a narrow street leading from
the town to the barracks, and consists of a ground floor and upper
storey, divided into six wards, with balconies in front and rear....

... During the above period [1817–1836] the average mortality has been
about 113 per thousand of the strength annually, but it exhibits
remarkable variations at different periods. Last year it was less than
1 per cent., while in 1825 about a third part of the force was cut
off; thus demonstrating how difficult it is to form any fair estimate
of the influence of these climates, except on the average of a long
series of years. This station suffered very severely from the epidemic
fevers which raged throughout the island in 1819, 1822, and 1825. A
large proportion of the force also was cut off in 1821, when most of
the other stations were comparatively healthy....

On comparing the ratio of deaths by each of the above classes of
diseases with that which has prevailed generally throughout the
island, there appears little difference in any except fevers, which
have been rather under the average, particularly since 1830; and so
irregular has been their operation that, though in 1819 and 1825, they
cut off a third part of the force; in 1831 not a death took place from
them.

On visiting Jamaica in 1844, while the captain and the other passengers
of the ship, which was bound for Savanna-la-Mar, went up the harbour, to
see Kingston, Gosse spent his time in examining the fauna and flora of
the Palisadoes.

It is true there was little of the luxuriance or beauty that we
associate with tropical scenery here. It is a low land of sand nearly
nine miles in length; but scarcely anywhere more than a few hundred
yards in breadth, forming a natural breakwater that separates the
broad lake-like harbour of Kingston from the Caribbean Sea. I found it
barren enough; but it was all strange, and to feet which for nearly
two months had not felt the firm earth, even a run along the beach was
exhilarating. The graceful cocoanut palm sprang up in groups from the
water’s edge, waving its feathery fronds over the rippling waters that
dashed about its fibrous foot. Great bushes of prickly-pear and other
_Cacti_ were growing on the low summit of the bank, covering large
spaces of ground, with their impenetrable masses, presenting a
formidable array of spines: as did also a species of _Acacia_ that
grew in thickets and single trees. All along the line of high water
lay heaps of seaweeds drying in the sun, among which was particularly
abundant a species of _Padina_, closely resembling the pretty
“Peacock’s tail” of our own shores, though less regularly beautiful.
Sponges of various forms, and large Fan-corals with the gelatinous
flesh dried on the horny skeleton, were also thrown up on the higher
beach; and I found in some abundance, a _Coralline_, of a soft
consistence, and of a bright grass green hue, each branch of which was
terminated by a radiating tuft of slender filaments.

Shells were very scarce on the sea beach; but on the harbour side many
species were found in the crevices and pools of the low rocks, and
just within the margin of the water. All were small, and few presented
any facts worthy of being noticed: they were chiefly of the genera
_Turbo_, _Phasianella_, _Planaxis_, _Buccinum_, _Vermetus_, and
_Fusus_; the bivalves _Ostrea_, _Anomia_, _Spondylus_, _Avicula_,
_Arca_, _Cardium_, _Venus_, and _Pholas_. Several specimens of a
brilliant little _Choetodon_ were swimming and darting about the
narrow, but deep pools; they were not more than an inch in length,
marked with alternate bands of black and golden yellow. In the
vertical position in which they swim, with the eye of the observer
looking down upon them, they appear to bear the slender proportions of
ordinary fishes; and it is only by accident as in turning, or on
capturing one, that we detect the peculiar form, high and vertically
flattened, of this curious genus.

For the naturalist there is a work of lasting interest in the form of a
small rare volume published in 1855, by Richard Hill, the friend and
collaborator of Gosse, entitled “A Week at Port Royal.” Even in his day
it was “a place for the memory.”

One passage records that:

Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton related that in 1780 the submerged houses
were plainly discernible between the town as it now stands and the
usual anchorage of vessels of war. Bryan Edwards says, in 1793, the
ruins were visible in clear weather from the boats which sailed over
them; and Lieutenant B. Jeffrey, of the Royal Navy, states that when
engaged in the surveys made between the years 1824 and 1835, he
repeatedly traced sites of buildings where the depth of the water is
from four to six fathoms. When there was little wind, he perceived
traces of houses, especially distinct when he used the instrument
called “the diver’s eye” let down below the ripple of the wave.

A later work, published in 1893 by Major M. M[artin] and others,
entitled “Port Royal and its Harbour,” is of more general interest.

In 1891, at the time of the exhibition, Jamaica was visited by the
present King and his elder brother, and Port Royal was not overlooked;
nor was it when Prince Albert visited Jamaica in the spring of 1913.

In 1894, experimental borings were made by the military authorities with
a view to obtaining a supply of fresh water, but these were abandoned
when a depth of 270 feet had been reached.

By the irony of fate, the impetus given a few years since to British
naval development was destined to result not in the increase in
importance, but in the withdrawal of the remnants of the faded glory, of
a fort which was formerly one of the principal advance guards of
Britannia’s realm.

A shadow of coming events was cast in 1903 by the sale of the old depot
ship, the _Urgent_, which for many years, after serving as a troop ship,
had swung to the tide at the entrance to the harbour, which before the
days of monster vessels boasted that it could hold the navies of the
world. By a special order in council the commodore then flew for a short
time his broad pennant in the dockyard instead of in the _Urgent_, which
was destined to spend her last days in the inglorious capacity of a coal
hulk in Boston harbour. Then the edict went forth that the office of
commodore, which in 1838 replaced that of admiral, when Jamaica ceased
to be an independent command, was to be abolished, and on March 31,
1905, Commodore Fisher struck his flag.

Of later years Port Royal has become most important as a military fort;
if that glory were taken from it, it would sink almost into the
insignificance of its neighbour Port Henderson, across the harbour’s
mouth—where the old _Aboukir_, rebuilt, does duty as a storehouse, and
where memory still lingers of the days when it formed a seaside resort
for the gay folk of St. Jago de la Vega—and it would be without Port
Henderson’s importance as a banana port.

Its ancient glory was recalled on September 10, 1914, when a large crowd
assembled to see H.M.S. _Essex_ bring in as prize the Hamburg-Amerika
line steamer _Bethania_ with five hundred naval reservists on board.

It is to be hoped that the completion of the Panama Canal may give to
Port Royal a new era of commercial prosperity, unaccompanied by the
drawbacks which attended its acquisition of wealth in the seventeenth
century.

II
ST. CATHERINE

The parish of St. Catherine derived its name from the queen of Charles
II., who was king of England when the parish was formed. In the first
act in which it is mentioned it is correctly spelled Katharine. It
consists of what before the passing of law 20 of 1867 constituted the
parishes of St. Catherine, St. Dorothy, St. John and St.
Thomas-in-the-Vale. St. Thomas-in-the-Vale was probably named after Sir
Thomas Lynch. St. Dorothy, Roby, in his “Memorials of the Cathedral
Church and Parish of St. Catherine” (1831), conjectures, received its
name in compliment to Dorthy Wale, who had probably a large estate
there.

=Passage Fort=, at first known as The Passage, probably so called by the
Spaniards as being their place of embarkation from St. Jago de la Vega
(Spanish Town), situated at the west end of Kingston harbour, first
appears in the annals of Jamaica as the landing-place of a predatory
expedition fitted out chiefly in Barbados and St. Kitts in 1642 by a
certain Captain William Jackson, of whom little is known but of whose
expedition a graphic account is given in a manuscript in the Sloane MSS.
in the British Museum entitled: “CXVIII—Mercurius Americanus—A Briefe
Journall, or a succinct and true relation of the most Remarkable
Passages observed in the Voyage undertaken by Captain William Jackson to
the West Indies or Continent of America. Anno Domini, 1642, September
27,” reprinted in “The West India Committee Circular,” May 9,
1911—January 16, 1912. The date, September 27, 1642, it may be
mentioned, is the date of sailing, not of the writing of the account.

Richard Norwood, who was a minister of religion and a school teacher,
writing under date May 14, 1645, from Somers Islands, now known as
Bermuda, to the Governor and Company of Adventurers to the Somers
Islands, alluded to the time when of late the valiant and victorious
General Capt. Jackson arrived after his voyage through the West Indies,
and added “it was doubtful how things would go.”

After attempts more or less successful on various islands and the
Spanish main, Jackson, in the _Charles_, accompanied by the _Dolphin_
and the _Valentine_, put into Port Royal harbour on March 25, 1643.
After trying the west coast of the harbour, where they perceived “noe
passage,” they interrogated some prisoners and were led to Passage Fort
“at a place where we found an Old Trench and a storehouse of Timber,
lately sett by but not fully finished,” where, after a skirmish with
both horse and foot of the enemy, they took the fort and marched past
“divers workes,” one of which they dismantled, into Spanish Town.
Jackson’s men were so pleased that they wished “to sett by their stacon
here”; but the general, bent on robbing the Spaniards, had no taste for
bucolic simplicity and gave up the town for “200 Beaves and 10,000
weight of cassavi bread for ye victualling of our ships, besides 20
Beaves every day for ye general expense till our departure and 7,000
pieces of Eight.” After spending sixteen days in “salting up our Beaves”
Jackson and his men sailed away, but a few days later took a Spanish
frigate “in an Harbour next to that where wee had formerly ridd at
ankor,” probably Old Harbour.

The most important event, however, in the history of Passage Fort is the
taking of Jamaica by the English in 1655. After an inexcusable failure
on Hispaniola (or, to give it its original name, Haiti), due in some
measure to silly jealousy between the naval and military authorities,
when, to use Venables’s own words, passion usurped the seat of reason,
and also to want of care—one might almost say of honesty—on the part of
those responsible for the organization of the expedition, Penn and
Venables, joint commanders of an expedition intended “to assault the
Spaniard in the West Indies,” entered what we now call Kingston harbour
on May 10, 1655, and anchored at about 11 A.M. On nearing the island it
had been proclaimed to the whole army, as a result of the cowardice
displayed in the attack on Hispaniola, that whoever should be found to
turn his back on the enemy and run away, the next officer (that brought
up the rear of that division) should immediately run him through, on
penalty of death if he failed to do it.

[Illustration:

PASSAGE FORT
]

There were thirty-eight ships in the three squadrons, and about seven
thousand troops, without counting the sea regiment, who numbered nearly
one thousand more.

A few shots fired into the fort from the _Martin_ (one of the smallest
of the fleet, carrying but twelve guns and sixty men), which was run
ashore as near the fort as possible, and the landing of the troops,
seemed to have sufficed to disperse the Spaniards, whose best soldier, a
major, had been disabled by a shot. They left three guns mounted in the
fort.

Thus Jamaica was captured by a wretched army without the loss of a man.
Colonel Clarke, who had died at sea on the 9th from wounds received at
Hispaniola, was buried at Passage Fort on May 11.

The following account, signed W.B., and written probably by William
Burrows, who was Sir William Penn’s chief clerk in the Navy Office after
the Restoration, is taken from the journal of the _Swiftsure_:

The landing-places are two, and are only banks supported with stakes,
a matter of twenty yards long towards the water; all the rest being
trees and bushes, among which can be no good going ashore. At the more
eastward, where we landed, we saw the ordnance the Spaniards left; the
army having landed at the other, within that to the westward. A pretty
parcel of ground is cleared within the landing-places. About a furlong
and a half thence, the way leads into the wood, which continues till
within a quarter of a mile of the town; all the way being even,
without hills, and a fair path for eight to march abreast. At the
issuing out of the wood begins the Savanna, which stretches about, and
is very fair and plain to the westward of the town; so that I deemed
there might be room enough for 50,000 men to draw up in battalia.

The Rio Cobre has, since the conquest of the island, brought down so
much sand and deposited it at its mouth that the site of Passage Fort is
now some four or five hundred yards off the sea. In dry weather, it now
meanders through a new course which it cut for itself in 1838, across
the beach to the harbour, giving no idea of the power which it acquires
in the rainy season. Here, as of old, is there “no good going ashore,”
the slope of the beach being very gradual.

In “The Present State of Jamaica” (1683) we read: “Going from Port Royal
to St. Jago de la Vega, people land at Passage, where a fort was in Col.
Doyly’s time, and there is about thirty houses that are storehouses,
alehouses, and horse keepers, and hackney coaches; this being the
greatest passage in the island, it is two leagues from Port Royal by
sea, and six miles from St. Jago by land.”

Totally destroyed by the earthquake of 1692, the village was but
partially rebuilt, and was, when Long wrote his history (1774), of small
importance, consisting of about fifteen houses, chiefly inhabited by
wharfingers, warehouse keepers and the masters of wherries and hackney
chaises, which plied with passengers to and from Port Royal and Spanish
Town. Large ships could not lie alongside as there was not sufficient
depth of water; and for this reason it was in a measure superseded by
Port Henderson, where the depth of water is greater; but, with the
abandonment of Spanish Town as the seat of government, both villages
gradually diminished, and Passage Fort is to-day a mere fishing hamlet.

Richard Hill, in his “A Week at Port Royal” (1855), says:

The early maps of Saint Catherine’s show that there have occurred
deviations in the course of the Rio Cobre, that are not easily to be
reconciled by abundant rains. Antecedent to the discovery of the West
Indies, the embouchure of the river was perceptively in the ponds,
shut in by the narrow belt of land on which Fort Augusta stands, the
river having been at that time more of a surface stream, and striking
to _the sea due south; the outlet curving northward_, and embaying
Passage Fort. At the time of the conquest of the island by the English
the river flowed in an opposite direction _due north_, coursing the
foot of the Caymanas Mountains, and making the present lagoons in the
upper part of that plain its channel, seeking the _sea southward_,
through what is now an independent stream, called the Ferry River
(Fresh River). In 1722, in the midst of an extraordinary rain-storm,
this channel was suddenly quitted, and a straight line made
_eastward_. The settling waters, as they reached the Harbour of
Kingston, impeded by the easterly winds, regurgitated through the
lakelet into which they gathered themselves, and digging out the soil
at the foot of the mountains, made the present lagoons, increasing the
sea-board lands of Hunt’s Bay 3000 feet (three thousand).

In Spanish Town, the ancient capital, although there is nothing to speak
to us of the native Arawâk, we can perhaps, better than anywhere else in
the island, picture to ourselves the deeds of the Spaniards in the
fifteenth and early sixteenth century; and especially the long struggles
between the people’s or rather planters’ representatives and the
government in the House of Assembly for a century and a half; together
with the political and social entertainments at King’s House, as
narrated for one short period in the graphic pages of Lady Nugent’s
Journal, until, with the removal of the government to Kingston by Sir
John Peter Grant, Spanish Town was shorn of its grandeur, to be only
revived at rare intervals by such episodes as the consecration of the
Bishop of Antigua in 1911.

Jackson gives the following account of the town in 1643.

The fame of our proceedings in other places had arrived here eight
days before us, so that they had time enough to convey all their best
household stuff away, leaving nothing behinde them of any value, but
onely ye possession of empty houses, with some few chaires, bedsteads,
jarres of Mountego, and ye like poore materialls. However, we feasted
ourselves this night with Hoggs, Henns, and other good provisions,
which wee found in and about ye Towne. This place is called by ye
inhabitants Sant Jago de la Vega, being a faire Town, consisting of
four or five hundred houses, built for ye most part with canes,
overcast with morter and lime, and covered with Tyle. It is beautiful
with five or six stately churches and chapples, and one Monastery of
Franciscan Fryers, and situated upon descent of a delectable and
spacious plaine, on ye North West whereof runneth a pleasant River,
whose streame doth empty itself into ye Harbour, distant from hence
about four miles Eastward, where our Fleet lay at ankor.

The houses, unlesse it bee in ye Markitt Place, stand somewhat
separated one from another, by which means it taketh up farr more
roome than thrice ye number of our comparted building in Europe.

The churches and houses of the Spaniards were for the most part
destroyed by the Venables’s soldiery in sheer wantonness. But when they
began to settle the island, they repaired those which were worth
repairing. It is doubtful, however, if much Spanish work exists to-day.

The foundations of St. Jago de la Vega were probably laid by the then
viceroy, Diego Columbus, about the year 1523. His son Lewis, created
Duke of Veragua, had for a second title Marquis de la Vega, after this
town. Hickeringill (writing in 1661) tells us that when the English took
the island it contained 2000 houses, sixteen churches and chapels and
one abbey, and that of these the English soldiery left but two churches
and 500 houses undemolished, but it is thought by Long that this was an
exaggeration.

In April 1755 when the penkeepers of St. Catherine, St. John, St.
Dorothy and St. Thomas-in-the-Vale petitioned the Assembly against the
proposed removal of the courts of justice and public offices to Kingston
(the assembly itself being then sitting there) they stated that St. Jago
de la Vega then consisted of 499 houses, of a rental value of nearly
£20,000, and 866 settled white inhabitants exclusive of visitors, and
405 mulattoes and negroes: that there were 472 pens and provision
plantations in the neighbourhood, and there were 24,000 inhabitants in
the parishes named.

When Doyley, on the death of Brayne in September 1657, found himself in
supreme command in the newly acquired island of Jamaica, he set himself
resolutely to work to establish the colony on a firm basis. After having
successfully repelled three attempts made by Sasi, the last Spanish
governor, to retake the island from Hispaniola, he, in August 1660, was
met by internal rebellion, got up by Colonel Raymond, who persuaded
Colonel Tyson, the gallant commander of the English troops in the last
defeat of Sasi a few months earlier, to participate in it.

Of Raymond little is known beyond that Beeston calls him “a discontented
reformed officer,” and Long “a factious officer.” Tyson, we know, was
not one of those who came out with Venables, but arrived a year later.
Leslie tells us that they were “two gentlemen who adhered to the
Protector and had a mighty influence on the soldiers.”

In the face of contradictory evidence it is a little difficult to
discover the real origin of the outbreak. An interesting contemporary
account of it is given by Colonel (afterwards Sir) William Beeston, in a
journal kept by him “from his first coming to Jamaica,” and printed from
the MSS. now in the British Museum, in “Interesting Tracts relating to
the Island of Jamaica ... St. Jago de la Vega, 1800.” He says:

April 27, 1660. At my arrival the people were still as an Army, but
without pay, commanded by General Doyley, under whom, as chief
ministers, were Major Fairfax and Captain Burroughs; the government
was only by a court-martial held once a month at St. Jago, and what
disputes General Doyley [_gap in the print here_] self, who lived very
near and private, did not by any means love planting, but hindered
those that were willing to plant, by telling them they would be all
called off. The people were now healthful, and provisions began to be
plenty, and trade to increase; the privateering was carried on, and
good prizes often brought in by them....

About this time the rump parliament being again up in England no
recruits came for the Army, and they had no pay which made the
soldiers deem themselves neglected, and a general expectation there
was that all would be called off, and the island deserted, there being
no news of His Majesty’s happy restoration; this gave occasion to one
of the Regiments at Guanaboe, and formerly commanded by Colonel
Barrington, but now by Lieutenant-Colonel Tyson, who being set on by a
discontented reformed officer called Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond, who
lived near him, began to mutiny and set up for themselves, saying,
they would live no more as an Army. And accordingly, August 2, they
declared they would have the Island settled in Colonies, and make
constables and civil officers. These, General Doyley not being able to
appease with words, drew some forces to St. Jago to appease them, but
was cautious, not being certain but that those he brought if it came
to the push, would fail him, and be of the mind of the others; and,
therefore, he ordered a ship of Southampton, called the _Mary_,
Captain Richard Tylar, Commander, to lay ready without the fort that
if he saw things grow desperate he might embark and leave them; but by
sending several messengers to them, and at length Major Richard Hope,
of the Liguanea Regiment, he so prevailed with them, telling them the
danger if they persisted, and, on the contrary, that if they delivered
up the two Lieutenant-Colonels they should all be pardoned, that they
promised the next morning to deliver up their officers. Accordingly,
in the morning, the soldiers brought down the two Lieutenant-Colonels,
and delivered them up; on whom there presently sat a Court-Martial who
adjudged them worthy of death, and accordingly, in a very short time,
in sight of both parties, they were shot to death. Then the soldiers
were all ordered to their several quarters, but were grown so
insolent, that the General was forced to give them leave to plunder
the houses of Tyson and Raymond in St. Jago, which flushed them to
plunder more, even any that they could pretend had any correspondence
with those men; and yet after all this, and all the fair words that
were given them, it was as much as the General and their Officers
could do to keep them from mutinying and to get them to return to
their precincts.

Tyson and Raymond were shot on August 3, 1660, tradition says, under the
large tamarind tree which still stands in Spanish Town, in =Mulberry
Garden=, now used as a poor-house. August 2 is the date usually given,
but Beeston’s account makes it clear that they were shot on “the next
morning,” _i.e._ the 3rd.

Leslie, without giving the source of his information, adds, “Raymond
expressed no concern, but died with a haughty kind of Resolution. Tyson
behaved in a manner more becoming, and seemed penitent for the part he
had acted.” We learn from the “Calendar of State Papers,” that in May
1660 an Order in Council was made “To permit Mary Tyson to repair to her
husband, Lieut.-Col. Edward Tyson, in Jamaica, in the ship _Bear_, now
bound thither, with accommodation for two maid-servants and one
manservant.” Her arrival must have been a sad one. She found her gallant
but misguided husband laid in a rebel’s grave.

Long says that Raymond was probably encouraged in his attempt by the
knowledge that Doyley was not armed with any express commission or power
to punish such offence capitally; and Gardner, thus fortified, says that
Doyley’s action was illegal. But Beeston tells us that “the government
was only by court-martial,” and this surely implied the right to shoot a
rebel. The news of the Restoration reached Jamaica twelve days after the
affair, but Doyley did not receive his commission to act as a
constitutional governor until February 8, 1661.

Leslie makes the outbreak a Cavalier and Roundhead affair, and Bridges
and Hill concur in that view. Gardner, following Beeston, thinks it was
mainly due to a desire for a simple civil life. Long says, “Raymond’s
object, it has been supposed, was to seize the Government himself; but
the real design is not certainly known.” In contradistinction to
Beeston, Long tells us that Doyley was “a steady advocate for pursuing
the cultivation of the island, to which most of the private men were
disinclined.”

The outbreak was probably just as much due to a desire for a more civil
form of government than that favoured by Doyley as to any feeling of
loyalty to the Stuarts; and the fact that Doyley felt compelled to take
precautions for his personal safety in case of defeat may have been
dictated as much by fear of the soldiers’ dislike for him as a martinet,
as of the antipathy of the Roundhead portion of them to him as a
cavalier.

Of the ecclesiastical buildings at St. Jago de la Vega trustworthy
records exist only of an abbey, and a chapel of the red cross and a
chapel of the white cross. The present =Cathedral=, the oldest cathedral
in the British colonies, stands on the site of the red cross chapel. The
bases of two piers (Long calls them columns) 8 feet square, part of the
entrance to the abbey (which stood to the south of the present parade),
were, in Long’s time, standing near the south end of the public offices.
They were of brickwork, strongly cemented. He says: “I have seen in this
town a great many large stone mouldings for the bases and other parts of
columns, which, as well as the sculptures dug out of the ruins of
Sevilla Nueva, in St. Ann’s, appeared to have been executed by no mean
artist. The Spanish ecclesiastics ... must be allowed some merit in
having cultivated the elegances of architecture in these remote parts of
the world. Some of their public structures at St. Domingo, the Havannah,
La Vera Cruz, Carthagena, Panama, &c., would make a noble figure even in
European cities.” Unfortunately it would seem that, judging from his
comments on buildings still standing, art criticism was not one of
Long’s strong points.

[Illustration:

SPANISH-TOWN CATHEDRAL
]

The original church, erected by the English, probably on the foundations
and of the materials of the Spanish building, as the parish church of
St. Catherine, was thrown down by the hurricane of 1712, and was rebuilt
of red brick in 1714, as is stated on a tablet over the entrance door in
the tower at the west end:

D. O. M.

This Church Dedicated to ye Service of Almighty God was thrown downe
by ye dreadfull Hurricane of August ye 28th Anno Domini MDCCXII., and
was by ye Divine Assistance, through ye Piety and at ye expence of ye
Parishioners, more beautifully and substantially rebuilt upon its old
foundation in ye thirteenth year of ye Reigne of our most gracious
Sovereigne Queen Ann and in ye Government of his Excellency the Lord
Archibald Hamilton, in the year of our Lord MDCCXIV.

Matthew Gregory, Esq^r.
& Church Wardens.
Mr. Beaument Pestell.

Below this on another marble slab is the following inscription:

This tower was erected,
And the above Tablet removed from the inner Wall
In the year MDCCCXVII.
His Grace the Duke of Manchester Governor.
John Lunan, Francis Smith, Churchwardens.

When Long published his History in 1774, the church being without a
tower, the congregation was “summoned by a small bell hung in a wooden
frame erected in the churchyard.”

Hakewill (1821), one of the few artists who have ever seen the
cathedral, calls it “an ancient brick structure of no exterior beauty.”
In Roby’s time (1831) the walls were wainscoted, and the roof was coved
and ornamented with circles, ovals, and lozenges. In 1843 the letters
patent creating Aubrey George Spencer second bishop of Jamaica, created
the parish church of St. Catherine the cathedral of the diocese. The
chancel was restored and extended in 1853. A chapter was formed in 1899.

The church, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored in 1901, as is
duly recorded on the tower, “in commemoration of the glorious reign of
her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 1837–1901.” Considerable
damage was wrought by the earthquake of 1907, and a further restoration
was completed during the year 1908.

On state occasions, such as the burial of the governor, the House of
Assembly was wont to attend in a body; and the church was, from the
taking of the island till the removal of the capital to Kingston in
1866, intimately associated with all the important events in the
island’s history, being near both to the House of Assembly and the
governor’s residence. Nearly all its celebrated personages were at some
time or another within its walls, and many of them are buried within its
precincts.

Of its monuments the most important are those to the Earl and Countess
of Effingham (d. 1791); the wife of Sir Adam Williamson (d. 1794); and
Dr. Brodbelt (d. 1795), all by Bacon; Sir Basil Keith (d. 1777), by J.
Wilton, R.A.; the Countess of Elgin (d. 1842), by Sir John Steell;
Colonel John Colbeck (d. 1682), who came out with Penn and Venables;
William Nedham (d. 1746), four times elected speaker of the Assembly;
William Selwyn (d. 1702), governor; Henry Cunningham (d. 1735–6),
governor; Sir Thomas Modyford (d. 1679), governor; Elizabeth Modyford
(d. 1694), wife successively of Samuel Barry and Sir Nicholas Lawes; Sir
Thomas Lynch (d. 1684), governor; Samuel Long (d. 1683), the patriot
who, with William Beeston, succeeded in maintaining the privileges of
the island as against the restrictions attempted to be imposed by the
Earl of Carlisle, acting on instructions from home; Peter Beckford (d.
1710), lieutenant-governor; Major-General James Bannister (d. 1674), at
one time governor of Surinam.

When Sir William Trelawny died, the Assembly expended 1000 guineas on
his funeral, but no monument or slab marks his last resting-place. Other
governors who have died in the island and are without a monument are,
the Duke of Albemarle, the Duke of Portland, Sir Nicholas Lawes, General
Hunter and General Haldane; the bodies of the two first-named (as was
that of Sir Basil Keith) were sent across the Atlantic for interment;
but portions of Albemarle’s body were buried under the altar. Inchiquin
was buried in the church, but there was no memorial of him until the
present Lord Inchiquin erected a brass tablet in 1912.

The earliest monument is that to Catherine, wife of Sir Charles
Lyttelton (January 1662).

The following plate is in the Cathedral:

FLAGON: The Rev. John Lindsay, D.D., Rector; Samuel Howell, James
Trowers, Esq., Churchwardens. From the old plate of St. Catherine,
Jamaica, 1685. Refashioned 1777. Maker’s name S. W., like that of
the maker of a pair of Candlesticks of the year 1759 in Trinity
College, Oxford (recorded by Cripps).

2 PATENS: On each—The Gift of Susannah Butler, widow, of St.
Catherine, Jamaica, 1702. Refashioned 1777. Maker’s name S. W.

2 PATENS (Small), with foot. The gift of Mrs. Jane Spencer to the
Altar of St. Catherine, Jamaica. Refashioned 1777. Maker’s name S.
W.

2 CHALICES: On each—The gift of Mrs. Jane Spencer to the Altar of St.
Catherine, Jamaica. Refashioned 1777.

FLAGON AND 2 CUPS AND 2 PATENS: With the year mark 1789. Maker’s name,
W. P.

1 FLAGON, 2 CHALICES AND 2 PATENS: On each—Presented by Sarah Cole to
Trinity Chapel, St. Catherine’s, Jamaica. Christmas, A.D. 1851.

PATEN (Small): The gift of Wm. G. Macfarlane, in memory of his sister,
Elizabeth E. Jackson, born October 8th, 1819, died Dec. 5th, 1854.

STRAINER SPOON: Year mark 1855. Maker’s name G. A.

It is to be regretted that the old plate of 1685 was refashioned in
1777.

The church at Spanish Town is the oldest foundation in the colony,
dating from the year of the British occupation, 1655; the next oldest
being St. Andrew (Halfway-Tree), dating from 1666, the Alley, 1671, and
St. John’s Guanaboa Vale, which dates from 1699.

The Baptismal and Marriage registers date from 1668: the Burial from
1671.

It is interesting to note that one of the earliest bequests recorded in
the island was that of Edward Morgan of July 14, 1674, of “his house for
a parsonage house” in St. Jago de la Vega.

In April 1677, the Assembly gave “Thanks to Mr. Howser for his sermon;
to be desired to say prayers in the House every morning between six and
seven o’clock, who answered that he would give his attendance at that
time. Every member not attending prayers to be fined 15d.”

In the following year the Assembly requested Mr. Howser “to say prayers
every morning between 6 and 7 o’clock.”

The following is a list of the rectors. Since 1899 they have been _ex
officio_ senior canons of the cathedral.

1664–1683—Rev. Henry Howser (d. Dec. 29, 1683).
1683–1700—Rev. Philip Bennett (d. Sept. 5, 1707).
1700–1702—Rev. James Cunningham.
1702–1703–4—Rev. William Alsop (d. Jan. 10, 1703–4).
1704–1720—Richard Tabor (d. April 6, 1720).
1720–1734—Rev. John Scott (d. Nov. 22, 1734).
1735–1748—Rev. Calvin Galpine (d. Aug. 20, 1748).
1748–1764—Rev. John Venn, B.A. (d. April 6, 1764).
1764–1773—Rev. Samuel Griffiths, A.M.
1773–1788—Rev. John Lindsay, D.D. (d. Nov. 3, 1788).
1789–1791—Rev. Alexander Cumine, D.D. (d. July 18, 1791).
1791–1808—Rev. Robert Stanton Woodham, M.A.
1808–1813—Rev. Isaac Mann.
1814–1822—Rev. William Vaughan Hamilton.
1823–1843—Rev. Lewis Bowerbank, A.M.
1843–1857—Rev. Samuel Paynter Musson, D.D.
1857–1864—Rev. G. J. Handfield, M.A.
1864–1868—Rev. Joseph Williams.
1869–1875—Rev. F. S. Bradshaw, LL.D.
1876–1891—Rev. Charles Frederick Douet, A.M. (afterwards Assistant
Bishop).
1892–1900—Rev. Canon Edward Jocelyn Wortley.
1901–1904—Rev. Canon Reginald John Ripley.
1904–1908—Rev. Canon John Walton Austin.
1909– —Rev. Canon Samuel Purcell Hendrick, M.A.

Tabor is referred to in “The Groans of Jamaica.”

Of the Rev. John Venn, Bryan Edwards wrote an epitaph beginning:

Beneath this stone lies plain John Venn,
Neither the best, nor the worst of men;

and ending:

To sum in short—yet speak in full—
Our plain John Venn was blunt John Bull.

Lindsay was ordained in December 1753 in Conduit Street Chapel, Hanover
Square, London; he was presented to the rectory of St. Thomas-ye-Vale,
Jamaica, in 1768, and was made rector of St. Catherine in 1773; and he
was made D.D. by the University of Edinburgh in the same year. He
officiated at Spanish Town till his death in 1788. The sermon which he
preached at the funeral of Sir Basil Keith, the governor, in 1777, was
published. In 1770 he petitioned the House of Assembly to assist him in
publishing his collection of “drawings of the most curious and beautiful
plants, trees, fruits, birds, insects, fishes,” but received but cold
comfort—the House resolving that the drawings “will merit the attention
of the curious in natural history.” In 1781 and 1783 he published in
“The Gentleman’s Magazine,” “An Examination of the Hypothetical Doctrine
of Waterspouts, in Opposition to the Ingenious Speculations of Dr. B.
Franklin, of Philadelphia, F.R.S.,” which was reprinted in “The Journal
of the Institute of Jamaica,” for December 1897. It is curious that one
of his illustrations represents the church of St. Catherine with a tower
and spire, for it had not even a tower in 1781. In the Bristol Museum
are four volumes of coloured drawings of Jamaica plants and animals made
by Lindsay from 1758 to 1771, many of them accompanied by descriptive
matter.

The Rev. Robert Stanton Woodham was rector in Nugent’s time, and is
frequently mentioned in Lady Nugent’s Journal. She appears to have
formed no very high opinion of the clergy of the island.

Dr. Musson, who died in 1857, is the only rector whose resting-place is
recorded in the church.

Dr. C. F. Douet was for many years assistant bishop of the
diocese—1888–1904. He died in England in 1905. The stained glass window
was erected to his memory in 1914, at the same time as the Children’s
window over the north door.

After the Rodney memorial, the monument in the cathedral, Spanish Town,
erected to the memory of the =Earl of Effingham=, governor of Jamaica,
and his countess, is the most important and the most beautiful work by
Bacon in Jamaica. It is of marble, and bears the legend “J. Bacon,
sculptor, London, 1796.”

On a base stands an urn, decorated with festoons of flowers, and
bearing, under an earl’s coronet, the arms of Effingham: Quarterly, 1st
gules on a bend between six cross crosslets fitchée argent, an
escutcheon or, bearing a demi-lion rampant pierced through the mouth
with an arrow within a double tressure flory counterflory of the first.
2nd gules three lions passant guardant in pale or (England) with a label
of three points. 3rd checky, or and azure. 4th gules a lion rampant
argent. In fess point of the shield a mullet for difference. Supporters
two lions rampant. Motto, _Virtus mille scuta_. Above the urn, hanging
on an obelisk which rises from the base of the monument, are represented
the Chancellor’s seal, the mace and sword in saltire, and the usual
emblematic scales.

On one side of the monument, clasping the urn, is an elegant female
figure personifying Jamaica, bearing the crest of the colony, an
alligator passant proper, on her zone. On the other side is a lovely
boy, his left hand holding an olive branch, resting on a cornucopia full
of tropical fruits, and his right hand upon a shield bearing the arms of
Jamaica as granted by Charles II, viz,: Argent on a cross gules five
pineapples proper. Dexter supporter an Indian female, in her exterior
hand a basket of fruit. Sinister, an Indian warrior, in his exterior
hand a bow, both plumed, all proper. Crest, an alligator. Motto, _Indus
uterque serviet uni_. The epitaph, written by Bryan Edwards, the
historian of the West Indies, and then member of Assembly for Trelawny,
is as follows:

TO THE MEMORY OF

THOMAS EARL OF EFFINGHAM BARON HOWARD, CAPTAIN GENERAL AND CHIEF
GOVERNOR OF THIS ISLAND IN THE YEARS 1790 AND 1791, AND OF CATHERINE
HIS WIFE. THE LATTER DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF
OCTOBER, 1791, IN A VOYAGE UNDERTAKEN FOR THE BENEFIT OF HER HEALTH,
IN HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP DIANA: THE FORMER ON THE 19TH OF THE FOLLOWING
MONTH, THE THIRD WEEK AFTER THE MELANCHOLY RETURN OF THE DIANA WITH
THE REMAINS OF HIS BELOVED CONSORT, WHOM HE SEEMED UNWILLING TO
SURVIVE, AND WITH WHOM HE WAS DEPOSITED IN THE SAME GRAVE, THUS,
UNITED IN THEIR LIVES BY THE MOST TENDER AND EXALTED TIES,

HE—THE FOND AND INDULGENT HUSBAND,
SHE—THE CHEERFUL AND OBEDIENT WIFE—
IN THEIR DEATHS THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED.

TO PERPETUATE THE REMEMBRANCE OF SO ILLUSTRIOUS A PATTERN OF CONJUGAL
AFFECTION, TO MANIFEST THE PUBLIC SENSE OF THE MANY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
VIRTUES OF THEIR RESPECTED GOVERNOR, AND TO RECORD FOR THE BENEFIT OF
POSTERITY THE CLEARNESS OF THAT SAGACITY, THE EXTENT OF THAT
KNOWLEDGE, AND THE PURITY AND FIRMNESS OF THAT INTEGRITY, WHICH
RENDERED HIS ADMINISTRATION THE BOAST AND SECURITY OF A GRATEFUL
PEOPLE; THE ASSEMBLY OF JAMAICA, HAVING CAUSED THE REMAINS OF THIS
NOBLE AND LAMENTED PAIR TO BE INTERR’D WITH FUNERAL HONOURS AT THE
PUBLIC EXPENSE, THE WHOLE HOUSE ATTENDING EACH PROCESSION AS MOURNERS,
AS A FURTHER TESTIMONY OF MERITED ESTEEM, INSCRIBE THIS MONUMENT.

By an Act passed in 1789, burying in churches had been recently
prohibited, and a penalty of £500 imposed on any rector permitting such
burial; but two bills, dispensing with that Act and indemnifying the
Rev. Robert Stanton Woodham, the then lately appointed rector of St.
Catherine, from its penalties in the special cases of the Earl and
Countess were introduced in the Assembly by Bryan Edwards and passed
unanimously.

On November 19 the House “resolved, _nem. con._, in order to testify the
grateful respect which this House entertain of his late Excellency’s
merit and virtues, his firm and independent conduct, and the sense they
have of the great and universal satisfaction which his mild and
equitable administration, in every department, gave to all ranks of
people, and the regret which they feel at his loss, that the funeral of
the late Earl of Effingham be conducted at the public expense”; and on
December 7, 1791, the Assembly voted £500 sterling toward this monument.
The monument, together with the two funerals, which were attended by the
members of the Assembly, cost the island £8700.

The Rev. Thomas Warren, rector of St. Elizabeth, and domestic chaplain
to the governor—the same Thomas Warren who ten years later disgusted
Lady Nugent by his toadyism while conducting the service at Black
River-preached the funeral sermons, which are given in the “Columbian
Magazine or Monthly Miscellany” published in Kingston in June 1797.

The Earl and Countess of Effingham arrived at Port Royal on March 17,
1790, in the ship _Catherine Countess of Effingham_. During his short
period of governorship the condition of Jamaica was the cause of some
anxiety owing to the nearness of the republican movement in San Domingo;
so much so, that during the Christmas holidays of 1791 two ships of war
patrolled round the island. The National Assembly of France passed a
decree of thanks to the King of Great Britain, to the English nation,
and to Lord Effingham, governor of Jamaica, for his generous conduct in
relieving the planters of St. Domingo from the horrors of famine, and in
furnishing them with arms and military stores against the rebel negroes.
It was during Effingham’s governorship that the bread-fruit and other
trees were imported from the south seas, and a collection of Jamaica
plants was sent home to Kew Gardens.

The House of Assembly addressed the governor on the subject of proposed
additional duties by England on sugar and rum, but to their
representations the governor made a diplomatic reply.

The Earl’s mother was daughter of Peter Beckford, speaker of the
Assembly, and sister to the celebrated lord mayor of London. His wife,
whom he married in 1765, was the daughter of Metcalfe Proctor, of
Thorpe, near Leeds. They had no children.

Next to the Effingham monument that to the =Countess of Elgin= is the
most interesting from an art point of view.

In April 1841, Elizabeth Mary, the twenty-year-old daughter of Charles
Lennox Cumming Bruce, was married to Lord Bruce, the son of the earl of
“Elgin Marbles” fame. He had the year before become heir to the earldom
through the death of his elder half-brother; and in the July following
he was elected member of Parliament for Southampton, and succeeded to
the title in the November of the same year (1841), becoming a peer of
Scotland without a seat in the House of Lords. In the April of the
following year he was made governor of Jamaica at the early age of
thirty-one years, and there served his apprenticeship to his greater
work as governor-general of Canada and viceroy of India. He experienced
a period of depression, owing to the effects of emancipation, and of
storms and floods; but in spite of difficulties he endeavoured, not
without success, to improve the social conditions and develop the
industrial resources of the island. The Royal Agricultural Society of
Jamaica (later merged into the Royal Society of Arts and Agriculture of
Jamaica) and several parochial agricultural associations were
established by him; the first batch of coolies arrived from India in
1845, and the railway was opened for traffic in the same year.

On the death of the countess within less than a twelvemonth of her
landing, and after a little more than two years of married life, the
House of Assembly voted three hundred guineas for a monument to be
erected in the cathedral at Spanish Town. It was carved by Sir John
Steell, and is inscribed on the back “Jn. Steell, Sculptor, Edinr.,
1849.” He is best known for his statues in Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott
and the Prince Consort, and for his colossal statue of Burns in New
York. The first-named is said to have been the first marble statue
commissioned in Scotland from a native artist; the second secured him
his knighthood. Steell in early life patriotically declined Chantrey’s
flattering offer to remove from Edinburgh to London, in order that he
might devote himself to the improvement of the art of his native
country.

His busts are said to be distinguished by great dignity and refinement.
These characteristics are evident in his posthumous portrait of Lady
Elgin.

The following is the inscription on the monument:

IN MEMORY OF

ELIZABETH MARY, COUNTESS OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, ONLY CHILD OF
CHARLES LENNOX CUMMING BRUCE, ESQR., OF ROSEISLE AND KINNAIRD IN
SCOTLAND, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN,
AND OF MARY ELIZABETH BRUCE. GRANDDAUGHTER AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
DISTINGUISHED TRAVELLER IN ABYSSINIA. BORN ON THE 13TH APRIL, 1821,
SHE WAS MARRIED ON THE 22ND APRIL, 1841, AND HAVING ACCOMPANIED HER
HUSBAND, HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, TO
JAMAICA, IN APRIL, 1842, SHE DIED AT CRAIGTON, IN THE PARISH OF ST.
ANDREW’S, ON THE 7TH JUNE, 1843: RESTING WITH ASSURED FAITH ON THE
LOVE OF HER REDEEMER, AMIDST THE UNSPEAKABLE SORROW OF HER RELATIVES
AND FRIENDS, AND THE DEEP LAMENT OF THE COMMUNITY THAT HAD WITNESSED
THE RICH PROMISE OF HER EARLY VIRTUES. THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY
THE LEGISLATURE OF THE COLONY NOT AS A COLD TRIBUTE OF RESPECT DUE TO
EXALTED RANK, BUT TO MARK THE PUBLIC REGRET, FOR DISTINGUISHED WORTH
AND TALENT, SO EARLY LOST TO HER COUNTRY AND HER FAMILY.

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.”

Craigton, used as a mountain residence by the Earl of Elgin, is in the
Blue Mountains, by the fourteenth milestone on the driving road to
Newcastle.

The following passage from Professor Wrong’s “Earl of Elgin” tells in a
few words the sad cause of Lady Elgin’s death:

In April 1842 Lord Elgin left England for Jamaica. On the way he
experienced the dramatic and, for him, tragic consequences of
shipwreck; the steamer struck on the coral reefs surrounding Turk’s
Island, one of the Bahamas, and became a total wreck. No lives were
lost, but Lady Elgin received a shock from which she never recovered.
When, in the following summer, she died in Jamaica, Lord Elgin was so
prostrated by grief that his recovery seemed doubtful. He was left
with one infant daughter. From utter loneliness the society of his own
kindred saved him; with him were his sister Charlotte, afterwards Lady
Charlotte Locker, and his brother Robert, the latter as his Secretary.
Though living chiefly at the country house, Craighton (sic), in the
Blue Mountains, he did not neglect holding at Spanish Town, then the
capital of Jamaica, the receptions and entertainments which must be a
heavy burden upon the time and patience of those in high official
position. The life was sufficiently monotonous, and after three years
he longed for more active employment.

The immediate cause of Lady Elgin’s death was the birth of an infant
daughter, who only lived a few hours. Her only surviving child, Elma,
married Baron Thurlow.

With regard to the actual spot where the body is interred, we read in
the “Morning Journal” of June 1843:

His Honour, the Chief Justice, the Custos, and several other
officials, then proceeded to the selection of a proper place for the
sepulture of her Ladyship. The spot they selected was immediately
below the Communion Table, in the Cathedral, and in which the remains
of the Earl and Countess of Effingham were interred in 1791. The
excavation took place under the superintendence of His Honor the
Custos, assisted by Mr. Churchwarden M’Anuff; and about five o’clock
on Thursday morning the vaulting and arches were complete.

The funeral was attended by all the high officials, civil, naval and
military, and by the members of the House of Assembly.

Though the present =House of Assembly= probably only dates from about
the same period as King’s House (1762) or a little later, the Assembly
always met (with a slight diversion, in favour of Kingston, under
Admiral Knowles in 1755) in Spanish Town, and the old capital was thus
associated with the story of the long series of struggles which took
place between the people’s representatives and the Crown.

In 1702 the Assembly met at the Queen’s House and at the Court House. In
his speech to the Assembly on September 5, 1706, Handasyd said, “That
the public building, I mean the Assembly House, being ready to fall, I
don’t doubt but you will give orders for the rebuilding of the same.”

In 1728 the Duchess of Portland, widow of the late Governor, gave a
portrait of George I to the Assembly. It was hung over the speaker’s
chair. One wonders where it now is.

One of the most dramatic incidents which ever happened during a session
of the Assembly is that which caused the death of Peter Beckford, a
former lieutenant-governor of the colony, the president of the Council,
and the first custos of Kingston.

The incident is thus described by Bridges:

During a warm debate in the Assembly on June 8, 1711, on the right of
adjournment for a longer period than _de die in diem_, Peter Beckford,
the Speaker (son of the President), repeatedly called to order; and
was at length compelled to enforce it by adjournment. But irritation
had gone so far that, when he rose to quit the chair, the Members drew
their swords and held him there, while the obnoxious questions in
debate were put and carried. The doors were barred; the uproar was
alarming; and the Speaker’s father heard the disturbance in the
Council Chamber. He recognised the voice of his son crying aloud for
help, and rushed into the Governor’s apartment. Sir Thomas Handasyde
seized his sword, ordered the sentinels to follow him, forced the door
of the Court House, and dissolved the Assembly in the Queen’s name.
But the fray was fatal to the elder Beckford; in his agitation his
foot slipped, and he was precipitated down the staircase, and the
effects of terror were deadly to his aged frame.

From this account we incidentally learn that the Assembly then had no
House of its own and met in the court house, which probably stood where
the present court house stands, at the south side of the square; the
House of Assembly being on the east side, the King’s House on the west,
and Rodney’s memorial on the north. In 1679 the church was first used as
a House of Assembly, and was so used occasionally, as well as the court
house, till its destruction by hurricane in 1712.

In “A View of the Proceedings of the Assemblies of Jamaica for some
years past,” published in London in 1716, occurs a letter dated from
Kingston, December 4, 1715, which begins, “The Grand Court is Sitting,
as also the Assembly (who as former Assemblies have done in Court time)
Sit in the Great Church [at Spanish Town]....”

The speaker alluded to above, Peter Beckford, held that office no less
than four times. He will ever be remembered, in Spanish Town at all
events, as the founder of Beckford and Smith’s School.

Space will not permit of any detailed reference to the continual
struggles which took place between the Assembly and the Governor in
Council, or the Assembly and the Crown, for in some cases the Assembly
found governors who from the larger knowledge gained by local experience
were in sympathy with many of their claims for equitable treatment. But
we may perhaps for a moment try to picture to ourselves the scene at the
opening of an assembly a hundred years ago. There were then forty-three
members representing twenty constituencies or parishes. Of these all but
a few came from outside Spanish Town, and had perforce to find temporary
homes for themselves, their servants, and their horses: and the old
capital must have offered a gay appearance. If the member for noble St.
James did not drive his own horses it must have cost him some £8 to £10
to post.

It is true that Feurtado mentions ten lodging-houses and six hotels or
taverns as existing at the time of the removal of the Government from
Spanish Town to Kingston in 1870; but it is somewhat curious that,
though travellers and historians have recorded the names of some ten or
twelve taverns throughout the colony in the eighteenth century, no
mention is made of any such institution of importance in the old
capital.

In 1812 the lieutenant-governor was Lieutenant-General Edward Morrison.
His secretary was William Bullock, who later, under the Duke of
Manchester, became a great pluralist and wielded much power. The speaker
of the Assembly was James Lewis, who represented St. Catherine. John
Jacques, the mayor, was one of Kingston’s three representatives. St.
Andrew sent as one member a James Stewart, Trelawny sent another James
Stewart, and Westmoreland a third—which suggests numerous pitfalls for
the unwary student of genealogy—while a fourth Stewart, John by name,
sat for St. Ann. John Shand, the custos of St. Catherine, represented
St. John. One of Vere’s members was J. P. Edwards, while Robert Allwood
came up from St. Elizabeth. Hanover was represented by a Scarlett.
Portland sent two Minots. The wealthy and powerful Simon Taylor
represented St. Thomas-in-the-East, where most of his property lay.

The officers of the Assembly were: _Clerk_, F. Smith; _Serjeant-at-arms
and Librarian_, John Clement; _Chaplain_, Isaac Mann (rector of St.
Catherine); _Printer_, A. Aikman; and _Doorkeeper_, J. Wintle.

[Illustration:

KING’S HOUSE
]

[Illustration:

COURT HOUSE
]

[Illustration:

RODNEY MEMORIAL
]

[Illustration:

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
]

THE SQUARE, SPANISH TOWN

The president of the Council, which was not infrequently recruited from
the Assembly, was John Lewis, the chief justice, a relative of the
well-known “Monk” Lewis; and other members (twelve in all) bore the
well-known Jamaica names of Broadbelt, Ross, Pinnock, Cuthbert,
Scarlett, Nembhardt and Jackson. Its chaplain was the Rev. John Campbell
(rector of St. Andrew). Its librarian was Alexander Dallas, a relation
of the author of the “History of the Maroons.” The Assembly opened daily
with prayer.

Until 1842, when a new judicature law, which transferred to a
vice-chancellor the authority of chancellor, came into force, the
governor for the time being was _ex-officio_ chancellor of the island,
and sat in a Chancellor’s Court which was held in the Egyptian hall of
Ring’s House.

At its first session the House was wont to go over “in grand
procession”—the speaker preceded by the macebearer with the mace—to
King’s House at 4 P.M. to hear the governor read his speech. They then
returned and deliberated on the speech, to which they sent a reply. They
formally elected a speaker. He was wont to plead his unworthiness but
allowed himself to be over-persuaded, and the governor gave his
approval. After the passing of many compliments the pendulum not
infrequently swung round to the point of contention and bickering, but
many of the Assembly honestly did their best in legislating for the
well-being of the colony. To do honour to Sir Henry Barkly the Assembly
turned their hall into a ballroom, each member subscribing £10 toward
the cost of the entertainment.

In 1853 the House committed to jail, where he was kept for upwards of
twenty-four hours, one of the judges of the supreme court, William
Stevenson (afterwards governor of Mauritius), for an alleged breach of
privilege in writing a letter to the public press, in which he accused
them of violating public faith and confiscating the property of public
men.

An English merchant describing Jamaica in 1726 says, “Nor is the keeping
of a coach and six any more credit than keeping a horse in England, it
is so common in the lowlands where the roads will admit”; and, even
within the memory of those living, members of the Council and Assembly
were wont to drive into Spanish Town in style. The late Mr. Judah, in
“Old St. Jago” (1894), says:

We come to so late as 1848–49 when Sir Charles Grey was Governor. He
rode in a State Coach drawn by four horses, and had outriders as part
of his equipage. Besides coachman and groom he had two footmen behind
his coach holding, in their dignity, their straps in holders; all in
splendid livery. When the Honourable James Gayleard was President of
the Council, he rode too in State Coach and pair, with coachman and
groom on the box and a footman behind standing with strap and holder,
all too in livery. Sir Joshua Rowe, Chief Justice, in his stately
barouche with liveried servants. The Honourable William Church
Macdougall driving in uniform with high-booted postilion. The
Honourable Alexandre Bravo, always arriving in town on the first day
of the meeting of the Council, of which he was a member, with four in
hand, his wife and then young family inside, himself on the driving
box with his son Alexandre, afterwards Major and Acting Governor in
one of Her Majesty’s Colonies in Africa, seated beside him; while Mr.
Moses Bravo followed with his wife, driving a gay and attractive
tandem. “Old Saint Jago” has its traditions, and is full of memories
of the old past and the greater days of Jamaica. A hundred of these
memories as it were pass before my eyes, and I feel a real pleasure in
recalling some of them, associated as they are with the days of my
boyhood and my early manhood. I well remember the first day of the
inauguration of a new Governor, attended at old King’s House by all
the heads of departments and highest officials of the colony. The
Lieutenant-Governor, who was always then the Major-General commanding
the Forces in this island, and his brilliant staff, the Admiral with
his staff, the Commodore on the station—the whole in full dress
uniform. The Bishop with his mitre on, and his black silk gown with
ample lawn sleeves. The three Archdeacons in their full college dress
and honours. The Chief Justice and Puisne Judges in their purple
robes. The Registrar in Chancery and Clerk of Patents, gowned in black
silk and bearing on a scarlet velvet cushion the insignia in gold of
Equity and of his office. The Clerk of the Crown and Supreme Court
with parchment scroll surmounted by the British Crown in gold. The
Military and Navy in full dress uniform. The foreign Consuls also in
uniform—those of Spain, France, Austria, and the Mosquito territory
being most conspicuous for their splendour. The three members of “the
mixed Commission” (for the adjudication of cases arising out of the
slave trade treaties) in their peculiar dress of white kerseymeres
trimmed in silver, and their silver-sheathed swords suspended in fine
silver chains. The military band of music arriving from the barracks,
at the head of the regiment, with standards flying and taking up their
position in the present garden on the left hand opposite to the front
of the King’s House. During the administration of the usual oaths to
the new Governor the playing of the National Anthem, and this followed
by a salvo of fourteen guns from two field pieces positioned in front
of Rodney’s statue, then on its original site, under the dome of the
colonnade, at the north side of the public square.

Then there was the opening day of the annual meeting of the
Legislature, with almost the like pageantry and with the members of
the Privy Council in Windsor uniform, and the members of the
Legislative Council, attended by “Black Rod” in full Court dress with
his _chapeau bras_. The entrance of the Governor into the Egyptian
Hall of King’s House, in full military dress as Captain-General and
Commander-in-Chief, attended by his Secretary in Windsor uniform, and
his aide-de-camp in full military dress. The despatch of “Black Rod”
by the Governor, summoning the Assembly to attend him in the Council
Chamber. The arrival of “Black Rod” at the bar of the Assembly Hall,
delivering the message, and his retiring backways, making his
obeisance three times to the Chair while retiring. The attendance of
the Speaker and the whole House, headed by the Serjeant-at-Arms
carrying, with head covered by his _chapeau bras_, the large gilt mace
of the House, and with his ivory-hilted sword at side, while the band
plays the grand and stately “God Save the Queen.” These pageantries
followed by a grand dinner at King’s House to the Lieutenant-Governor
and staff, Admiral and staff, Chief Justice, Bishop, and the high
officials of the day.

The mace mentioned above is now in the history gallery in the Institute
of Jamaica.

Tradition has it that the old house known as =Eagle House=, behind the
Public Hospital in King street, Spanish Town, was the residence of
William O’Brien, second earl of Inchiquin, who was governor of Jamaica
in 1690–91–2. Its local name, from the remaining eagle that surmounts
one of the gate-posts, is John Crow House; John Crow being the popular
designation of the vulture of Jamaica (_Cathartes aura_).

A discussion on the subject of this house took place in the “Gleaner”
newspaper during August and September 1911, with the result that, though
some light was thrown on the subject, nothing was settled for certain.
Mr. G. F. Judah, whose antiquarian knowledge of Jamaica was unequalled,
informed us that his father told him that when he first visited the
house as a boy in 1808–9 both eagles were _in situ_; but that when he
went to reside in Spanish Town in 1830–31 only one remained; and further
that tradition said that it had once been the residence of Sir James de
Castillo, the agent of the Assiento Company.

Mr. Judah seemed to think that “Eagle House” is identical with the “Fort
House,” which he told us was granted first in 1662 to Sir Charles
Lyttelton, deputy governor to Lord Windsor, being the first of the
records of Patents in the island, and dating only seven years after the
British occupation. Lyttelton sold it to Charles Brayne, who sold it to
Sir Thomas Modyford. Modyford’s nephew succeeded to the baronetcy and
his executors sold the “Fort House” in 1715 to John Stewart, president
of the Council, who had the title to the house confirmed by a special
act of the Legislature in 1733. From an act which was passed in 1736 it
appears that the Fort House bounded north-east on a street between a
storehouse belonging to John Stewart, Esquire, and the dwelling-house
formerly belonging to Arnold Brown, Esquire, deceased, to the Parade;
south-east on land belong to William Careless, Esquire, deceased;
south-west on the town Savanna; and north-west on the land lately
belonging to Ursula Hunt, widow, deceased, by indenture.

It was conveyed to Thomas Brayne, descended to his daughter, Mary
Elizabeth, wife of Alexander Henderson. They conveyed it to Walter
Thomas, and he and his wife conveyed it to John Stewart. Stewart sold it
to Robert Delap (nephew of Francis Delap, provost marshal), and the
place subsequently fell into the hands of Bogle & Co., of which firm
Michael Scott, the well-known author of “Tom Cringle’s Log,” was a
member. It then passed successively into the possession of Alexander
Young, William Taylor and Robert Nichol. Mr. Oscar Plummer, quoting from
manuscripts in his possession, of which however he gave no details, said
that various personages—Robert Russell, Andrew Gregory Johnson, and
Richard Hill—in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, gave
credence to the legend that Eagle House was the residence of the Earl of
Inchiquin, and that some of them alluded to Eagle House as the Moat
House. In this case, although there is no proof, it is quite likely that
the legend that Inchiquin inhabited it is true; but it is not likely
that much of the old fabric remains, though the present house is of
considerable antiquity. There is nothing in all this to aid in the
identification of Eagle House with the residence of Lord Inchiquin; but
as the rent for the house he occupied was paid to Samuel Bernard, the
chief justice, it was probably not identical with Fort House, which, as
we have seen, belonged to the Modyfords.

The early life of the Earl of Inchiquin was spent with his father in
foreign military service, during which he lost an eye and suffered
imprisonment in Algiers. In 1764 he was appointed captain-general of the
King’s forces in Africa, and governor and vice-admiral of the royal
citadel of Tangier, ceded by the Portuguese to Britain as part of the
marriage portion of Catherine of Braganza. He held the post for six
years.

Inchiquin welcomed the Prince of Orange in 1688, and in the following
year he and his son were attainted by the Irish Parliament of James II,
and their estates were sequestrated. He appealed to arms, but was
defeated and fled to England.

After the Revolution he was appointed governor of Jamaica. On going to
take up office he was allowed £500 in lieu of fifty tons of baggage, and
also passage and victuals for seventy-five menial servants. It is
interesting to note that on his journey he drew half-pay salary (_i.e._
at the rate of £1000 a year).

He, after escaping great dangers by sea and a malignant fever brought on
board by the soldiers embarked at Plymouth, arrived at Jamaica,
accompanied by Lady Inchiquin, on May 31, 1690, in H.M.S. _Swan_, “so
bad a sailor that she is little better than nothing”—the same ship that
was “forced over the tops of many houses” in the earthquake of two years
later. Inchiquin was sworn in as governor on the same day.

He met with considerable opposition from a portion of the Assembly,
whose temper had been ruffled by Albemarle’s arbitrary government, and
whom he treated in a somewhat tactless manner. That, added to troubles
arising from incursions by French cruisers on the seaside
plantations—the result of the war—plunderings by the runaway slaves, the
original maroons, and an outbreak of slaves in Clarendon, undermined his
constitution. Nineteen months of worry were terminated by his death, on
Saturday, January 16, 1691–2, “after long indisposition through fever
and plague which ended in a flux”; he was buried that night in the
parish church at St. Jago de la Vega. Until recently no monument marked
the spot. A memorial brass has now, however, been erected in the
cathedral by Lord Inchiquin with the following inscription:

IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM O’BRIEN, 2ND EARL OF INCHIQUIN
GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA
FROM 31ST MAY, 1690, TILL 16TH JANUARY, 1691–2.
_When he died of fever at St. Jago de la Vega_,
AND WAS BURIED IN THIS CHURCH
ERECTED IN 1912 BY LUCIUS W. XVTH BARON INCHIQUIN.

In connection with his governorship of Tangier, Inchiquin has been
described as “a well-meaning impulsive man, devoid of discretion,” and
this description seems equally applicable to his Jamaica career.

By his first wife, Lady Margaret Boyle, daughter of the first Earl of
Orrery, he had three sons, of whom the third, James, was a member of the
Council of Jamaica, Captain of Fort Charles, and chief of an expedition
that destroyed French settlements in Hispaniola.

James O’Brien returned to England at his father’s death.

For the first thirty-four years of British occupation, the governors of
Jamaica lived partly at Spanish Town and partly at Port Royal. In 1675
the Assembly voted £500 to be employed in buying the house Lord Vaughan
lived in at Spanish Town “for the Governor’s use for ever.”

On January 13, 1690, however, the President and Council passed an “Order
for hiring a house in Port Royal and for provision for the reception of
Lord Inchiquin.”

On March 27, 1690, they passed an “Order for King’s House to be made
ready for Lord Inchiquin,” but the Order does not state whether Port
Royal or St. Jago de la Vega was meant, probably the latter.

On June 18 it was resolved that “Their Majesties’ house at St. Jago de
la Vega being extremely out of repair and almost ruinous so it is in no
manner fit for the reception of His Excellency, it was decided by the
Board if His Excellency would be pleased to let it be ordered, and it is
hereby ordered that the rent of the house where His Excellency now lives
be paid out of their Majesties’ revenue for the island till the other be
so repaired or built, that it may be fit for his reception.”

On December 18, 1690, it was “ordered that £600 be allowed for building
an addition to the King’s House on Port Royal to be paid out of their
Majesties’ revenue for this island.”

On January 28, 1691–2, just after the death of Lord Inchiquin, the
Council wrote home to the Lords of Trade and Plantations: “We beg that
the Governor’s residence may be fixed at St. Jago de la Vega, which is
the most convenient place.”

At a Council meeting on March 15, 1691–2, it was ordered that £250 be
paid to Samuel Bernard for “rent of the house the Earl of Inchiquin,
late Governor, lived in at the Towne of St. Jago de la Vega.”

On May 9, 1692, just after the earthquake, the Council made an “Order
for agreement as to the goods belonging to the late Governor at King’s
House, for the accommodation of the next Governor,” and on June 24, they
passed an “Order for material for rebuilding King’s House.” This
presumably refers to St. Jago de la Vega.

On July 8 of that year the Lords of Trade and Plantations at a meeting
at which Beeston, who was then agent for Jamaica in England, and was
soon to be appointed lieutenant-governor, was in attendance, resolved
that the “King’s House at St. Jago de la Vega should be sold, and the
proceeds devoted to the purchase of another house”—at the very time that
it was probably being rebuilt.

On the Earl of Inchiquin’s death, the Government bought of Lady
Inchiquin for the use of the Government, goods to the value of £90.
These included the “King and Queen’s picture” valued at £20. Where is
that picture now?

It is interesting to note that in the contemporary manuscript Council
Minutes the name Inchiquin is always spelt phonetically Insiquin.

=Sir Hans Sloane= studied botany, materia medica, and pharmacy, in
England and France. It is said that, before consenting to accompany
Albemarle, the newly appointed governor, to Jamaica in 1687, he
consulted Sydenham on the subject, and that the father of English
medicine told him that he had better drown himself in Rosamond’s Pond, a
sheet of water in St. James’s Park, which was then a fashionable resort
for intending suicides. He, however, decided to come. While in Jamaica
he attended, in addition to the duke’s “numerous family,” many people
professionally, including the whilom buccaneering governor, Morgan;
making in his reports very frank references to their mode of life.

In fifteen months he collected 800 plants, most of which were new
specimens; of these he published, in 1696, his “Catalogus Plantarum.” On
April 16, 1691, Evelyn writes: “I went to see Dr. Sloane’s curiosities,
being a universal collection of the natural productions of Jamaica,
consisting of plants, fruits, corals, minerals, stones, earth, shells,
animals and insects, collected with great judgement; several folios of
dried plants, and one which had about eighty several sorts of ferns and
another of grasses; the Jamaica pepper in branch, leaves, flower, fruit,
&c. This collection, with his Journal, and other philosophical and
natural discourses and observations, indeed very copious and
extraordinary, sufficient to furnish a history of that island, to which
I encouraged him.” In 1707 and 1725 Sloane issued two large volumes
entitled, “A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St.
Christopher and Jamaica, with the Natural History ... of the last of
those Islands,” with many engravings from crayon drawings. The work was
parodied by the clever but drunken Dr. William King, under the title
“The Present State of Physic in the Island of Cajami.”

Sloane’s wife, whom he married in 1695 and who died in 1724, was
Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Langley and widow of Ffulk Rose, of
St. Catherine, who from 1675 to 1693 represented first St.
Thomas-in-the-Vale, and afterwards St. John, in the House of Assembly.

Soon after the death of his patron, the Duke of Albemarle, Sloane
returned to England. In 1693 he was secretary to the Royal Society, of
which he edited the transactions for twenty years, contributing
twenty-two papers. Of these one was an account of the earthquake of 1692
which destroyed Port Royal, already alluded to. Meantime he practised
with great success as a physician. In 1716 he was created a baronet,
being the first physician so honoured, and made physician-general to the
army; from 1719 to 1735 he was president of the College of Physicians;
and in 1727 president of the Royal Society. He bequeathed his books,
manuscripts, prints and curiosities (including his Jamaica collections)
to the nation, on condition that £20,000 (or less than half of what they
had cost him) was paid to his executors. The collection formed the basis
of the British Museum. He gave to the Apothecaries Company the freehold
of the physic garden at Chelsea, and he assisted to start the Foundling
Hospital.

Tradition points to a house (now No. 14), in what has been known as
Nugent Street, Spanish Town, for upwards of a century, as the residence
of Sloane.

In a MS. scrap book called “The Omnibus, or Jamaica Scrap Book,” in the
West India Library of the Institute of Jamaica, dating from about 1840,
there is an account of Sir Hans Sloane, wherein it states: “This
celebrated naturalist during his stay in Jamaica resided in the old
Spanish fronted building which was till about the year 1828 to be
discerned in the lane at the back of the King’s House in Spanish Town,
and which about that period came by purchase into the hands of a
tradesman, who, without any respect to its former possessor, razed it to
the ground and erected upon the site a blacksmith’s shop and other
tradesmen’s offices, at which period some of his etchings, were
discovered in a ruined outhouse.” The present building is of a type that
has existed in the colony “from time.”

Previous to the building of a _King’s House_, the governors of Jamaica
apparently lived in whatever house they chose. From the following entry
in the Council Minutes of June 16, 1684, it would appear that there were
in 1683 two King’s Houses, one at Port Royal and one at Spanish Town:
“Ordered that His Excellency’s order shall be sufficient warrant for
issuing money for the fortifications, repair of the King’s Houses, &c.,
according to the Act of this country”; and this is confirmed by the
accounts of the Receiver-General for 1684–85, which contains references
to the “King’s House at Town” [Spanish Town] and the King’s House at
Port Royal. In July 1689 it was reported that in the Duke of Albemarle’s
time (December 1687 to October 1688) the King’s House at Port Royal had
been appointed for a Popish priest, Thomas Churchill, to say Mass in.

In June 1689 Colonel Hender Molesworth, who did not live to take up his
position as governor for a second term of office, suggested, in his
proposals as to the government of Jamaica, that “it would be well to
sell the old King’s House [presumably at Port Royal], and build a new
one at Spanish Town”; but in January 1690 it was ordered, as we have
seen, that a house should be built in Port Royal, and provision made for
the reception of Lord Inchiquin. There was, however, a King’s House at
Spanish Town in Beeston’s time. On July 8, 1692, it was decided by the
Lords of Trade and Plantations that “the King’s House at St. Jago de la
Vega should be sold, and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of another
house”; but on July 27, 1693, Beeston wrote home: “I hope also to get
them to raise money to put King’s House at St. Jago (where I live) in
order, for at present it only protects me from the sun and rain, having
no convenience for horses or servants, nor room for but few in a family,
and being as common as the highway. Nevertheless, my cost of living, for
the honour of the Government, is more than double what I am allowed, nor
is there money nor like to be yet awhile, to pay me what I am allowed by
their Majesty’s.”

In October 1700 he wrote home: “I am also enlarging to more than double
the King’s House, which was too little for any indifferent family, and
have taken in all the land belonging to it with a bricke wall, and have
made aditions of out houses for the reception of servants and for
offices, all which will bee finished in a short time, and will be very
comodious and useful, tho’ not so beautyfull, being built not one entire
fabricke, but by peices.”

There was a Queen’s House when Lord Archibald Hamilton arrived in 1711,
but it was in a “ruinous condition” and “could not be made tenable under
£2000,” which was voted. The Duke of Portland (1724–6) expended £1544
0_s._ 1¾_d._ over the £4000 voted on the then King’s House, but this sum
was not refunded to his widow although a committee of the Assembly
recommended it.

The original residence of the governors consisted partly of the old
Spanish edifice and partly of irregular additions made from time to time
by Sir William Beeston and other governors. The Spanish hall of audience
was demolished in 1761 to make way for the present building. Of it Long
says:

Nothing of art or elegance graced the inside of this hall: it was
lined throughout with boards, or rather planks, unequally hewn with an
adze, none of them appearing to have undergone the embellishment of
the plane; these were rudely nailed to upright posts, which supported
the roof. The posts were for the most part crooked, not even squared,
and many of them had some remnant of their bark, but they retained for
the most part their primitive solidity. The whole of the woodwork,
indeed, seemed to have passed through no other hands than those of a
clumsy ship-carpenter.

This description might almost apply to the dwellings of the native
Arawâks.

The former official residence of the governors of Jamaica, or King’s
House, as it is called, stands on the west side of the square. The plan
was designed by Craskell, the engineer of the island, and approved
during the administration of Lieutenant-Governor Henry Moore in 1759–62;
but the building was not completed until the arrival of Governor William
Henry Lyttelton in 1762.

The expense of building and furnishing amounted to nearly £30,000
currency (or £21,428 sterling), and in Long’s time (_circa_ 1774) it was
“thought to be the noblest and best edifice of the kind, either in North
America or any of the British colonies in the West Indies.” The façade
is about 200 feet long; the freestone used in the construction came from
the Hope river course in St. Andrew. The columns supporting the portico
are of Portland stone, the pavement of white marble, of which much came
out, as ballast, from time to time in the old sugar ships, and is still
seen in many a great house and town dwelling. The following is taken
from Long’s description of the interior:

Two principal entrances lead through it into the body of the house;
the one opens into a lobby, or ante-chamber; the other into the great
saloon, or hall of audience, which is well proportioned, the
dimensions being about 73 by 30 feet, and the height about 32; from
the ceiling, which is coved, hang two brass gilt lustres. A screen of
seven large Doric pillars divides the saloon from an upper and lower
gallery of communication, which range the whole length on the West
side; and the upper one is secured with an elegant entrelas of figured
iron work. The East or opposite side of the saloon is finished with
Doric pilasters, upon each of which are brass girandoles double-gilt;
and between each pilaster, under the windows of the Attic story, are
placed, on gilt brackets, the busts of several ancient and modern
philosophers and poets, large as life; which being in bronze, the
darkness of their complexion naturally suggests the idea of so many
Negro Caboceros, exalted to this honourable distinction for some
peculiar services rendered to the country. At the North end, over a
door which opens into the lobby, is a small moveable orchestra, made
to hold a band of music on festive occasions. The furniture below
consists of a great number of mahogany chairs and settees, sufficient
to accommodate a large company, the room being chiefly used for public
audiences, entertainments, balls, and the hearings of chancery and
ordinary. At the South end are three folding doors opening into a
spacious apartment, in which, by the Governor’s permission, the
Council usually meet; whence it has received the name of the Council
Chamber....

Monk Lewis, writing in 1834, says: “The Government House is a large
clumsy-looking brick building with a portico, the stucco of which has
suffered by the weather, and it can advance no pretensions to
architectural beauty.” And with this criticism one must fain agree.

In Long’s time a new governor was usually feasted for three successive
days in Spanish Town; after which he was wont to make a kind of public
entry into Kingston, where more festivities were got up in his
honour—the two towns vying the one with the other; and Lady Nugent, in
her Journal, makes many references to gay doings in King’s House,
Spanish Town.

During the reign of Queen Victoria, King’s House—in common with its
younger rival in the plain of Liguanea—remained King’s House, and did
not permanently change its name to Queen’s House, as did the official
residences of other British colonies, although in 1840 the House of
Assembly alluded to the Queen’s House.

With the removal of the seat of Government the remaining glory departed
from Spanish Town. With the exception of the year 1873, when it was
utilised for a little more than twelve months by Queen’s College, of
which Grant Allen was one of the staff, and the occupation by a
temporary tenant of recent years, King’s House has been practically
empty.

Jamaica’s former capital is like one of her bridges, which now and
again, through the change of a rivercourse, is left to span a dry
passage.

In the palmy days of old the lot of a governor and his wife could not
have been altogether a happy one. Lady Nugent writes, under date August
3, 1801, soon after their arrival in the island:

Up at six. A grand breakfast at eight and a council at ten. Lord
B[alcarres] set off immediately for his country-house, called The
Penn. A salute was fired, and all due honours paid to him, as he drove
off. General Nugent then walked in procession to the House of
Assembly, and was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor and
Commander-in-Chief. Then another salute was fired, and he came back
and held a levee. I remained above stairs until four o’clock, seeing
all the proceedings from my windows, or the gallery round the Egyptian
Hall. I then went to the drawing-room, and received all the ladies of
Spanish Town, &c., the principal officers of the Navy and Army, the
members of Council, and a number of the gentlemen of the House of
Assembly, who had come to compliment the new Governor and his Lady;
bowing, curtseying, and making speeches, till six o’clock. The ladies
then dined with me in the Ball-room, and the gentlemen with General N.
in the Egyptian Hall. My guests were forty in number, with ten
gentlemen to carve for us. General N. had three or four times that
number with him; but we should not call them _our_ guests, as these
dinners were given to us by the public. I must remark the loads of
turtle, turkies, hams, and whole kids, that crowded my table, and
increased the heat of the climate. The room, too, was filled with
black servants; and all the population, I believe, both white and
black, were admitted to walk round the table, and stare at me after
dinner. They did General N. the same favour, being, I suppose, very
curious to see what sort of looking people we were; but their
curiosity added most exceedingly to the heat, and, indeed, I never
felt anything like it in all my life. At two o’clock all the ladies
took their leave, and some of the gentlemen; but General N. left those
that remained to enjoy their bottle, and he and I retired to our own
apartment, but not to rest, for the garrison gave us a grand serenade,
and the house was a scene of dancing, singing, and merriment almost
the whole night.

No wonder she writes on the following day “This day we have kept to
ourselves.”

=Rodney=, who was for three and a half years commander-in-chief on the
Jamaica station, crowned that service by his ever-memorable victory over
De Grasse on April 12, 1782. The early days of that April had been dark
indeed for Jamaica. The militia had been called up for the defence of
the capital, extra taxation had been imposed to meet the cost of
defensive preparations, and the roads had been rendered impassable by
the placing of large trees across them. After weeks of doubt and fear,
Rodney’s letter, written on the 14th, “between Guadaloupe and
Montserrat,” announcing his victory, was received on the 25th, and fear
was replaced by rejoicing, which received additional impetus when four
days later Rodney himself appeared with his fleet, accompanied by nine
prizes, including the famous _Ville de Paris_.

On February 20, 1783, the House of Assembly resolved to write to the
agent of the colony in England, Stephen Fuller, desiring him “to apply
to the most eminent artist in England, to prepare an elegant marble
statue of Lord Rodney, with a handsome pedestal of the same, to be
erected in Spanish Town in commemoration of the glorious victory
obtained by that gallant commander and the brave officers and seamen
serving under him, over the French fleet on April 12, 1782.”

Premiums for designs to be approved by the Royal Academy were to be
offered, and the most eminent statuary employed to carry them out.

Instead of an anonymous competition for premiums open to all English
sculptors, which would have included the young Flaxman, who had already
shown signs of genius, the Council of the Academy directed Bacon,
Carlini, Nollekens, Tyler and Wilton to prepare designs. Only Bacon and
Tyler sent models, and the work was entrusted to Bacon, who was “at the
extraordinary trouble of making two trips to Italy for the purpose of
procuring a block of marble large enough for the design.”

We read in Leslie and Taylor’s “Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” that the
President, “according to Barry (letter to the Dilettanti Society, 1798),
was much disappointed at the poor result, complaining that it in some
measure defeated the object of those who intrusted the commission to the
Academy.” But inasmuch as Bacon was recognised as the best sculptor of
the time, it is a little difficult to understand what Sir Joshua
expected.

The House of Assembly voted £1000 sterling for the object, but, as is
usually the case in such matters, the monument cost them considerably
more before it was completed—£5200 in fact; of which £500 was for
freight and erection.

The statue did not arrive until 1790; and in that year the inhabitants
of Kingston and Port Royal, having heard with concern a report that it
was to be erected in Spanish Town, petitioned the House that it might be
placed in the Parade in Kingston. The petition says:

Conscious that such an ornament can only be adapted to decorate a
place equally conspicuous in point of situation, and convenient with
respect to proximity to those harbours which his victory graced, they
have anticipated the public approbation of seeing his statue erected
in the centre of the first commercial town in the West Indies, and,
solicitous to improve every advantage of position as well as to add
every possible embellishment to this testimony of public gratitude,
they, some time ago, subscribed a large sum of money for the purpose
of conveying water from the Hope River to the Parade of Kingston, by
means of which they propose to form a spacious basin to surround the
statue, and have lately subscribed a further considerable sum to
assist in erecting it, but are penetrated with the greatest concern,
to find a report prevails of its being intended to be placed in
Spanish Town.

The petition was rejected by the vote only of the speaker _pro tem._
(William Blake), the House dividing equally; and a further sum of £3000
was voted for a “proper building” to contain it, in Spanish Town, making
an expenditure of £8200. The total cost of Jamaica’s tribute to the
great hero (including the public offices which form wings to the
colonnade, and £3650 for the purchase of the necessary land) was £30,918
(currency).

This grant for a “proper building” was ill-spent. Memorial statues
should be erected “plain for all folk to see.” It is difficult to get a
good view of Rodney, placed as he is beneath a low-roofed temple which,
fitting as it might be for a statue of Jupiter or Venus, ill accords
with the breezy life of a sailor; and if the good people of Kingston had
been supported by the Assembly, Rodney’s statue would certainly have
looked better in the centre of the Parade. When it was in Kingston
temporarily from 1872 to 1889 it was on that barest of bare pedestals at
the bottom of King street (to which Lord Metcalfe has once more been
relegated) and lacked subsidiary adornment altogether.

Although West, in 1771, broke through tradition in painting in the
matter of classic costume, and dared, to the great advantage of Art, to
represent Wolfe and his soldiers in their own dress; and Pine painted
Rodney himself and his officers as they appeared on board the
_Formidable_ in the dress they wore, in sculpture the result was slower,
and Rodney was clothed by Bacon in the dress of a Roman, as a matter of
course; the fondness on the part of sculptors for classic costume dying
hard. Gibson, it is said, refused in the middle of the nineteenth
century to execute his statue of Sir Robert Peel unless he was allowed
to clothe him in a toga. In general treatment Rodney’s statue is not
unlike the Augustus Cæsar of the Capitol. He is clad in a short-sleeved
tunic (of which the part that should cover the body is by artistic
licence omitted), and wears his paludamentum (or cloak) over his right
arm, He has no greaves, but wears sandals on his feet. From a torques,
or necklace (usually worn by Oriental barbarians) is suspended a
Medusa’s head. His left hand, holding a sword-hilt, rests on the
ordinary oblong shield of the Romans. His right arm is outstretched, and
in his hand is a baton.

On the front panel of the pedestal is the following inscription:

GEORG. BRYDG. RODNEY
BARON RODNEY
NAVAL. PRAEL. VICTORI
PRID. ID. APRILIS
A.D., MDCCLXXXII.
BRITANN. PACEM REST.
D.D.D. S.P.Q. JAMAICENSIS.

Which may be rendered:

TO GEORGE BRYDGES RODNEY
BARON RODNEY
VICTOR IN A SEA FIGHT
ON THE DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF APRIL
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1782.
HE RESTORED PEACE TO BRITAIN.
THE LEGISLATURE AND THE PEOPLE OF JAMAICA
PRESENTED [THIS MEMORIAL].

On the other three panels are bas-reliefs. On the one side is a
representation of Britannia protecting Jamaica, who has a shield bearing
the arms of the colony and her foot on a crocodile. The French flag
appears to the right. On the other side is a representation of Britannia
sitting in her chariot, with her foot on the French flag, in the grasp
of a seaman. On her shield is the head of George III. On the back panel
is a well-executed bas-relief of the chief feature in the great battle,
showing the sterns of the _Ville de Paris_ and the _Barfleur_.

[Illustration:

THE “LADY JULIANA” IN TOW OF THE “PALLAS” IN 1782

From an aquatint by Robert Dodd
]

In front of the monument, typifying the spoils of war, are two handsome
brass cannons, _Le Modeste_ and _Le Précipice_, founded at Douay in
1748, by Jean Maritz, and bearing the proud legend “Nec pluribus
impar”—the motto of Louis XIV.

The initials P. R. and B. E. refer to Philip Redwood (member of the
Assembly for St. Catherine, later speaker, and afterwards chief
justice), and Bryan Edwards, the historian, who selected the passages
from Horace, cut in each side of the pedestal.

Over the front arch of the superstructure is the Rodney coat-of-arms
carved in bold relief.

Rodney’s statue is mentioned in Cecil’s “Life of Bacon” as one of his
principal works; and it was doubtless through the commission for this
work that Bacon gained the orders for the other monuments by him erected
in Jamaica—to the Countess of Effingham, Rosa Palmer, Lady Williamson,
John Wolmer and others.

In Spanish Town, streets named after governors, are Beckford street,
Nugent street, Manchester street, and Conran lane (after General Conran,
1813); the origin of Adelaide street (after the Queen of that name),
William street (after the Prince who was later King), Brunswick street
(after the Duke of Brunswick), and Nelson lane and Wellington street,
are obvious.

Canning lane and Melbourne lane tell of two English prime ministers. In
Cochrane lane we have probably a reminiscence of Sir Alexander Cochrane,
who was admiral on the Jamaica station in 1814–15. Ellis street tells of
the family of Lord Seaford who had properties in the island: the first
Lord Seaford having been born in Spanish Town.

Barrett street recalls a family long resident in the island on the
North-side.

The parish of St. John, merged in St. Catherine since 1867, dates from
the first partition of the island under Modyford in 1664. The old name
of =Guanaboa= is either Arawâk or Spanish, possibly, as Long suggests,
a mixture of both, but the prefix _gua_ is suggestive of an aboriginal
origin. It may perhaps be formed from the Cuban Indian word meaning
any kind of palm, or the native Indian word for sour-sop, guabana.
Guanaboa occurs as the name of a district in Hayti. The earliest
reference to the district in English days is under date July 15, 1661,
when the justices of peace of Guanaboa were ordered by the Governor
and Council “to nominate a person to sell drink at Cowhides,” and in
the map in Hickeringill’s “Jamaica View’d,” published in that year,
Guanaboa is one of the four inland names given. In the earlier edition
of Slaney’s map of Jamaica of 1678, published by William Berry, there
is a church marked at Guanaha, north-west of Spanish-Town, but in the
later edition, published by Morden, Guanaha has been erased from the
plate. Cowhides is marked on the map which accompanies the “Laws of
Jamaica,” of 1684, as a pen for cattle; it probably indicated the
place where the skins of the wild cattle were disposed of and possibly
survives to-day in Cowpen estate; albeit a spot near Aylmers is still
called Cowhide. On August 1 of the same year permission was given to
Captain Anthony Collier and Lieutenant Edward Morris “to pen their own
with other wild horses for one month, with the assistance of the
officers of Guanaboa, to whom half the wild horses are to be
delivered.” In 1663–64 to the first Assembly Guanaboa returned two
members. One was William Clee, of whom even the erudite Roby has
nothing to record. He was not a landowner in 1670. The other was
Thomas Freeman, who was later member for St. Thomas-in-the-East, a
brother-in-law of Colonel Cope (a member of the Council and colonel of
one of the seven regiments, and possibly a kinsman of Colonel Doyley)
who lived at Cope Place hard by.

Amongst the representatives whom St. John sent to the Assembly were
members of the most noted families in Jamaica history—Aylmer, Beckford,
Price, Ayscough, Rose, Brodrick, Kelly, Modd, Fuller, Beach and Shand.

In 1664 when Sir Thomas Modyford wrote home, St. John was one of the
seven established parishes. By the survey of the island in 1670, it was
shown to have eightythree families, and an estimated total population of
996; and a rate of one penny per acre then produced £200 in the parish.
The largest landowner was John Styles with 3200 acres. Styles, in a
letter to the principal Secretary of State in that year, states that
Jamaica “would maintain more people than the whole of England.”

In May 1675 a petition was presented by him “that his land be made a
distinct parish under the name of Styles Langley, he having left it by
will to Christ Church College, Oxford, from whence he expects it will be
supplied with preachers,” and offering to build a church. The petition
was refused on the ground that the land, which was at Magatee, was not
sufficiently extensive. It was later taken from St. John and made part
of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale. Research at Christ Church, Oxford, has failed
to reveal any trace of Styles’s bequest.

In 1671 of the four clergymen ministering in Jamaica, at St. John’s was
“Mr. Lemmings, an Englishman, lately sent by my Lord of London.” In 1675
“Mr. Lemon” (evidently the same man), “a sober young man and very good
preacher,” was minister at Guanaboa. “He has £100 per annum for the
parish, and about as much from Colonel Coape for keeping a free school
he has erected.”

In 1682 we learn from a very interesting account of the state of the
Church in Jamaica, sent to the Bishop of London by Sir Thomas Lynch, who
took a keen interest in the cause of religion, that “St. John’s parish
or Guanaboa is supplied by Mr. Lemon, who has £100 a year by law. He had
some advantages by a school built by Colonel Cope, but on the failure of
that and on his marriage to a poor gentleman’s widow he has been a
little uneasy. However, since I came he has sold some land I gave him
for £500, so that he is in a reasonably good condition. For all I have
heard he is a very honest, sober, fair-conditioned man, and esteemed the
best preacher in the island. I think he has a parsonage, but the church
is decayed, and he preaches in the schoolhouse.” This reference to the
decayed condition of the church is, curiously enough, the earliest
direct evidence of the existence of a church at Guanaboa, though it was
probably one of the six churches existing in 1675. It was presumably at
all events existing when Richard Guy was buried in 1681, the earliest
dated tombstone in the church; but it is curious that there is no mark
for a church at Guanaboa in the map of 1684 above referred to. The
existing register of baptisms, marriages and burials only goes back as
far as 1751. Part of the original fabric probably exists in the present
building, which only dates from about 1845, the older church having been
burnt down shortly before then.

Roby, in his “History of the Parish of St. James” (1849), says, “In a
wood near Aylmer’s in St. John’s, is a monument inscribed, under arms
(the colours added) sable, a chevron erminois, between three spear-heads
argent, embrued at the points, proper. Crest, a dragon’s head vert,
erased gules, holding in its mouth a sinister hand, erect, couped,
dropping blood from the wrist, all proper.”

Roby gives the inscription with, marvellous to relate, one or two
mistakes, _e.g._ _He_ for _Who_ in the fourth line; _High_ for _Hon._ in
the tenth; and he corrects the Mason’s _Pallidæ_ into _Pallida_. It runs
as follows:

Near to this Mournfull Marble lies Interr’d the Body of the Hon. Coll.
Charles Price who was divested of the Robe of Mortality on the 23d day
of May, 1730, Aged 52 years.

Who was a Loving Husband, an Indulgent Parent, a peaceable Neighbour,
and a faithful Friend; Just, Charitable, Courteous, Affable to his
Inferiors, patient of Injuries and Slow to wrath.

A Man of Integrity, and so firm to his word, that he inviolably
preserv’d the same even to the strictest Nicety of Honour; meek he was
but truly Brave, and every way fited for his Hon. station, and for a
Loyalist was second to none.

He was possessed of such a singular ingaging temper and sincerity of
mind, which render’d him a very desirable Companion to all, but more
especialy to those who had the happyness of being intimately
acquainted with him for he knew no guile neither was deceit found in
his heart. If he had any Enemies, they must have been the Sons of
Envy, and became such not thro’ any real cause by him given, but from
some invidious and Malignant seeds planted and foster’d in their own
turbulent and uneasie breasts.

To say more of him would be but still to say too little, only that he
is now gone to that place which alone knows how to reward those
vertues, of which he was here the happy possessor.

O may we then like him resign our breath,
In life his vertues share, and be like him in Death.

Pallidæ [_sic_] mors æquo pulsat Pede pauperum Tabernas Regumque
Turres.

Lawrence-Archer, in his “Monumental Inscriptions of the British West
Indies” (1875), gives the same information as Roby. Nothing is now known
of such a tomb near Aylmers, and the tombstone in memory of Price, as
quoted by Roby, is now on the floor of the church near the north door;
but the tinctures on the arms are quite gone. There is no record of the
removal from wood to church. It was evidently subsequent to 1849, but
the reference in Lawrence-Archer is no certain proof that it was still
in the wood in 1875.

Charles Price was the third son of Francis Price, who came to Jamaica as
a captain under Venables. His eldest son, Charles, who achieved much
fame in Jamaica and was made a baronet in 1768, and lies buried at
Decoy, his estate in St. Mary, will be dealt with under that parish.
Charles Price was member for St. John in 1713 and St. James in 1725, but
was expelled for non-attendance in the same year. He was custos of St.
Catherine. His two sons and six daughters, who all died between 1716 and
1727, lie buried in the church. He left three surviving sons.

Amongst other monuments in the church are those to the following:
Richard Guy, who represented in the Assembly “the North-side” (1671–2),
St. Ann and St. James in 1673–74, and St. James from 1675 to 1679. In
1676 he patented 1000 acres of which Latium (not Latimer as
Lawrence-Archer and Feurtado—after him—have it) in St. John, formed
part: George Modd, who represented St. John in the Assembly in 1718,
1719, and 1722, and St. Catherine in 1721, in which year he was speaker;
and Colonel Whitgift Aylmer. The arms on his monument are: a cross
between four Cornish choughs close; the crest, a Cornish chough rising
out of a ducal coronet. From the title “Honourable” it is possible, Roby
points out, that he was custos of the precinct of St. Catherine (which
comprehended the parish of St. John with St. Dorothy and St.
Thomas-in-the-Vale), as he does not appear to have been a member of the
Council; and although from the arms on his monument it may be inferred
that he was of the now noble family of Aylmers, of Balrath, Co. Meath,
yet that family was not ennobled until 1718, seventeen years after his
decease, when Matthew (second son of Sir Christopher Aylmer, who was
created a baronet of Ireland in 1682), rear-admiral of the red, was
created Baron Aylmer of Balrath.

The family, which had been long settled in Ireland, is said to have been
descended from Aylmer, a Saxon duke of Cornwall, and Sir Gerald Alymer,
who, 25 Hen. VIII (1533), was a Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, was
great-great-grandfather to Sir Christopher, the first baronet before
mentioned.

The family gave an archbishop to Canterbury, and Whitgift Aylmer is
supposed to have descended from Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury. He
was member of Assembly for St. John’s 1673–74, 1677, 1677 again; St.
Ann’s 1680–81 and 1687–88; and for St. John’s 1701. The Christian name
of his wife was Joyce, as appears from the register of St. Catherine’s,
in which parish two of their children were baptized—Mary, June 11, 1669,
and John, September 5, 1687. His son was also a member of the Assembly.

The following notice of his election for this parish appears under the
date of June 26, 1701.

It appearing by the return of the writs, that Lieutenant-Colonel
Whitgift Aylmer was elected for the parish of St. John, and Whitgift
Aylmer for the parish of St. James, and it being doubted whether the
said Whitgift Aylmer, elected for the parish of St. James, was Colonel
Whitgift Aylmer the father or Whitgift Aylmer the son, and a debate
thereon, it was put to the vote whether the House understood by the
said returns, that Lieutenant-Colonel Whitgift Aylmer or Whitgift
Aylmer his son were elected for the parish of St. James.

_Resolved_, that it was understood by the return to be Whitgift Aylmer
the son.

The memory of the family still lives in Aylmers estate hard by.

The parish of St. Dorothy, which was formed out of part of Clarendon and
part of St. Catherine in 1675, was, on the general reduction of the
number of parishes in 1867, merged into St. Catherine.

=Old Harbour= bay was called by Columbus _Puerto de las Vacas_, probably
because he saw a number of manatees there when he visited it on his
homeward way after he had discovered Jamaica.

Bernaldez tells us that:

Thus sailing in a southerly direction they anchored one evening in a
bay in a territory where there were many large villages; and the
cacique of a very large village which was above the ships came and
brought them a quantity of fresh provisions and the admiral gave some
of the things which he had on board to him and his followers, and they
were much pleased; and the cacique asked whence they came and what the
admiral’s name was, and the admiral answered that he was a vassal of
the mighty and illustrious sovereigns the king and queen of Castile,
his masters, who had sent him to these parts to learn and discover
those lands and to do much honour to good men but to destroy the bad.
Now he spoke to them by means of his Indian interpreter and the said
cacique was much pleased, and he asked the interpreter at great length
about things in Spain, and he told him at great length at which the
cacique and the other Indians were much astonished and pleased and
they stayed there until night, and then took leave of the admiral.
Next day the admiral departed, and as he was sailing with a light
wind, the cacique came with three canoes and overtook the admiral
coming in an orderly and stately manner; one of the canoes was as
large as a sea-going ship and was painted all over: the cacique came
and his wife and two daughters and two young lads, his sons and five
brothers and others who were followers; one of the daughters was 18
years old, and very beautiful; she was quite naked according to the
custom of those parts, the other was younger.

In the prow of the canoe stood the standard-bearer of the cacique clad
in a mantle of variegated feathers, with a tuft of gay plumes on his
head, and bearing in his hand a fluttering white banner. Two Indians
with caps or helmets of feathers of uniform shape and colour and their
faces painted in a similar manner, beat upon tabors; two others, with
hats curiously wrought of green feathers, held trumpets of a fine
black wood, ingeniously carved; there were six others, in large hats
of white feathers, who appeared to be guards to the cacique.

Having arrived alongside of the admiral’s ship, the cacique entered on
board with all his train. He appeared in full regalia. Around his head
was a band of small stones of various colours, but principally green,
symmetrically arranged, with large white stones at intervals, and
connected in front by a large jewel of gold. Two plates of gold were
suspended to his ears by rings of very small green stones. To a
necklace of white beads, of a kind deemed precious by them, was
suspended a large plate, in the form of a fleur-de-lys, of guanin, an
inferior species of gold; and a girdle of variegated stones, similar
to those around his head, completed his regal decorations. His wife
was adorned in a similar manner, having also a very small apron of
cotton, and bands of the same round her arms and legs. The daughters
were without ornaments, excepting the eldest and handsomest, who had a
girdle of small stones, from which was suspended a tablet, the size of
an ivyleaf, composed of various coloured stones embroidered on network
of cotton.

When the cacique entered on board the ship he distributed presents of
the productions of his island among the officers and men.

Columbus tells us that Old Harbour was inhabited by the most intelligent
and most civilized of all the aborigines that he had met in the
Antilles. Later it was called Esquivel, after the Spanish governor who
established it as a port for ship-building.

The land on which the =Church of St. Dorothy=, commonly called
Tamarind-tree church, at Old Harbour, was built, was given as a free
gift by Colonel Fuller and his wife Catherine Fuller, and also the land
and glebe consisting of about 30 acres of land on which the rectory
house was built. Colonel Fuller was among the foremost of the
Parliamentary officers who came here with Penn and Venables, and
received large grants of land, comprising Fuller’s Pen and Thetford in
St. Dorothy, and Fuller’s Pen in St. John’s. At a Council meeting held
at St. Jago de la Vega, May 9, 1692,

Thomas Scambler Clerke, Minister and Rector of the Parish of St.
Dorothy, being at the Board tendered the oaths appointed by Act of
Parliament to be taken instead of the oaths of Supremacy and
Allegiance, and also to repeat and subscribe the Declaration as by the
said Act is Required Peremtarily refuse to take the same ordered that
he be from henceforth _ipso facto_ deprived of his said benefice as by
the said Act is Directed, and that notice thereof be given to the
Churchwardens of the said parish.

On May 19, at a meeting of the council, it was

ordered that the Provost Marshall forthwith take into custody the body
of Thomas Scambler Clerke, late Minister and Rector of the Parish of
St. Dorothy for refusing to take the oaths ... and that the
Attorney-General prosecute him thereupon.

Amongst the rectors was the Rev. William Leacock, who was of the Leacock
family in Barbados. He gave up the living in 1836–37 and went to America
and was the leading divine of the Episcopal church in New Orleans. He
was succeeded by the Rev. Charles Hall, the Rev. McAlves, and the Rev.
George Wilkinson Rowe, brother of Sir Joshua Rowe, the chief justice of
Jamaica, who held the rectory for upwards of 30 years, and the Rev. W.
C. McCalla, who commenced the building of the chancel and organ chamber
about 1890.

Up to the year 1845–46 the old church was usually called the Old Harbour
“barn,” with red brick walls and wooden window shutters. The church was
renovated and restored and a belfry was put on the roof by the late
Alexander Bravo in the time of the Rev. George W. Rowe.

In the church are monuments to Colonel Thomas Fuller (d. 1690) and John
Pusey (d. 1767).

=Colebeck Castle=, which stands on a ridge of land on the west bank of
the Colebeck gully, about a mile and a half to the north-west of Old
Harbour town, overlooking the bay, probably dates from the end of the
seventeenth century. It must have been the most imposing building of the
kind erected in Jamaica. It was evidently at one time partially
destroyed by fire. It is rectangular in plan, about 114 feet wide and 90
feet deep, consisting of four three-storied, square, tower-like
buildings at each corner, rising to a height of about 40 feet, connected
by two-storied arched arcades, consisting on two sides of three arches,
on the other sides of five arches. The windows on the ground floor are
circular. The walls are formed of stone, filled in between with rubble,
with brick quoins and window facings, and are about 2 feet 6 inches
thick; at every fourth or fifth course is a course of larger sized
bricks. The inside walls have been coated with plaster work. Some of the
lintels of doors and windows still remain, and are of bully-wood, as
good as when they were first put up. A concrete terrace ran around the
castle, with steps at front and back.

Parts of a projecting wall—at a distance of about 114 feet from the
castle on each side, enclosing a square of about 300 feet—about 12
inches thick, still remain, and show crudely-formed loopholes for
firing. In some places there is a drop of from 12 to 20 feet on the
outside. At each corner of the outer wall was a substantial building
some 60 feet square, and underneath three of them were vaulted dungeons.
Two dungeons are no higher than 6 feet, 8 feet wide, and 24 feet long,
with only one very small aperture low down at one end. The dungeon at
another corner measures 60 feet by 20 feet, and is reached by a flight
of twenty steps.

To-day the castle is surrounded by bush, and is the abode of bats and
owls. On the surrounding property sugar has given place to tobacco.

From his black marble gravestone on the floor of the south transept in
the cathedral, we learn that “Collnel John Colbeck of Colbeck in St.
Dorothyes was born ye 30th of May, 1630, and came with ye army that
conquered this island ye 10th day of May, 1655, where haveing discharged
several honble. offices both civill and military with great applause he
departed this life ye 22d day of February 1682.”

He was returned member for Old Harbour in the first Assembly of Jamaica,
which met on January 20, 1663–64. In 1664, as Sedgwick had prophesied in
a letter to Thurloe, the Maroons proved a thorn in the side of the
English settlers. Though the main body under Juan de Bolas had
surrendered after the defeat of the Spaniards by Doyley, other parties
remained in inaccessible retreats, and, augmented by runaway slaves,
gave great trouble by intermittent descents on the planters in the
interior. Foremost amongst these were the Vermaholis negroes. After the
death, in action, of Juan de Bolas, who on surrendering had been made a
colonel of the Black regiment, Captain Colebeck, in March 1664, was
employed to endeavour to quell them. “He went,” Long tells us, “by sea
to the north side, and having gained some advantages over them, he
returned, with one who pretended to treat for the rest. This embassy,
however, was only calculated to amuse the whites, and gain some respite;
for they no sooner found themselves in a proper condition, and the white
inhabitants lulled into security, than they began to renew hostilities.”

In the survey of Jamaica sent home by Modyford in 1670, under St.
Katherine’s parish we read: “John Colebeck (812 acres); Capt. Colebeck
and inhabitants (1340 acres).”

In the third Assembly, which met on February 1, 1671–72, Colebeck’s name
appears among the representatives of St. Catherine as “Major John
Colebeck for Bowers,” Bowers being the district in which Colebeck Castle
stands. On February 14 following “the Gentlemen of the Assembly in a
body came to the Council and informed the Governor [Sir Thomas Lynch,
Lieutenant-Governor] of the sickness of their Speaker, Captain Samuel
Long, who recommended unto them Major John Colebeck, with whom they went
back to their House and immediately returned their thanks to the
Governor for his proposing so fit and able a person to be their
Speaker.”

Colebeck remained speaker of the Assembly until Samuel Long was
re-elected in May 1673; but on Long’s election to the Council, Colebeck
was passed over for the speakership, and Beeston was elected.

In the fourth Assembly, May 10, 1673, Colebeck was again returned under
the general head of St. Catherine as chosen specially for Bowers. In the
next Assembly, which met on February 13, 1673–74, his name appears as
one of the three representatives for St. Catherine generally, the return
omitting the former distinctions of one member for St. Jago, another for
Sixteen Mile Walk, and a third for Bowers. In the sixth Assembly, April
26, 1675, he was elected for the newly formed parish of St. Dorothy, and
continued until his death to represent that parish in every successive
assembly, viz. on April 9, 1677, when he had been promoted to the rank
of lieutenant-colonel; on September 6, 1677; September 2, 1678; August
19, 1679, when he had attained his colonelcy; and finally on March 19,
1680–81.

In a “Brief Account of the Government of Jamaica,” drawn up in 1680, his
name appears fourth on the list of justices of the peace for Precinct IV
(St. Catherine’s, St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, and St. Dorothy’s), coming
after those of Byndloss, Ballard and Long.

In 1679 he was one of a committee of fourteen of the Council and
Assembly for the Defence of Jamaica, who signed specific recommendations
to the governor for strengthening the breastwork, arming the new works,
and providing four fire-ships.

[Illustration:

COLEBECK CASTLE
]

On February 17, 1682, the Lords of Trade and Plantations agreed to
recommend, and the King approved, Colonel John Colebeck to be of the
Council of Jamaica, in the room of Colonel Whitfield deceased, but he
had died before the decision reached Jamaica. His will, dated February
20, was proved on March 15, 1682–83. He does not seem to have had
relations for whom he cared, for he named none. He left all his estate,
real and personal, to his executors, Hender Molesworth and Samuel
Bernard (to each of whom he gave £40), to hold for payment of his just
debts and legacies. He bequeathed money to purchase a ring to each of
Sir Thomas Lynch, Robert Byndloss and Sir Henry Morgan. He left £20 to
Henry Howser, the rector of St. Catherine, to preach his funeral sermon.
He left £10 each to Dr. Ross and Edmund Duck, the Attorney-General, and
£300 to Mrs. Ann Ash; and to every one of “ye Gentlemen of Councill each
a ring of 30/- price. To ye church of St. Dorothy’s ye charge of
glassing all ye windows and putting in iron barrs.”

After his death, the name of Colebeck does not appear in Jamaica
history. As his arms are not given on his tombstone, there is nothing to
show whether he came of the Bedfordshire or the Lincolnshire branch of
the family; but there is a tradition in the Colbeck family that a member
of the Lincolnshire branch at Louth was transported to the West Indies
for cutting down an elm tree; that he acquired a fortune, and that his
estate went into Chancery.

The principal reminiscence of the great earthquake of 1692 which
overthrew Port Royal is the =Tomb of Lewis Galdy=, which is on the
opposite side of Kingston harbour, at Green Bay, where at one time many
naval officers were interred. On a brick tomb rests a white marble slab
with Galdy’s crest and arms. The arms are a cock, two mullets in chief
and a crescent in base. The crest, on an esquire’s helmet, is a plume,
and the motto “Dieu sur tout.” The following is the inscription:

Here Lyes the Body of LEWIS GALDY, Esq., who departed this life at
_Port Royal_ the 22nd December 1739. Aged 80. He was Born at
_Montpelier_ in _France_, but left that Country for his Religion and
came to settle in this _Island_, where he was swallowed up in the
Great Earthquake in the year 1692 and by the Providence of God was by
another Shock thrown into the _Sea_, and miraculously saved by
swimming until a boat took him up: He lived many years after in great
Reputation, Beloved by all who knew him and much lamented at his
death.

Lawrence-Archer, in recording this inscription, adds: “Mr. Galdy
probably exaggerated the circumstances of his escape, especially as
there was no one left to contradict his statement.” There must have been
at the time of his death many persons living who could have borne
witness to Galdy’s escape. Galdy probably did not write his own epitaph.
Moreover, if Lawrence-Archer had experienced an earthquake himself he
would not have been so ready to scoff; and the following contemporary
accounts all tend to prove the truth of the monumental inscription. In
the earthquake of 1907 there were many escapes almost as miraculous as
Galdy’s.

In “The Truest and Largest Account of the Earthquake in Jamaica, June
the 7th, 1692, Written by a Reverend Divine there to his friend in
London” (London, 1693) it is stated:

You would admire at the Goodness of God in the Preservation of the
residue; some were very miraculously delivered from death, swallowed
down into the Bowels of the Earth alive and spewed up again, and saved
by the violent Eruption of Water through those Gaps; some (as they say
themselves, if they were alive at that time to know what was done to
them) were swallowed up in one place, and by the rushing of Waters to
and fro by reason of the agitation of the Earth at that time, were
cast up again by another Chasm at places far distant.

This account is corroborated by the contemporary account given by
Captain Crocket, writing from Port Royal on June 30, 1692. He says:

Several People were Swallow’d up of the Earth, when the Sea breaking
in before the Earth could Close, were washed up again and Miraculously
saved from Perishings; Others the Earth received up to their Necks,
and then Closed upon them and squeez’d them to Death; with their Heads
above ground, many of which the Dogs Eat; Multitudes of People
Floating up and down, having no Burial.

Also in “A full Account of the Late Dreadful Earthquake at Port Royal in
Jamaica, Written in two Letters from the Minister of that Place”
(London, 1692), we read:

But no place suffered like Port Royal; where whole Streets were
swallowed up by the opening Earth, and the Houses and Inhabitants went
down together, some of them were driven up again by the Sea, which
arose in those breaches and wonderfully escaped; some were swallowed
up to the Neck, and then the Earth shut upon them, and squeezed them
to death; and in that manner several are left buried with their Heads
above ground, and some Heads the Dogs have eaten, others are covered
with Dust and Earth by the people which yet remain in the Place to
avoid the stench.

Also in a letter, dated Jamaica, September 20, 1692, quoted by Sir Hans
Sloane:

The Earth when it opened up and swallowed up people, they rose in
other streets, some in the middle of the Harbour, and yet saved;
though at the same time I believe there was lost about 2000 Whites and
Blacks.

Elsewhere in the same letter it says:

She [the anonymous writer’s wife] told me when she felt the House
shake, she run out, and called all within to do the same: She was no
sooner out but the Sand lifted up; and her Negro Woman grasping about
her, they both dropped into the Earth together; and at the same
Instant the Water coming in rowled them over and over, till at length
they catched hold of a beam, where they hung, till a Boat came from a
Spanish Vessel and took them up.

And again, in a letter of July 3, 1693, “Some were swallowed quite down,
and cast up again by great Quantities of Water; others went down and
were never more seen. These were the smallest openings: Others that were
more large swallowed up great Houses, and out of some gapings would
issue great Rivers of Water, spouted up a great height into the Air,
which seemed to threaten a Deluge to that part of Port-Royal.”

But the most detailed account of all is given in “A Natural History of
Nevis and the rest of the English Leeward Charibee Islands in America.
With many other Observations on Nature and Art. In Eleven Letters from
the Rev. Mr. Smith, sometime Rector of St. John’s, at Nevis, and now
Rector of St. Mary’s in Bedford; to the Rev. Mr. Mason, B.D.,
Woodwardian Professor, and Fellow of Trinity College, in Cambridge,
1745.”

One Mrs. Akers of Nevis was a native of Port Royal in Jamaica, and
lived there in the year of our Lord 1692, when the great earthquake
made such a dismal havoc and destruction, as will hardly ever be
forgotten by the inhabitants of that Island. She told me, ‘That the
earth opened wide, swallowed her with many others, and then
immediately closed up again’; she said she was in a state of
insensibility during her short stay there. It could not exceed the
tenth part of a minute before it opened once more to vomit some of
them up again. I asked her what might be her thoughts of the matter
just the moment before the Earth swallowed her down; and she answered,
that imagining herself upon the brink of a boundless Eternity, she put
up a short ejaculation to Almighty God, begging him to pardon her
Sins, and to receive her Soul. The Hiatus she fell into was all Water,
so that being very wet she received no other harm, excepting in one of
her Cheeks, which grated a little against something that did but just
draw blood. This water Hiatus closed again the next moment, catching
hold of some people by a Leg, of others by the middle of the Body, and
of others some by the Arm &c., detaining them in dismal torture, but
immovably fixed in the ground, till they, with almost the whole Town
besides, sunk under Water; which happen’d within three minutes after
she had got safe on board a Ship then riding at anchor in the Harbour.

Galdy was an affluent merchant of Port Royal, churchwarden from 1726,
and member of Assembly for St. Mary, 1707; for Port Royal, 1708–09; for
St. George, 1711; for Port Royal again, 1716; and for St. Anne, 1718. He
enriched himself by the slave trade, as factor for the Assiento.

Until about the middle of the last century various inns and
posting-houses, or taverns, as they were generally called, were kept in
Jamaica. Some were rendered unnecessary by the advent of the railway,
and some were superseded owing to the more rapid travelling rendered
possible by better roads.

Of these the =Ferry Inn=, formerly the halfway house between Kingston
and Spanish Town, has survived hurricane and earthquake, only to live on
its departed glory, and no longer as a tavern.

In 1677 “An Act for the Ferry between St. Catherines and St. Andrews”
was passed, of which the preamble runs:

Whereas William Parker, of the parish of St. Andrews, Esquire, hath at
his particular Charge found out and made a very convenient Way between
the Salt and Fresh River in the Parish of St. Andrews and St.
Catherines, which will be of great use and advantage to the whole
Island, in causing a more near and easie Correspondence with the
several Precincts and whereas the said William Parker hath likewise
set up and erected a Ferry for the better Accommodation of the said
Passage, and whereas the same cannot be maintained without great and
constant charges....

In return for the right to demand Toll over the Ferry, Parker was bound
to “compleat the said Way and Passage within twelve months from and
after the making of this Act, and that in all places it be not less than
eight foot broad.”

This was one of a batch of laws that was not assented to by the King,
and included in the laws passed under the Great Seal of England in 1678,
and brought out by Carlisle for the Assembly’s acceptance which was
refused. It was repeated in an Act of 1683. An Act of 1699, confirmed in
1703, directed the building of a bridge, and the 1683 Act does not
appear in subsequent editions of the laws. The Ferry river—once known as
the Lagoon river from its source to the Ferry and thence to its junction
with the Salt river as the Fresh river—rises at Governor’s Spring in
Ellis’s Caymanas and runs into the Salt river; the united stream then
runs into the old course of the Rio Cobre just before it enters Hunt’s
Bay in Kingston harbour.

[Illustration:

THE FERRY INN
]

By the Act of 1677, “William Parker, his Heirs and Assigns” were
“Impowered and Authorized, for the space and term of fourteen years from
the making thereof, to ask, demand, sue for, recover, and receive as a
Duty and Toll for the Transporting of any Person over the said Ferry,
Seven pence half peny; for every Horse and Man, fifteen pence; for every
grown Beast that hath no Rider, seven Pence half peny; for every Sheep,
Calf, or Hog, sixpence; and that the said William Parker, his Heirs and
Assigns, may and shall erect a Tavern or Victualling-house near the said
Ferry, and shall not be compelled to renew or pay any License Money for
the same.”

Lady Nugent, in her Journal, mentions visits to the Ferry Inn on three
occasions, all in 1803; on February 10, when the Governor’s party
breakfasted there prior to the review of the St. Andrew’s militia by
General Nugent; on May 27, when “most of our family dined at the Ferry
House, on the Kingston Road, and our dinner party was very small”; and
lastly, on June 13, when she writes: “13th—Sent carriages, soon after
5, into Spanish Town, for the Murphy family, who slept there. Soon
after breakfast, General N. set off with Mr. M. in the curricle, to
visit the estates between this and Kingston called the Camoens
[Caymanas]. After second breakfast Mrs. and the Misses Murphy with me
in the sociable. The rest of the party in kittareens, phaetons, and on
horseback, all proceded to the Ferry Inn to meet the Admiral and a
large party at dinner. We had sent on to order the dinner, a few days
before, and all that Jamaica produces was ready to be served up. The
poor Admiral however, was so overcome with fatigue and the heat of the
day, that he was quite ill, and obliged to leave the table. In
consequence we all separated early. Mr. and Mrs. M. went with the
Admiral, and are to be his guests till Wednesday. I took my seat in
the curricle with General N., and all our young people went in the
sociable; and really if it had not been for Sir J. T. Duckworth’s
illness it would have been a merry party. As it was I was much
entertained; for the Inn is situated on the road between Kingston and
Spanish Town, and it was very diverting to see the odd figures and
extraordinary equipages constantly passing—kittareens, sulkies, mules,
and donkies. Then a host of gentlemen, who were taking their
_sangaree_ in the Piazza; and their vulgar buckism amused me very
much. Some of them got half tipsy; and then began petitioning me for
my interest with _his Honour_—to redress the grievance of one, to give
a place to another, and so forth; in short it was a picture of
Hogarth....”

To-day one can drive by the road and meet perhaps only a few drays,
laden with wood or guinea-grass for Kingston, or, it may be, bananas or
other agricultural produce. Of the “host of gentlemen” one sees nothing.
The Ferry was in the early nineteenth century one of the places where
tolls were charged. In the “Royal Gazette” for November 17, 1827, the
Lease of the Ferry Toll was advertised for tender.

The records of the House of Assembly contain many references to the
grants made in aid of roads, their management and the like. It may be
interesting to take the history of the Spanish Town road, which until
the advent of the railway was the principal, as typical of the rest.

“An Act for the Highways,” passed in 1681 (the third Act passed by the
legislature of the colony) provides “That the Highways be sixty foot
wide in standing Wood, forty foot where the Wood is only on one side,
and twenty-four foot in open ground.”

The early “Act for the Highways” is alluded to in a slightly later Act
(passed before 1695): “For making and Clearing a Publick Road from St.
Mary’s and St. George’s into the Parish of St. Andrew’s.”

In 1698 Parker was brought before the House for collecting toll at the
Ferry although the law had expired. A Committee to whom the matter was
referred, reported that they had

examined the business referred to them by the House, concerning the
Ferry between St. Catherine’s and St. Andrews and upon perusal of the
Patent granted anno 1682, the whole Committee came to this resolution,
viz. That the patent was void and the law expired:

Whereupon the said letters patent and the law being read in the house,
it was put to the vote, whether the House would concur to the report
of the committee of grievances;

Carried in the affirmative.

Michael Holdsworth and John Moone, esquires, ordered to wait on the
Governor and acquaint him of the resolution of the House about the
ferry, who returning, reported the delivery of the message, and that
the Governor said that he hoped the house would take care to make a
law that the benefit of the ferry should go to the two parishes, but
that he thought it reasonable that the parish of St. Andrew shall have
somewhat the more of the benefit, in regard that the road on the other
side the ferry is to be maintained by them, which will be chargeable.

Whereupon Michael Holdsworth, Usher Tyrrell, John Walters, John Dove,
Emanuel Moreton, William Hall, Jervis Sleigh, and John James,
esquires, were appointed a committee to bring in a bill for that
purpose.

And in the following year an Act was passed “to oblige the parishes of
St. Catherine and St. Andrew to build a bridge over the Rio Cobre.” The
bridge was to be at least twelve foot wide.

In October 1723 a Committee of the Assembly, appointed to consider the
most effectual means for repairing the public roads, reported:

1. That although the road leading from Spanish-Town to the Parish of
St. Andrew were repaired according to the Act of this island directing
the repairing the public roads, yet it would be of no effect, unless
the Rio Cobre were first cleared.

To which the House agreed....

And a committee was appointed to bring in a bill for repairing the road
leading from St. Jago de la Vega to the town of Kingston. The committee
was, five days later, ordered to insert a clause for cutting a new
channel for the Rio Cobre.

By 1745 the road was known as the Ferry Road, and in that year a
Committee of the Assembly was appointed to enquire into matters
respecting it.

In 1748 the Assembly again considered the state of the Ferry Road, and
passed “An Act to empower Commissioners to keep the Ferry, and erect a
toll-gate or turnpike, between St. Catherine’s and St. Andrew’s, to
commence at the expiration of an Act entitled An Act for empowering
William Peete, Esquire to keep the Ferry, and erect a toll-gate or
turnpike between St. Catherine’s and St. Andrew’s, and taking up runaway
negroes.”

In 1758 an Act was passed for “Vesting in Trustees a toll to keep the
ferry, and erect a toll-gate or turnpike between St. Catherine’s and St.
Andrew’s ...” and a similar Act was passed in 1761.

In 1777 a Committee reported:

4. On consideration of the motion for £4000 to be applied towards
carrying on the road from the church in Spanish Town to the church in
Kingston, it appears to your Committee, from accounts solemnly
attested and rendered in, and also from vouchers produced, that the
sum of £2000 granted last session of Assembly, for carrying on the new
road from the town of St. Jago de la Vega to the Ferry, in the parish
of St. Catherine, and of £2000 for carrying on the new road from the
Ferry, in the parish of St. Andrew, to the Town of Kingston, have been
all expended on the said roads; your Committee were therefore of
opinion, the sum of £4000 now applied for, should be granted: Your
Committee have come to two resolutions respecting this road:

1st. _Resolved_: It is the opinion of this Committee that the road
between Spanish Town and Kingston is laid out on too large a scale;
that therefore, it ought to be contracted that thirty feet in the
centre well paved and gravelled (except in the Salina which ought to
be paved forty feet) would answer every purpose to the public, and
save a considerable expense.

2nd. _Resolved_: It is the opinion of this Committee that the salaries
allowed to the Superintendent, and his assistants, amounting to about
£900 per annum, are too large; and that, in future, they ought to be
reduced.

In 1778 an Act was passed “for explaining and amending the several
Highway Laws now in force, and rendering the said Laws more effectual.”
It was repealed and expired by 1792.

In 1799 an Act “for continuing the Act commonly called the Highways Act
for a certain time longer,” was passed, but expired in 1812.

In 1801 a Highway law was passed, but was repealed in 1805.

In 1802 a law was passed “for rendering more effectual the several laws
relating to the public road from the church in the town of Saint Jago de
la Vega to the church in Kingston,” and “the Trustees of the Ferry Road”
were thereby appointed.

In 1815 an Act was passed giving “fuller powers to the Trustees of the
Ferry Road,” as it was found that “the present state of the Ferry Road
requires that their powers shall be extended, and that prompt and
efficacious means should be used to repair and keep the same in good
order especially by causing it to be frequently examined.”

The oldest tablet in the =Church of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale= at Linstead
is that of one Elizabeth Burton, who died in 1742. At the time of the
threatened invasion by the French in 1805 the Records of the island were
removed to this church, and were protected by a militia guard. The said
church was blown down by a hurricane in March 1822, and was shortly
afterwards rebuilt. A tower was added to the church in 1830.

The church was destroyed by earthquake on January 14, 1907, and was
rebuilt of reinforced concrete with eternit roofing at a total cost of
£950 and was consecrated in 1911.

Although the parish of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale dates from 1675, when the
author of “The Present State of Jamaica” (published in 1683) wrote his
work, its church was not one of the seven churches in the island; the
nearest church then being St. John’s, Guanaboa Vale, which had been in
existence since 1669. The earliest rector recorded was the Rev. Thomas
Garbrand, appointed in 1705. In “The Early English Colonies” (1908), by
Mr. Sadler Phillips, is given “A List of the Parishes, Churches and
Ministers in Jamaica, April 18th, 1715,” in which is included “St.
Thomas-in-the-Vale, a church blown down, Mr. Reinolds.” The Rev. James
Reynolds had come out in 1709, sent by the Bishop of London, who since
1702 had had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Jamaica. In 1798 the
rector was the Rev. William Williamson. In 1820 and for some years after
the rector was the Rev. William Buston.

=Williamsfield=, in St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, on the road between St. Mary
and Spanish Town, was first settled by Needham, a large proprietor, but
was soon purchased by one Harvey from Barbados, who in turn sold it to
Daniel Lascelles, brother to the first Baron Harewood. It remained in
the Lascelles’ hands for many years. In 1743, Henry Lascelles went to
London from Barbados, and being a wealthy man purchased the Harewood
estate, carried on business in London as West India merchants with
George Maxwell. His son Edwin was created Baron Harewood in 1790.

At a Council meeting held on July 11, 1692, at St. Jago de la Vega (the
first held there after the earthquake) it was “ordered that the Councill
meet on Wednesday next at Musqueto Point to view and consider of a place
in order to the Building a fortification for to secure the Channell.”

And on August 8 it was “ordered that a fortification be made at Mosquito
Point, of the ground &c. fitt to erect the same and that Charles
Bouchier, Esq. goe and veiw the same and draw out Plott thereof and the
same Returne to this Board.” This was the origin of =Fort Augusta=.

Long gives the following account of the fort in his time. He makes a
strong attack on the policy of fortifying a place which he designates a
“still unfinished battery stuck into a quagmire at the entrance of
Kingston Harbour,” and says that the immense charges incurred on its
behalf had by 1757 helped to cripple the island financially. He says:

This fort mounts eighty-six large guns, kept in excellent order. It
contains a large magazine, a house for the commandant, barracks to
contain three hundred soldiers, with all convenient offices, and
casemates. It was projected to mount one hundred and sixteen guns; but
it is not yet compleated. The walls and bastions are built upon piles
of the palmeto or thatch-pole tree, which is endued with the property
of lasting in water without being liable to erosion by the worm. These
were driven down through the loose land, until they reached a firm
bed. If the same precaution had been used in constructing the houses
of Port Royal, it is probable that the greater part of the town would
have survived the earthquake. This fort contains an hospital, besides
habitations for the officers, and is looked upon to be an healthy
garrison. The neck of sand which joins it to the main is not above
fifty or sixty feet wide in most places, and so low, that an enemy
could not carry on approaches, on account of the water rising near the
surface; and it is flanked by a lagoon, or inlet of water from the
harbour, of some extent; for these reasons, and because the ships, in
passing up the channel towards Kingston, must come within point-blank
shot of a whole line of guns, a governor of this island pronounced it
impregnable both by land and sea.

During a storm in 1744 a new fort begun at Mosquito Point was entirely
destroyed.

The present fort was erected on Mosquito Point in Kingston Harbour in
1753. On September 13, 1782, the magazine, with three hundred barrels of
powder, blew up. Amongst the military tombs is that to Major John Sankey
Darley, 2nd W.I.R., who was killed in a mutiny of the West India
Regiment there in May 1808. Recruits of the 2nd West India Regiment,
Chamba and Koromantyn negroes, mutinied on parade, aided by some of the
older men. The Lieutenant and Adjutant Ellis was killed on the spot, and
Darley died of the wounds he received. The general officer commanding,
Carmichael, got into conflict with the House of Assembly by directing
his officers not to answer any questions that that body might put to
them with reference to the occurrence. Darley was brother to Alderman
Darley of Dublin, of Orange notoriety. Carmichael died in 1813 while
governor of British Guiana.

=Rodney’s Look-out= on the Heathshire Hills was shaken down by the
earthquake of 1907. It was erected by Rodney while he was admiral on the
Jamaica station, (1771–74), for the purpose of keeping a look-out to
windward. =Port Henderson= hard by, is named after a former owner, John
Henderson, colonel of militia, who was presented at Court in February
1784. He died at his estate in Scotland in 1811. It was founded in
opposition to Passage Fort, as it afforded better accommodation for
ships.

Towards the close of the nineteenth century it was the site of a
temporary laboratory of marine zoology for students of the Johns Hopkins
University.

=Lawrencefield= is said to have been the residence of Sir Henry Morgan,
governor of Jamaica (1673–82). =St. Jago Farm= is said to be the site of
the residence of Sasi, the last of the Spanish Governors. =Government
Pen= was the residence of former governors, and is frequently mentioned
in Lady Nugent’s “Journal.” At Caymanas is an Arawâk kitchen-midden·, at
Mountain River, St. John’s, some Arawâk rock-carvings, and at Goat
Island (in Old Harbour Bay) is a cave with Arawâk remains. At Point Hill
are some old barracks which are now used as a police station.

=Keith Hall= is probably named after Sir Basil Keath, governor in
1774–77, and =Sligoville= after Peter, Marquis of Sligo, governor in
1834–36.

III
KINGSTON

That there was a collection of houses on or near the spot where Kingston
now stands, some years before its formation into a town and parish, is
evident, but it is also evident that Gardner’s application of the name
to “the little village of Kingston” in 1673 is based on imagination. In
the map of Jamaica in “The English Pilot” of 1689 in the inset of “the
draft of the Harbor of Port Royal” is marked Liganea, with seven small
houses and one larger one where Kingston now is, and one larger one
half-way to The Rock.

In the “Present State of Jamaica,” published in 1683, occurs the
following description of the village:—“At Liguania, the inside of the
harbour, opposite to Port Royal, about two leagues, is several houses,
some of them very handsome, and well built, which place in time is like
to become a pretty town.”

On the map which accompanies the “State of Jamaica under Sir Thomas
Lynch” (included in the “Laws of Jamaica,” published in London in 1684)
the place where Kingston now stands is marked “Beeston.” The original
owner of the land was Colonel Samuel Barry, who patented it in 1664 and
later sold it to (Sir) William Beeston, who, coming to Jamaica in 1660,
represented Port Royal in the first House of Assembly, and was
lieutenant-governor of the island from 1693 to 1700, and Governor till
1702: but there is on the map a mark for a “towne” on the harbour to the
west, between “Beeston” and Hunt’s Bay, where Greenwich now is.

The site of Kingston was not the first chosen by the English for the
commercial capital of the island. Port Royal, as we have seen,
flourished as such until 1692, in which year occurred the great
earthquake which destroyed that place and caused the death of 3000 of
its inhabitants. That dealt it a fearful blow.

On June 24, 1692, a little more than a fortnight after the earthquake
which destroyed Port Royal, the Council ordered a “survey of 200 acres
of Colonel Beeston’s land in St. Andrews where the Council have resolved
to build a new town,” and four days later the Council ordered that £1000
should be paid to Beeston, who was at the moment in England, for the 200
acres: but this was apparently _ultra vires_ on the Council’s part, as
they had no power to originate money votes. The first traceable
reference to the place by name occurs in the Council minutes of July 21,
1692, when regulations for building “the new town of Kingston in St.
Andrews” were drawn up, and it was resolved that every purchaser should
within three years build a house worth £50 on forfeiture of that sum.
Such forfeiture, it was later decided, should go towards founding a
hospital.

The following occurs in the Council minutes for August 9, 1692:

Ordered that no freeholder of Port Royall have laid out for him above
one lott by the sea side.

Ordered that none of the Inhabitants of Port Royall have laid out for
him above one lott.

Ordered that all the freeholders of Port Royall have laid out for them
in the said Towne the same quantity they had on Port Royall provided
it Exceed not three lotts.

Ordered that all the freeholders that had land bounding upon the North
sea side on Port Royall be Preferred to the sea side land and that
their lotts be first cast.

Ordered that all the lotts for the Towne of Kingston be cast on once
and that if Claimers doe not appear for all the said land that then
blankes be cast to Coll^{ll} Peter Beckford and Coll^{ll} Nicholas
Laws or be disposed of by them to the next Pretenders.

Ordered that for every lott of land there be reserved to their
Maj^{ties} Tenn Shillings a year as an anuall Quitt Rent.

Ordered that the chiefe Justice be desired to order the Drawing of
Conveyances for the severall parcells of land laid out in the said
Towne.

Ordered that the forfeiture of fifty pounds for not building a house
upon the Premises of the Value of fifty Pounds within the time
appointed by this Board shall be applied to the building of an
Hospital in the said Towne.

Ordered that the Councill meet at the house of Mr. Ann. Lowder in the
Towne of Kingston on Tuesday next to Receive the claims of the
freeholders and Inhabitants of Po^t Royall & all others that are
Desireous to Erect and build in the said Towne & that notice be given
thereof accordingly.

After the Calamity of the Earthquake we had appointed a place for y^e
building of a Towne w^{ch} we then thought by its Scituation would
have been equall if not Exceeding Port Royall where we had ordered all
ships and vessells arriveing here to unlade and also ordered the
severall offices to settle there for Enterey of the same—

But may it pleas y^r Lordships Since to o^r no small greif we are made
sensible of the unhealthyness of the place. By the great Mortality
that there happened & finding a Greater difficulty then we Expected in
fortifying the harbour Have been forst to order the withdrawing of
those offices to the Remains of Port Royall where there is firme Rock
enough left for fortifying that neither the Earthquake nor the sea
hath distroyed or made Unhabitable.

On August 16 the Council itself met at Kingston. Orders were given for
the erection of a market to be held daily, Edward Yeamans to be clerk.
Thomas Clarke was provisionally appointed naval officer and collector of
customs, and Deodatus Stanley was appointed bellman of Kingston.
Kingston was not represented in Sir William Beeston’s first Assembly,
which met in 1693; of his second, which met in the following year, the
names of the members are not recorded; so it is impossible to give the
names of those who probably represented the new town for the first time.
But in Beeston’s third Assembly, which met on March 5, 1694–5, Kingston
was represented by Josiah Hethcott, James Bradshaw and Samuel Foxley. Of
these Bradshaw was a relative (probably son) of the regicide of that
name. According to a document in Fulham Palace, recently quoted by Mr.
N. Darnell Davis in “Notes and Queries,” “in 1723–4 Bradshaw, the son of
President Bradshaw, came frequently to Liguania and received the
sacrament there.”

A letter, dated Port Royal, July 3, 1693, quoted by Sir Hans Sloane in
his account of the great earthquake already alluded to, contains the
following information about Kingston:

Others went to the place called Kingston (or by others Killcown) where
from the first clearing of the Ground, and from bad Accommodations,
then Hutts built with Boughs, and not sufficient to keep out Rain,
which in great and an unusual manner followed the Earthquake, lying
wet, and wanting Medicines, and all Conveniences, etc., they died
miserably in heaps. Indeed there was a general sickness (supposed to
proceed from the hurtful Vapours belch’d from the many openings of the
Earth) all over the Island so general that few escaped being sick; and
’tis thought it swept away in all Parts of the Island 3000 Souls; the
greatest part from Kingston only, yet an unhealthy Place.

Many people remained at Port Royal, but most of the survivors removed to
the lower part of Liguanea. The Council paid Beeston on June 28, £1000.
A plan for the town was drawn up by Colonel Christian Lilly, “Her
Majesty’s engineer-general,” under the direction of the Government.

In his plan Lilly adopted the chessboard fashion of all Spanish cities
in the New World—a plan which is at least as old as the Romans. If one
omits the lanes, the plan of Kingston as laid down by Lilly in the
seventeenth century is precisely the same as that of the recently
unearthed Roman city of Calleva (Silchester) of thirteen centuries
earlier, with its insulæ, prototypes of the American blocks. Kingston
consisted then of a parallelogram one mile in length from north to
south, and half a mile in breadth, regularly traversed by streets and
lanes, alternately crossing each other at right angles. When Long wrote
it contained “sixteen hundred and fifty-five houses, besides negro
houses and warehouses; so that the whole number of its buildings,
including every sort, may be computed at between two and three thousand,
and thirty-five spacious streets and sixteen lanes.” At present there
are in Kingston 171 streets and sixty-nine lanes and about 9000 houses.

[Illustration:

HARBOUR STREET, KINGSTON, IN 1820

From a coloured engraving in Hakewill’s “Picturesque Tour of Jamaica”
]

Unfortunately Lilly when he planned Kingston, when land was cheap,
omitted to leave room for lines of trees down each principal street. Had
this been done, shade would have been afforded to drivers and
pedestrians alike, and a picturesque feature would have been assured for
the town. Moreover, the chessboard plan of laying out a town, naturally
from its regularity dear to the heart of an engineer, is fatal in the
interests of picturesqueness, however suitable it may be for
progression.

There was not at first much progress in its settlement, the recollection
of the former wealth and greatness of Port Royal giving the colonists a
continued preference for that place; but the fire of 1703 completely
destroyed the favourite town, and the disheartened inhabitants went in
large numbers to Kingston, which the Assembly caused to be divided into
lots and given to those who had lost their houses. A law was also passed
directing the slave-owners in the parish of St. Andrew to send one out
of every twenty of their slaves to build temporary huts for the
refugees, and, as an encouragement for the early settlement of the new
town, every house built within the year (1703) was exempted from taxes
for seven years. Soon after this another law was passed declaring
Kingston to be “the chief seat of trade and head port of entry” of the
island.

From this time the prosperity of the town was assured, and in the year
1713 it was declared by law that the place should “for ever be taken and
esteemed as an entire and distinct parish, with all the powers of any
other parish,” and, further, that it should “have the right of sending
three representatives to the Assembly.”

So rapidly had the town grown that in 1716 it was thus described by a
historian of the time:

Within the harbour and about six miles from the town of Port Royal
lies the town of Kingston, first laid out and partially settled after
the great earthquake.... It is now become greatly increased in houses,
stores, wharves and other conveniences for trade and business, so that
it is by much the largest town in the island; and if the island shall
increase in people and new settlements (the consequences of trade and
riches) it is likely to be much the fairest town in all the Indies for
’tis most commodiously laid out, happily and beautifully situated, has
many spacious houses in it, and more are daily building, is the
residence of the greatest merchants and traders, and has resorting to
it most of the ships or vessels that come to the island, and in it is
managed the greatest part of the trade of Jamaica.

In 1721 an Act was passed empowering the inhabitants to erect a court
house and exchange; and for nearly half a century the town continued to
grow in size and opulence, and so important had it become in 1755 that
the attempt was then made to constitute it the seat of government. The
Governor (Admiral Knowles) twice proposed and the Assembly twice
rejected a bill for that purpose; but at length the Assembly gave way
and a law was passed giving effect to the arrangement. Soon after the
public archives were removed to Kingston and the superior courts were
established there. But the change was unpopular throughout the island,
and numerous petitions against it were sent to the King. On October 3,
1758 (after Knowles had left), the disallowance of the law was
proclaimed and the records were returned to Spanish Town, escorted by “a
considerable body of military.”

In 1780, and again in 1782, the town was severely stricken by a fire. In
the former year the large and closely built portion of the town lying
between King and Orange streets was burnt down, the destruction of
property being estimated at £30,000. But the town soon recovered from
the effects of the conflagrations, and prospered to such an extent that
in 1802 it was granted a corporation under the style of “The Mayor,
Aldermen and Common Council of the City and Parish of Kingston.” The
Court of Common Council was given a seal and empowered to make and
ordain bylaws, ordinances and regulations for the good order of the
city, not repugnant to prerogative or to the laws of the island. The
following is a description of the city seal: On the obverse the island
arms, crest, supporters and mottoes. Legend, _Sigi Commune Civit:
Kingston in Jamaica_. Reverse, Britannia, in the dress of Minerva,
holding a trident in one hand, and in the other a mirror, reflecting the
rays of the benign influence of Heaven on the produce of the island;
behind her the British Lion, supporting her shield, a conch shell at her
feet, and at a distance a ship under sail. Legend, _Hos fovet, hos
curat, servatque, Britannia Mater_.

In 1843 another great fire devastated a large portion of the city. It
began shortly before 10 A.M. on August 26, in a foundry situated at the
east end of Harbour street and extended diagonally across the city until
it reached the old Roman Catholic chapel at the corner of Duke street.
Many of the best dwellings and much valuable property were consumed, and
a large number of persons were left in utter destitution. The sum of
£10,149 was distributed among the sufferers, of which £5000 was voted by
the House of Assembly. At this period a great deal of the foreign trade
of Kingston had disappeared in consequence of the establishing of direct
steam communication between the European and Spanish-American states;
still Kingston continued an important centre of commerce.

In March 1862, another great fire occurred by which the commercial
division of the city was devastated. Nineteen of the principal stores in
Harbour and Port Royal streets, three wharves, and the extensive and
well-built three-storied house in which the Commercial Hotel was kept,
were burnt down at a loss of £30,000. The value of the merchandise,
furniture, &c., destroyed was estimated at £60,830, making a total of
£90,830. Of this £9400 was covered by insurances, leaving £81,530 as the
total loss to the owners of the premises and stock.

Three years afterwards representative government was abandoned in
Jamaica, and Kingston ceased to be a corporate city. All the powers and
immunities of the common council were transferred to a nominated
municipal board created by Law 8 of 1866, the privilege of making
ordinances for the regulation of the city being transferred to the
Governor in Privy Council. Since 1885 its affairs have been administered
by a mayor and city council, elected every three years, similar to the
parochial boards of the other parishes.

For many years it had become evident that the convenience of the
Government and of the general public would be best served by a transfer
of the seat of government from Spanish Town, and in 1872 Sir John Grant,
with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, gave
effect to the change.

A calamitous fire occurred in Kingston on December 11, 1882, by which a
large section of the business portion of the city was destroyed. The
total number of houses entirely destroyed was five hundred and
seventy-seven, whilst twelve were partially destroyed. These places were
inhabited by about six thousand persons. The total loss of house
property was estimated at between £150,000 and £220,000.

On January 14, 1907, the city suffered great damage from the disastrous
earthquake of that date and from fire. Much the same area as that
devastated by fire in 1882 was destroyed in the fire of 1907, in
addition to the havoc caused by the earthquake. The loss of life was
variously estimated as between 1000 and 1500. The value of property
destroyed amounted to between £1,000,000 and £1,500,000. A Mansion House
fund for the relief of the sufferers amounted to £55,395, and a free
Imperial grant was made by Parliament of £150,000 and a loan of £800,000
was authorised. The relief funds were distributed by a Relief Committee,
afterwards the Assistance Committee, constituted by the Assistance
Committee Law 20 of 1907. After considerable delay and much
negotiations, and on the failure of an appeal in a test case to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the insurance companies agreed
to pay the claims to the extent of 85 per cent. on the face values of
the policies, and the money was distributed in 1909.

The Imperial Loan was administered by a Loan Board created by law. Up to
March 31, 1914, loans had been made to the value of £326,000.

A fair number of the streets of Kingston have personal names. Those
named after Governors: Beeston street, (Sir William Beeston, 1692–1701);
Beckford street (Sir Peter Beckford, 1702); Heywood street (Peter
Heywood, 1716–17); Laws (_sic_) street (Sir Nicholas Lawes, 1718–22);
Elletson road (Roger Hope Elletson, 1766–67); Nugent lane (General
Nugent, 1801–6); Manchester square (Duke of Manchester, 1808–27); Elgin
street and Lord Elgin street (Earl of Elgin, 1842–16); Darling street
(Captain Charles Darling, 1857–62); Musgrave avenue (Sir Anthony
Musgrave, 1878–83); Norman road, Norman crescent and Norman range (Sir
Henry Norman, 1883–89); and Blake road (Sir Henry Blake, 1889–98).

There was a Thomas Allman, clerk to the Agent Victuallers at Jamaica,
who was wanted for forgery and embezzling £1283 in 1743: but Allman
Town, which came into existence soon after Emancipation, was, so Mr. G.
F. Judah stated, named after George Allman, who was either an officer in
the army or the son of one.

Barry street reminds us of Colonel Samuel Barry, who was one of the
first Council named in 1661, and owned the land on which Kingston was
built. The land called Colonel Barry’s Hog Crawle was sold to Beeston,
who had it laid out in lots for the building of Kingston. Byndloss lane
bears the name of a family which in the seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries supplied seven members to the Assembly—the earliest being
Colonel Robert Byndloss, member for Cagua in 1663. Barnes gully recalls
Joseph Barnes, mayor, custos and representative in the Assembly of
Kingston, who died in 1829. Bowrey road reminds us of a recent island
chemist, from whose property the road was formed. Hibbert street also
recalls a family closely connected with Jamaica in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, one member of which built Headquarters House,
formerly known as Hibbert house. Marescaux road, north of Kingston,
reminds us of the late manager of the Colonial Bank. Orange and Hanover
streets refer to reigning houses of England.

It is probable that Pechon street was named after Major John Bonnet
Pechon, who was assistant engineer on the military staff in 1809, and
later island engineer. He died in 1815. Princess street is a corruption
of Prince’s street, as it was called in Beeston’s time. It is called
_Rue du Prince_ on a French translation of Lilly’s map. Sutton street
was probably named after Colonel Thomas Sutton, who was speaker of the
Assembly at the time of the earthquake of 1692. Temple lane in Kingston,
as well as Temple Hall in St. Andrew, was named after Susanna Temple,
the fourth wife of Sir Nicholas Lawes, sister of “la belle Temple” of de
Grammont, the wife of Sir Charles Lyttelton. Whence Tower street
obtained its name is not known. The following has been suggested as the
origin. In the very early days of Kingston the town had a rector but no
church. The rector lived in Tower street. It is thought that the
rector’s house may have been used as a church and had a tower and bell.

Wildman street is named after James Wildman, a member of the Council in
1786, and later fellow member of Parliament for Hindon with Monk Lewis,
another Jamaica proprietor.

Though they omitted for two centuries to dedicate their parish church to
a patron saint, the people of Kingston named five of their lanes after
the Apostles.

Dr. Samuel Knight, who practised medicine in the island “magna cum
laude” for thirty-four years, represented Kingston in the Assembly in
1698 and 1701; he lies buried in the church.

In 1694, when an Act was passed for raising money “to solicit in England
the affairs of this Their Majesties’ island,” the parish of St. Andrew
was taxed to the extent of £52 17_s._ 5_d._, St. Katherine £56 16_s._
3_d._, and others in less amounts; Kingston only being called upon to
contribute £19 5_s._: but soon after, on another tax being raised,
Kingston was regarded as being on a par with Port Royal and St. Jago de
la Vega.

It is interesting to note that in 1699 a law was passed uniting the
precincts of St. Andrew and Kingston for the purpose of keeping their
courts and sessions. This law was repealed in 1704, by which time the
new town had become more prosperous.

The church has always been known as =Kingston Parish Church=, and there
is no record of its ever having been dedicated to any saint until, at
the time of the recent consecration of the new building (in 1911), it
was decided to dedicate it to St. Thomas.

[Illustration:

PARISH CHURCH, KINGSTON
]

The first traceable documentary reference to the church occurs under
date October 1701, when the land was sold to the churchwardens. In March
1702–3 it is recorded in the “Votes” in the house of Assembly, that the
commissioners appointed to receive claims and make distributions of the
lands, under the Act of that year, “to invest Her Majesty in land in
Kingston, for the reception of the sufferers by the late dreadful fire
at Port Royal, declaring Kingston to be the chief seat of trade and head
port of entry, and fortifying West Chester,” gave notice that they would
sit in the church at Kingston. But the Act was disallowed in the
following year; and West Chester, wherever it may have been (probably
the western part of the town), was never fortified. It is interesting to
note that the only serious rival to Kingston in its claim to be made the
chief seat of trade was Old Harbour. The use of the parish church for
civic purposes was by no means unusual in those days in England: for
instance, from 1576 (the date of the town receiving a charter) till 1794
the paroise (or priest’s chamber) over the porch of the parish church of
Hythe was used as a town hall.

There were probably in Jamaica nine churches of older foundation than
Kingston—those at Spanish Town, Port Royal, Halfway-Tree, St. John’s (in
Guanaboa Vale), Port Morant, Yallahs, The Alley, Old Harbour and one
other. Kingston, till an earlier year can be assigned, must rest content
with 1699, the date of its oldest tomb—that to William Hall, a merchant
of Kingston and member of Assembly for St. Andrew from 1694 to 1699 (one
of the Halls of Lincolnshire)—although it was possibly erected in or
about 1695. On the other hand, if the church was standing in 1701, it is
odd that it is not mentioned in the deed conveying the land given by Sir
William and Lady Beeston to the churchwardens.

The following is a copy of the register:

Lib. 33. Fol. 85. Beeston, Sir William et Ux.
Dated 13th October, 1701. to
Enrolled October 28th, 1701. The Churchwardens of
Kingston
Josiah Heathcote and
Peter Caillard.

All these two lotts or parcells of land with the appurtenance
thereunto belonging being part and parcell of the said five hundred
and thirty acres of land situate and lying and being in the said Towne
of Kingston both the said lots containing one hundred foot to the High
Street westward one hundred and fifty foot northward to the Parade one
hundred foot East to Temple Lane and one hundred and fifty foot South
to the land of the said Sir William Beeston.

It is probable that a temporary building was at first erected, and was
served by the rectors of Halfway Tree and Port Royal pending the
appointment of a rector; and that the permanent structure of the church
was only commenced after the land had been given by Beeston.

In 1703 a sermon was “preached at King’s Town in Jamaica upon June 7,
being the Anniversary Fast for that Dreadful Earthquake which happened
there in the year 1692, by William Corbin.” This was “printed and sold
by William Bradford at the Bible in New York, 1703.”

James Knight, whose manuscript history of Jamaica (dating from 1746) is
in the British Museum, thus describes the Kingston of his day, which he
represented in the Assembly from 1722 to 1735, with intervals:

“The plan of the town is three-fourths of a mile in length, N. and S.,
and half a mile in breadth, E. and W. Streets are Broad and are
Regularly laid out with a Parade in the centre. The South part is
built from one end to the other as high as the Parade and many
buildings are scattered in the North part so that there are now 1200
Houses and Storehouses, most of which are handsome Buildings, two
stories high besides garrets. They are covered with shingles, sashed
and glazed with Piazzas before every house so that a man may walk from
one end to the other without going in the sun but in crossing streets.
The church, which is a handsome building in form of a cross, is 120
feet in length and stands in the S.E. part of the Parade, the pulpit,
pews and wainscote about 8 feet in height are all neatly made with
cedar, and it has a very good organ in it. There is also in the town a
Quakers’ Meeting House and a Jews’ Synagogue, no other place of Public
Worship, though there are grounds to believe some Roman Catholics or
disguised Papists and Priests privately assemble and meet together.
There is also a very good Town Hall about 80 feet in length and 30 in
breadth on the South side and fronting of King Street, with a Piazza
round which is made use of as an exchange.... Kingston being the most
popular parish in the island, and a great number of strangers
resorting to it yearly, the Benefice is estimated at six hundred
pounds per annum currency.”

The anonymous author of an undated work, published in London in 1740,
entitled “The importance of Jamaica to Great Britain, considered.... In
a Letter to a Gentleman,” thus refers to the church:

There is a handsome neat church, which consists of four Isles; the
Pulpit-Cloth is red Velvet, with Gold Fringes; the Seats large,
uniform and airy; has a good Organ; but the Church has no steeple,
there is no Bell hung up in it, but ’tis supplied by a small one set
up on a Frame not far from it; a large one lies in readiness to be set
up when they think proper, or have a Conveniency to hold it. The
Churchyard is wall’d in, which has several Tombs in it; in the Church
under the Altar, lies the brave Admiral _Bembow_ (_sic_); and in
another burying-place is a Tomb, which bears the Arms and Name of one
of the noble Family of the _Talbots_.

From this it appears that the tower had probably been erected between
1740 and 1774, for Long, whose history was published in 1774—easily
pleased in matters architectural—calls it “a large elegant building, of
four aisles, which has a fine organ, a tower and spire, with a large
clock. The tower is well-constructed, and a very great ornament to the
town.” “The Rector’s stipend,” he adds, “as fixed by Law, is only £250;
but the surplice-fees are so large, that his income is supposed at least
to be £1000 per annum, Jamaica currency (£715 stirling).” His “four
aisles” is a very free use of the term. The church was in his time an
aisleless, cruciform building, but Greek rather than Latin in shape, a
not uncommon custom in Jamaica in early days.

In 1808 the mayor and commonalty of Kingston petitioned the House of
Assembly, _inter alia_, that “the resort of persons to the parish church
of the parish of Kingston for public worship hath of late years so much
increased that the said church cannot with convenience accommodate
them.”

In the “Jamaica Magazine” for 1813 we read: “An ordinance was passed in
Common Council of Kingston, the same day (15th) for punishing all
persons conducting themselves in a manner offensive to public decorum in
the church. It enacts a punishment on all white and free persons of £100
fine or three months imprisonment for such an offence, and on slaves
thirty-nine stripes or three months imprisonment.”

“Monk Lewis,” who saw it in 1816, says:

The church is a large one, but it is going to be still further
extended, the negroes in Kingston and neighbourhood being (as the
Rector assured me) so anxious to obtain religious instruction, that on
Sundays not only the church but the churchyard is so completely
thronged with them, as to make it difficult to traverse the crowd; and
those who are fortunate enough to obtain seats for the morning
service, through fear of being excluded from the evening, never stir
out of the church the whole day. They also flock to be baptised in
great numbers, and many have lately come to be married; and their
burials and christenings are performed with great pomp and solemnity.

James Hakewill, the architect, who was here in 1820, in his “Picturesque
Tour,” calls the church truly “a plain, convenient structure, but
without any pretensions to architectural beauty.”

The Rev. R. Bickell, who had been naval chaplain at Port Royal and for
some time curate of Kingston, wrote in his “West Indies as they are,” in
1825:

In the city and parish of Kingston, there is but one church, which
will hold nearly a thousand people; it is thronged every Sunday
morning, principally by free people of colour, and free blacks.
Indeed, had there been two or three churches more built in this
populous city, six or seven years ago, and zealous clergymen appointed
to them, I feel confident in saying, they would, ere now, have been
equally thronged; but, though there are eight or ten thousand slaves
in the place, and a greater number of free people, with several
thousand white inhabitants, an island curate has never been appointed
there, and consequently a chapel of ease has never been built: on this
account, seeing so good an opening, the Dissenters have been very
active, and have four or five places of worship, three of them built
within the last three years; the Scotch, and other Presbyterians, have
a very large kirk (built principally with Episcopalians’ money) which
is not half filled; but the Wesleyans have two large chapels, capable
of containing more than two thousand persons, and which are well
attended (even filled I have been told) morning and evening, chiefly
by negroes and people of colour. The Baptists have also a large and
handsome chapel well attended by Blacks and Browns, besides a smaller
one occasionally opened. There is also a Catholic chapel for the
French and other foreigners.

In the “Estimate of Contingencies for the City and Parish of Kingston
for the year 1830” occur the following entries:

CHURCH £ _s._ _d._

Rector’s compensation money, 110_l._; house-rent,
200_l._; burying, 50_l._ 360 0 0

Clerk’s salary, 70_l._; taking care of plate, 15_l._;
palls, 10_l._ 95 0 0

Sexton’s salary, 70_l._; digging graves, 25_l._; ringing
the bell, 25_l._ 120 0 0

Keeper of the town clock salary, 40_l._; repairs to
organ, 120_l._ 160 0 0

Sundry repairs and alterations for the present year 200 0 0

Organist’s salary, 130_l._; beadle’s salary, 84_l._;
lighting up the church, 132_l._ 346 0 0

Amount required for the Chapel of Ease 300 0 0

————— ———— ————

£1581 0 0

This of course does not include the stipends of rector and curate, which
were paid by the Government.

N. B. Dennys, who was here in 1861, writing in “An Account of the Cruise
of the _St. George_” (1862), miscalls the church St. Andrews and
describes it as a “small building, whose only point of interest seemed
to be its extreme old age.”

Of the fabric of the church wrecked by the earthquake of 1907 nothing
much need be said. It was a simple brick structure with concrete pillars
and round-headed arches and window openings. Cruciform in shape, in
accordance with English custom it was oriented with its altar at the
east end. The pulpit and reading-desk originally stood, as was the case
at Halfway Tree, Port Royal and Montego Bay, at the transept, almost in
the centre of the building.

The present building was erected from a design by Mr. B. A. Raves at a
cost of £6000, in reinforced concrete on the old foundations, and as
nearly as possible similar in design, with the omission of the tower.
The window openings differ from those of the old building; two of them
being decidedly original in design. The new building was consecrated on
January 17, 1911, by the Archbishop of the West Indies, assisted by the
Bishops of St. Albans, North Carolina, Honduras and Antigua, the
Coadjutor Bishop of Jamaica, and the Assistant Bishop of Toronto.

About the beginning of the nineteenth century, as “Monk Lewis” mentions,
the church was extended in length and the renaissance baldachin, which
was not replaced after the recent rebuilding, an unusual addition to an
Anglican church, was, it is said, added by the then rector, the Rev.
Isaac Mann. Some thought they saw in the floral device immediately
beneath the crown over the centre of the baldachin, the monogram W.M.,
which they took to stand for William and Mary, but there are no grounds
for the supposition, and the structure was probably of later date.

In Duperly’s view taken in about 1844 the old sash windows appear; and
the old curved lead gargoyles, most of which were removed later, are
very evident.

In 1883–85, during the incumbency of Archdeacon Downer, who held the
living for thirty-five years and took part in the recent consecration
service, the church, which in 1873 consisted of nave and transepts
without side aisles, was considerably enlarged by G. Messiter, by the
addition of two side aisles on each side, giving extra accommodation for
500 persons, making the building available for 1300 in all.

The aisles nearest the nave extended the full length of the fabric,
while the exterior ones only ran east of the transepts. This, added to
their apsidal form, gave, and gives, the church the appearance of a
miniature cathedral in plan. Pieces of the original outside walls could,
till the recent reconstruction, be seen _in situ_ in corners of the
transept. The original windows were removed to the new outer walls and
the mural monuments were taken down and replaced on the new walls, a
process which had to be repeated in 1910. When some of the old walls
were pulled down many massive beams of timber were found embedded in the
masonry, placed in several directions. Some of them were ten or fifteen
feet long, many inches in diameter and of bully-wood in perfectly sound
condition. Some, including Messiter the architect, thought that these
were put in to strengthen the walls in case of a repetition of the Port
Royal earthquake of a few years before: and they certainly suggest the
method of construction adopted by the Spaniards for that purpose and
described in Long’s history. At the same time, when the foundation of
the east wall was underpinned, a large vault under the altar was opened;
and in it was found a coffin—covered with the remains of velvet and gilt
ornaments, apparently of a most expensive character—thought to have been
Admiral Benbow’s.

The oldest dated Communion plate is of the year 1707. Two patens were
the gift of Mrs. Ann Plowman; and two other pieces, a chalice and
flagon, were given by Mr. Elias Nezerau in that year. Mrs. Elizabeth
Sillers gave in 1721 a flagon identical with that given by Mr. Nezerau
fourteen years earlier. Both flagons bear the maker’s mark.

The clock dates from 1801, the organ from 1878, the lectern from 1886,
the bell from 1890, the pulpit (of white stone, with marble columns)
from 1891, when it was erected in memory of a former rector, Archdeacon
Campbell, his brother Dr. Charles Campbell, and the doctor’s partner,
Dr. Bowerbank.

The rose window in the north transept, representing the Good Samaritan,
with medallions of St. John, St. Peter, St. Stephen, St. Andrew as
deacon, and St. Stephen as martyr, was put up in 1888 to the memory of
the Hon. H. F. Colthirst, a churchwarden, and his children. The
corresponding window, of 1887, in the south transept, representing, in
the centre, the Angel at the Sepulchre, surrounded by cherubs, is a
memorial to Mr. C. A. Robinson and children. These two windows gave a
good illustration of the manner in which concrete, even before the
earthquake of 1907, was made to do duty for stone in Jamaica. Portions
of the glass from these windows have, in the recent reconstruction, been
scattered throughout various window openings. The window at the east end
of the north aisle, heraldic and geometric in character, was erected to
the Hon. Dr. Hamilton, District Grand Master of the Freemasons in
Jamaica. The east window was erected in 1914 in memory of Archdeacon
Downer.

The vestry was built in 1895, and in that year the old brick wall which
formerly surrounded the churchyard was replaced by the present railing.
The City Council contributed £50 towards the cost of the bell on the
condition that it should be rung at nine o’clock every evening—a
reminiscence of the English curfew which is still continued.

Beside the west door were hung the old colours of the 2nd Battalion of
the West India Regiment, returned to the rebuilt garrison chapel at
Up-Park Camp in 1912, and on either side are monumental brasses—one
(1896) to the memory of officers and men of the 1st Battalion W.I.R. who
fell in West Africa in various expeditions, and another (1898) to
officers who died of fever on the West Coast of Africa and in this
island; and there are marble tablets to the officers of the 1st and 3rd
W.I.R. who died here and elsewhere in the West Indies of yellow fever in
1853.

The following is as perfect a list of the rectors of the parish as it
has been found possible to compile:

1701–(?) 1714. Rev. William Collins.
1715————— Rev. — Skipp.
1722–1754. Rev. William May, M.A.
1729————— Rev. Charles Lambe, D.D.
1754–1765. Rev. Robert Atkins.
1766–1768. Rev. John Pool.
1768–1776. Rev. Thomas Coxeter.
1776–1784. Rev. William Morgan, D.D.
1784–1805. Rev. Thomas Rees.
1805–1813. Rev. Alexander Campbell, M.A.
1813–1828. Rev. Isaac Mann, M.A.
1829–1847. Ven. Archdeacon Edward Pope, D.D.
1848–1860. Ven. Archdeacon Thomas Stewart, D.D.
1861–1872. Ven. Archdeacon Duncan Houston Campbell, M.A.
1873–1908. Ven. Archdeacon George William Downer.
1908.————— Rev. R. J. Ripley.

It is difficult to understand how Lambe came to be rector during May’s
tenure of office. It may have been an acting appointment during the
incumbent’s illness. The authority for including Lambe in the list of
rectors is the following entry in Foster’s “Alumni Oxonienses”:

Lambe, Charles. S. John [Dean of Ely]. Ch. Ch. Matric. 1697, aged 18
[or 13]; B.A. 1701, M.A. from King’s Coll., Cambridge, 1709. D.D.
Lambeth, 1722.... Chaplain to the Duke of Portland when Governor of
Jamaica, Rector of Kingston, Jamaica, 1729.

The records of the parish church of Kingston extant unfortunately only
go as far back as the year 1722, the date of the first “Christening”
recorded. The marriages at that time were by licence, or _Bannis tribus
vicibus promulgatis_. By recent legislation one calling of the banns is
sufficient. It is curious to note the large number of widows amongst the
brides and of mariners amongst the bridegrooms. One of the best kept
registers is that of baptisms, commenced in 1785 by the Rev. Thomas
Rees. The first entry is:

Joseph Fennell Brookbank, the son of Mary Fennell, a free mulatto
woman, by George Brookbank, was born April 12, 1779, Bapt. Jany. 1,
1785.

The next entry, _more Jamaicense_, records the baptism of “Jamima
Beaumont, the daughter of Mary Fennell, by James Beaumont.” Two out of
the first seven entries in this register are of children of married
women, which unfortunately would not be, according to the
Registrar-General’s returns, a bad record even for to-day. On Christmas
Day, 1786, the rector baptized twelve of his own slaves _en bloc_.

Those who were baptized are described as black, or negro; mulatto;
sambo; quadroon; mestee, or mustee; brown; of colour; Indian (these were
probably from the Mosquito Coast); and slave, or property of; and free.
The old African names of Quashie, Quasheba and the like were replaced by
ordinary Christian names, with a partiality for Biblical ones, with here
and there a classic designation. The names on one page, taken at random,
of the register for 1797 are: John, Sarah, Richard, Lucretia, Susanna,
Margaret, Hannah, Jeremiah, James, William, Edward, Cilly (_sic_), Juno,
Mary, Eleanor, Joseph. These, in the main, simple names are preferable
to the Thomasina, Justina, Rosina, and so on, affected to-day.

In 1745 Cornelius Lilly, “of the parish of Kingston, mariner,” was
married to Jane Macky of the same parish. One wonders whether he was a
relation of Colonel Christian Lilly who had laid out the town. The first
burial recorded is under date March 27, 1741, “Ralph Greathead,
belonging to the _Sheldon_, Capt. Read, Command.” The ship _Sheldon_
possibly belonged to the owner of Sheldon, a property in the Blue
Mountains. The baptism in 1797 of “Dorothy Morgan Mahony, a negro woman
slave of Thomas Mahony, aged forty years,” recalls Dolly Mahony’s Gap in
the St. Andrew Mountains.

The following particulars of the baptisms solemnised in the parish
church in the year 1828 may be of interest:

White 10
Coloured 164
Black 54
No memo made of colour 53
——— 281
Slaves—Coloured 40
Black 276
——— 316
———
597

From its position of principal church in the chief town of the island,
Kingston parish church is frequently chosen for the holding of state and
other important services rather than the cathedral of Spanish Town,
which now finds itself left by the stream of time in a civic backwater.

With the exception of the cathedral at Spanish Town more celebrated
personages have been buried within the walls of Kingston parish church
than in those of any other church in the island.

Of the memorials, the most interesting is the tomb of Benbow, of dark
blue slate, in the chancel, the inscription on which is curiously
inaccurate. He was not, we learn in his life in the “Dictionary of
National Biography,” an admiral of the white, but vice-admiral of the
blue. He was not fifty-one years old at his death, but forty-nine; and
the arms carved on it are not his. The arms are: Palewise, two bent bows
between two sheaves of arrows; the crest, on an esquire’s helmet, a
harpy. The following is the inscription:

Here Lyeth Interred the Body of John Benbow Esq: Admiral of the White:
a true Pattern of English Courage who Lost his life In Defence of his
Queene & Country, November ye 4th 1702 In the 52nd year of his age by
a wound In his Legg, Receeiu’d In an Engagement with Monsr. du Casse,
Being Much Lamented.

Of the monuments, there are only four of artistic merit—three by John
Bacon, all similar in style, figures carved in high relief against a
pyramidal background of marble; and one without the sculptor’s name, in
the north wall of the inner north transept, to Edward Maiming. It
consists of a bust in mezzo-relievo. If executed shortly after Manning’s
death in 1756, it is too early for a work by Bacon. It is a good example
of English sculpture of that time, and it is possibly by Roubiliac, by
whom there is a monument of the year 1754 to Lieutenant Stapleton in
Port Royal church, or more probably by John Cheere (brother of Sir Henry
Cheere, Roubiliac’s instructor for some time), by whom there is a
monument of the year 1733 to the Hon. James Lawes (eldest son of Sir
Nicholas Lawes) in Halfway-Tree church. Cheere’s work resembles more
closely the Manning bust than does that of the more florid Roubiliac. As
was the case with Bacon, one commission for Jamaica sometimes led to
others. The arms on the Manning monument are wrongly blazoned in
Lawrence-Archer’s “Monumental Inscriptions of the British Indies.” They
are: Gules, a cross fleurie [not moline] or between four [not three]
trefoils slipped or.

Of the monuments by Bacon, that to Malcolm Laing and his wife (1794)
represents a female figure seated, emblematic of grief; the phœnix, of
which Bacon was fond, is introduced in the background.

The monument to Dr. Fortunatus Dwarris, member of the House of Assembly
for St. George (which is now merged in Portland), and his stepdaughter
(1792), represents a recumbent female figure resting on an urn, gazing
at an angel conducting the soul of the departed upwards. In it the
poetry on the urn descriptive of the scene represented is hardly equal
to Bacon’s art:

Ascend to Bliss ye gentle Spirits
Where yon Angel soars above:
Their Virtue her Reward Inherits
Crowne’d with Heav’n’s eternal love.

Sir Fortunatus William Lilley Dwarris (d. 1860), the lawyer and
antiquary, eldest son of William Dwarris, of Warwick, England, and
Golden Grove, Jamaica, of which he was a native, was a member of the
same family.

The monument to John Wolmer (1789) is on the west wall of the outer
north aisle. Of the three monuments by Bacon this is the best. Erected
just sixty years after Wolmer’s death, it represents a seated figure of
Liberality, carved in high relief, holding a medallion, on which the
crest of the school, the sun of Learning breaking through a cloud of
Ignorance, is represented. On the supporting brackets are scholastic
emblems—a quill pen, a book, parchment, scientific instruments and the
like.

Besides the three monuments in this church already mentioned, there is
another monument to Mary, daughter of Dawkins Carr (who died in 1798).
It is in the usual pyramidal form, and represents a classic urn on a
pedestal. It is signed “J. Bacon, sct., London, 1799,” and must have
been one of the last works sent out of his studio in his lifetime, for
he died in that year.

Some monuments make one wish that the admirers of the worthies
represented had followed the Erewhonian plan of paying the sculptor on
condition that he did not make the statue, letting into the pavement a
small inscription where it would have stood, as was the case in that
delectable country. The tribute of respect would have been paid to the
deceased, and the rest of the public would have suffered no
inconvenience.

Other tombs of interest in the church are those to Smart Pennant (wife
of the rector, William May), who “was kill’d in ye 23rd year of her age
by ye fall of an house in ye great storm, August ye 28th, A.D. 1722”
(when her husband’s leg was also broken; he was commissary to the Bishop
of London); to Susanna, wife of Colonel William Gordon (d. 1731), of the
family which gave its name to Gordon Town; to Captain Charles Brown (d.
1747), who is evidently the Commodore Brown who was described in a
pamphlet published in 1740 as living in Kingston, “and entertain’d the
gentlemen and Ladies about Ligunea once a fortnight with an Assembly”;
to Captain Samuel Phillips (died in 1757, aged 54), who, as the
inscription tells us, “Commanded the _Alexander_, Private Ship of War,
out of Bristoll, and Cut His Majesties Ship _Solebay_ out of St.
Martin’s Road the 10th of April, 1746, for which he had the honour to
kis His Majesties hand and Received a Gold Medal and Chain. _Alexander_
140 Men and _Solebay_ 220 men”; to John Jaques (d. 1815), first mayor of
Kingston; to Hon. George Kinghorne (1823), custos of Kingston; to Hon.
Joseph Barnes (d. 1829), mayor and custos of Kingston, whose memory
lives in Barnes Gully; to Virginia Fairfax, wife of Peter Alexander
Espeut, and daughter of Colonel Robert Munroe Harrison, consul-general
of the United States of America for Jamaica; to Lieut.-Colonel Sir
Alexander Leith, Bt.; to William James Stevenson, receiver-general; to
Ebenezer Reid (d. 1843), headmaster of Wolmer’s school for twenty-eight
years (the monument was erected by his pupils); to William Augustus Hunt
(d. 1852), another headmaster of Wolmer’s school, a member of the family
of Barbadian Hunts of which Leigh Hunt was one; to Bartholomew Owen
Williams (d. 1830), founder of the Sussex Lodge of Freemasons; to
Colonel Hill (d. 1819), who took part in the engagements of Vimiera and
Vittoria; and to Dr. Edward Nathaniel Bancroft (d. 1842), deputy
inspector-general of Army Hospitals.

Of tombs of special biographical interest are those of Benbow, Rowley
and Brown, sailors; May, Mann and Humberstone, clergymen; Campbell, an
author; Higson, a botanist; Wolmer, a philanthropist; and Manning,
Lawrence, Mitchell and Jordan, politicians.

At the principal entrance to the north transept was a large dark blue
slate slab, foot-worn, but without an inscription.

“The story is,” says Lawrence-Archer, “that it is turned on its face, to
conceal the epitaph of an early Rector of the parish, who was hanged for
coining counterfeit doubloons in the vestry. It is said he was
discovered in consequence of having issued one from his mint before it
was quite cold. The story is most improbable.” In 1885 the slab was
raised and turned, when it was found to be to the memory of James
Ramadge, a merchant of Kingston, who died in 1755, aged thirty-three
years. Why it had ever been placed face downwards is not known. But that
there is some reason for the legend is proved by a reference to the “St.
Jago de la Vega Gazette” for December 19, 1801, where we read:

A number of counterfeit Doubloons and Eight-Dollar pieces are now in
circulation. The inscription on the face is Carol’s 3d., date 1761.
The face does not by any means resemble any effigy given of him or any
coins issued by Spanish Government during his reign. It is a perfect
copy of the head of Ferdinand the 6th, which appears on the doubloons
issued by him ten years before the accession of Charles the 3rd to the
throne. The pieces now in circulation are said to have been coined by
a Reverend Mr. Smith, who suffered for the crime many years ago on the
Kingston Parade.

Can this have been the Hadden Smith who was curate of Kingston parish
church in 1766?

The death of Peter Wagstaffe (who died in 1759) was curiously enough
recorded on two tombstones, both lying in the north aisle.

In the churchyard are three interesting tombstones, those of Janet
Scott, sister to Michael Scott (the author of the well-known “Tom
Cringle’s Log”), who was two years her brother’s senior, and evidently
came out with him and his bride in 1818, when he returned from Glasgow
to Jamaica; to Robert Bogle, his brother-in-law, of the firm of Bogle,
Harris & Co., of Glasgow; and to Robert Hamilton, who was planting
attorney to Sir Edward Hyde East, the owner of Maryland, on which stands
Raymond Hall, where “Tom Cringle’s Log” was written. Hamilton was a
friend of Scott’s, and was portrayed as Aaron Bang in the Log. The
Scotts and the Bogles were evidently old friends. A “Jennet Scott, the
daughter of Robert Bogle and Margaret his wife,” was baptized on April
5, 1793. She was probably a sister of the Robert Bogle who was Scott’s
brother-in-law. The following are the inscriptions on the three tombs:

Here lies Interr’d the remains of Mr. Robert Bogle, third son of
Robert Bogle, Esqr., Merchant, Glasgow, formerly of this city Merchant
who departed this life on 21st December 1819 aged 18 years.

Miss Janet Scott, fourth Daughter of Allan Scott, Esq., of Glasgow,
departed this life on the 4th January 1819 aged 32 years.

In memory of Robert Hamilton, Esq., of the Parish of St. Andrews, who
departed this life on the 30th day of October 1826, aged 68 years. His
unbounded Hospitality and goodness of heart endeared him to all who
knew him and his worth and amiable qualities will long live in the
remembrance of his Family who pay this last tribute due to the Memory
of a revered Father.

The Hamilton tomb is close to the south door. The Scott and Bogle tombs
are side by side further south.

It is possible that the name of Murray Crymble, who was receiver-general
in the middle of the eighteenth century, may have suggested to Scott the
somewhat curious name of the hero of his novel. Crymble patented land in
Grand Cayman in 1741.

Copies of the inscriptions on all the tombs both in church and
churchyard up to the year 1875 will be found in Lawrence-Archer’s
“Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies” (London, 1875); but
many of the tombs mentioned by him as being in the churchyard were, at
the enlargement of the church in 1883–85, placed on the floor of the
side aisles. During the recent reconstruction of the church, many
changes have taken place in the monuments and tombstones.

The following brief biographical notes on some of the principal persons
buried in the church and churchyard may have some interest:

WILLIAM HALL, youngest son of Edmund Hall, of Greatford Hall,
Lincolnshire, was born in Lincolnshire in 1656, and was for a time
British Consul at Bilbao. In 1687 he accompanied the Duke of
Albemarle, as his secretary, when he came out as Governor to
Jamaica. In the following year he married Elizabeth, daughter of
William Wyatt. He was member of the Assembly for St. Andrew from
1695 till his death, which took place in 1699.

VICE-ADMIRAL JOHN BENBOW, the son of a tanner, was born at Shrewsbury
in 1653. In 1678 he entered the navy, and served in the
Mediterranean, where he did good service against the Algerine
corsairs. In 1686 he appears to have owned a ship in the Levant
trade. In 1689 he re-entered the navy, and became master attendant
at Chatham Dockyard and at Deptford. In 1690–92 he acted as Master
of the Fleet; he was present at the engagements of Beachy Head,
Barfleur and La Hogue. In 1693–94 he commanded a flotilla of bomb
vessels against the French; and, though only a captain, received the
pay of rear-admiral, which rank he acquired in 1695; and in 1697 he
became Commander-in-Chief of the King’s ships in the West Indies,
with especial orders to hunt down the pirates. The help which he
rendered to the Scotch colony in Darien was not acceptable to the
English government. In 1700 he returned to England, but in the
following year he was back in the West Indies, and in 1702 he was
stationed at Jamaica. From August 19 to the 24th of that year took
place his engagement off Santa Martha with Du Casse, _chef
d’éscadre_ in the French navy, and a former governor of San Domingo,
which has been called “the most disgraceful event in our naval
records.” Owing to the cowardice displayed by some of his captains,
Benbow had to abandon pursuit. He court-martialled his captains, of
whom two were shot, one cashiered and two suspended. Benbow died of
his wounds at Port Royal on November 4, 1702.

JOHN WOLMER, was a goldsmith, to whose benefaction the town of
Kingston has for nearly two centuries been indebted for the
excellent school bearing his name. Of his life little is known. On
July 11, 1705, he married at Halfway Tree Mary Elizabeth Lumbard.
From the name of one of the executors of his will (Samuel Kemer
Main), as well as from his own, it is possible that he was of German
or Swiss extraction. By his will, dated May 21, 1729, he devised,
after some small legacies mentioned therein, the rest and residue of
his estate for the foundation of a Free School in the parish in
which he should happen to die. This amounted to about £2360. He died
on June 29, 1729, at Kingston, where he had resided for upwards of
twenty years. In 1820 Wolmer’s Pen, adjoining Camp, was purchased by
the authorities in order to secure a better water-supply for Camp.
Although a bill was brought into the House of Assembly to give
effect to the will in June 1731, and the matter was again revived in
1734, it was not till 1736, and then after many amendments and
conferences between the Assembly and the Council, that a law was
passed and the Trust put upon a firm basis. The marble to his memory
in the church was erected “as a monument of public gratitude,” sixty
years after his death.

HON. EDWARD PRATTER, who died in 1735, aged 52, was member of the
Assembly for Hanover in 1723–24 (he and John Morant being the first
members for that parish) and for Kingston in 1726–27, 1731, and
1732–33. He was receiver-general, and also agent in Jamaica for the
South Sea Company. Kingston Gardens, in Kingston, was formerly known
as Pratter Pond.

REV. WILLIAM MAY, born at Ash, in Kent, in 1695, was educated at St.
John’s College, Cambridge, was commissary of Jamaica, and for
thirty-two years rector of Kingston. He died in January 1753–54. His
first wife was Smart Mary, daughter of Edward Pennant, of Clarendon,
widow of Thomas Peters, member for Clarendon; his second wife was
Bathusa, daughter of Florentius Vassall, of St. Elizabeth. His only
surviving son, Rose Herring May, was a member of the Council and
custos of Clarendon and Vere.

EDWARD MANNING, who died in 1756, aged 46, was a member of the House
of Assembly for Kingston in 1744, 1745–46, 1749 and 1752; and for
Portland in 1754–55, in which year he was chosen speaker. He and his
partner, James Ord (who also represented Kingston in the Assembly),
were considered the principal merchants of the island in their day.
In 1756 Manning was made a member of the Council. He was also custos
of Kingston. His wife was Elizabeth, the only sister of Henry Moore,
lieutenant-governor of Jamaica from 1756 to 1762, when he was
created a baronet; he became governor of New York in 1765. Moore’s
wife, Catherine Long (sister of the historian), gave her name to
Catherine’s Peak, the highest point in St. Andrew, as she was the
first lady to ascend it in 1760. Manning’s marriage with Elizabeth
Moore was, after the taking of evidence, dissolved in 1739 by an Act
of the legislature of the island, the co-respondent being Ballard
Beckford (a member of the House of Assembly and a relation of the
famous author of “Vathek”). This was the only Divorce Act ever
passed in Jamaica, the Assembly being told they were not to pursue
the same course again. The inscription on Manning’s monument is
given below, as only an abbreviation is given by Lawrence-Archer:

Near this monument
Lies interred the Body of Edward Manning, Esq.
One of the Honourable Privy Council
Speaker of the Assembly
And Custos Rotulorum of this Parish
In which Stations he distinguished himself.

A true patriot to his country, in Private life he was remarkable for
Filial Duty Steady Friendship and kind Benevolence to the Distressed
which with his affable Disposition gained him the

Esteem of all who had the Pleasure of knowing him.

He died greatly lamented December 6th 1756 aged 46 years.

COLONEL JAMES LAWRENCE, the third son of John Lawrence and Susanna
Petgrave, belonged to a family which was amongst the earliest and
most extensive landed proprietors in the parish of St. James. In
1739 they owned four out of eight sugar estates in the parish. It is
said, possibly without reason, that they were descended from Henry
Lawrence, President of Cromwell’s Council, to whose son Milton
addressed the sonnet, “Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son.”
John Lawrence emigrated to Barbados, coming on to Jamaica about
1675. James Lawrence was his grandson. In 1736 he commanded, as
captain, a party raised in St. James and St. Ann to suppress
rebellious negroes; the House of Assembly voting to “each white
shot, twenty shillings; each black shot, ten shillings; and each
baggage-negro, five shillings,” as a further encouragement to the
party. He subsequently became colonel of the St. James regiment. He
represented the parish of St. James in the three Assemblies which
were held in Kingston (the only Assemblies ever convened in that
town), which met on October 21, 1754, on January 20 and on April 8,
1755, when he supported the governor, Admiral Charles Knowles, in
his scheme for the transference of the legislature, courts and
public offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. Party feeling ran
high. Many of the Spanish Town party rendered the formation of a
quorum difficult by withdrawing themselves from meetings—the two
Prices, Roger Hope Elletson, William Nedham, Thomas Beach and
others, and refused to obey the summons of the Speaker for their
attendance. For this seventeen members were expelled the House, but
all but two were re-elected by their constituencies. The House sat
usually in the court house, but once it met at Wolmer’s school house
and at Hibbert house (the present Headquarters house, where the
legislative council now sits), and sometimes at Dr. Clarke’s house.
In 1755 Lawrence was made custos rotulorum of the parish of St.
James, and in that year he erected the square in Montego Bay, which
he called Charles Square, in honour of his friend and patron, the
governor. His wife, Mary, was daughter of Colonel Richard James, of
Hanover, who was the first child born of English parents in Jamaica.
Lawrence died at Kingston in 1756, aged forty-six. Lawrence-Archer’s
statement to the effect that “he was buried there 16th June” is made
in error to appear as though it was part of the inscription.

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, who died at Kingston on December 16, 1780, in the
fifty-fourth year of his age, was the son of a divine of Edinburgh
of the same name. A classical scholar, he all his lifetime dabbled
in books; but he became purser of a man-of-war and led a wandering
and unsettled life. In 1745 William Falconer (author of the
“Shipwreck”), who was serving on the same ship, became his servant.
About 1760, on a long voyage, Campbell read the “Rambler,” and soon
afterwards at Pensacola wrote “Lexiphanes” and the “Sale of
Authors.” The former, a dialogue in imitation of Lucian, was
published in order to cast ridicule on Dr. Johnson’s style. Issued
anonymously in 1767, it was attributed by Sir John Hawkins to Dr.
Kenrick. It is not known when or why Campbell came to Jamaica.

RICHARD CARGILL, colonel of the St. Thomas Regiment of Foot Militia,
and member for that parish of the House of Assembly, died in 1781,
aged thirty-seven years. The first reference to the Cargill family
in Jamaica is to “one Cargill,” who is believed to have slain in a
duel Thomas, son of Colonel Peter Beckford, in 1731.

THOMAS HIGSON, a merchant of Kingston, who was born in 1773, succeeded
Macfadyen as island botanist and curator of the Gardens at Bath in
1828, which post he held till 1832. He presented to the garden a
collection of living plants collected by himself in South America.
He died in Kingston in 1836, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

VICE-ADMIRAL BARTHOLOMEW SAMUEL ROWLEY was the second son of
Vice-Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley. He was commander-in-chief at Jamaica
from 1809 till 1811, when he died on October 7, aged forty-seven
years. He was buried in the churchyard. A monument to him is over
the west door.

REAR-ADMIRAL WILLIAM BROWN was a member of an old Leicestershire
family. He was made a lieutenant in the Navy in 1788, a commander in
1792, and was raised to post rank in the next year. In 1794 he
served in the Channel under Lord Howe. In 1805 he took part in the
engagement off Cape Finisterre. He missed being present at Trafalgar
by going home to give evidence at Calder’s court-martial. He was
afterwards commissioner of the dockyards at Malta and at Sheerness.
He attained flag rank in 1812. He was commander-in-chief at Jamaica
in 1813–14. He died on September 20 in the latter year, after an
illness of five days. He is buried in the churchyard.

REV. FRANCIS HUMBERSTONE was born at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in 1791,
and was trained at Newport-Pagnell college. He came to Jamaica in
1818 as curate of the parish of Kingston, and was appointed chaplain
to the Corporation of that town in the following year, at a salary
of £420 per annum, and chaplain to the 61st Regiment. He died on
August 9 in the same year after only nine months’ residence in the
island, in which time he made a reputation as a very fervent and
fearless preacher; preaching especially on behalf of the slaves. The
tablet to his memory was erected by the Corporation, which also paid
£210 to his widow.

REV. ISAAC MANN, M.A., was rector of Kingston from 1813 to 1828. He
was chaplain of the Provincial Grand Lodge, and Past Master of the
Sussex Lodge, No. 8, in Kingston. He died in 1828, aged fifty-one. A
monument was erected to his memory in the churchyard by the Brethren
of these Lodges.

DR. EDWARD NATHANIEL BANCROFT was born in London in 1772. He graduated
bachelor of medicine at Cambridge in 1794, and was in the following
year appointed physician to the Forces. In 1804 he took his degree
as M.D., and commenced to practise in London. He became a Fellow of
the Royal College of Physicians. In 1811 he gave up practice in
London and resumed his duties as physician of the Forces, and came
to Jamaica, where he resided till his death in Kingston in 1842,
when he held the post of deputy inspector-general of Army hospitals.
The mural tablet was erected to his memory “by the Physicians and
Surgeons of Jamaica.” One of his earliest writings was due to
conflict with his brother army medical officers—“Exposure of
misrepresentations by Dr. McGrigor and Dr. Jackson to the
Commissioners of Military Enquiry” (1808); but he is best remembered
by his “Essay on the Disease called Yellow Fever, with observations
concerning Febrile Contagion, Typhus Fever, Dysentery, and the
Plague, partly delivered as the Gulstonian Lectures before the
College of Physicians in the years 1806 and 1807” (1811 and 1817).
In 1839 he published in Jamaica “A Letter to the Hon. Hector
Mitchell on the proposed erection of a new Lunatic Asylum,” and in
the following year he issued another “representing the total
unfitness of the present Asylum for Lunatics, and the urgent
necessity for building a new Lunatic Asylum in a proper situation.”

HECTOR MITCHELL was elected mayor of Kingston in 1833 and held the
office till he died, aged eighty-four years, in 1853 at Kingston.
His body lay in state in the old court house, and his funeral was
attended by most of the prominent men of Jamaica. He was also custos
of Kingston. His portrait—a lithograph by A. Maurin, from a
daguerreotype by A. Duperly, printed for distribution when he
addressed the electors of Kingston in 1848—is in the Jamaica History
Gallery in the Institute.

EDWARD JORDAN, C.B., was born in 1800. He devoted himself to
journalism in early life, and for many years was connected with the
“Watchman” and the “Morning Journal.” While representing Kingston in
the House of Assembly he was in 1854 called to the Council, and on
that occasion received a testimonial from the inhabitants of the
island; but he resigned his seat to seek reelection in the Assembly
at the time of the introduction of the new constitution. He was
elected, and was furthermore made a member of the Governor’s
Executive Committee, which carried with it the leadership of the
Assembly. He also acted as Speaker. He represented Kingston till the
abolition of the House in 1866. He was appointed custos of Kingston
by Sir Charles Grey, and held the post till 1866. Governor Eyre
appointed him receiver-general, but he did not hold the post for
long; and he was appointed Governor’s Secretary, with which was
amalgamated on the death of the Hon. W. G. Stewart the Island
Secretaryship. He died in 1869 at his residence, Good Air, in St.
Andrew. On the Parade stands a monument of him erected by public
subscription. There is also a tablet to his memory in Halfway Tree
church. His portrait, an oil painting from life, is in the Jamaica
History Gallery in the Institute.

As in Lawrence-Archer many of the coats-of-arms are blazoned wrongly and
a few omitted, and as many of the arms on the slabs on the floor of the
church were in danger of being completely, as some of them were then
partly, effaced, it was thought desirable, some years before the
earthquake of 1907, to describe all the armorial bearings in the church;
and this was duly done in the “Jamaica Churchman” in 1902, and the
descriptions were reprinted in the “West India Committee Circular” for
March 26, 1912.

The floor of a church, where they are subjected to the tread of many
feet, is not a good position in which to place monuments with a view to
their preservation; but it is to be deplored that some other method of
rendering the seats stable was not adopted by the architect in charge
during the alterations of 1883–85 than fastening them to the pavement by
iron clamps, many of which have actually been driven through armorial
designs—that of Benbow not excepted.

It has recently been well said that “the village church is the village
Westminster Abbey, in which every object commemorating our ancestors
ought to be sacred, small as well as great.” This applies with the
greater force to the principal church in the chief town of an ancient
colony. But, on the other hand, it must be admitted that even the
ancient stall-plates of the Knights of the Order of the Garter in St.
George’s, Windsor, have not altogether escaped damage at the
“restorer’s” hands.

Amongst the coats-of-arms alluded to above occur the following examples
of allusive devices—the canting heraldry of England, the _armes
parlantes_ of France—the asses of Askew, the bent bows of Benbow, the
fern of Ferneley, the hinds of Hinde, and the vessel (both cup and ship)
of Vassall; whilst amongst the mottoes we have the “Sanguis et vulnera”
of Skinner. It may be of interest to note that the only arms in the
church represented with supporters are those of Crawford.

Rubbings of the most interesting of the armorial bearings were made, for
preservation in the Library of the Institute of Jamaica, by the Rev. W.
B. Atherton, B.A.

Hakewill, writing in 1821, said, “The handsomest building in Kingston is
the =Scotch Church= in Duke street, which was erected about the year
1814 by a public subscription from a plan of Mr. James Delaney.” This
church was destroyed by the earthquake of 1907 and subsequently rebuilt
on the old foundations.

With the destruction of “Jasper Hall” in the earthquake of 1907,
=Headquarters House=, as it is still called, in Duke street, became
possessor of the undisputed title of the finest old house in Kingston.
Its history is of interest.

The story goes that in the latter half of the eighteenth century four
Kingston merchants with great wealth and equally great ambition as to
appearance—Jasper Hall, Thomas Hibbert, John Bull and another, made a
heavy bet amongst themselves as to who should build the most magnificent
dwelling. This resulted in Jasper Hall, till recently standing in High
Holborn street; Headquarters House; Bull House, in North street; and the
house to the north of the old “Mico” in Hanover street, once called
“Harmony Hall.” The name of the winner of the bet is not recorded. It
should have been Jasper Hall.

Jasper Hall, who was receiver-general and speaker of the house of
Assembly, died in 1778. As mentioned above, he was in 1774 one of the
commissioners for purchasing a pen for an official residence for the
admiral on the station. His house, which he named “Constantine House,”
bore the date “June 1, 1756”; and not many years ago possessed what was
probably the best collection of paintings, engravings and books ever got
together by a private individual in Jamaica. Unfortunately at the sale
many bibliographical treasures were allowed to leave the colony.

Thomas Hibbert, who arrived in Jamaica in 1734, soon became one of the
principal and most opulent merchants in Jamaica. He was member of
Assembly for St. George and for Portland, and speaker of the Assembly in
1756. He died in 1780, and was buried at “Agualta Vale” pen in St. Mary.
His house was long known as Hibbert’s House.

In November 1755, when the Assembly was sitting in Kingston, it on the
12th adjourned “to the dwelling house of Thomas Hibbert, Esquire, a
member of this House, where he and Colonel Lawrence, another member of
this House, are indisposed, there to proceed to business,” and the House
met there for several days. In December 1814 it was purchased by the War
Office of the widow of Dr. Solomon Deleon, of Kingston, and was
thenceforward known as General’s House or Headquarters House. Although
the governor of the colony has ever held the rank of captain-general of
the forces, there has always been a general officer in actual command of
the troops; and in former days, and as late as 1895, such general held,
_ex officio_, a commission as lieutenant-governor of the colony, and
succeeded to the control of affairs when occasion arose. The house still
retains the name of Headquarters House, though it has been the colonial
secretary’s office since the government was removed from Spanish Town to
Kingston. It was purchased by the Government in 1872 for £5000. It also
contains the chamber in which the legislative council sits. The “Hibbert
Trust” was founded by a member of this family.

[Illustration:

DATE TREE HALL IN 1906
]

John Bull was the owner of Sheldon coffee estate in the Blue mountains.
The name of the builder of the house to the north of the Mico has not
been recorded.

Amongst those, many of them lieutenant-governors, who were general
officers commanding the forces in Jamaica while the headquarters of the
army were in Duke street, Kingston, were Archibald Campbell (1782–84),
who controlled military affairs at a troublous time for Jamaica, and by
sending troops to act as marines materially assisted Rodney in his
victory over de Grasse; Sir Alured Clarke (1785–90), during whose tenure
of office there was a succession of severe storms during one of which
the barracks at Up-Park Camp were blown down; Sir Adam Williamson
(1790–95), who was in 1795 governor-general of that part of St. Domingo
which was under the control of Great Britain; the Earl of Balcarres
(1796–1801), who is chiefly remembered in connection with the Maroon
war; Sir George Nugent (1801–05), whose doings have been fully
chronicled by his wife in her Journal; Sir Eyre Coote (1806–09), who had
served with distinction under Cornwallis in America, under Grey in the
Leeward Islands, and in Egypt; Hugh Carmichael (1809), who had declined
to let the House of Assembly interfere with a purely military matter—the
mutiny at Port Augusta alluded to in the chapter on St.
Catherine—eventually, but by the King’s command, had to appear before
that body, which grudgingly accepted the explanation offered; Edward
Morrison (1811–14); Francis Fuller (1814–17); Henry Conran (1817–23);
Sir John Keane (1823–30), who had served under Wellington in the
Peninsula, and while in Jamaica took part in the attack on New Orleans,
and later served with distinction in India; Sir Willoughby Cotton
(1831–37), who in Bermuda had had Havelock as his aide-de-camp, and in
Jamaica suppressed the rebellion in St. James; Sir William Maynard Gomm
(1839–42), at one time governor and commander-in-chief of the Windward
and Leeward Islands; Sackville Hamilton Berkeley; Samuel Lambert; Thomas
Bunbury; Sir Richard Doherty; Edward Wells Bell; Pringle Taylor; Charles
Ashmore; and lastly Luke Smythe O’Connor all of whose regimental
commissions were in the 1st West India Regiment, and who was in command
of the troops during the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865.

The old Mico Institution in Hanover street—now used as a technical
school, and for a few years after the earthquake of 1907 used as the
supreme court of the colony—was the original home of the Mico College,
which is now removed to St. Andrew.

With their destruction by the earthquake in 1907 Kingston lost two
important old-time houses in Blundell Hall and Date Tree Hall, at the
lower end of East street. Both had been in former days boarding-houses.
Latterly the former had served as the home of a part of the Post Office,
the latter as that of the Institute of Jamaica, founded in 1879.
=Blundell Hall= was for some years under the proprietorship of Mary
Seacole, a native of Jamaica, well known in connection with her kindness
to the sick and wounded of the British soldiers in the Crimea, where she
filled the position of sutler, having failed to obtain that of nurse.
Sir William Russell wrote a preface to her “Adventures,” published in
1857. Seacole Cottage in Duke street was named after her.

The reconstructed =Institute of Jamaica= possesses several objects of
considerable historic interest. Besides the Arawâk pottery and
implements and the slave branding-iron alluded to in the Introduction,
there is a cage in which criminals were hung to die of starvation, as
late as the early days of the nineteenth century. There is also the
Chancellor’s purse for holding the official seal of the colony,
recalling the days when the governor sat as chancellor, which lasted up
to the passing of the judicature law of 1879.

The following—taken from “The State of Jamaica under Sir Thomas Lynch,
1683,” printed in “The Laws of Jamaica” (London, 1684)—is the earliest
reference to the Seal of the Island:

The King has been pleased to honour this Island with a large guilt
Mace, as a signal Mark of his Favour, and to make the Government
appear more great and formal: It’s carried before the Governour and
Chancellour on Solemn Occasions.

The King has likewise honoured this Island with Arms, and with a
publick Broad Seal; and on one side of it his Majesty is seated on his
Throne, with two _Indians_ on their knees, presenting him _Fruits_,
and two Cherubins aloft, supporting a Canopy; underneath his Feet,
this _Motto_:

_Duro de Cortice fructus quam Dulces?_[5]

Footnote 5:

How sweet the fruit the hard rind yields.

The Inscription about it is, _Carolus Secundus Dei gratia, &c. Dominus
Jamaicæ_; On the other side is an Escutcheon, bearing a Cross charged
with five Pines; two _Indians_ for the Supporters and for the _Crest_
an _Alligator_. The Inscription in the Orle, Inclosing all, is

_Ecce alium Ramos porrexit in orbem
Nec sterilis crux est_[6]

Footnote 6:

Behold! the Cross hath spread its arms into another world, and
beareth fruit.

The _Motto_ underneath the Escutcheon is,

_Indus Uterq: serviet uni_[7]

Footnote 7:

The Indians twain shall serve one Lord.

All this, as I have heard, was designed by the present Lord Archbishop
of _Canterbury_, in the year 1661, and the Seal then delivered to Sir
_Charles Littleton_, that came hither Chancellour, for the
Chancellours always keep it, and with it Seal all Publick Grants,
Commissions, Patents &c.

The King by a Clause in the Commission for the Government, appoints
the Governour to be Chancellour, as judging it fittest to entrust him
with the Equity, who is to see the Laws executed, and not thinking it
for the good of his Subjects to have many great Officers in a young
Colony; and that if the Seal were in private hands it would be erected
into an Office: Now its worth little or nothing. For the Chancellour
has no Fee, only for granting Land and that amounts to very little
now....

There is no mention of a purse, but one was probably sent out with the
Seal and Counter-Seal.

Lawrence-Archer—misled by Bridges, who, ignoring the “present,” simply
says, “This seal was designed by the Archbishop of Canterbury”—says, “At
that time (1662) the Metropolitan See was filled by William Juxon.” It
is true that Lord Windsor came to Jamaica while Juxon was archbishop of
Canterbury (1660 to 1663), but Sancroft occupied the see in 1683, when
the sentence quoted from the Records of the house of Assembly was
written.

The only Jamaica chancellor’s purse that is known to exist to-day is
that which is now in the history gallery of the Institute, whither it
was transferred from the supreme court office some years ago.

No mention of the purse has hitherto been found in any of the histories:
it is not even mentioned by Lady Nugent, who makes frequent references
to her husband, Sir George Nugent, sitting as chancellor. Bryan Edwards
says, “The Governor or Commander-in-chief is chancellor of his office,
and presides solely in that high department, which is administered with
great form and solemnity.”

It would seem evident that a new purse was not supplied each year. In
fact there is no evidence that any later purse than this dating from the
time of George III has ever been in use in the colony.

In form and character and size it is just like the purses used in
England. Like them, it measures 1 ft. 6 in. by 1 ft. 4 in., and is made
of red velvet. The arms of Jamaica (with the cross gules, be it
observed) are in the centre, and are surmounted by the arms of England
at the time of George III. At the base are two cornucopias, and on each
side is a decorative border of roses and other flowers. It is
embroidered with gold and silver thread and coloured silk, ornamented
with beads. It has suffered by wear and neglect.

The mace was evidently the property of the governor, and was probably
used when the council met.

The council is known to have sat on the fatal June 7, 1692; and in the
Journals of the house of Assembly is this entry:

June 7, 1692.—This day happened the great earthquake which destroyed
Port Royal, and did great injury throughout the island: The Council
had previously met in that town, and it is probable were sitting when
it commenced, as no adjournment is entered that day in the Journal.

This is not correct, as the president was with the rector.

The next record we find of a mace is on December 1, 1763, when the house
of Assembly resolved: “That the Receiver-General do send to his
correspondent in England, to purchase a silver mace gilt, of the same
size, for the use of the Speaker of the House, as that used by the
Speaker of the House of Commons; and that this or any future Assembly
will make the same good.”

The older of the two maces at present in the Institute was possibly
imported as the result of this resolution. It is silver-gilt, measures 5
ft. 6 in. high and weighs 297 oz. 5 dwt., and is thus both higher and
heavier than the mace of the House of Commons. It is surmounted by a
royal crown, on the base of which are the British coat-of-arms as used
from 1714 to 1801, and the letters G. R. (Georgius Rex). Round the head,
in panels divided by caryatides, are the emblems of England and
Scotland, Ireland and France, and the arms of Jamaica. It bears the
London hall marks and date letter of the year 1753, and the initials M.
F. of the maker, Mordecai Fox of London.

The other mace evidently came as the result of the resolution of the
Assembly of December 22, 1786: “That the Receiver-General do immediately
remit to the agent the sum of £300 to be by him laid out in the purchase
of robes for the Speaker, and a mace.” Four years later they voted £200
for a coach to be obtained from England. The mace is similar in
appearance, but of a little later date, measures also 5 ft. 6 in. high,
and is also surmounted by a royal crown on the base of which is the same
form of the British coat-of-arms; and round the head are the same
emblems of England and Scotland, France and Ireland, and the arms of
Jamaica. It bears the London hall marks and date letter of the year
1787, and the initials H. G. of the maker, Henry Green of London, whose
initials are on a piece bearing the mark of the same year in the hall of
the Clothworkers Company, London, and who also made the Grenada mace,
which dates from 1781, and which is almost as massive as the Jamaica
mace of 1753. The Barbados mace, which dates from 1812, is 4 ft. 4 in.
high. The head of the Jamaica 1787 mace has at some time been bent by a
blow, and should stand up in the same manner as that of the older one.
This is not to be wondered at when we read of the stormy meetings held
in the last century by the house of assembly.

These two maces were used, the one at the meetings of the house of
Assembly, the other at those of the legislative council. One or other of
them was used at the meetings of the privy council until some time in
Sir John Peter Grant’s administration, when its use was discontinued.
They were both deposited in the Institute of Jamaica in 1879, and were
shown at the exhibition in 1891.

Of the public monuments in Kingston the principal is the =Statue of Sir
Charles Metcalfe=.

High on a list of those governors who have left their mark on Jamaica
history stands the name of Metcalfe, the only governor to whom the
colony has erected a statue. Without seeking it, Metcalfe gained
everywhere where his work lay such popular esteem as finds expression in
statues and addresses, while he received the sincere regard of those
with whom he came in close contact. Coming in September, 1839, when
relations between the planters and the British government on the one
hand and the emancipated slaves on the other had become very strained
over questions arising out of the recent abolition of slavery, he, by
the same tactful manner which he had employed in India with marked
success, did much to reconcile the differences; and when he left Jamaica
three years later it was amidst the genuine regret of all classes of the
community.

Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, the son of a major in the Bengal army, who
later became a director of the East India company, was born at Calcutta
in 1785. He was one of a family of six; the boys all had, in addition to
another, the name Theophilus, the girls Theophila. After spending five
years at Eton, where he did much “sapping,” he, to his own regret at
having to leave, entered the East India service at the early age of
fifteen. By the time he was nineteen he was earning £1000 a year; and
after working in several important branches of the service as special
commissioner, and as president at Delhi, and at Hyderabad, where he
incurred the displeasure of the governor-general by his fearless methods
of pressing reforms, he became in 1827 a member of the supreme council,
on which he sat for nearly seven years. In 1832 he succeeded his brother
in the baronetcy which had been bestowed upon his father, and in 1836 he
received the Grand Cross of the Bath in reward for his distinguished
services. In 1835–36 he held provisionally the post of governor-general
of India, at which he had confidently aimed from almost the commencement
of his career, and he only lost the actual position, to which he was
nominated by the court of directors, because the ministry did not
consider it advisable to appoint one so experienced as Metcalfe in
Indian affairs to that high office, which they wished to bestow on their
own nominee.

[Illustration:

STATUE OF SIR CHARLES METCALFE
]

Always a Liberal in politics and wide in his sympathies, he during his
tenure of office gave offence to the directors of the company by his
action in removing the restrictions on the liberty of the press, and
this led ultimately to his resignation from the company’s service.

After a period of rest in England from official labours, he was in 1839
made governor of Jamaica, two former governors of which colony—Sir
Alured Clarke and Sir George Nugent—he had incidentally met in India. He
was made a privy councillor “as a mark of consideration for his past
services and a tribute to the importance of the office he was about to
assume.”

The sending of an East Indian official as governor to the West Indies
was then an unusual occurrence, but the undoubted success achieved by
Metcalfe led to greater frequency in the custom. Somewhat tired of
administrative work, a lover of a quiet life and with some parliamentary
ambition, he only accepted the office because he knew that the affairs
of the colony were in disorder, and he looked upon it as a duty to his
country to be at the call of the Colonial Office.

The few years that had elapsed since Emancipation had not proved
sufficient in Jamaica to efface differences of opinion and produce
harmony where conflicting interests were rife. The apprenticeship system
had broken down the year before, and total abolition had come into
effect. Trouble had arisen between the Assembly and the Home Government.
The Assembly considered the passing of the West India Prisons bill an
aggression on their rights, and declined to perform any legislative
functions not absolutely necessary, until those rights were restored.
The British Government retorted by threatening to suspend the
constitution of Jamaica, and a measure was ultimately passed which
increased the powers possessed by the governor. Metcalfe was selected as
a possibly popular governor to tide over a critical period of great
anxiety.

On his arrival he saw that the existence of the stipendiary magistrates,
which body had been formed with a view to counteracting the alleged lack
of justice on the part of the local magistracy composed chiefly of the
planters and their attorneys, was a means of keeping alive the ill-will
between the planters and the emancipated slaves and their well-wishers;
and he therefore decided to let the scheme gradually die out, by
abstaining from filling up vacancies as they arose.

In his work of conciliation Metcalfe did not hesitate to controvert the
opinions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to point out to
him the error of his views in certain cases.

He achieved the at that time difficult task of gaining the esteem alike
of the white and the black population, and he did much to remove the
mutual mistrust existing between them. The only sect in sympathy with
whom he found it difficult to work was the Baptist community, who wished
him to be hostile to the planters and were displeased by his absolute
impartiality.

In November 1841 he considered that the purpose of his visit had been
achieved, and he resigned his office. By his honesty of purpose and the
conciliatory nature of his methods of work he had endeared himself to
almost all.

As his mission had been one of smoothing over difficulties arising from
a recent legal and social upheaval, it obviously was not a time for
great administrative changes; but while he was in Jamaica the judicial
system and the criminal code were amended, the military cantonment at
Newcastle was established, and the salary of the governor was put on a
more satisfactory and permanent basis.

Metcalfe had his portrait painted twice in Jamaica—once by a Danish
artist, a full-size, half-length, which he sent home to his aunt, Mrs.
Manson: the other, a full-length, by another artist, “was intended for
the town hall of our principal city Kingston.” Where is that portrait
now? There is a portrait of him, by a very mediocre painter, in the
court house at Old Harbour, and a full-length standing painting, dated
1846, and signed by A. Bradish, in the Town Hall at Falmouth. The
portrait of him by F. R. Say in the Oriental Club, a copy of the
engraving after which by F. E. Lewis is in the Jamaica history gallery
in the Institute, was painted between his return to England from Jamaica
and his going to Canada. Another portrait in the same gallery is a
mezzotint engraving by William Warner of Philadelphia, after a painting
by A. Bradish, executed in 1844, representing him half-length seated.
This print, published at Montreal, was dedicated to Sir Robert Peel. It
shows the left side of the face, the right having by that time been
disfigured by the sad malady which caused his death.

Metcalfe on leaving Jamaica received addresses.

“On May 21, 1842,” says Sir John William Kaye, in his life of Metcalfe,
“Sir Charles Metcalfe once again embarked for England. The scene will
never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. From even the most distant
places crowds of people of all classes had come to see for the last
time, and to say God-speed to, the Governor whose public and private
virtues they so loved and revered. The old island militiamen, who had
not been called out for years, volunteered to form his escort. The
‘coloured population knelt to bless him.’ Many present on that occasion,
at once so gratifying and so painful to the departing statesman, felt
that they had lost a friend who could never be replaced. All classes of
society and all sects of Christians sorrowed for his departure; and the
Jews set an example of Christian love by praying for him in their
synagogues.

“He went—but the statue voted by the Island, and erected in the public
square of Spanish Town, is not a more enduring record of his residence
in Jamaica than the monument which he has made for himself in the hearts
of a grateful people.”

In 1843–45 he was governor-general of Canada, a post of extreme
difficulty at that time, and held by him with considerable tact and
firmness while he himself was practically dying. He displayed much
patience under the greatest provocation. He had there the support of
that empire-builder Wakefield, who said of him that God had made him
greater than the Colonial Office. In 1845 he was created Baron Metcalfe.
In the securing of this honour the valuable services which he rendered
in connection with Jamaica played an important part. In fact it may
fairly be said that had the Whigs and not the Tories been in power when
he left that island the peerage would have been conferred on him then.
He never took his seat in the House of Lords, and the title died with
him the following year, the baronetcy going to his younger brother.
During the latter part of his life he had borne great suffering with
heroic patience.

He was short in stature and somewhat homely in appearance; but he had an
intelligent countenance and an habitually sweet smile. He was of a most
lovable disposition. Though intensely hospitable he really disliked
society and preferred the companionship of a few friends, but he lived
continually in harness either social or official. He was at all times of
his life a poor horseman; he had tried in vain to learn in India, and
travelling in the hilly parts of Jamaica must have been a painful task
for him. He writes: “I have got some steady horses and ponies which suit
me pretty well. Any but steady ones would soon tumble me over a
precipice.”

Of his country residence, Highgate, to which he retreated from Spanish
Town whenever the calls of office permitted, he wrote, “If climate were
everything I should prefer living on this spot to any other that I know
in the world.”

Liberal and generous by disposition, he yet succeeded in saving from his
official salaries and the interest of his investments a sufficient
fortune to have maintained with credit the peerage which had been
bestowed upon him.

On his quitting Jamaica the Assembly voted £3000 for the statue, which
for many years looked down King street, Kingston, to which spot it had
been removed from Spanish Town, where it was originally erected on the
site of the present court house, opposite Rodney’s statue. It was
originally intended to have a temple and colonnade like Rodney’s, but
the funds did not prove sufficient and the scheme was abandoned. In 1898
the statue was removed to make way for a statue of Queen Victoria, when
it was placed at the foot of King street, on the pedestal which had for
some years supported Bacon’s statue of Rodney during its temporary
absence from Spanish Town.

Metcalfe’s statue has proved more enduring than the parish which, formed
from parts of St. George and St. Mary and named after him in 1841, was
merged into St. Mary in 1867 by Grant’s reduction of the parishes from
twenty-two to fourteen. The statue is by Edward Hodges Baily, R.A., a
pupil of Flaxman, and a sculptor of high aims and pure ideals, by whom
there is also a bust of Metcalfe in the Metcalfe Hall, Calcutta.

He is represented bare-headed, and wearing the insignia of the Bath. The
statue on its double pedestal stands too high to be well seen. On the
front of the original pedestal is the following inscription, now almost
illegible from the ground, partly because of its great height and partly
because the painting has worn off the letters:

THIS STATUE
IS ERECTED IN HONOR OF
THE RT. HON. SIR CHARLES THEOPHILUS METCALFE, BART, K.C.B.
NOW BARON METCALFE
BY THE GRATEFUL INHABITANTS OF JAMAICA
IN COMMEMORATION
OF THE BENEFITS DERIVED FROM
HIS WISE, JUST AND BENEFICIAL ADMINISTRATION
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAND
A.D. 1845.

On the west face are the arms of Jamaica (on which the cross is tricked
_or_ instead of _gules_, and the crest is placed on an esquire’s
helmet); on the east those of Metcalfe. On the back is an emblematic
design with figures of Justice and Mercy on either side of an altar on
which rests an anchor.

On the lower pedestal, erected originally to receive Rodney’s statue, is
placed an earthenware tablet (similar to those erected by the Royal
Society of Arts in London) which was put up by the Institute of Jamaica
in 1892 to record the fact that:

12 FEET WEST OF THE
CENTRE OF THE PEDESTAL,
COMMANDER GREEN,
U.S.N. IN 1875 ERECTED THE
LONGITUDE STATION OF
KINGSTON AND FOUND IT TO BE
5h. 7m. 10·65 s. (76° 47′ 39·8″)
WEST OF GREENWICH.
I.J.

The great weight of this lower pedestal enabled the statue to stand the
earthquake of 1907 unmoved; while every other statue in Kingston was
either thrown down or slued round on its base.

“Selections from the Papers of Lord Metcalfe” contain papers from
Jamaica, dealing with such divers subjects as the Conditions of the
Island; the Social Condition of the People; the Labour Question; the
Stipendiary Magistrate; the Governor’s Salary; Reforms of the Judicial
System; Advantages of Conciliation; Prison Discipline; the Health of the
Troops, and Answers to Addresses from the parishes of St. Catherine, St.
Ann and St. Thomas; the Missionary Presbytery and the St. George’s
Agricultural Society. The “Addresses” themselves, to the number of
thirty-nine from all sections of the community, were published in
Jamaica in 1842.

From this volume we learn that the first proposal to erect a statue to
Metcalfe in St. Jago de la Vega was made and adopted at a meeting of the
inhabitants of St. Catherine held on March 17, 1842, and this was
supported by meetings held in many of the parishes. There was, however,
a counter proposal to have a statue in Kingston. St. Jago de la Vega won
then, but time has brought revenge to Kingston. In 1847 £200 was paid by
the Assembly for a temple for the statue of Metcalfe, and they voted
“£1500 for its removal and erection” in front of the Assembly Room and
Library.

When Colonel Christian Lilly laid out the town of Kingston in 1692, he
left in the centre a plaza or square after the Spanish method of
colonial town-planning. In the eighteenth century barracks were erected
to the north-west corner of this square, and the space to the south was
for many years utilised as a parade-ground, as shown in Adolphe
Duperly’s view in his “Daguerian Excursions in Jamaica,” published about
1844. Later on the barracks were abandoned by the troops, and they are
now utilised for police-court purposes. The ornamental gardens were laid
out in 1870 in the centre of the old military parade, whence they became
known as the Parade Gardens; a wide space being left as roadway to the
south.

At the instance of a Committee appointed to report on the most suitable
way to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, £800 was voted by the
Legislature in March 1897 for a =Statue to Queen Victoria= in addition
to £700 for local rejoicings.

It was originally intended to place the statue at the front of the block
of buildings which was in contemplation; but, as retrenchment then
interfered with the project, the statue was erected at the top of King’s
street, on the base erected for the statue of Lord Metcalfe when it was
removed from Spanish Town. Owing to its small size it is to be regretted
that the statue was not placed somewhere indoors, or at all events not
on so high a pedestal.

[Illustration:

QUEEN VICTORIA’S STATUE
]

It is a replica of a statue erected in the hall of the Colonial Office
at Singapore in connection with the Jubilee of 1887, by E. Edward
Geflowski, who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1867 to 1872.

The statue cost in all about £800. A plaster cast that was used for the
unveiling, in connection with the Jubilee rejoicings, is now at King’s
House, Spanish Town. Another copy is in the Imperial Institute, London.

In February of 1914 the Victoria League of Jamaica asked the Mayor and
Council of Kingston to consider the desirability of re-naming the Parade
Gardens the Victoria Park, and suggested that, if they approved,
occasion should be taken of the presence of Her Highness Princess Marie
Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, on
February 4, to ask her Highness to perform the ceremony, as it was felt
that it would be well if the memory of Queen Victoria should be
perpetuated in the centre of the principal town of the Colony, the more
especially as it was in close proximity to the statue of her late
Majesty. The Mayor and Council fell in with the suggestion, the consent
of the Governor was obtained, and Her Highness the Princess renamed the
Gardens on February 4. Although the Gardens have been fittingly named
after Queen Victoria, dear to the hearts of all Jamaicans, it is to be
hoped the surrounding buildings will still retain the name of Parade,
and thus help to recall the days when the central part was made gay by
many a military uniform.

On the eastern side of the Gardens stands a full-length statue by R. G.
Miller, R.A., of =Edward Jordan=, C.B., “who through a long series of
years and in times of danger, fearlessly stood forward as the champion
of Emancipation and for the removal of civil disabilities,” erected by
public subscription. The statue of another distinguished Jamaican, =Dr.
Lewis Quier Bowerbank=, was erected in the year 1881, on the northern
side, by his numerous friends and admirers; but a third statue, that of
=Father Dupont=, a Roman Catholic priest who for many years laboured
among the poor of the city, erected at the north-east corner, was
destroyed by the earthquake of 1907.

Other monuments of interest in Kingston are a bust portrait of the =Rev.
John Radcliffe= (preacher and poet), in the Scotch church, by Sir Thomas
Brock, R.A., erected by public subscription in 1896, which, though
buried under the ruins of the porch, escaped serious injury in the
earthquake of 1907, and a memorial tablet to the =Rev. William James
Gardner= (Congregational minister and historian) in the Congregational
church, North street, erected after his death, which occurred in 1874.

Amongst disused burial-grounds are the Stranger’s Burial-Ground
(earliest tomb is dated 1753) and the Spring Path Burial-Ground, both by
the Railway Station (earliest tomb is dated 1794); the Baptist Ground,
in the Windward Road (earliest tomb dated 1801); the Wesleyan Methodist
Cemetery at the corner of Windward Road and Elletson Road (earliest tomb
dated 1791); the Jewish Cemetery in Elletson Road (the earliest tomb
dated 1797); the Jewish Cemeteries at the south-east and south-west
corners of Church and North streets (in the former the earliest tomb
dated 1719), all contain monuments of historic interest.

In view of recent interest evinced in the question of wharf
accommodation it may be well to republish a “List and Situation of the
Public Wharves in Kingston, running East and West,” which appeared in
the “Columbian Magazine” (Kingston) in 1800—one hundred and fifteen
years ago.

I. Welsh & Son’s: bottom of John’s Lane.

I. Harriot’s: between John’s Lane and Duke Street.

G. Douglas & Co., and I. Sewell’s: bottom of Duke Street.

John Davidson’s: between Duke Street and Mark Lane.

Donaldson & Heron, and M’Bean & Bagnold’s: bottom of Mark Lane.

Jaques, Laing, & Ewing’s: between Mark Lane and Church Street.

Duncomb & Pownal, and Bogle & Cathcart’s: bottom of Church Street.

Thomas Hyne’s: between Church Street and Temple Lane.

Kinkhead & Sproull; and Hardy, Pennock & Brittan’s: bottom of Temple
Lane.

John West & Co.’s: between Temple Lane and King Street.

Willis & Waterhouse; and Bogle, Jopp & Co.’s: bottom of King Street.

Joseph Teasdale; and I. Robertson & Co.’s: bottom of Peter’s Lane.

Burnett, Stirling & Co.; and W. Cleland’s: bottom of Orange Street.

Cowgill & Co.’s; between Orange Street and Luke Lane.

Henry West & Co.; and Donaldson, Forbes, Grant & Stewart’s: bottom of
Luke Lane.

Dick, McCall & Co.’s: between Luke Lane and Princess Street.

Shaw, Holy & Co.; and Lindo & Brothers’: bottom of Princess Street.

Ordnance; and R. Sutherland & Co.’s: bottom of Matthew’s Lane.

W. B. Bryan & Co.; and Fairclough & Barnes’s: bottom of West Street.

Dick, McCall & Co.’s Lumber Wharf: next on the Westward; and further
on.

Liddle & Rennie’s.

IV
ST. ANDREW

The parish of St. Andrew was originally called Liguanea, and the name
still lingers round the plain. It now consists of what before the
passing of law 20 of 1867 comprised the parish of Port Royal and the
parish of St. Andrew, less the parts known as Smith’s Village, Hannah’s
Town, Fletcher’s Town, and the town of Port Royal. There are no towns in
St. Andrew; the principal villages being Halfway Tree, Gordon Town and
Stony Hill.

The earliest known reference to Halfway Tree on record occurs in the
minutes of the Council of January 4, 1696, when “the Governor acquainted
the Board that he had been informed that Mr. Redman Maccragh, Mr. Henry
Archbold, and others had assembled together att halfeway tree in the
parish of St. Andrews and had obleiged severall of His Majesty’s
subjects passing that way to drink a health to the late K. James, which
was lookt upon by the Board to be a great misdemeanour,” and it was
ordered that all persons concerned should appear before the Board the
next Council day; but this apparently they discreetly abstained from
doing.

It derives its name from a cotton tree dating from the conquest, which
existed as late as 1866. Richard Hill, in an article which was published
posthumously in the “Victoria Quarterly” in 1890, said:

“I visited Halfway Tree on Sunday the 25th November, 1866. When I
first saw the cotton tree at the junction of the four roads through
the plain of Liguanea from which Halfway Tree receives its name, it
had nearly lived out its time. It is of that lofty straight-stemmed
variety of Eriondendron which originally growing among some clustering
trees had overtopped them and had spread its horizontal arms out above
them at about some fifty or sixty feet in elevation from the root.
Four or five of these arms yet remained with a few scattering stems on
which a few straggling leaves vegetated. An age of surface rains
rushing to the sea three miles away had removed all the soluble earth
from the platform roots, so that they made arched resting places,
where the marketers coming from the mountains would rest themselves in
groups for they had reached the Halfway Tree.... At the time of the
conquest of the island 200 years ago, the Halfway Tree was one of
those tall and solitary cotton trees of the Liguanea Plain.”

It is to be regretted that no illustration exists of this interesting
tree, which has perished since Hill wrote. It stood near the present
church, where the original road (now known as the old Pound Road) going
from Passage Fort, the landing-place from Port Royal, direct towards the
mountains, was cut by the road that went from Spanish Town to the plain
of St. Andrew.

Long the historian says: “The village of Halfway Tree is situated ... at
the intersection of the three roads which lead to Spanish Town, St.
Mary, and St. George,” and this probably is the origin of the name.

The ascription of the name to the half-way position for the troops
between Greenwich on the Harbour and Stony Hill is evidently wrong, as
the troops were not placed at Stony Hill till 1799.

The =Old Burial-Ground, Halfway Tree=, is the name usually given to the
disused graveyard on the road between King’s House and the Constant
Spring road, where the Waterloo road crosses it on its way to the foot
of the hills. Standing on land falling away towards Sandy Gully, it is
said to be the site of the first church erected by the English in St.
Andrew, one of the seven parishes into which the island was originally
divided by Sir Thomas Modyford in 1664; but there are now no evidences
of the foundations to be seen.

In 1682 Sir Thomas Lynch sent home to the Bishop of London a detailed
account of “this infant church” in Jamaica. Of Halfway Tree he wrote:
“On the north side of Port Royal harbour lies St. Andrews, where Mr.
Cellier, a Swiss, is minister. It is the pleasantest part of the Island,
with an ordinary church and a pretty parsonage house. The minister has
£100 a year, he is an honest man and well beloved. Colonel Beeston can
tell you about him.”

The second church was erected near where the present fabric stands; the
foundation stone being laid on January 12, 1686, according to the
following extract from the early vestry minutes:—“1686, January 12,
Prayers at the old church and a sermon from Gen. ch. 28, v. 16, 17. The
first brick of the new church laid by the Rev. Mr. Zeller, the second by
Col. Sam. Barry.” The building of this church had evidently been
contemplated for some time, a previous entry, under date July 28, 1684,
reading “Agree about building the new intended Church.” James Zellers, a
Swiss by birth, came out to Jamaica in 1664 and was at once appointed to
St. Andrew, which parish he served for thirty-six years. Colonel Barry,
who owned Cavaliers, was one of the largest landowners in the parish.
The second church was destroyed by the earthquake of 1692. In “The
Truest and Largest Account of the Late Earthquake in Jamaica ... written
by a Reverend Divine there ... London, 1693,” it is thus referred to:
“From thence it is but a short way to _Ligania_, the first and principal
place for Planting, (whereunto my own parish is immediately the next)
which for the most part imitating, if not Exceeding the stateliness of
Port Royal, is now, together with its fine New Built and not yet
finished Church, buried in the same Ruines with the Houses.” This old
ground was used for interment long after the present church was built;
in fact, as late as 1862.

The registers of the church of St. Andrew at Halfway Tree, dating back
to 1666, are the oldest in the island. They contain many records of
interest. Unfortunately, the entries for the early years are only a
transcript of about the middle of the eighteenth century, the same
handwriting extending to the year 1741. The first entry of baptism
extant is that of Grace, daughter of Edward Onion, under date June 10,
1666. The earliest marriage is that of John Wilson and Anne Zeale on
June 7, 1666; and the first death Arabella Joanes, on July 4, 1666.

Amongst those who lie in the old burial-ground are George Bennett, of
Dorsetshire family, “who came here a soldier under General Venables”;
Henry Dakins, who died in 1683; Major Samuel Guy, who died in 1736; and
“Edward, the soven (_sic_) of William and Anne Beeston, who dyed this
5th day of August, 1678, being above the age of ... months,” and “Henry
the sonne of William and Anne Beeston who dyed the first day of May,
1677, being about the age of 14 months.”

[Illustration:

HALFWAY-TREE CHURCH IN 1906
]

Sir William Beeston was governor of Jamaica from 1693 to 1701. His
daughter Jane married firstly Sir Thomas Modyford, the fifth and last
baronet, and secondly, Charles Long, of Longville, son of Samuel Long
who came out with Penn and Venables as secretary to Cromwell’s
Commission, and rose to fame. With his friend Beeston, Samuel Long was
sent home a prisoner by the Earl of Carlisle, but they successfully
vindicated the privileges of Jamaica. Edward Long, the historian of
Jamaica, was grandson of Charles and Jane Long.

The wall of the churchyard no doubt dates from early in the eighteenth
century, as appears by a further extract from the vestry minutes, under
date “1706, February”: “Ordered that both these churchyards [the new and
the old] be walled in.”

The vestry minutes are copied from a reference in the “Morning Journal”
of June 18, 1858, contributed by Mr. Livingston.

The =Parish Church of St. Andrew=, commonly known as Halfway Tree
church, is, after the cathedral at Spanish Town, the most interesting,
from an historic point of view, of all the churches in the colony.

The vestry lost no time in rebuilding after the earthquake had destroyed
the first church, for we learn from the vestry minutes, under date July
5, 1692; “Ordered that a new church be forthwith built on the church
land at Halfway Tree of the figure of the late new church, and a house
for the Minister 50 feet front from out to out, 16 feet wide from in to
in, 9 feet high a brick and half thick.”

The building was apparently so far completed as to receive monuments on
its walls by the following March, for that is the date of the one which
records the death of Frances, wife of Sir Nicholas Lawes, a successful
planter, and a wise and beneficent governor in times of great
misfortune. Lawes himself was buried in the church of the parish, the
interests of which he did much to further, but his tomb is not now to be
found. His name still lives in Laws street, Kingston.

The following further extracts from the vestry minutes are interesting:
“1697, order for building a Vestry room and hanging the Bell”; “1699,
April 29, Bargain about a Steeple”; “... December 22, Order for pewing
the Church.”

The church was finally completed in 1700. In 1701 Sir William Beeston
and his wife gave, as we have seen, a site in Kingston for the erection
of a church in that town, and in the year following, namely, on January
13, 1702, the Vestry of St. Andrew ordered “That the benches belonging
to the church be given to Kingston for the use of their church.” On
October 25, 1703, it was ordered “that the tyles be taken off the roof
of the church, and that it be covered with shingles instead thereof”;
and in 1705 that the ceiling, &c., be plaistered. Richard Hill is
probably in error in saying that “the then existing church shattered and
blown down in the hurricane of 1712 and 1722 was succeeded by the
present edifice,” but one’s later day experience of hurricane and
earthquake have shown that these and the work of “restorers” make sad
havoc of the historic evidence offered by monumental inscriptions. In
1685 it was decided to order a communion service from England, but the
oldest chalice and flagon in the church bear the date 1700, and the
mark, B.O., of John Boddington (who made a communion flagon which is at
North Cerney in Gloucestershire).

On June 9, 1741, the churchwardens were ordered to send to Great Britain
for a “Pulpit Cloth with Cushions and other necessary ornaments for the
Pulpit, Reading Desk, and Communion Table, of crimson, with a plain gold
fringe, and six dozen hassocks.” The edifice was somewhat damaged in the
hurricane of October 20, 1744; and on November 3 following the
churchwardens were ordered to agree with workmen to put the church
immediately in repair and secure the windows with substantial shutters
on the outside. In 1760 orders were given for the importation of an
organ, and on July 1, 1762, Messrs. Freeman and Dixper were employed to
take down the old organ and to put up and tune the new one for £80.

For many years the church remained, as it was built, a plain
unattractive structure, by men who had the fear of earthquake and
hurricane before them. In 1879–80 extensive restorations were carried
out; the Campbell memorial chancel was added, extensions were made to
the north and south ends of the transept, and at the west end so as to
connect nave and tower, and the ceiling was removed.

In 1904, in order to provide extra accommodation, a south chancel aisle,
designed with deep-mullioned, unglazed window-openings, so as to exclude
sunlight and yet admit fresh air, was added in memory of the late
rector, the Rev. H. H. Isaacs. And in 1909 extensive repairs, involving
the pulling down of the shattered tower, the space occupied by which was
thrown into the nave, were rendered necessary by the earthquake of 1907.

The first rector, James Zellers, was appointed to St. Andrew on June 9,
1664, and since that date the parish has been served by but sixteen
rectors, giving an average of upwards of fifteen years for each
incumbent—not a bad record for a “pestilential climate,” as that of
Jamaica was formerly called.

In this connection it is of interest to note that a recent member of the
congregation worshipped in the church for upwards of seventy years, for
a large part of which time he was verger. Stephen Dale, who was born in
the parish of Manchester in or about 1806, came to St. Andrew as a slave
on Cassia Park, a property near the church, when a young man, and lived
in Halfway Tree till his death. Though pensioned as verger in 1896, he
still, to the advanced age of 106, in 1912, played his part in
collecting the offertory at the Sunday services, and performed other
duties in connection with the church. He remembered that he was
thirty-two years of age at the time of Emancipation.

Of the monuments by far the most interesting from an art point of view
is that formerly on the south wall of the chancel, now on the north wall
of the nave, to =James Lawes=. One of the best pieces of iconic
sculpture in the island, it is by John Cheere (miscalled Sheere by
Lawrence-Archer), the brother of Sir Henry Cheere (b. 1703, d. 1781), at
first a pupil of Sheemakers, and afterwards employer and instructor of
Roubiliac.

Sir Henry Cheere was the chief of the statuaries of his time, working in
marble, bronze, and lead to meet the demand for garden decoration. He
executed numerous monuments for Westminster Abbey. In 1760 he was chosen
by the County of Middlesex to present a congratulatory address to the
King on his accession. Knighted on that occasion, he was created a
baronet six years later. In 1755 he drew up the first proposals for the
formation of the Royal Academy. All we are told of John Cheere is that
he was “also a statuary and probably a partner in his brother’s works.”

Of James Lawes almost all there is to tell is stated in Latin on his
handsome monument. He was baptized in 1697, married in 1720, and was
member of the house of Assembly for St. Andrew in 1721, and for Vere in
1722. He was called up to the council in 1725. He died in 1733. He had a
dormant commission, but never acted as governor. His widow re-married,
in 1742, William Home, eighth Earl of Home, governor of Gibraltar. His
epitaph, translated, runs as follows:

In this neighbourhood lie the remains of the Hon. James Lawes: he was
the first-born son of Sir Nicholas Lawes, the Governor of this island,
by his wife Susanna Temple: he married Elizabeth, the only daughter
and heiress of William Gibbon, Esquire: then in early manhood, when
barely thirty-six years of age, he obtained almost the highest
position of distinction amongst his countrymen, being appointed
Lieutenant-Governor by royal warrant; but before he entered on his
duties, in the prime of life—alas!—he died on the 29th day of
December, A.D. 1733.

In him we lose an upright and honoured citizen, a faithful and
industrious friend, a most affectionate husband, a man who was just
and kind to all, and distinguished by the lustre of genuine religion.
His wife who survived him had this tomb erected to perpetuate the
memory of a beloved husband.

His arms are painted on the monument: “Or, on a chief azure, three
estoiles of eight points or. On an escutcheon of pretence, or, a lion
rampant sable debruised of a bend gules charged with three escallops,
or.”

He was probably born at Temple Hall, where his father, governor of the
colony from 1718 till 1722, introduced towards the close of his life, in
1728, the coffee plant into the island. His mother was a daughter of
Thomas Temple, of Francton, Warwickshire, and Temple Hall, in St.
Andrew, sister of “La Belle Temple,” of de Grammont (wife of Sir Charles
Lyttelton, governor of Jamaica), and widow of Samuel Bernard, speaker of
the Assembly. She was the fourth of Sir Nicholas Lawes’s five wives, all
widows when he married them.

Other interesting monuments in the church are those to Zachary Bayly,
uncle and patron of Bryan Edwards, the historian, who wrote his flowery
epitaph typical of the time; to Admiral Davers, who was one of the
principal actors in the quarrel between Sir Chaloner Ogle and the
governor, Trelawny, an echo of the jealousy of Wentworth and Vernon,
which was a factor in their deplorable failure at Cartagena; and to
General Villettes (by Sir Richard Westmacott), commander of the forces
and lieutenant-governor, to whom there is a mural tablet in Westminster
Abbey; and in the churchyard is the monument of Christopher Lipscomb,
first bishop of Jamaica.

The earliest dated tomb is that to Edward Harrison, of the year 1695.
The latest monuments of importance erected in the church are those in
memory of Sir James Fergusson, who was killed in Kingston by the
earthquake of 1907, and lies buried in the churchyard; and a brass
tablet to the memory of Sir Anthony Musgrave, a former governor.

The number of naval men buried here is somewhat remarkable for an inland
church: Admiral Davers (d. 1746), Dr. Charles Mackglashan, R.N. (d.
1834), Commodores Pring (d. 1846), Peter McQuhae (d. 1853) and Cracroft
(d. 1865), Admiral Holmes (d. 1761), Captains Renton (d. 1747–8),
Shortland (d. 1827) and Morrish (d. 1861).

Amongst military men are General William Anne Villettes (d. 1808),
Lieut.-Col. Augustus Frederick Ellis (d. 1841), Lieut.-Col. Charles
Markham (d. 1842), and Major-General Lambert (d. 1848).

The old chandelier, at the west end, dating from the year 1706, the gift
of Nicholas Lawes, is a good example of English brass work of that
period. The copy of the royal arms, also at the west end, dates from the
time of Queen Anne, as the initials A. R. testify. The tattered flags of
the 3rd West India Regiment told of a time when there were more
battalions than there are now. Laid up on the disbandment of the
regiment in 1870, they were on July 31, 1912, removed from the church to
the recently erected garrison chapel at Up-Park Camp.

The registers contain many records of interest. In the early years occur
the well-known names of Brayne, Beeston, Barry, Elletson and Lawes.

Between 1671 and 1691 Colonel Samuel Barry had four children baptized;
Colonel William Beeston, five; and Roger Elletson (who married Anne Hope
on May 6, 1680), six.

The Robert Beckford who, on June 6, 1688, married Anne Prenyard, must
have been a member of the well-known family, possibly a brother of
Colonel Peter Beckford, the president of the council.

Amongst the baptisms are recorded those of Robert Charles Dallas, the
author of “The History of the Maroons,” on Christmas day, 1756; of
William, son of Lieut.-Col. John Dalling, afterwards governor of the
island, in 1771; and of Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Despouches
and Sir Hyde Parker, vice-admiral of the red, in 1797.

Slaves were often baptized _en bloc_. In 1780 four negroes “the property
of the Dutchess of Chandos” were baptized on February 8. On May 5, 1790,
five slaves, the property of Simon Taylor, the wealthiest man of his
time, were baptized; and on September 9, 1803, eighteen slaves on Mona
estate; and on July 15, 1815, twenty-nine male adults, twenty-seven
female adults, eight male and nine female children slaves were baptized
on Fair Hill plantation.

The good people of Kingston not infrequently came to St. Andrew to be
married, _e.g._, on September 12, 1792, Robert Hibbert, Esq., Jun., of
the parish of Kingston, married Elizabeth Jane Nembhard, of the same
parish. Another interesting marriage that took place in St. Andrew was
that of Philip Livingston of Kingston, merchant (the eldest son of
Philip Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence
of the United States in 1776), to Sarah Johnson, of the parish of St.
Andrew, on June 29, 1768. Apparently, also, sometimes burial services
were conducted in St. Andrew prior to entombment elsewhere. Under date
November 5, 1702, is recorded the death of “Admiral John Bembo,” whose
tombstone is in Kingston parish church. He had died at Port Royal on
November 4. There is an old tradition that Benbow was buried at
Greenwich, then a naval station on the harbour to the west of Kingston.
This would be compatible with the entry in the Halfway Tree register, as
Greenwich was and is in the parish of St. Andrew; but James Knight, who
was member for Kingston in 1722 and following years, says, in a
manuscript history of Jamaica in the British Museum, “He was buried the
day following [his death] in the church at Kingston, greatly lamented by
all ranks of people.” It is strange, therefore, that his burial should
be recorded in the register of St. Andrew. It may be that when two
rectors took part in the burial service each recorded it.

Amongst other interesting items in the burials we read: “1772, Nov. 6,
Mrs. Clies, mother-in-law to Sir George Bridges Rodney, Bart.” She was
the mother of Rodney’s second wife, Henrietta. Her husband was John
Clies, of Lisbon.

The following is a complete list of the rectors of the parish:

July 1664 to 25th May 1700 Rev. James Zellers
1700 to 5th July 1710 Rev. John Moodie
1710 to 22nd Oct. 1714 Rev. George Wright
1714 to 25th March 1738 Rev. John Carey
1738 to 26th April 1747 Rev. Alexander Inglis
1747 to 25th Oct. 1760 Rev. George Eccles
1760 to 13th April 1768 Rev. Gideon Castelfranc
1768 to 1782 Rev. John Pool, LL.B.
1782 to May 1813 Rev. John Campbell
1813 to 8th Dec. 1858 Rev. Alexander Campbell, M.A.
1858 to 1860 Ven. Archdeacon Richard Panton, D.D.
January 1861 to 1870 Rev. William Mayhew, M.A.
October 1870 to August 1872 Rev. George Taylor Braine, B.A.
August 1872 to Oct. 1878 Ven. Archdeacon Duncan Houston
Campbell, M.A.
March 1879 to 22nd Sept. 1900 Rev. Hubert Headland Isaacs M.A.
January 1901 Rev. Edward Jocelyn Wortley

[Illustration:

KING EDWARD’S CLOCK TOWER
]

Amongst interesting houses are =Lundie’s Pen=, Halfway Tree, a typical
eighteenth-century Jamaica house, but altered after the earthquake of
1907—it bears date September 3, 1767. =King’s House=, which was formerly
the residence of the Bishop of Jamaica, was purchased for £5000 as an
official residence of the governor, on the removal of the seat of
government to Kingston in 1872. A dining-hall and ballroom were added
later. It was wrecked by the earthquake of 1907, and was rebuilt in 1909
from designs by Sir Charles Nicholson. In it are two full-length
portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds of George III and Queen Charlotte,
copies of the portraits which were painted in 1779 and for which
Reynolds received £420. Reynolds made it a condition of his acceptance
of the presidentship of the Royal Academy that he should be allowed to
paint portraits of the king and queen. The portraits were presented to
the Royal Academy by the king. Thirteen pairs of copies were painted.
Copies are in the possession of the Earl of Malmesbury at Heron Court;
at the Viceregal Lodge, Dublin; at Hatfield House; at Cobham Hall; at
Knole; the Senior United Service Club, London; and the Cutlers’ Company;
and the pair mentioned above at Jamaica. The king is seated in his
robes, with the sceptre in his right hand; in the background are a
canopy and the aisles of Westminster Abbey. The queen is seated on a
throne, with a sceptre on a cushion in front. She is clad in a
gold-embroidered dress, with lace sleeves, and ermine train and robe.

At Halfway is =King Edward’s Clock Tower=, erected as a memorial by
public subscription in 1913.

The =Stony Hill Barracks= (dating from 1799) are now used as an
Industrial School. In 1844 they were unoccupied, and the Assembly
suggested that they should form a lodging for the convicts which, it was
proposed, should tunnel Stony Hill. Amongst the tombs is one to the
memory of an officer of the York Chasseurs who fell in a duel in 1818.

During the latter years of the eighteenth century the Jamaica naval
station was one of very great importance to the British Empire. The
North American (with which it was later united) was then considered a
fine station for making prize-money, but the West Indies was, to use
Nelson’s own words, “the station for honour.” Earlier in the century,
however, riches had been added to honour for those who held command at
Jamaica.

In addition to the naval station at Port Royal (where the commodore on
the station till recently resided at Admiralty house), there were for
many years to the west of Kingston a dockyard at Greenwich (with a depot
for military stores, and a hospital, as well as a cemetery attached)
which was the point of embarkation for the naval authorities; and a pen
residence for the commander-in-chief near Kingston, known as =Admiral’s
Pen=. At times the admiral on the station had a house in the hills, and
there was at one period a naval convalescent hospital (now called The
Cottage) in the St. Andrew mountains.

The earliest record of a suggestion for a permanent residence for the
admiral on the station is to be found in the will of Zachary Bayly (the
uncle of Bryan Edwards the historian) who offered Greenwich Park,
situated between Admiral’s Pen and Greenwich, near Kingston, to the
government “for the use and residence of a Governor, or of the
Commander-in-chief for the time being, of His Majesty’s ships of war
employed or kept upon this station,” at a reduction of £1000 sterling on
a just valuation. This offer, which Bryan Edwards, as executor, made to
the House of Assembly in 1770, was not accepted.

But in 1773 the House resolved “that a sum not exceeding £2500
(currency) be laid out in purchasing the house and pen in the parish of
St. Andrew, where Sir William Burnaby, Admiral Keppel, and Admiral Parry
formerly lived, to be annexed to the Government for the use of the
Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty’s ships of war on this station.”

Admiral’s Pen was bought on January 13, 1774, by Jasper Hall, _et al._,
commissioners for purchasing a pen for the admiral on the station, from
John Dalling, _et ux._, for the sum of £2500 (currency). This was
Lieut.-Colonel Dalling, who was then lieutenant-governor. Its purchase
was no doubt due to Rodney, who was then the admiral on the station. As
he left, however, in that year, Gayton, commodore at Jamaica in 1776–78,
was probably the first admiral to inhabit it as an official residence.
Gayton was followed by, amongst others, Sir Peter Parker, Joshua Rowley,
Gardner, Affleck, Sir Hyde Parker, Lord Hugh Seymour, Sir J. T.
Duckworth, Dacres, Cochrane, Douglas and Popham. In November 1829
Admiral Fleeming reported that Admiral’s Pen was “ruinous and
uninhabitable.”

[Illustration:

ADMIRAL’S PEN
]

On May 20, 1863, Thomas Cushnie, for the Executive Committee of the
Government, bought it for £600 (sterling). It is now used as a Union
Poorhouse for Kingston and St. Andrew. Its whitewashed walls and stones
along the drive recall the coastguard stations of England, and keep
alive the memory of its connection with the navy of Great Britain at a
period of some of its brightest achievements.

To Admiral’s Pen in 1780 Nelson was brought, after a short sojourn at
Port Royal, on his return from the San Juan expedition, and, weak from
fever and dysentery, was tenderly nursed by Lady Parker and her
housekeeper, Mrs. Yates, while even the admiral himself took his turn in
sitting up with the patient. We are told that Nelson’s aversion from
taking medicine was so great that they had to send it to him by the hand
of the admiral’s youngest daughter. On June 11 Nelson went up to the
admiral’s hill residence, or “Admiral’s Mountain,” as he calls it in a
letter to his friend Hercules Ross.

Lady Nugent, in her “Journal of a Voyage to and Residence in the Island
of Jamaica,” refers to the Admiral’s Pen more than once. On September
13, 1804, when Sir John Thomas Duckworth was admiral, she writes:

Breakfast at 8, as usual. Have at 11 a second breakfast of fruit,
wine, cake, etc., and at 12 all set off for the Admiral’s Penn; Lady
M[argaret Cameron, wife of the Governor of the Bahamas], her young
people, and myself, in the sociable, with our two black postillions in
scarlet liveries, but with black ancles peeping out of their
particulars, and altogether rather a novel sort of appearance, to
Europeans just arrived. General N. and Mr. Cameron in the curricle.
Aides-de-camp, servants, etc., in kittareens, and on horseback; and
all arrived in grand procession at the Admiral’s at about 3.
Refreshments were ready, and then we all creolized till 5 o’clock. A
large party, of the Navy chiefly, at dinner. Cards; and to bed soon
after ten.

The banquets and other ceremonies that have taken place within the walls
of Admiral’s Pen must have been excelled in splendour only by those of
King’s House, Spanish Town, in its palmiest days.

[Illustration:

ROCK FORT
]

“Long before Kingston had been settled as a town,” says the late Mr. G.
F. Judah in his “Rock Fort, Fort Castile, Fort Nugent” (Kingston, 1906),
“Rock Fort, with its surroundings then lying in both the old parishes of
Port Royal and St. Andrew, had acquired a name and reputation of its
own.”

Though not one of the earliest spots to be defended in Jamaica under
British rule, =Rock Fort=, at Harbour Head (not to be confounded with
Rocky Fort on the Palisadoes), which commands the approach to Kingston
from the east, or windward as it was commonly called in the days of
sailing-ships, came into importance before the close of the seventeenth
century. It was first fortified as a protection against the threatened
French invasion from San Domingo, under Du Casse in 1694; and enlarged
and strengthened from time to time. It was manned in 1865, when it was
feared that the rising in St. Thomas would spread to Kingston. Near Rock
Fort is the site of a =Naval Watering Place=, established by Admiral
Vernon in 1739–42, where Rodney later added a conduit, still to be seen,
for the conveyance of fresh water from the spring to the shore. Sir
James Castile, a native of Barcelona but a naturalised Englishman, who
had come to Jamaica as agent for the Assiento Company of Spain, which
had the exclusive right to import slaves and other objects from Africa
to the Spanish West Indies, and to which was joined the Royal African
Company of England, received his letters of naturalisation in March,
1684–85; and in the July following he acquired land in Port Royal, where
he established offices for his company, which he could not have done had
he been an alien. In 1690 he purchased 300 acres of land in the old
parish of Port Royal (now St. Andrew), near Harbour Head, and in the
following year he acquired one hundred more in St. Andrew near by. In
September 1693 letters patent were issued by the governor, Sir William
Beeston, authorising Castile “to enclose his dwelling house at Three
Rivers in the Parish of St. Andrews, with imbattled walls for the
security and defence of his said house and plantation and negroes and
the parts adjacent, against their Majesty’s Enemys”; and thus arose Fort
Castile, about a mile and a quarter beyond Rock Fort. In the June
following, under fear of French invasion, with the defences of Port
Royal ruined by the recent earthquake, Colonel Lawes “drew lines and
secured a narrow pass to the eastward of Kingston,” and this became Rock
Port, and Du Casse was led to make his attack to the west of St. Jago de
la Vega at Carlisle Bay. Sir James assisted not only at Rock Fort, but
also at his own dwelling; “having garrisoned and provided his house,
which was well walled and guarded for a defence, they built a regular
fort on the parade.”

In 1702 Castile petitioned the House of Assembly in respect to the great
charge he had been put to in building Fort Castile, and the House voted
him £500 in compensation. He died in 1709, and in 1711 his widow
petitioned for consideration in view of the fact that for five years the
fort was occupied by her Majesty’s forces, “during which time it ran
greatly to ruin.”

From that time nothing is recorded of Rock Fort till 1753, when £300 was
voted for its defence (£7000 being voted for Mosquito Point, afterwards
called Fort Augusta); and thence onwards it is frequently reported on by
the various committees appointed from time to time to report to the
Assembly on the state of the fortifications and barracks of the island;
and in 1755 £5000 was voted to be expended on Rock Fort. The following
account of it is given by Long:

[Illustration:

FORT NUGENT IN 1908
]

It consists of two bastions, mounting twenty-one guns (twenty-four
pounders), and furnished with a small powder-magazine, and other
habiliments of war necessary for its defence. Upon the face of the
hill is a little battery of six guns, with traversed lines that lead
up to it. Outside the walls is a wet ditch, sunk lower than the
surface of the water in the harbour; so that it may be occasionally
filled. The fort is provided also with a drawbridge towards the
Eastern road; casemates for lodging the men; and a house for the
officers. It is too small to admit a garrison of more than seventy
men: nevertheless, governor Kn[o]l[e]s was so confident of its
strength, that he maintained that it was capable of standing a siege
against ten thousand. It defends the access towards the town from the
Eastward, and would undoubtedly prove a great security against an
attack from that quarter; for the only way leading to it is narrow,
and confined a considerable length in a straight direction, exposed to
the whole fire of the fort, without a possibility of annoying it: nor
could trenches be formed, to carry on a regular approach, as the road
is all the way a shallow sand close by the water’s edge. A guard of
soldiers is always kept here; but the fort is said to be very
unhealthy to the men and their officers. The cause of this has by some
been imputed to their drinking from a brackish stream which runs near
it. Others ascribe it to the extreme heat reverberated down upon them
from the hill, which rises like a wall above the fort. And some have
thought it proceeded from a lagoon, which lies near the mouth of
Mammee River, about three miles to the Eastward. To corroborate the
latter opinion, is alleged the instance, mentioned by Lind, of
Whydaw-castle, on the coast of Africa; which has been rendered more
unhealthy than the Negroe-town in its neighbourhood by a flight of
circumstance unattended to at first. It is built on a small spot of
ground, which the sea breezes cannot reach without passing over a
little, inconsiderable brook of water, which produces some aquatic
plants always covered with a putrid slime. It is certain, from
constant experience, that places adjacent to a foul shore, or stagnant
waters, near the coast in the West Indies, are invariably unhealthful.
But, whatever be the cause, it deserves a minute enquiry of gentlemen
of the faculty, in order to its discovery; to the end that, if it
arises from some local evil, that cannot be remedied, the men might be
lodged at night in convenient huts, erected for them upon the
hill-side; by which means all of them, except those on immediate duty
in the fort, might enjoy a purer air, especially in those hours when a
depraved air is found to be most pernicious; for this is a post of so
much importance to the Town, that the men stationed here ought neither
to be disheartened by apprehensions, nor disabled by sickness, from
doing their regular duty. The assembly having lately granted 1500l.
for erecting barracks at this fort to contain two hundred men; if the
situation be properly attended to, the result will shew, whether the
unhealthiness of the garrison has been owing to a pestilent quality in
the air, or some other cause.

It is interesting to read Long’s reference to the lagoon, having in view
the unpleasant experiences which Kingston has had in recent years from
the smell of the Yallahs ponds from time to time, notably in 1906.

In 1805 fear of French invasion was very real in Jamaica, martial law
was proclaimed, and in December (before the news of Trafalgar reached
the island) a law was passed for purchasing Castile Fort and certain
lands (118 acres) surrounding it, for completing the works of that Fort,
and for putting the same on the Island establishment under the name of
=Fort Nugent=, in honour of Lieutenant-General George Nugent, then
lieutenant-governor. The martello tower hard by must have been built
about the same time. In 1865, owing to fear of a descent on Kingston by
the rioters of Morant Bay, the fort was manned by volunteers.

The view of the old guns lying about in picturesque confusion, shown in
the sketch (on the previous page) copied from a photograph taken in
1908, no longer exists, as the fort has since been reconstructed.

When the lands on the plain of Liguanea were divided amongst themselves
by Cromwell’s army of occupation, that part on which the =Constant
Spring= estate stands fell to the lot of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry
Archbould, a member of the first Council nominated in 1661. He married
in 1668 (he was her third husband and she was his second wife) the
mother of Sir Nicholas Lawes (afterwards governor of the colony), but
died in the following year, she surviving him twenty years. His son,
Colonel Henry Archbould, who had sat for St. George from 1680 to 1688,
was elected member of the Assembly for St. Andrew in 1701–2. His wife,
Joanna Wilhelmina, was sister to the wife and cousin of Sir Henry Morgan
(buccaneer and governor of Jamaica) and sister to the wife of Colonel
Robert Byndlos, chief justice. She obtained a patent of naturalisation
in August 1685. The second Colonel Archbould died in 1709, and was
buried in Halfway-Tree church. The first Colonel Archbould’s second son,
Major William Archbould, was member for St. Andrew in 1688. James
Archbould, the son of his second wife, was member for St. Andrew in
1702–4, but sat for St. David in 1713.

In 1759 a private Act was passed (we read in Feurtado’s “Official and
other Personages of Jamaica,” 1896) for the sale of certain lands in
Liguanea belonging to Henry Archbould, late of the said parish,
deceased, for payment of £8000 with interest, devised by the will of the
said Henry Archbould, to his daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Archbould, and
for other purposes.

In 1765 Constant Spring estate with some mountain land adjoining, called
Snow Hill, was (the writer was informed by Mr. G. F. Judah) sold by
Henry Archbould to Daniel Moore, who had in the previous year
provisionally leased the property. Daniel Moore, member of the Assembly
for St. Andrew from 1768 to 1781, who had done a thriving trade in
prizes and prize money in those privateering days, and was latterly
joined in business by Jasper Farmer, died in 1783–4, and his properties
formed part of his residuary estate. After his death there was a suit in
Chancery, “Maitland _vs._ Moore _et al_,” and in 1785 Constant Spring
and Snow Hill, with its slaves and other effects, were sold under a
decree of the Court at Riley’s tavern in Kingston for £33,000 current
money of the Island. It became afterwards the property of George
Cuthbert (who administered the government of Jamaica in 1832), who
mortgaged it for £77,000 to Alexandre Lindo, a retired merchant; the
latter sold the mortgage debt in 1810 to his son, Abraham Alexandre
Lindo, the proprietor of Kingston Pen.

It was during the ownership of Daniel Moore in 1770 that an Act was
passed empowering him to bring, by means of a tunnel through the
mountain range and an aqueduct, the water of the Wag Water (the Agua
Alta of the Spaniards) to his estate, which means now serve in part to
supply the town of Kingston with water. It was entitled “An Act to
enable Daniel Moore, Esquire, to take up a sufficient quantity of water
for turning mills for grinding sugar-canes, out of or from Agua Alta
River, commonly called Wag Water River, in the parish of St. Andrew; and
to convey the same to his works on the plantation in the said parish,
called Constant Spring.”

In 1898 the original brick-lined tunnel, which is about half a mile in
extent, was straightened in parts, and converted into a concrete pipe of
six feet diameter. The proposal to supply Kingston with water from the
Wag Water was first made, it is interesting to note, as early as 1798.

In 1811 there were on the estate 401 slaves and 22 head of stock.

As the result of legal proceedings of a protracted character the estate
about 1832 became the property of Mrs. Jasper Farmer Cargill (_née_ Jane
Marston), when there were 312 slaves and 31 head of stock; the only
estate in the lowland district of St. Andrew with more slaves being
Hope.

It later passed into the hands of Chrystie and Porteous, merchants of
Kingston, the memory of this ownership still living in the title
Porteous’s Pen, applied to a lower and now distinct part of the
property. In the ‘seventies it was owned by a Captain Carson, a son of a
member of the above-named firm.

In the year 1888 the American Hotels company was formed in Jamaica,
principally with Jamaica capital, and properties were acquired and two
or three hotels were started, Constant Spring amongst the number. When
the Jamaica Exhibition of 1891 was in preparation, the Government,
thinking there was not enough hotel accommodation, passed the Hotels
Companies law, and the directors of the Constant Spring hotel, as it was
not paying as well as was anticipated, mortgaged it to the Government,
to whom they subsequently handed it over. Golf links and tennis courts
now usurp the place of cane-fields. The hotel since that date afforded a
pleasant temporary home for numberless visitors to the island.

At the commencement of the nineteenth century Constant Spring estate was
the place selected for his experiments in the improvement of the
manufacture of sugar and rum by Dr. Bryan Higgins (miscalled “Wiggins”
in Gardner’s “History of Jamaica”), the celebrated physician and
chemist, who came to Jamaica in 1797 at the instance of the West India
Committee (as related in the issue of the “Circular” for November 6,
1906).

On March 4, 1801, the House of Assembly resolved, “That a Committee be
appointed to visit Constant Spring estate in Liguanea, on Monday, the
9th instant, to inspect what improvements Dr. Higgins has effected there
in the manufacture of sugar and rum, and to report their opinion thereon
to the House.”

[Illustration:

RAYMOND HALL
]

On the 13th of that month the Committee made a lengthy report, in which
it stated that:

“As Doctor Higgins has exemplified practically what theoretically he has
detailed in print, the Committee deem it unnecessary to lay before the
House in their report a more particular account of what they have seen
and so satisfactorily approve.

“That the Committee lament that they have to state to the House that the
infirm state of Doctor Higgins’s health obliges him to return to England
this year; his assiduous and indefatigable exertions, both of body and
mind, in the public service ever since his arrival, of which every
gentleman with whom he has by turns resided is a witness, have been too
much for his weak frame and advanced years, and render the change of
climate necessary.”

“The observations and Advices for the Improvement of Muscavado Sugar and
Rum by Bryan Higgins, M.D.,” was published in the “Columbian Magazine”
in Kingston in 1798.

Constant Spring forms part of the scene of a tale by Captain
Brooke-Knight, entitled “The Captain’s Story, or Adventures in Jamaica
Thirty Years Ago,” which appeared in the “Leisure Hour,” illustrated by
(Sir) John Gilbert, in 1859–60, and was afterwards published in book
form with the same illustrations about 1880, under the title “The
Captain’s Story, or Jamaica Sixty Years Since.” At the time of the story
(1832) Constant Spring, which is in it called “Running Water,” was, as
is mentioned above, the property of Mrs. Cargill; and Judge Jasper
Farmer Cargill figures in the work as Mr. Jasper. The author, Captain
Brooke-Knight, who appears as Lieutenant Brook, married Miss Marston.

The original Constant Spring works stood to the east of the new main
road to Stony Hill, about seven miles from Kingston, just below the
aqueduct. They were later removed to the other side of the road lower
down the hill, near the end of the car line, where they still stand in
ruins; and traces of the stone guttering connecting the old works with
the new may still be seen on the east side of the main road. The late
Dr. Cargill stated (in an article on “The Captain’s Story” which
appeared in the “Journal of the Institute of Jamaica” in 1896) that the
great house stood a little below the aqueduct. Mr. Soutar, however, says
that the house at Spring Garden was the original great house. The
remains of a substantial though short flight of stone steps (marking,
Mr. Soutar says, the old still-house) exist to-day just above the
reservoirs, commanding one of the finest views to be obtained on the
higher slopes of the plain of Liguanea. These old aqueducts, which
enhance the beauty of many a Jamaica landscape, besides telling of the
day when sugar was king, afford the best examples of architecture to be
found in the island.

It was at Constant Spring hotel in 1894 that “Alice Spinner” wrote a
“Study in Colour,” one of the best pictures of negro character sketched
by an English pen; and the hotel figures in the story as Summerlands
Hotel, where “no ill-cooked stew or muddy coffee could rob the glorious
mountains of their jewelled peak.”

=Olivier Road=, near Constant Spring, helps to record the fact that Sir
Sydney Olivier, when colonial secretary, lived near by. It is the only
publicly-given name after a colonial secretary.

Although of late, writers, misled by Anthony Trollope’s doubting
reference to the story, and by a misreading of Froude’s words, have
attempted to prove that “Tom Cringle’s Log,” a work which brought
literary fame to Michael Scott at a bound, was probably written in
Glasgow in the intervals of business, and although it is possible he may
have rewritten in that city the chapters to suit the pages of
“Blackwood,” there seems very good evidence still obtainable that the
original studies of Jamaica life and character, which have delighted
three or four generations of readers, were actually written in Jamaica.

Michael Scott, who was born at Cowlairs, on the outskirts of Glasgow, on
October 30, 1789, was the son of Allan Scott, a Glasgow merchant and
owner of a small estate at Cowlairs. After being educated at the high
school and the university of Glasgow, he came in 1806 to Jamaica to
manage several estates. Four years later he entered in Kingston a
business the nature of which compelled him to travel frequently both by
sea and road. He visited the neighbouring islands, especially Cuba and
the Spanish Main, and the experiences of tropical scenery and nautical
life thus gained formed the basis of his “Log.” In 1817 he returned to
Scotland, and in the following year he married Margaret, daughter of
Robert Bogle, of Gilmore Hill, a merchant in Glasgow. He returned to
Jamaica immediately afterwards, but left the island finally in 1822,
and, settling in Glasgow, became a partner in his father-in-law’s firm,
Bogle, Harris and Co., of Glasgow, and Bogle, Douglas and Co., of
Maracaybo. He died in Glasgow on November 7, 1835. It was in 1829, we
learn from Mowbray Morris’s introduction to the edition of 1895, that
the “Log” began to make its appearance in “Blackwood’s Magazine” as a
disconnected series of sketches, published intermittently as the author
supplied them, or as the editor found it convenient to print them.
Blackwood, while keenly alive to their value, was urgent, we are told,
with the author to give these sketches some connecting link, which,
without binding him to the strict rules of narrative composition, would
add a strain of personal and continuous interest to the movement of the
story. The young midshipman accordingly began to cut a more conspicuous
figure; and in July 1832 the title of “Tom Cringle’s Log” was prefixed
to what is now the eighth but was then called the eleventh chapter.
Henceforward the “Log” proceeded regularly each month, with but one
intermission, to its conclusion in August 1833; and in that year it
appeared in volume form in Philadelphia, in what was probably an
unauthorised edition. Mowbray Morris gives 1834 as the year of its first
appearance as a book; the “Dictionary of National Biography” says 1836;
Allibone gives 1833. Both the “Log” and its successor, “The Cruise of
the Midge,” were highly praised at the time, and Coleridge, in his
“Table Talk,” called them “most excellent.” Scott so successfully
concealed his identity that he was dead before his authorship of “Tom
Cringle” was known. It was attributed to Captain Chamier, to Captain
Marryat, and to Professor Wilson, to whom it was ascribed in a German
edition published at Brunswick in 1839. From internal evidence it is
clear that the events in this story synchronise, if they are not
identical, with Scott’s own travels.

Anthony Trollope, who visited Jamaica in 1859, tells us, in his “West
Indies and the Spanish Main,” that “Nothing can be grander, either in
colour or grouping, than the ravines of the Blue Mountain ranges of
hills. Perhaps the finest view in the island is from Raymond Lodge
[_sic_], a house high up among the mountains, in which, so local rumour
says, ‘Tom Cringle’s Log’ was written.” Trollope misrepresented the case
and misled later writers when he used the expression “so local rumour
says,” for he heard the story from the then owner of Raymond Hall,
Captain Hinton East, as Captain East’s daughter, the late Mrs.
Marescaux, one of the two ladies whom Trollope mentions as accompanying
him on his ride to Newcastle, well remembered, and told the present
writer.

Mowbray Morris says that “the tradition seems to have died away before
Froude’s visit,” but the reason why the historian did not mention it is
probably because he never heard it. =Raymond Hall= is the great house on
Maryland coffee estate. Situated in the Blue Mountains at an altitude of
about 3000 feet, some eleven miles from Kingston, it has been in the
possession of the East family for upwards of 200 years. When Scott was
here it was in the possession of Sir Edward Hyde East. In the returns of
properties given in the “Jamaica Almanac” for 1840, Maryland is recorded
as being 1265 acres in extent. In 1845 it had increased to 1700.

Mr. Hamilton, the original Aaron Bang in the “Log,” was, at the time
when Michael Scott was in Jamaica, planting-attorney to Sir Edward Hyde
East for Maryland; he resided at times at Kingston, at Raymond Hall, and
in St. Thomas-in-the-Vale. At all three places his friend Scott was wont
to stay with him. Hamilton was known among his friends as (Aaron) Bang
from his fondness for practising with firearms, and until the hurricane
of 1886 there stood in front of Raymond Hall a cabbage palm, the stem of
which was riddled with shot, it is said, from Hamilton’s gun. Under this
tree Scott wrote his studies of Jamaica life and scenery. So Captain
East, who came out in 1836, only fourteen years after Scott had left,
was informed.

An orange tree under which Scott, as he relates in his “Log,” made love
to his cousin Maria, stood till quite recently at the back of the house.
Mrs. Marescaux remembered the old estate carpenter, Stackpole by name,
who was wont to show where Scott wrote, and where Hamilton fired at the
cabbage palm from an old sofa which the writer saw resting in the same
corner at Raymond Hall. The house was much shaken by the earthquake of
1907.

The following is Scott’s description of the house and its view:

“The beautiful cottage where we were sojourning was situated about
3000 feet above the level of the sea, and half-way up the great prong
of the Blue Mountains, known by the name of the Liguanea range, which
rises behind and overhangs the city of Kingston.... Immediately under
foot rose several lower ranges of mountains—those nearest us, covered
with laurel-looking coffee-bushes, interspersed with negro villages
hanging among the fruit trees like clusters of birds’ nests on the
hill-side, with a bright green patch of plantain suckers here and
there, and a white-painted overseer’s house peeping from out the wood,
and herds of cattle in the guinea-grass pieces. Beyond these stretched
out the lovely plain of Liguanea covered with luxuriant cane-pieces,
and groups of negro houses, and guinea-grass pastures of even a deeper
green than that of the canes; and smaller towns of sugar works rose
every here and there, with their threads of white smoke floating up
into the clear sky, while, as the plain receded the cultivation
disappeared, and it gradually became sterile, hot and sandy, until the
Long Mountain hove its back like a whale from out the sealike level of
the plain; while to the right of it appeared the city of Kingston,
like a model, with its parade, or _place d’armes_, in the centre, from
which its long lines of hot, sandy streets stretched out at right
angles, with the military post of Up-Park Camp, situated about a mile
and a half to the northward and eastward of the town. Through a
tolerably good glass the church spire looked like a needle, the trees
about the houses like bushes, the tall cocoanut trees like harebells;
a slow crawling black speck here and there denoted a carriage moving
along, while waggons with their teams of eighteen and twenty oxen
looked like so many centipedes. At the camp, the two regiments drawn
out on parade, with two nine-pounders on each flank, and their
attendant gunners, looked like a red sparkling line, with two black
spots at each end, surrounded by small black dots.”

Michael Scott is now chiefly remembered in connection with a cotton tree
at Camp by the barracks, and one on the Spanish Town road, half-way from
Kingston.

The following is the passage from “Tom Cringle’s Log” which has made the
cotton tree at =Up-Park Camp= famous:

“I had occasion at this time to visit Up-Park Camp, a military post
about a mile and a half from Kingston, where two regiments of infantry
and a detachment of artillery were stationed.

“In the forenoon I walked out in company with an officer, a relation
of my own, whom I had gone to visit; enjoying the fresh sea-breeze
that whistled past us in half a gale of wind, although the sun was
vertical, and shining into the bottom of a pint-pot, as the sailors
have it.

“The barracks were built on what appeared to me a very dry situation
(although I have since heard it alleged that there was a swamp to
windward of it, over which the sea-breeze blew, but this I did not
see), considerably elevated above the hot, sandy plain on which
Kingston stands, and sloping gently towards the sea. They were
splendid, large, airy, two-storey buildings, well raised off the
ground on brick pillars, so that there was a perfectly free
ventilation of air between the surface of the earth and the floor of
the first storey, as well as through the whole of the upper rooms....

“This superb establishment stood in an extensive lawn, not surpassed
in beauty by any nobleman’s park that I had ever seen. It was
immediately after the rains when I visited it; the grass was luxuriant
and newly cut, and the trees, which grew in detached clumps, were most
magnificent. We clambered up into one of them, a large umbrageous wild
cotton tree, which cast a shadow on the ground—the sun being, as
already mentioned, right overhead—of thirty paces in diameter; but
still it was but a dwarfish plant of its kind, for I have measured
others whose gigantic shadows, at the same hour, were upwards of one
hundred and fifty feet in diameter, and their trunks, one in
particular that overhangs the Spanish Town Road, twenty feet through
of _solid_ timber; that is not including the enormous spurs that shoot
out like buttresses, and end in strong twisted roots that strike deep
into the earth and form stays, as it were, to the tree in all
directions.

Our object, however—publish it not in Askalon—was not so much to
admire the charms of Nature as to enjoy the luxury of a real Havannah
cigar in solitary comfort; and a glorious perch we had selected. The
shade was grateful beyond measure. The fresh breeze was rushing,
almost roaring, through the leaves and groaning branches, and
everything around was green, and fragrant, and cool, and delicious—by
comparison, that is, for the thermometer would, I daresay, have still
vouched for eighty degrees. The branches overhead were alive with a
variety of beautiful lizards and birds of the gayest plumage; amongst
others, a score of small chattering green paroquets were hopping close
to us, and playing at bo-peep from the lower surfaces of the leaves of
the wild pine (a sort of Brobdignag parasite that grows like the
mistletoe in the clefts of the large trees), to which they clung, as
green and shining as the leaves themselves, and ever and anon popping
their little heads over to peer at us; while the red-breasted
woodpecker kept drumming on every hollow part of the bark for all the
world like old Kelson, the carpenter of the _Torch_, tapping along the
top-sides for the dry rot. All around us the men were lounging about
in the shade and sprawling on the grass in their foraging caps and
light jackets, with an officer here and there lying reading, or
sauntering. about, bearding Phœbus himself, to watch for a shot at a
swallow as it skimmed past; while goats and horses, sheep and cattle
were browsing the fresh grass, or sheltering themselves from the heat
beneath the trees....

“At length the forenoon wore away, and the bugles sounded for dinner,
when we adjourned to the mess-room.”

Up-Park Pen, on which Up-Park Camp now stands, was conveyed to King by
the trustees of Sir Alexander Grant in 1784. In 1793 the Assembly
deducted lodging allowance previously made to the army because of the
new barracks at Up-Park. In 1819 the Assembly in response to a request
for a water-supply resolved that it “does not feel justified in making
an extraordinary grant for the troops at Up-Park, a post entirely under
the control of the British Government.” In the following year Wolmer’s
Pen adjoining was purchased by the Treasury as it had a well. In that
year the officer commanding asked for six mules to carry water; but the
House was obdurate, “the barracks at Up-Park not being under the control
of the House.” For a similar reason Up-Park was not included in the
official list of “Forts, Fortifications and Public Buildings” for many
years. The history of the West India regiment, closely associated with
Up-Park Camp, is extremely interesting. It dates back to the American
War of Independence when a British expedition from New York captured the
State of Georgia. As a result, black and white loyalists flocked to the
British camp where they were formed into corps of which the South
Carolina was one. This regiment took an active part in the war, and in
1780 was converted into a cavalry regiment which at the close of the war
was stationed in Jamaica under the command of Lord Charles Montagu.

The regiment at this period consisted of both black and white soldiers,
and on the general disbandment of provincial corps in 1783, the white
members were compensated with grants of land, and the black formed into
a foot regiment in combination with black mechanics, under the name of
the “Black Carolina Corps.” War broke out with France in 1793 and at
that time various black corps were formed in the West Indies, all of
which took an active part in the fierce fighting that took place during
the succeeding years in those islands. With one of these corps, the
Royal Rangers, the South Carolina Regiment was amalgamated in 1795 under
the title of “Whyte’s Regiment of Foot.” In the West Indies, however,
these regiments were called the West India Regiments, “Whyte’s Regiment
of Foot” receiving the title of “The First West India Regiment.”

This regiment, which is now the only British black regiment surviving,
has a magnificent record. It took part in the Ashantee wars of 1864 and
1873–74 and was especially complimented by Sir Garnet Wolseley on its
behaviour; and in all punitive and other expeditions associated with
African colonisation, its members have maintained its reputation for
soldierly qualities of the highest order. It is interesting to note that
in 1815 the regiment was strengthened by the Bourbon regiment of French
_emigrés_ which had been disbanded at the outbreak of the French
Revolution. The present Zouave uniform of the corps was adopted in 1858
at the suggestion of Queen Victoria.

The first reference to a West India regiment in the Jamaica Almanacs is
in 1802, when the second is recorded, and so continues to 1809; then
till 1813 the fifth is recorded: in that and the following years the
second and seventh were also at Up-Park. Then the second occurs down to
1842, being accompanied by the third in 1841 and 1842. A new chapel
erected to replace the one destroyed by the earthquake was consecrated
in May 1912, and in 1915 four windows were put in to replace those (lost
with the old chapel) which had been erected to the memory of officers
and men of the 2nd W.I.R. who fell in the Ashantee war of 1873–74.

=Plum-Tree Tavern=, which stands on the junction road between Kingston
and Annotto Bay, and seven miles distant from the former, is of interest
as having been the scene of one of the last duels fought in Jamaica.

The late Dr. Cargill, in his article entitled “A few Words about ‘The
Captain’s Story’” in “The Journal of the Institute of Jamaica” for July
1896, says: “A very amusing duel (almost the last fought in Jamaica)
took place near ‘Running Water’ [Constant Spring Estate], and was
omitted from the ‘Captain’s Story’ by request of the parties concerned.
As they are all dead and gone there is no reason why it should not now
be related. My uncle, Dr. John Marston and a Captain Peel, R.N., went to
a party and were requested to sing. Captain Peel sang _first_, and then
Dr. Marston was asked to sing the same song that Captain Peel sang, but
got more applause. Peel conceived himself insulted and called out
Marston. They fought at ‘Plum Tree.’ I have the pistols, Wagdon and
Barton’s hair-triggers. They fired and missed, but Marston’s shot hit a
tree and glanced off on to the forehead of a Mr. Berry (a book-keeper)
who had hidden in the bush to see the fight. Dr. Marston had to leave
the battlefield to attend to Berry, who was supposed to be killed. In
the meantime ‘Mrs. Jasper’ (my mother) heard of the duel and came down
to Plum Tree and prevented further hostility. Mr. Berry only died a few
years ago. He had the mark of Dr. Marston’s bullet in the space between
the eyes. I have often seen the wound, which had broken the outer table
of the bone there.”

Unfortunately old Plum-Tree Tavern was wrecked by the hurricane of 1903,
and little more than the lower walls now remain to bear witness to
old-time life in Jamaica.

A fort on Bridge Pen (formerly Berthaville) and, at the foot of the Long
Mountain, now a ruin, was probably erected as a protection against
rebellious slaves marching on Kingston.

At =Garden House=, Gordon Town, Hinton East (receiver-general of the
Island, 1779) gathered together a collection of rare and valuable plants
which were purchased by the Government in 1792–3, as is mentioned in the
Introduction. The house of =Hope Tavern= was destroyed by the earthquake
of 1907; the foundations still stand above the Hope river just beyond
Papine on the way towards Gordon Town. In the old days it was the place
where travellers to the Port Royal Mountains and the Blue Mountains
exchanged buggies for saddles. =Cherry Garden= was once the residence of
George William Gordon, who will be found mentioned elsewhere.

The estate at =Hope=, now a botanical garden, formerly belonged to the
Duke of Buckingham. In “Notes in Defence of the Colonies,” by a West
Indian, 1826, we read:

A decrease is not from premature mortality arising from slavery, for
slaves live to great ages in Jamaica: eighty and one hundred years old
are as common on estates as in any country of the same latitude, or
more so; and I saw a few years ago a negro from the Hope Estate in St.
Andrew’s, belonging to the Marquis of Buckingham, one hundred and
forty-five years old. He had walked seven miles that morning, and his
faculties were perfect, except his sight. Admiral Douglas had a
painting taken of him, by Field[8] of the Royal Academy, who was out
here, which I saw.

Footnote 8:

There was never a member of the Royal Academy of this name. The
painter referred to was probably R. Field of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who
exhibited a portrait in 1810.

The =Jamaica College= at Hope, which was established under law 34 of
1879 as the Jamaica High School, became the inheritor of the Walton
foundation in St. Ann of the year 1802, which may therefore be taken as
the date of its foundation. A college, called University College, was
opened in connection with the school in 1890, but by law 26 of 1902 the
college and school were amalgamated. During its existence thirty
students passed through the college, and four students took the London
B.A. degree, and one the M.A., without leaving the island. Amongst its
alumni are several well-known teachers now working in Jamaica.

At Matilda Corner, near Hope, is a Drinking Trough, erected in 1914 by
his widow to the memory of Sir Charles Frederick Lumb, puisne judge of
the colony from 1892 to 1909, showed a keen interest in the welfare of
animals.

The =Mico College= was erected in 1896 on land in St. Andrew to the
north of the racecourse. This building was wrecked by the earthquake,
rebuilt in 1909, and again destroyed by fire in 1910: it was rebuilt as
it now stands in 1911. The origin of the charity is of some historic
interest.

Jane Robinson, widow of Sir Samuel Mico, an alderman of the city of
London, of the family of Micault of the Isle de France, amongst numerous
other bequests in her will, dated July 1, 1670, made the following:

“And whereas I haveing a great kindness for Samuel Mico, my deere
husbande kinsman son of John Mico of Croscombe in the county of
Somersett and well knoweing that my deere husband with myself had
thought of marrying him to one of my neeces and when and as sune as he
shall marrey such nece of mine viz: one of the daughters of my
brother-in-law Andrew Barker or my brother William Robinson
aforemencioned then and not before or otherwise, I give and bequeath
to him two thousand pounds lawful money of England, and on the
forementioned condition I give and bequeath to him a farm called the
Littell Parke which I bought or purchashed in the names of my brother
Andrew Barker and my brother William Robinson of the Right Honourable
the Marquis of Worcester in the manner (_sic_) of Crookham scituate
lyeing and being in the severall parishes of Chatcham in the countey
of Barke and Kingscleare in the countey of Southampton now in the
tenor or occupation of Thomas Browne and when the aforesaid Samuel
Mico shall have given a full discharge according to law when he comes
to one and twenty years of age to the executors of my deere husband
for his estate in thare hands then I give him one thousand pounds of
lawful money of England and if hee doe not to thare satisfaction I
then give it to redeeme poor slaves in what manner my Executors shall
think most convenient and I give to Samuel Mico aforesaid my deere
husband’s picter set with diamonds and I give him my crimson damaske
bedd with all that belongs to that sute and my great Lucking Glace and
my marbell tabell when he comes to the age of one and twenty yeares he
dying before that age I give them to my two Executors.

“But if the above Samuel Mico do not marry one of my neces aforesaid
my will is if he be a civel man and doe marrey into a good family and
has a porchone with her answereable to his estate and has a sonne that
lives to the age of a man I then give him the Littell Parke in the
manner of Crookham in the parish Chactham in the County of Barkes and
Kingscleare in the county of Southampton. But if he have no sonne I
give it to his brother Richard Mico sonne if hee have any if he have
no sonne then to my two executors I give it.”

After further bequests she turns to her nephew.

“And furthermore I doe hereby declare that whereas I gave Samuel Mico
aforesaid two thousand pounds when he had married one of my neeces he
not performing it I give one of the saide thousand pounds to redeem
poore slaves which I would have put out as my Executors thinke the
best for a yeerely revenue to redeem some yeerely, and if the
aforesaide Samuel Mico marry one of my neeces I then give him my best
Pearl Necklace and all my plate that I doe not give away by this my
will.”

Samuel Mico was by the terms of his aunt’s will given the option of
marrying any one of the six nieces of Lady Mico-Jane, Mary and Elizabeth
Robinson, and Jane, Mary and Elizabeth Barker; the Jane in each case
being apparently the most desirable bride from a monetary point of view
as being god-daughter of his rich aunt: and of these Jane Barker was the
favourite, unless Lady Mico in her bequest took into account the
respective wealth of the two families, for there is evidence in Lady
Mico’s will that Jane Barker’s father was not opulent. Apparently not
one of the six pleased him; nor could he be induced to change his mind
by the promise of his aunt’s best pearl necklace and the unbequeathed
portion of her plate. Thus the £1000 went to the redemption of “poore
slaves,” _i.e._ Christians held in captivity by the Moors of Algiers, in
aid of whose release benevolent persons were at that time wont to make
bequests.

In the seventeenth century pirates, mostly from Algiers, swarmed along
the coasts of the Mediterranean sea, and numberless captives were taken
as slaves and detained as such in Algiers and Barbary.

During the latter part of the eighteenth and the earlier part of the
nineteenth century both France and England had done much to put a stop
to piracy in the Mediterranean, and when in 1816 Algiers was taken by
Pellew and the slaves, some three thousand in number, mostly Spanish and
Italian, were liberated, there no longer existed an outlet for the
special benevolence on their behalf of Lady Mico and other
philanthropists.

In the year 1827 the Court of Chancery referred the matter of the Mico
bequest for the redemption of poor slaves to Lord Henley, Master in
Chancery, to devise a scheme for the application of the money according
to the will of the foundress; and if the Master should find that the
same could not be executed according to her will, then “as near its
intent as possible,” regard being had to existing circumstances.

In the meantime Lady Mico’s £1000 had increased—partly by the
re-investment of the unused income, partly by the realisation of a
material profit on an investment in London property—to upwards of
£120,000, giving a yearly income of £3625, and nobody knew what to do
with it; but a matter very “near its intent” was already before the
public.

While the name of William Wilberforce in England will ever be honoured
as the prime mover in the abolition of the curse of the Slave Trade, the
completion of his life’s work by the abolition of slavery in the British
colonies proved too heavy for his age-enfeebled shoulders. This great
undertaking he consigned in 1821 to the care of an earnest colleague,
Thomas Fowell Buxton; and it was under this younger champion’s
leadership of the forces of Emancipation and through his indefatigable
efforts that the inevitable day was hastened, when, in Jamaica, the flag
of Great Britain floated—as in every portion of the far-extended British
dominions—over none but freemen.

The Emancipation Act came into force on August 1, 1834, and on July 29
of the following year the Master of the Rolls made an order confirming
the scheme prepared by Buxton and Stephen Lushington, by which the Lady
Mico Charity was founded, for giving Christian education to the coloured
population of the British colonies. It was eminently fitting that to
Buxton and Lushington, with others of kindred spirit, should be trusted
the administration of the fund to confer the blessings of education upon
the freed people of the British West Indies.

The institution in Jamaica, where the trustees have finally concentrated
their efforts, was at first locally looked after by a board of visitors.
This in 1882 was replaced by a board of directors. Each year some
twenty-four students leave its walls to take up the work of education.

The burial-grounds of interest are the =Newcastle Burial Ground=,
containing military monuments, _inter alia_ a monument to officers and
men of the 36th Regiment who died there and at Stony Hill of yellow
fever in 1856; and the rare instance of musical notation on a tomb. The
oldest tomb is dated 1844. The =Jewish Burial-Ground= at Hunt’s Bay, the
wall of which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1907, has its oldest
tomb 1678; at the Up-Park Camp new burial-ground the oldest tomb is
dated 1836; and at the disused graveyard the oldest one is dated 1819, a
year during which yellow fever proved very fatal to the troops. The
principal monument in =May Pen Cemetery=, the general burial-ground for
Kingston, is the simple obelisk erected in 1909 to the Unknown Dead who
perished in Kingston in the earthquake of January 14, 1907.

The Kitchen-middens worthy of note are =Norbrook=, near Constant Spring;
=Belle Vue=, in the Red Hills; =Hope=, near the old tavern; and =Long
Mountain= (on the top and on northern slope): =Dallas Castle= Cave and
=Bloxburgh= Cave have Arawâk remains. The latter was discovered in 1895,
and gave an impetus to archæological research.

=Silver Hill=, near Newcastle, contains the Jamaica Spa, a mineral
spring of great value; it was once in great request, but is now not
used. The =Cane River Falls= are famed for their beauty. They were the
haunt of “Three-fingered Jack,” who was captured in 1781, and later
formed the hero of a transpontine melodrama; various editions of the
play having been issued.

=Hagley Gap= is named after Hagley in Worcestershire, the home of
William Henry Lyttelton, governor in 1762–66. It is interesting to note
that Mr. Jekyll in his “Jamaican Song and Story” informs us that he was
told locally that it was so called because it was “a hugly place”!

=Catherine’s Peak= (often miscalled St. Catherine’s Peak), near
Newcastle, was named after Catherine Long (sister of the historian, and
wife of Henry Moore, lieutenant-governor) who in 1760 was the first lady
to ascend that peak.

=Gordon Town= was formerly the property of a family of that name; but
was not, as some suppose, connected with George William Gordon, of
Morant Bay fame.

=Dallas Castle= (which still survives as a district in St. Andrew) was
owned by a scion of the family of Dallas, in the state of Alabama, whose
descendants played their part in Jamaica history.

=Manning’s Hill= in St. Andrew Hills, and =Salt Hill=, =Morce’s Gap=,
and =Hardwar Gap= (usually miscalled Hardware Gap), in the Blue
Mountains, recall the names of former owners. Edward Manning, a wealthy
merchant, who represented Kingston in the Assembly for many years. John
Morce was at one time sergeant-at-arms of the Assembly and also deputy
postmaster. John Hardwar was auditor-general in 1782.

The Scarletts were amongst the earliest settlers in Jamaica. On April
24, 1673–74, Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain George Nedham took to the
Council from the Assembly, with four other bills, a bill for
compensating the loss of “Mr. Nicholas Scarlett, received by the pursuit
of the rebellious negroes at Legonea.” This was read three times and
sent to the Assembly with these amendments: “In the sixth line after ‘be
it enacted by the Governor and Council’ add ‘and the representatives of
the Commons of this Island now assembled and by the authority thereof,
that the said Nicholas,’ &c....” On May 17 it passed the House. A
similar bill was No. 14 on the list of forty bills brought out by the
Earl of Carlisle. It was voted “not to pass” on October 11, 1678, the
Committee’s reasons against it being: “Because Mr. Scarlett hath been in
England since, and when the former Act was first made it was intended to
continue only during the residence here, and, that if notwithstanding
any further consideration ought to be had it were better that the entire
sum were given, rather than to enlarge anything upon the revenue.” What
relation Nicholas Scarlett was to Francis Scarlett is not evident. He is
not mentioned in the latter’s will.

Captain Francis Scarlett, the son of Benjamin Scarlett, of Eastbourne in
Sussex, came out with Penn and Venables, but as his name is not
mentioned in the “perfect list of all the forces under the command of
His Excellency General Venables, taken at muster, March 21, 1654,” he
presumably must then have held rank below that of captain. He patented
lands on the Wag Water in the 28th year of Charles II, and bought
neighbouring land in the vicinity of the present Temple Hall Estate. In
the “Survey of the Island of Jamaica” sent home by Modyford in 1670 he
is put down as owning 1000 acres in St. Andrew, in which parish there
were then 194 families, and people, “by estimation” 1552. Only five
men—Archbould, Hope, Howell, Parker (his neighbour), and Tothill were
larger landowners in the parish than Scarlett at that time. He was
recorded as Captain Francis Scarlett, member of the Assembly for St.
Andrew in 1680–81; his co-member was Colonel Samuel Barry. He returned
to England, and died unmarried in Eastbourne. He left his estate to his
nephew William Scarlett, of the Middle Temple. A William Scarlett, of
Port Royal, merchant, named as one of the Commissioners to take the
evidence of certain witnesses in the Chancery suit of Elizabeth Smart
_versus_ John Parnaby in 1685, may be identical with him. It is
interesting to note that one of his executors to whom he left legacies
was Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu of London, Agent for Jamaica in England.

The first William Scarlett was succeeded by his only son William. This
William (the second) was married in 1705 in the parish church of St.
Andrew to Judith, daughter and co-heiress of Gideon Lecount of St. Jago
de la Vega. She must have been very young, for she was not of age three
years later. He and his wife sold the Wag Water estate, some of it to
Sir Nicholas Lawes, the rest to James Herbert of St. Andrew, planter,
and from that time onwards the fortunes of the Scarletts were connected
with the western parishes of the Island.

V
ST. THOMAS

The parish of St. Thomas (or as it was formerly called St.
Thomas-in-the-East to distinguish it from St. Thomas-in-the-Vale), which
now embraces the former parish of St. David, is one of the oldest
parishes in the island. Roby points out that, although St. Thomas was so
called before the arrival of Sir Thomas Modyford, Doyley’s immediate
successor in the Government was Thomas Hickman, Lord Windsor, after whom
it may have been called. But many of the parishes in the sister colonies
were named after saints, and we need probably seek no further than the
desire to establish church districts in the newly acquired lands for the
origin of the names of several of Jamaica’s parishes. It was settled by
the Spaniards and was thus described by General Venables, of the army of
occupation, in 1655: “Morante is a large and beautiful hato, being four
leagues in length, consisting of many small savannahs, and has wild
cattle and hogs in very great plenty, and ends at the mine, which is at
the cape or point of Morante itself, by which towards the north is the
port of Antonio.”

There was a settlement at Yallahs (called Yealoth), when Sir Thomas
Modyford surveyed the island in 1663. In 1661 Sir Charles Lyttelton
recorded that “the regiment of Port Morant, Morant and Yallahs,
commanded by Colonel Lynch, is the richest settlement.”

In 1671 Sir Thomas Modyford wrote home, in answer to questions as to
church matters, that “Mr. Pickering of St. Thomas and St. Davids at Port
Morant and Yallahs, is lately dead and they have none to supply his
place.” There is no reference to a church, but rather a suggestion that
there was none; “but they meet at each others houses as the primitive
Christians do.”

There is, however, a church shown at Yallahs in “A new and exact map of
Jamaica ... dedicated to Sir Thomas Lynch” in “The Laws of Jamaica” of
1684. Therefore the date of the foundation of =Yallahs Church= was
between 1671 and 1684.

The chalice and patten belonging to this church are amongst the oldest
in the island. They are at present deposited in the offices of the
Church of England in Jamaica in Kingston. The chalice, 6 inches high, is
inscribed:

_John Hammond }
William Donaldson } Esqrs.
Churchwardens
of St. David
1739._

The patten, 9¼ inches in diameter, is inscribed:

_St. Davids
Thomas Rijues
James Lobley
Churchwardens
1683._

After Cromwell had acquired Jamaica through the blundering of Penn and
Venables at Hispaniola, he set about finding colonists for his new
plantation, and conceived the idea of inducing settlers in the Leeward
Islands to go thither. Amongst those who acted in the matter was old
Luke Stokes, governor of Nevis.

On March 12, 1655–6, he wrote from Nevis to Sedgwick in Jamaica:

MAJOR SEDGWICKE,

SIR, his highnes undeserved and unexpected favours he hath bin pleased
to throw some of them uppon my self wherein hee hath in some
particulars declared his highnes designe concerning Jamaica and made
mee an instrument to declaire it to the people of this colloni; so
likewise I have declaired it to my adjacent nighbours, and caused his
proclamations to bee published; and I find in this island the greatest
part of the inhabitants, with their wives, children and servants, are
willing and ready to accept his highnes termes, laid downe in his
highnes proclamation.

There is onely wanting transportation for them and theires. What
provission his highnes intends to make when his fleete comes (which
wee are informed wee may daily expect) I know not; but in case there
bee not, if by you and the others, that are intrusted in those great
affaires of his highness, to send them shipping for theire
transportation, and such provissions as they intend to carry with them
may effect it, the which I leave to your grave considerations.

Sir, the number of men in a moneth’s time, which is of this place, may
arrise neere to one thousand, besides women children and slaves. Sir,
other islands are forward, if they may but have a convenient
transport, and some man impowered to treat with the governours about
them, concerninge some small debts, or other small engagements, which
paradventure may bee some cause of stoppidge to them therein, which to
further his highnes designe may be composed with his power.

Sir, bee pleased to give mee leave, to publish to yourself, I am in my
hart his highnes faithful servant, yours and all his. Sir, I pray God
direct you in all your highnes designes and bee your wisdome and
directions, and all God’s people in theire lawfull imployes. Sir

Your servant,
L. STOKES,
Major.

Sedgwick probably only received this letter a few weeks before his
death, which occurred on May 24, 1656.

Vice-Admiral Goodson wrote home to the Admiralty Commissioners from on
board the _Torrington_ at Jamaica on June 24:

Upon notice given from Governor Stokes of himself and the people of
Nevis their intention to transplant themselves hither, dispatched
three ships for their transport, and 4th June a vessel arrived from
the Governor with three gentlemen to treat with us concerning shipping
and to view the country. Afterwards fitted out a small vessel to carry
back our resolutions of sending ships for about 1000 people besides
women, children and servants.

On September 23 he wrote that he had been informed by Wm. Simons, master
of the _Peter_ of Bristol, which had put in at Barbados, that:

Three ships had sometime since arrived at Nevis, that the Governor
there had not only used all means possible to induce the people of
Nevis to transplant themselves to [Jamaica] but had gone to St
Christopher’s to draw what people he can from thence.

Stokes, with his 1600 settlers, arrived in Jamaica during the
administration of Goodsonn and Doyley, and just about the same time as
the arrival of Brayne on December 14 with his 1000 troops. The site
selected for Stokes was in the Spanish Hato de Morante, near Port
Morant, whither some of the soldiers had already been sent with the
object of colonization; and doubtless he set to work to establish his
settlement with all the ardour that he had displayed in getting his
followers together; but the sad fate of his venture is recorded by Long,
the historian. Brayne had petitioned the Protector that he might be
recalled at the end of one year’s service. Long tells us that:

Several disheartening circumstances occurred besides what have already
been noticed, and contributed to make him disgusted with the command.
He had conceived great hopes from the industry of the Nevis planters
settled at Morante; and imagined, that the example of their success
would not only prove an incentive to the drones of the army, but
induce many persons to remove from the other islands and dissipate
their ill-grounded fears. But, about the latter end of February,
Governor Stokes and his wife died, leaving three sons, the eldest of
whom was not more than fifteen years old. The Governor was advanced in
age when he left Nevis; and had been at so much expense in the
removal, that his fortune was greatly impaired by it. In his last
moments he earnestly recommended his family to Brayne and the
Protector, who afterwards bestowed a commission in the army on his
eldest son. Either this gentleman, or one of his brothers, formed a
very good plantation, which still continues with their descendants.
Near two-thirds of these unfortunate planters at Morante were buried
before the month of March; the rest were reduced to a sickly condition
and the danger of starving, for want of strength either to gather in
their crops of provisions already come to maturity, or to plant anew.

But a little further on Long tells us that “in the meantime the remnant
of the settlers at Morante, having recovered their healths, and got in
their harvest, were exempted from the calamities which oppressed the
other inhabitants, and proceeded in their labours with great ardour and
success.” And still further on he says that “In 1671 notwithstanding the
mortality which had swept off many of the first planters, there were
upwards of sixty settlements in this neighbourhood; many of which formed
a line along the coast Eastward from the harbour, where are only two or
three at present.”

In Modyford’s “Survey of the Island of Jamaica” sent home on September
23, 1670, we find recorded:

St. Thomas Parish John Stokes 25 acres.
St. David’s Parish Jacob Stokes 640 acres.
Jacob Stokes and Smith 1 acre.

Of Luke Stokes research has failed to reveal any particulars, either as
to place of origin, family or personal accomplishments. He would seem to
have been a simple-minded man, who did his best for his country.

One wonders what relation, if any, he was to Admiral John Stokes,
“Commander-in-Chief of the English Forces upon the coast of Africa,”
against whose actions the States-General of Holland, on behalf of the
Dutch West India Company, protested in 1663. This was apparently the
same Admiral Stokes who commanded the _Marmaduke_ which brought Modyford
from Barbados to Jamaica in 1664.

Jacob Stokes, who was member for St. David in 1672, and his namesake who
sat for St. Thomas in 1721, were apparently the only members of the
family to sit in the House of Assembly, although their name appears in
the Island records till the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In November 1732 a petition, dated April of that year, by one John
Evans, overseer of Dousabel plantation, complained to the Assembly that
he had been opprobriously used by Colonel Jacob Stoakes and his son
Jacob Stoakes, with several of their negroes, in passing through said
Colonel Stoakes his plantation to the seaside or barquadier in which
complaint it appears that Evans applied in vain to the custos, the chief
justice, the magistrates of the parish, and the attorney general, being
sent from one to the other—for a warrant for Colonel Stoakes’ arrest. It
was resolved that the report do lie on the table.

=Stokes Hall= and =Stokesfield= are now all that remain to testify to
gallant old Luke Stokes’s attempt to assist the struggling colony of
Jamaica.

[Illustration:

STOKES HALL
]

Stokes Hall is possibly the oldest house in good preservation in the
island. It was probably built soon after it was found that Stokesfield
was unhealthy by reason of the swamps near Port Morant. It is a very
substantially built building. It apparently consisted at first of a
single-storey building measuring 48 ft. 6 ins. by 30 ft., with four
two-storied towers at the corners each measuring 13 ft. by 19 ft., the
towers overlapping the main building by the width of the doorway. The
walls are of solid stone work 2 ft. 6 ins. thick. The lower storeys of
the towers are 13 ft. high and the upper about 15 ft. Both towers and
main building are loopholed, each tower having eight loopholes, two at
each corner. The building stands at an altitude of about 290 feet, on a
range of hills between Plantain Garden valley and the sea, and commands
a fine view of Holland bay about five miles away. The upper storey of
the main building and the front and back verandahs are evidently
additions of a later date.

Though not of course the selfsame house that sheltered poor Luke Stokes,
it carries us back to the days when dwellers far from the capital of St.
Jago de la Vega had to depend in great measure on their own resources
for protection from the incursions of foreign foes, bloodthirsty pirates
or rebellious slaves.

Stokesfield, which was possibly the earliest home of Luke Stokes,
stand at an elevation of about 300 ft., about three miles to the north
of Port Morant harbour, of which it commands a fine view. Much damaged
by the hurricane of 1903 and again by the earthquake of 1907, it was
originally a substantially built loopholed two-storey building, but
inferior in solidity to Stokes Hall. It has evidently been altered
from time to time; in the early part of the nineteenth century, and
again in the seventies, when the present owner took possession. The
building was in the shape of a cross, the transept made by two porches
18 ft. square, the main body measuring 74 ft. by 46 ft. with five
bedrooms upstairs, to which access was gained by a winding stair. On
the front wall has been placed a tablet with the inscription “T. S.
H., 1775,” it is supposed for Thomas Stokes Harris (said to have been
the grandson of Colonel Stokes), whose grave is still to be seen on
the estate. Till some years ago an English weeping willow planted by
it was still alive. Thomas Stokes Harris is recorded as one of the
magistrates of St.-Thomas-in-the-East and St. David in the “Jamaica
Almanac” for 1776: but as he continues as Thomas S. Harris till 1791,
he must have been of a later generation than the man who died in 1775.
From 1782 to 1805 a Thomas Harris was coroner and clerk of the peace
and vestry for the parish. The latter Thomas Stokes Harris’s will
dated 1790 was proved in 1792.

In the “In-giving” for 1810, and for another thirty years or more, in
the “Jamaica Almanac,” Stoakes Hall was owned by the trustees of
Alexander Donaldson. In 1810, it had 263 slaves and 169 head of stock.
Stoakesfield was then owned by Peter Wallace, and had sixty-four slaves
and seven head of stock, but the latter is absent from later in-givings.

In 1746 Jacob Stoakes and Mary his wife mortgaged Stoakes Hall to Daniel
McQueen to secure £3209 (currency). It was described as containing 1057
acres part of 1330 acres patented by Charles Whitefield. Jacob Stoakes
died in 1749. McQueen took possession after Stoakes’s death and
continued in possession till July 8, 1758, when he died; and his
executors continued to run the estate until Ann Stoakes, the only
surviving child, who in 1760 had married Richard Cargill of St. Thomas,
took proceedings in Chancery which resulted in their favour and also
showing a balance in their favour of £639 18_s._ 4_d._ which was
directed to be paid them by the executors of McQueen, who were also
ordered to reconvey Stoakes Hall to Richard Cargill and Ann his wife
free from the mortgage.

The following items of account taken from the old Chancery records may
prove of interest.

STOAKES HALL A/CS.
£ _s._ _d._
Profit shown in a/c for year 1749 312 1 8
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1750 45 14 6½
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1751 543 0 8
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1752 34 3 8
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1753 1441 11 8½
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1755 786 4 0
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1756 1317 0 2¼
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1757 897 5 9¼

CERTAIN ITEMS FROM A/C.
1752

_Nov._ 24th. To paid Ann Downes for 2 qrs. Board of
Mrs. Mary Stoakes D of Captain
Stoakes dec^d £15.

1753

_May_ 7th. To cash paid the soldiers at Rock Fort
for taking up Rob^t Can a white
serv^t belongs to this estate 6_s._ 3_d._

_Oct._ 11th. Box knives and forks sent p for the use
of the overseer of this plantation 3_s._ 9_d._

A/CS _re_ STOAKES HALL PLANTATION WITH THE ESTATE OF DANIEL MCQUEEN
DECEASED
(Extracts.)
1748

_Sept._ 13th. To Sundrys sent for the Funeral of
Jacob Stoakes viz.

From Rob^t Wilson one compleat set of
coffin Furniture and one thousand of
brass nails £5 10 0

From Eliz. Able 12 pr. white gloves
37_s._ 6_d._, 2 pr. black Shammy do.
37_s._ 6_d._—15_s._, 2 crape hat
bands 12_s._ 6_d._—25_s._, 2 oz. mace
7_s._ 6_d._, 2 doz. cloves 5_s._ 4 10 0

10 Black silk scarves 27_s._ 6_d._ £13
15_s._, 8 Black hat bands 12_s._
6_d._ ea. £5, a box &c. to pack them
in 2_s._ 6_d._ 18 17 6

——— —— —

£28 17 6

_Sept._ 30th. To sundries sent to Mrs. Stoakes viz.

2 pr. white and black callicoe £4
15_s._, 1 pr. silk shoes 10_s._ 5 5 0

A black Fan 5_s._, 2 skains black silk
1_s._ 3_d._ 3 yds. narrow ribband
1_s._ 10½_d._ 8 1½

1 pr. Buckles 2_s._ 6_d._, 1 pr.
Buttons 1_s._ 3_d._, 2 laces 1_s._
3_d._—2_s._ 6_d._ 6 3

4 yds. Broad Ribband for Knotts 1_s._
3_d._ per yard 5 0

1 pr. woven blk. callimanco shoes
12_s._ 6_d._, 2 prs. girls blk.
leather shoes 11_s._ 3_d._ 1 3 9

Paid to Mingo for grass for the horses 3 9

_Nov._ 7th. To cash paid Parson Bonnervalle for his
attendance at Mr. Stoakes’s Funeral. 4 15 0

1749

_May_ 29th. Taxes for 1748. 15 10 7½

=Morant Bay=, the chief town and shipping port, is noted as being the
principal scene of the disturbances of 1865. Nearly all the public
buildings were then burnt down. No disturbance in the West Indies since
the days of Emancipation has caused half so much excitement or given
rise to half so much acrimonious correspondence, publication and
litigation as that which occurred in Jamaica in 1865, and is usually
known as the “Morant Bay Rebellion.” Apart from the official inquiry,
which is of course judicial in tone, the publications range over the
whole subject of negrophobia or negrophilia—of abuse of Governor Eyre
and of his defence.

In 1862 Edward John Eyre was appointed acting governor of Jamaica, and
when in 1864 he became full governor, the post was no bed of roses. The
island was not prosperous, the American war had raised the price of
American breadstuffs, and the governor was at variance with the House of
Assembly, in which the negro population was then represented. Agitation
ended in riot at Morant Bay on October 11, 1865. Undoubtedly the riot,
or rebellion, was a very serious one in its actual results, and still
more in its possible consequences, and but for its prompt and energetic
repression it might have spread into a general negro insurrection in an
island where the negroes outnumbered the whites by at least fifty to
one. Martial law was proclaimed on October 13 throughout the county of
Surrey, except Kingston, and tranquillity was restored. Then followed
courts-martial and punishments; and George William Gordon, a ringleader,
was taken from Kingston, where martial law did not exist, to Morant Bay,
where it did, tried by an ill-constituted court-martial, and executed in
haste and on evidence wholly insufficient.

On the day of the outbreak at Morant Bay, October 11, 1865, twenty-two
civilians, including the custos (the chief magistrate), and volunteers
were killed and thirty-four wounded; under martial law 439 were put to
death (354 by sentence of courts-martial—the rest shot by soldiers,
sailors or maroons who were employed by the Government). In addition
there were 147 put to death after martial law ceased. One thousand
“houses,” some of them very flimsy in character, were destroyed.

These Jamaica disturbances engaged public attention in England for
nearly three years, and caused an excitement quite unprecedented. The
Parliamentary papers relating to the case are voluminous, consisting as
they do of eight separate publications and covering in the aggregate no
less than 2336 pages. The first series of papers begins with the
celebrated letter of Dr. Underhill to Mr. Cardwell, drawing attention to
the state of affairs in Jamaica, and the subsequent despatches have
reference to it or the question which it raised.

The Commissioners appointed to enquire into the origin, nature, and
circumstances of the disturbances and the means adopted for their
suppression, and the conduct of those concerned in the disturbances and
suppression, after taking a large amount of evidence reported that the
disturbances had their immediate origin in a planned resistance to
lawful authority, which resistance was caused in manifold ways—by a
desire to obtain land free of rent, a lack of confidence on the part of
the labouring class in the tribunals before which most of their disputes
were adjudicated, and in some cases hostility towards political and
personal opponents, and a desire to attain their ends by the death or
expulsion of the white inhabitants of the island. They further reported
that, though the original design was confined to a small portion of
St.-Thomas-in-the-East, the disorder rapidly spread over an extensive
tract of country, and that praise was due to Eyre for his skill,
promptitude and vigour, which in a great degree caused its speedy
termination. The military and naval operations appeared to them prompt
and judicious, but they thought that martial law was continued longer
than necessary and that the punishments inflicted were excessive.

The reply of the Secretary of State to Sir Henry Storks stated that Her
Majesty’s Government generally concurred in the conclusions arrived at
by the commission. So far as Eyre was concerned, it gave him full credit
for his promptness in quelling the outbreak, but held him responsible
for the continuance of excessive severity, and for the method of
Gordon’s trial and execution. Eyre was recalled and was most bitterly
attacked by a large section of the English people headed by John Stuart
Mill, and defended by another led by Carlyle, whose original draft
manuscript defence of Eyre is in the West India library of the Institute
of Jamaica. Eyre successfully underwent more than one legal prosecution.
He retired on a pension into private life, and never sought, even in the
face of the greatest hostility, to justify his actions to the world. He
died at Tavistock on November 30, 1901, aged eighty-six. “He did many
good and brave things, and atoned for the one error of his life by a
silence so dignified and so prolonged.”

Behind the court house is =Mount Bay Fort=, dating from the seventeenth
century.

The present church of =Morant Bay= was built in 1881, on the site of the
church destroyed by the cyclone of August 19, 1880, and the church so
destroyed was built to take the place of the old church near the
almshouse, which is now in ruins. There are tombs in the ruined church
to Jane Ellis (d. 1763); Marmaduke Freeman (d. 1709); and to Mary, wife
of Sir Henry Lyttelton, governor (d. 1808).

The village of =Bath= contains a thermal spring of great value. An
historical account of the Bath was contributed by Dr. G. J. Neish to the
“Journal of the Institute of Jamaica” in 1895, and from it much of the
following account is taken.

Tradition says that a runaway slave hiding in the gorge came upon a
spring in which he bathed. Finding the temperature greatly to his
liking, he returned constantly to the pool, and after the lapse of some
days was astonished and delighted at the evidence of healing in a
long-standing ulcer on one of his legs. With his ulcer healed he braved
the wrath of his master to communicate the discovery of the pool.
Colonel Stanton, the owner of the land, sold his right in the spring “to
the public in the year 1699 for a valuable consideration.”

By the law passed in 1699 the land was vested in “The Directors of the
Bath of St. Thomas the Apostle.” They consisted of the governor (Sir
William Beeston), the chief justice (Nicholas Lawes), Peter Beckford,
and Peter Heywood, and seven other members of the privy council, and
five justices of the peace of St. Thomas and St. David. They were a body
corporate and had power to erect a market, and to grant licences and to
sell and retail strong liquors.

In 1731 an Act was passed for rendering the Bath more serviceable. From
the preamble it appears that there were no house or proper conveniences
for the accommodation of sick persons. £500 was voted for a house. The
leases of lands were cancelled, but land was to be granted to soldiers
and others who would settle, and who would be exempt from taxes for
seven years.

A road was made, buildings were erected, and the public began to make
use of the bath. Shortly afterwards lots were laid out and assigned, a
town sprang up. Slaves were purchased to look after the roads and the
vegetable gardens which had been planted for provisioning the hospital,
which was built on the town square. The foundation was in more modern
days utilized for supporting the present court house, and the old baths
are still to be seen on the ground floor. The bath house at the spring
was first built on the brink of the river, opposite the point of issue
of the water which was conducted across the stream by a wooden gutter.

Changes in the river bank afterwards made it possible to build the house
on the same side as the hot spring and so near that the water retained
its heat. The baths grew fashionable and the town of Bath rapidly became
a society resort. People of wealth built houses and brought their
amusements with them. Gaiety prevailed and music, dancing and
card-playing were indulged in; but fashionables wearied, quarrelled and
sought for pastures new. In 1774, Long complained of the desertion of
Bath; the decline went steadily on, and it never regained its
popularity.

There is a stone table affixed to the portico of the court house,
bearing this inscription:

This public building was erected under the inspection of the Hon.
Charles Price, Peter Valette and William Forbes, Esqrs., appointed
commissioners for carrying on the same, the foundation of which was
begun on the 10th day of March, 1747.

This tablet originally belonged to the old bath house and was many years
ago picked out of the river bed, and after lying in a yard in the town
for some time was rescued by the authorities and placed on the front of
the court house.

After 1789, the old =Botanic Garden= in Bath was placed under the
corporation. Dr. Thomas Dancer, best known as the author of “The Medical
Assistant or Jamaica Practice of Physic” (1801), and as chief of the
hospital staff on the expedition to San Juan de Nicaragua from Jamaica
in 1779, when Nelson nearly lost his life from malarial fever, was for
many years from 1781 to 1792 physician to the bath, and Island botanist
from 1797. While acting in the former capacity, he brought out in 1784
“A Short Dissertation on the Jamaica Bath Waters, to which is prefixed
an introduction concerning mineral waters in general....”

Of the rainfall he says, “above forty perpendicular inches have fallen
in about the space of six or eight hours, which is nearly double the
quantity that on a medium, falls in Great Britain through a whole year.”
The work also contained a list of the rarer plants cultivated in the
garden, of which he published a full list in 1792. Some of the plants he
owed to the interest of Sir Joseph Banks, with whom he corresponded.

Near the Johnson River to the west of Morant Bay is =Belvedere= estate,
2200 acres in extent, the original home of Colonel Thomas Freeman, the
first speaker of the House of Assembly.

There are remains of a fine aqueduct, a water-wheel, still used for
pumping water, parts of very extensive works, and higher up the hill the
great house and the overseer’s house. Now, bananas and coco-nuts usurp
the place of cane. Not far from the great house, in a logwood
plantation, is a tomb on the front of which is a massive slate slab with
the following inscription:

Here lyeth Anne Freeman who was Wife to y^e Hon. / Colonel Thomas
Freeman of Bellvedere Daughter to Richard Bellthrapp Esq. &
Grandaughter to St. John Colt / Shee left five sonns and one daughter
(viz) Thomas, / John, Charles, Richard and Howard, And Anne two
sisters /in the island Hester married to y^e Hon. Colonell John Cope /
and Margaret unmaried. Shee departed this life August y^e 3rd 1681
Ætatis Sua^o 30.

Shee liv’d a Vertuous and Religious Life
Shee was a Tender Mother and a most loveing wife.

The slab was thrown down by the earthquake of 1907, and on October 4,
1911, the writer saw in the vault two skulls and the bones appertaining.

The tomb of George Cuthbert (who governed Jamaica as senior member of
the Council in 1832 and 1834); which is said to have been here, is not
now to be found.

Dr. William Lloyd, in his “Letters from the West Indies,” wrote in 1837
of Belvedere as follows:

Belvidere is a noble estate: the great house has a balcony thirty
yards long, fronting the sea; it may be one mile from the shore; the
cane grounds descend thereto skirted by cocoanut palms; neighbouring
and distant hills form an imposing background and complete the
panoramic spectacle. The sick house is a clean, commodious, handsome
building, and the children and others confined under a prevalent
epidemic, measles, well attended to: the negroes’ cottages were like
so many harbors in bowers of ever-greens; and close at hand the
inmates had built a chapel at their own expense, spacious enough for
hundreds; neither mahogany, glass nor doors, formed part of the
structure; but there was a pulpit, and one substantial adornment,
simplicity, around and throughout; service was performed in it every
sabbath. An intelligent negro acted as our Cicerone through the
village, conducting us into his dwelling, where he waited on us with
due politeness, in handing water; from the evident air of comfort
around, I was certain that “Aristus would not be so amiable, were it
not for his Aspasia; nor Aspasia so much esteemed were it not for her
Aristus”; yet distress sits over those unaspiring seats. Count F——,
the proprietor, a French nobleman, resides in France, and he is not at
present liberally disposed. The provision grounds are in the
mountains, and the watchmen being removed, cattle and thieves destroy
the fruits of their exertions; so that instead of having provisions to
sell, they suffer scarcity themselves, only being allowed one pound of
salt fish per week; in crop time they are defrauded and overworked,
and these teasing impositions, which are beneath a proprietor’s
dignity, destroy their peace.

On =Lyssons= estate, named after Nicholas Lycence, member for St. Thomas
in 1671–72, by the works, are the remains of an old windmill with the
date 1764.

Here is the tomb to Sir John Taylor, Bt., and Simon Taylor, to the north
of the main road running through the property. It is in good condition.
The latter held many important posts and was a very wealthy planter,
leaving behind him, it is said, the largest fortune ever accumulated by
a West Indian. Both Sir John and his brother Simon were originally
buried at Vale Royal, in St. Andrew; but on the sale of that property
their bodies were removed to Lyssons.

The following are the inscriptions:

[_On the South side_]

Here lie the Remains of—Sir John Taylor, of Lissons, Baronet,—Amiable
in His Manners, Steady in His Attachments—& Exemplary in the Practice
of the Social & Domestic Duties.—He died—during a visit to His Estates
in this Island,—May 6th, 1786,—Aged 41.

[_On the North side_]

Here lie the Remains of—the Honourable Simon Taylor,—A Loyal Subject,
A firm Friend, & an Honest man.—Who, after an active life,—During
which he faithfully & ably filled the highest Offices—of Civil &
Military Duty in this Island,—Died April 14th, 1813,—aged 73.

[_On the East side_]

To the Memory of—A beloved & Honoured—Father and Uncle.

This Monument was erected—By Sir Simon Richard Brissett
Taylor,—Baronet,—1814.

[_On the West side_]

_Arms_, Two escutcheons.

1. Argent, a saltire sable, between two human hearts, in pale gules, &
2 cinquefoils in fesse, vert. Baronet’s badge in the fesse point.
_Crest_, Out of a ducal coronet, a cubit arm holding a cross crosslet.

2. The same arms with supporters—Two leopards chained & collared.
_Motto_, “In hoc signo Vinces.”

All that is left of =Hordley= are the remains of the works and
overseer’s house. Of the great house, two miles away at an elevation of
700 feet, there is now nothing left.

While on his second visit to Jamaica, in 1818, Monk Lewis paid a flying
visit to this estate.

Here (he said) I expected to find a perfect paradise, and I found a
perfect hell. Report had assured me that Hordley was the best managed
estate in the island; and, as far as the soil was concerned, report
appeared to have said true: but my trustee had also assured me that my
negroes were the most contented and best-disposed, and here there was
a lamentable incorrectness in the account. I found them in a perfect
uproar; complaints of all kinds stunned me from all quarters: all the
blacks accused all the whites, and all the whites accused all the
blacks; and, as far as I could make out, both parties were extremely
in the right.

In the week at his disposal he was not able to effect much remedy. He
found his “trustee” not cruel, but merely indolent as to the fate of the
negroes; but he dismissed one of the book-keepers and the “chief black
governor.” He gave the negroes new holdings, additional allowances of
salt fish and presents of money, &c., and “left them in as good humour,
apparently, as I found them in bad.”

[Illustration:

ALBION ESTATE
]

=Albion= estate, on the right bank of the Yallahs just before it joins
the sea, is the estate whence the white Albion sugar well known in
England takes its name. The old works and the coolie hospital, erected
in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the old-time book-keeper’s
house still exist; but the great house is now in ruins.

Dr. William Lloyd, in “Letters from the West Indies,” above quoted,
gives the following account of =Golden Grove=:

The “great house” is at a little distance on rising ground, commanding
a _coup d’œil_ of the whole plain; hundreds and thousands of acres of
canes may be seen at one glance. A school house has been erected near,
and a pleasing young man sent out by the Church Missionary Society has
charge of it. We were pleased with the good order of the children;
many were absent; at present the measles prevail, which may be one
cause. During the day we visited a very celebrated estate, Golden
Grove; attorney, Thomas McCornock, Esq., custos of the parish,
answering to our Lord Lieutenant. The extent of this estate is two
thousand acres; apprentices five hundred; and it exports near six
hundred hogheads of sugar: “_communibus annis_.” All the arrangements,
buildings, machinery, et cet, are of a very superior description. A
very neat chapel with a tower and clock close to the principal
dwelling, was built by the tradesmen of the estate during the slave
regime; and such was the interest evinced by the slaves for religion,
that they subscribed twenty pounds to buy a communion service cup; it
has been appropriately engraved; much might be said on this
occurrence.

The plate mentioned is now preserved in the offices of the Church of
England in Jamaica in Kingston. The chalice, eight inches high, is
inscribed round the foot, “Purchased for Golden Grove Chapel by the
slaves of the estate, 1830.”

At =Cambridge Hill= and at =Botany Bay= are caves in which Arawâk
remains have been found.

=Cow Bay= and =Bull Bay= recall the old days of the “cow killers” or
buccaneers; cow being by them applied to all kinds of horned cattle.

VI
PORTLAND

The parish of Portland was named after the Duke of Portland, who was
Governor of the colony at the date of its formation. It includes the old
parish of St. George and part of St. Thomas, from which it was
originally taken in 1723. St. George derived its name from the patron
saint of England. Roby thinks that the name might have received
additional appropriateness from the fact that George was the Christian
name of the Duke of Albemarle, Sir Thomas Modyford’s relative and
patron; as also of Colonel Nedham, his son-in-law.

Port Antonio, which was then established, has two of the finest and
securest harbours in the island. It is divided into Upper and Lower
Titchfield, named after the property of the Duke of Portland. Upper
Titchfield stands on a peninsula and contains Fort George, the old
military barracks.

In the year 1721, when strenuous efforts were made to induce immigrants
from the British Isles to settle in the north-eastern part of the
island, the Governor was empowered to make grants in the king’s name:

To every white person, being a protestant, thirty acres; to every white
person in the family, thirty acres; to every free mulatto Indian or
Negro, twenty acres; to every slave bought, five acres; with a proviso
that no person not having fifteen white persons in the family should
have above 400 acres in the whole. On the condition that the grantees
should settle and plant the land, or some part thereof, within six
months from the date of the patent, and should not alienate the land for
seven years from that date. Special facilities were given to intending
settlers: the lands were exonerated from all arrears of quit rent and
all grants made without fee of office, and the settlers freed from all
taxes (general or parochial) (except quit rents) for seven years.

In 1723 the receiver-general was authorised to raise a sum of £1500, to
be applied: £1000 in purchasing lands, &c., provided by Act 9 Geo. 1, c.
8, and to provide each newcomer (man or woman) that should come over and
settle within twelve months with two barrels of beef and one barrel of
flour to be delivered at Port Antonio free of all charges as a means of
support until the lands allotted to them should be planted with proper
provisions, and until the same were grown up and become fit for use—and
also to provide proper necessaries and conveniences for the newcomers
travelling to the land where they were to settle.

To encourage new settlers and on account of the distance from the
supreme court (then held in Spanish Town), persons settling were freed
from all suits, actions and arrests, and public taxes, for three years.

All these Acts and the facilities and encouragements apparently proved
ineffectual to settle the parish, and in 1725 an Act was passed and the
privileges of the previous Acts extended to all inhabitants of the
island as well as newcomers.

In 1730, the Crown having purchased the remainder of Lynch’s Island, the
twenty acres originally allotted for a town and fortifications were
vested in the Crown as they were found necessary for building wharves
and stores and for careening men-of-war.

In 1733 an Act was passed for cutting a road from the breastwork,
building a defensible house, and prohibiting the sale of rum in
Titchfield. Breastwork (about one and a half miles from Port Antonio) is
still a local name on the Golden Vale road.

In 1743 settlers in Portland were granted the same privileges as persons
settling at Manchioneal and Norman’s Valley in St. Thomas-in-the-East,
by Act 9 Geo. 2, that is; their passages were paid and that of their
slaves not exceeding twenty, and the receiver-general was to subsist
them and their slaves for twelve months on the following scale: each
white person, four barrels of beef and 400 lb. of biscuit or bread; each
slave a barrel of herrings and 400 lb. of biscuit or bread—the number of
slaves not exceeding twenty. Every settler was entitled to a grant of
land: for himself, thirty acres; for his wife, fifty acres; for each
child, twenty acres; for every other white, fifteen acres; for each
slave, ten acres; not to exceed in the whole 300 acres. He was exempted
from taxes for five years, but had to commence settlement within three
months from the date of his patent.

This Act was limited in its duration, and subsequently expired.

Long tells us that under the inducements of the laws passed between 1736
and 1752, in sixteen years, one hundred and eight families and fifteen
artificers were introduced into Portland and elsewhere at an expense of
£17,898, but that many of them failed for lack of capital.

In 1780 all the restrictions, conditions, penalties and forfeitures
imposed on settlers by the several Acts from 1721 to 1776 having failed
of their end, these Acts were repealed, and lands were to be held free
from such restrictions, &c., and thereafter grants were to be made free
therefrom—with a proviso excepting persons who had within four years
before evaded the condition of their grants.

From this date legislation with a view to settle the parish appears to
have been discontinued, as no more Acts with that object are to be found
in the statute book.

In 1722 it was enacted that fifty acres at a certain place named
Pattison’s Point and thirty acres on Ruther’s or Lynch’s Island should
be allotted for a town, and that two hundred and fifty acres adjoining
should be a common belonging to the said town or towns.

[Illustration:

PORT ANTONIO IN 1770

From an engraving
]

By an Act of 1725 (an explanatory Act for the further encouraging the
settling the parish of Portland) it was enacted that for enlarging the
said town of Titchfield which had sprung up, fifty more acres should be
added to the town and one hundred acres should be added to the common.
By 1785 it appeared that divers people unlawfully encroached on the
common of 350 acres, and the land had become of little or no use or
profit to the town and the benefit was in danger of being entirely lost
to them. Certain trustees were appointed by act 26 Geo. 3, c. 7 (an Act
for vesting the common lands of the town of Titchfield in the parish of
Portland, in trustees, for the purpose of raising a fund for erecting
and maintaining a free school in the said town; and for other purposes
therein mentioned), for the direction and management of a free school to
be erected in or near the town of Titchfield, to be maintained and
endowed from the proceeds of the 350 acres of common land. The object of
the trust was to provide instruction for youths, without charge to their
parents, in reading, writing, arithmetic, Latin, Greek, mathematics,
&c., and the masters were to be of the Church of England. The school was
open to children of the island generally, but those of the inhabitants
of the town of Titchfield were to have the preference.

The school was in active operation from its foundation to the year 1855,
when it appears to have been closed in consequence of a report made on
its “state and condition” by Henry Laidlaw, stipendiary magistrate, in
pursuance of a commission entrusted to him by the Governor, and because
of the trust having been thrown into Chancery by reason of having
incurred debts amounting to nearly £300, for which judgment was obtained
against the trustees in the Grand Court of October 1852, in the case of
“Anderson Charles _vs._ the Trustees of the Titchfield Free School
Trust.”

From the revelations laid bare in Laidlaw’s report, and from the tenor
of a resolution passed at a meeting of the trustees held on January 3,
1853, it may be gathered that the trust at this time was in a very bad
state.

In 1883 a scheme was drawn up by the Jamaica Schools Commission, by
which the management of the trust was vested in the Schools Commission
and a board of local managers appointed by the Governor on the
recommendation of the Schools Commission, and in 1903 the Titchfield
lands were vested in trustees appointed by the Governor.

=Olivier Park= in Port Antonio was named after Sir Sydney Olivier, when
he was Colonial Secretary; =Carder Park= after a benefactor to the town.

The fruit trade, which was opened up in Portland in the year 1868, has
made Port Antonio a town of considerable importance.

The Maroon settlement, called =Moore Town=, named after Henry Moore,
Governor in 1760–62, is nine miles from Port Antonio on the banks of the
Rio Grande.

There are at =Low Layton=, 150 feet above sea level, the remains of an
extinct volcano.

Manchioneal was the scene of some of the exploits of “Tom Cringle,”
recorded in his Log; and the great house on =Muirton= is said to be the
one to which he was taken on his arrival from Cuba with yellow fever.

=Darlingford=, an extensive coco-nut plantation belonging to the heirs
of Sir Charles Darling, a former Governor of Jamaica, stands around the
village of Manchioneal.

At =Spring Garden= is a ruined fort, said to have been erected against
the buccaneers. Sir Thomas Modyford, Governor from 1664 to 1670, is
probably commemorated in =Modyford’s Gully= at Dry River in St. George.
=Balcarres Hill= is perhaps named after Alexander, Earl of Balcarres,
Governor in 1795–1801, but Crawford Town was so called before the Earl
of Balcarres came to the Island. =Seaman’s Valley= is said to have
derived its name from the destruction of a party of seamen by the
Maroons.

In 1842 the portion of the original parish of St. George to the west of
the little Spanish River, together with part of the eastern portion of
St. Mary, was taken to constitute the separate parish of Metcalfe. On
the reduction of the number of parishes in 1867 this parish of Metcalfe
fell to St. Mary, and the parish of St. George as reduced in 1842 fell
to Portland.

VII
ST. MARY

The parish of St. Mary was probably so called from the port, Puerto
Santa Maria, thus named by the Spaniards, now known as Port Maria: but
Roby points out that Modyford’s daughter’s name was Mary, and it was
immediately next to the parish of St. George, the name of her husband
being, as we have seen, George Nedham. It includes the former parish of
Metcalfe, as well as a part of the old parish of St. George.

At =Gray’s Inn=, near Annotto Bay, are to be found remains of an old
Spanish house, one of the few left in the island. The Maroon Town of
=Scott’s Hall= is situated behind Castleton Gardens on the Junction
road, from Kingston to Annotto Bay.

The account of the defeat of Sasi by Doyley at Rio Nuevo, now on Spring
Valley, will best be told in the account of St. Ann amongst Doyley’s
other operations.

At =Decoy= on the borders of St. Catherine is the tomb of Sir Charles
Price, Bart., called the Patriot, for many years speaker of the
Assembly. The property has now been divided up. The tomb is illustrated
in Hakewill’s “Picturesque Tour of Jamaica.”

The following is a copy of the lengthy inscriptions. The Latin
inscription is on the top, the English round the sides.

HIC JACET
CAROLUS PRICE BARONETTUS
MULTIS VIR ORNATUS VIRTUTIBUS
IN OMNIBUS ENIM VITÆ OFFICIIS
ITA SE PROBAVIT
UT ET CIVIBUS ET SOCIIS

GRATISSIMA ESSET EJUS INTEGRITAS
ET FIDES.
MEMORIÆ TANTI VIRI
CAROLES PRICE
FILIUS NATU MAXIMUS
ET QUATUOR SOLUS SUPERSTES
FORTUNÆ ET HONORIS
UTINAM AC VIRTUTUM
HÆRES
HOC MONUMENTUM
POSUI.

Though thou hast past the murky road
Which Cato, Raleigh, Sidney, trod
Yet still thy name and deathless praise
By Poets sung in artless lays
Or by tradition handed down
To latest ages shall be known
With tears of unaffected joy,
Each parent teach his fav’rite boy
How you withstood your country’s foes
And o’er their spleen triumphant rose
Although ‘twill hardly be believed
That such a Patriot ever lived.

This truly great man was born on the 20th August 1708. Having finished
his Classical Education in some of the best private schools in
England, his academical at Trinity Colledge in the University of
Oxford and taken the tour of Europe he returned to this his Native
Country in the month of January 1730.

On the 13th March 1732 he was elected a Member of the Honourable House
of Assembly, of which on the 18th March 1745 he was chosen Speaker.

On the 3rd of August 1748 the House came to the following Resolution:

Resolved Nemine Contradicente: That Charles Price Esq. have the thanks
of this House for his candid and impartial behaviour in the Service of
this Country as Speaker of the Assembly, and that as a farther
acknowledgement of his said Service:

Ordered:—That the Receiver-General do purchase a peice of Plate for
the said Speaker of the value of Two hundred Pistoles to be made in
such Form and Shape as the said Speaker shall direct.

December 19th 1760 the House came to another Resolution:

Resolved Nemine Contradicente: That Charles Price, Esqr. Speaker of
the Assembly hath supported that High Office with great Dignity,
Impartiality, and Integrity, and that the thanks of the House be, and
they are hereby given to the said Charles Price, Esqr. for his
faithful discharge of the High Office of Speaker, and as a further
Testimony of the Sense this House entertains of his Conduct in that
Office that a peice of Plate of the value of Two Hundred Pounds
sterling be presented to him.

Ordered:—That Robert Graham Esq. the Receiver-General, or the
Receiver-General for the time being do pay to the order of Charles
Price Esq. the sum of two hundred pounds sterling to be laid out in
the purchase of a Peice of Plate and that this or any future Assembly
will make the same good to him.

[Illustration:

TOMB OF SIR CHARLES PRICE
]

On the 11th day of October 1763 his seat was vacated at his own
request, and the House came to the following Resolution:

Resolved Nemine Contradicente: That the Thanks of this House be given
to the Honourable Charles Price Esqr. for his steady, faithful, and
impartial Discharge of the high and important Office of Speaker of the
Assembly for a long series of years, throughout the whole course of
which he distinguished himself in the most conspicuous manner, and
approved himself a dutiful and loyal subject to His Majesty and a true
lover of this Country by supporting on every Occasion the Honour and
Dignity of the Crown and the Rights and Privileges of the People, and
as a farther testimony of the high sense and approbation this House
entertains of his conduct in that Office and Services to the Public
that he be presented with a Peice of Plate of the value of five
hundred Pounds sterling.

Ordered:—That Malcolm Lang Esqr. Receiver-General or the
Receiver-General for the time being do pay to the Order of the
Honourable Charles Price Esqr. the sum of Five Hundred Pounds sterling
to be laid out in the Purchase of a Peice of Plate, and this or any
future Assembly will make the same good to him.

Ordered:—That Mr. Speaker do transmit to the Honourable Charles Price
Esqr. a copy of the foregoing Resolution and Order, in a Letter of
thanks agreeable to the above Resolution, and expressing likewise
their Concern for the great loss the Country hath sustained by his
Resignation occasioned by his ill state of Health.

In the year 1768 as an additional Testimony of the Approbation of his
Conduct and in Reward of his great Merit, His Majesty King George the
Third in a manner, the most distinguishly honourable, it being
unsolicited, was most graciously pleased to create him a Baronet of
the Kingdom of Great Britain, an Honor, which though he did not live
many years to enjoy, he might justly be said to enjoy with honor.

In the offices also of Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature,
Custos Rotulorum of the Parish and Precinct of St. Catherine, and
Major-General of all the Horse and Foot Militia in the Island, he
eminently distinguished himself in the service of his Country.

“His Life was gentle, and the Elements so mixed in him, that Nature
might stand up and say to all the world This was a Man.”

In the “Columbian Magazine,” Kingston, 1796, occurs a poem on “The
Decoy”:

Dedicated to Sir Charles Price, Baronet, by his Son, the Hon. Charles
Price Esq. Speaker of the Honourable House of Assembly of Jamaica.

To dust and suffocating heats,
Well pleas’d, we bade adue;
To taste your garden’s rural sweets,[9]
And pay respects to you.

Peace to this calm, sequester’d seat,
Where art and nature vie,
To decorate your lov’d retreat,
And charm the mental eye.

But who its beauty can disclose,
Who paint its gay array?
What friendly muse will interpose
And aid an artless lay?

From this sweet spot; when æther’s clear,
Rich culture breathing round,
“Cuba’s” blue distant hills appear,[10]
The prospect’s utmost bound.

Whilst you such constant care employ,
And genuine taste impart,
No wonder it should thus Decoy,
And captivate the heart.

Yet, tho’ the scene does greatly please,
You greater joy dispence,
Conversing with convivial ease,
And solid, sterling sense.

Far from the world’s alluring ills
And folly’s wide controul,
Here candid Contemplation fills
And elevates your soul.

Footnote 9:

This delightful spot, to which art and nature seemed to have
conspired, in imparting the brightest touches of beauty and sublimity
to the surrounding scenery, is situate in the higher part of the St.
Mary’s Mountains, and at present in possession of Henry Archbould,
Esq. It was denominated the “Decoy,” from the various attractions it
possessed, and the interest it maintained in the breast of its
numerous visitors. The garden is represented as the burial-place of
that respectable but unfortunate family the Prices.

Footnote 10:

From its elevated situation, the island of Cuba is said to be
distinctly seen in a clear day; a prospect, however, commanded by many
other mountainous settlements on that side of the Island.

In the same magazine appears a poem by Sir Charles Price entitled
“Resignation.” One of the twelve verses may suffice:

It was Heaven’s Almighty decree,
You will say, then, why should I repine?
Tho’ in this we perhaps may agree,
Have you ever felt anguish like mine.

Long says of St. Mary: “The weather in this parish is extremely wet
during great parts of the year, and so cold, that few if any of the
houses are unfurnished with a chimney.” In writing of the Decoy he says:

One of the greatest curiosities in this parish is the Decoy, the seat
of Sir Charles Price, Bart. It is situated on part of the range of
mountains which border on St.-Thomas-in-the-Vale. The house is of
wood, but well finished, and has in front a very fine piece of water,
which in winter is commonly stocked with wild-duck and teal. Behind it
is a very elegant garden disposed in walks, which are shaded with the
cocoanut, cabbage and sand-box trees. The flower and kitchen garden
are filled with the most beautiful and useful variety which Europe, or
this climate produce. It is decorated, besides, with some pretty
buildings; of which the principal is an octagonal saloon, richly
ornamented on the inside with lustres, and mirrors empanneled. At the
termination of another walk is a grand triumphal arch, from which the
prospect extends over the fine cultivated vale of Bagnals quite to the
North-side sea. Clumps of graceful cabbage-trees are dispersed in
different parts, to enliven the scene, and thousands of plantane and
other fruit-trees occupy a vast tract, that environs this agreeable
retreat, not many years ago a gloomy wilderness.

He further tells us that Price constantly resided on this property, and
in truly Jamaica old-time fashion kept open house: “Few gentlemen of
rank, whether of the army or navy, on service here, quitted the island
without having passed some of their time at the Decoy.”

Sir Charles Price, the first baronet, was a grandson of Francis Price, a
captain in the army of Venables at the capture of the island, who
married the widow of Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, also one of the army. His
son, Colonel Charles Price, who died in 1730 and lies buried, as we have
seen, in the church of St. John, Guanaboa Vale, was the father of the
first baronet. Sir Charles Price was a native of Jamaica, and “endued
with uncommon natural talents, which were improved by education, and
polished by travel in the early part of his life”: these abilities and
his personal wealth gained for him considerable influence in the island.
He was member of the Assembly for St. Thomas-in-the-Vale 1732, for St.
Catherine in 1752–66, and St. Mary 1756–61, and again for St. Catherine
in 1766, was speaker in 1746, and from 1756 to 1763.

He was created a baronet, of Rose Hall, Jamaica, in 1768.

His son, Sir Charles Price, the second baronet, was member of the
Assembly for St. Catherine in 1768, for St. Thomas-in-the-Vale in 1779
and 1787. He was speaker in 1763 (when he succeeded his father in that
office), 1765, and 1770. In October 1775 he was expelled the house at
his own request, and left for England, intending never to return.

In 1786 as he was in financial difficulties the House advanced £5000 on
mortgage of the Decoy, but in the following year a new Assembly voted
this transaction “unconstitutional and of dangerous example.” He died in
1788 in Spanish Town without issue, and the title became extinct.

Sir Charles Price’s name was for many years associated with a particular
species of rat—the largest in the island—known as the “cane-piece rat,”
or the “Charles Price rat” on the assumption that it was introduced into
Jamaica by him; but Richard Hill, who investigated the matter for Gosse,
and obtained the family tradition on the subject from George Price, of
Worthy Park, a great-grandson of Sir Charles Price, came to the
conclusion that the animal, which Price introduced from South America
and in the eyes of the negroes had strong rat characteristics, was no
rat. Several were set loose at the Decoy, and at Worthy Park, but they
did not survive. They may possibly have been a species of opossum, one
example of which recently came to Jamaica in a ship from Costa Rica. To
show what a curse rats were to the sugar planters, Beckford records that
39,000 were caught in five or six months on one estate.

At =Agualta Vale= is the tomb of Thomas Hibbert (d. 1780), who came to
Jamaica in 1734.

The following is the inscription:

In a vault near this place lie deposited by his own direction the
remains of—Thomas Hibbert, Esq.,—late a Merchant in the Town of
Kingston—and proprietor of this and two adjoining Estates. He was the
eldest son of Robert and Mary Hibbert, of Manchester, in the county of
Lancaster, in the Kingdom of Great Britain—from whence he first
arrived in this Island in 1734—and after residing in it, with little
interruption, almost forty-six years—Died unmarried at this Estate, on
the 20th of May, 1780—in the 71st year of his age....

As we have seen, he built Headquarters House, Kingston. He purchased
Agualta Vale, containing about 3000 acres, from the heir of one Bendish
about the year 1760. The sugar estate was settled in 1771.

=Fort George=, near Annotto Bay, is now all that remains of the lands of
the Ellis family, which once owned numerous properties in the
island—Shettlewood Montpelier in St. James, Ellis Caymanas and Crawle
Pen in St. Catherine and Nutfield, Newry, Greencastle and Fort George in
St. Mary.

The statement often made that John Ellis, the first settler, was an
officer in Venables’ army is not borne out by the list of those
officers. He is recorded as a captain in 1685. He and his descendants
sat in many Assemblies, and intermarried with the Nedhams, Beckfords,
and Longs. Charles Rose Ellis was created Baron Seaford in 1826, and his
son became Baron Howard de Walden in right of his mother.

George Ellis, the poet, and John Ellis, the naturalist and Agent in
England for Dominica, were also members of this family, who have, from
time to time, done much for cattle breeding in Jamaica, having been
pioneers in importing valuable breeds from Cuba, India, Portugal, and
Italy. To George Ellis, chief justice in 1736–39, Jamaica owes the
introduction of guinea grass—the seed having been brought from Guinea as
food for cage-birds.

At Fort George indigo was cultivated in the early days.

At =Dryland=, near Woodside, is an example of Arawâk rock-carving
(illustrated in the “Journal of the Institute of Jamaica,” vol. ii, No.
4). =Fort Haldane=, situated on a cliff above the coast on Gray’s
Charity, a mile west of Port Maria, is named after General George
Haldane, Governor in 1759. =Prospect=, near White River, is an old
loopholed house, a good example of Jamaica architecture; and =Heywood
Hall= was the scene of a fight between Koromantyn slaves and the white
inhabitants of St. Mary, who defeated them, in 1760.

As early as Slaney’s map of 1678 there was a =Christopher’s Cove= in St.
Mary in addition to Don Christopher’s Cove in St. Ann.

VIII
ST. ANN

The parish of St. Ann is rich in associations with the aboriginal
inhabitants, the Spaniards, and with the early history of the British
occupation of the colony. It was in St. Ann that Columbus discovered
Jamaica; it was in St. Ann that he spent a twelvemonth while waiting for
help from Hispaniola; it was in St. Ann, at Ocho Rios, that two
engagements of note with the Spaniards were fought; it was from St. Ann
that the last remnants of the Spaniards left the island, while the last
battle of importance was fought at Rio Nuevo in St. Mary, but a few
miles across the border.

A kitchen midden of peculiar interest was opened up in 1912, situated at
the top of the hill, some 980 feet high, on which stands the great house
of =Liberty Hall=, commanding a view from Seville, the old Spanish
settlement, on the west, to Port Maria on the east, and overlooking the
little creek to the east of St. Ann’s Bay, known as Don Christopher’s
Cove, where Columbus spent twelve weary months, from June 1503 to June
1504. The thick foliage must in those days, however, have precluded any
more than mere peeps at that sea over which the dreaded Caribs might at
any moment arrive.

It is highly probable that the Liberty Hill Arawâks supplied Columbus
and his companions with food while he lived on board ship in the creek
some three miles distant, into which the Spanish Lookout river runs,
through land which afterwards became Drax Hall property and whence
Beckford of “Vathek” fame later obtained much of the wealth he spent
lavishly at his Gothic residence in Somerset. It is possible that some
of the pottery recently dug up by the turn of the fork may have been
used to cook this food, and it is conceivable that some of the vessels
may have been handled by the great discoverer himself.

The area of the midden or shell-mound is, roughly speaking, about half
of an acre, consisting of the brow of the hill on which the great house
stands. The richest collection of remains was found just outside the
garden gate on the carriage drive, where a few days before some pieces
had been unearthed in the preliminary work of grading the drive to
facilitate the turning of motor cars—a strange link between the old
world and the new. Investigation in the banana walk at the back of the
house, and in the garden on the one side and the pastures on the other,
yielded proof that the midden extended all round the brow of the hill,
as was the usual custom.

[Illustration:

Dry Harbour
]

The remains resemble in the main the usual results of search in such
middens—as described in Dr. Duerden’s “Aboriginal Indian Remains of
Jamaica” published by the Institute of Jamaica in 1897, and in Mr. T. De
Booy’s more recent pamphlet, “Certain Kitchen-Middens in Jamaica”
(1913)—land and marine shells, some pierced for the purpose of carrying
them, fish bones, coney bones, broken pottery, broken stone implements,
flint flakes and chalcedony, from which their beads and other ornaments
were made. The Jamaica arawâk pottery, Professor Mason tells us, lies
between the Porto Rican and that of Florida to Carolina. The pieces
unearthed at Liberty Hill afford good examples of its decoration, in the
handles especially. One is distinctly fashioned like a parrot’s head.
The borders show the usual indentations made, before the pottery was
baked, by cross-hatching and otherwise. But one has a curious serrated
edge not hitherto found in Jamaica. Examples of this collection are in
the museum of the Institute of Jamaica.

Although from the nature of things only fragments of pottery were
obtained, it is not difficult, in the light of previous experience, to
reconstruct the bowls of which they formed part. Dr. Duerden mentions as
the greatest size hitherto found, a circular basin with a diameter of
about eighteen inches. That must have been approximated by one found at
Liberty Hill. The bowls vary in thickness from three-sixteenths of an
inch to half an inch, but pieces of flat cooking slabs were found as
thick as one inch. The pottery on the whole seems better baked than that
usually found.

Additional interest attaches to the Liberty Hill mound from the fact
that clay from which some of this pottery was made is to be found at
Lime Hall hard by, where there was in recent times a pottery in
operation, and also from the fact that in the St. Ann’s Great River,
which runs bordering the property to the east, are to be found stones
from which aboriginal hatchets were made, and alongside a supply of
sandstone which the Arawâks conceivably used for the shaping and
polishing of their implements. A slab of stone was found on the midden
itself, suggesting that perhaps Liberty Hill may have been the site of a
factory of both earthenware bowls and stone hatchets. But it would seem
that its greatest interest lies in its possible close association,
during a twelvemonth, with the life of the great Columbus.

Other kitchen middens have been discovered at =Moneague=, on the hotel
grounds; at =Friendship=, near by; at =Belle Vue=, on the banks of the
White River; at =Retreat=, at =Orange Valley=; and at =Cranbrook=.
Further investigations would doubtless reveal others.

There are Arawâk rock-carvings in a cave at Coventry.

On September 12, 1492, Columbus, after encountering oppositions and
difficulties which would have deterred all but very resolute men, was
the first European to set foot in the New World—landing on that day at
Guanahani (Watling Island) in the Bahamas. The important discovery of
Cuba and Hispaniola was made on his homeward voyage.

On May 4, 1494, while on his second voyage of discovery, he was the
first European to land in Jamaica, running his lateen-rigged caravel,
the _Niña_, and her two consorts into =Dry Harbour= Bay on the north
side of the island.

On April 24 he had left his new-founded city of Isabella in Hispaniola,
and started on a further voyage of discovery. He sailed westward along
the north coast of Hispaniola, and, leaving the point we now call Cape
St. Nicholas, stood across to Cuba, and anchored in a harbour
(Guantanamo), to which he gave the name of Puerto Grande. Leaving on May
1, he coasted along the southern shores, admiring the beauty of the
landscape, noting the rivers, and receiving visits from numerous Indians
in their canoes, with whom he exchanged beads and hawks’ bells for
cassava bread, fish and fresh water. But soon, on the advice of his
Guanahani guide (whom he had taken to Spain on returning from his first
voyage) he stood due south in order to visit a large island of which the
natives spoke. As he neared the island a number of carved and painted
canoes, one nearly ninety feet in length, crowded with Indians, came out
to meet him a league’s length from the shore. After giving them
presents, Columbus sailed on and dropped anchor in a place which he
named Santa Gloria, on account of its extreme beauty. Passing the night
there he sailed westward to find a closed port in which he might careen
and caulk up his vessels. About four leagues further on he found a very
singular port, to use the words of Bernaldez, or, as Fernando Colombo
describes it, resembling a horseshoe in shape, which he named Puerto
Bueno. Here two canoes full of Indians met him, but after six or seven
of the natives had been wounded by bolts from the Spaniards’ crossbows
they retreated.

On anchoring Columbus saw “so many Indians that the earth was covered
with them,” all painted, chiefly in black, wearing nothing but plumes on
their heads and aprons of leaves round their waists. Wishing to assert
his authority and instil a fear for the arms of Castile into the hearts
of the natives, Columbus, as the caravels could not reach the shore
owing to the shallowness of the water, sent three boatloads of men, who,
aided by the pioneer of those hounds which afterwards did fearful
execution amongst the poor Indians, drove them off so that there was not
a man or woman left in the neighbourhood. On the following day six
Indians came as ambassadors from the caciques or chiefs, begging
Columbus not to go away; and later on the caciques themselves and many
followers came and brought provisions, which probably consisted of
cassava, arrowroot, guavas, naseberries, cocoa-plums and star-apples.
During the time they were there the Spaniards had everything in
abundance, and the Indians were very pleased with the objects (hawks’
bells, beads and the like) which the admiral gave them. When the vessels
had been repaired and the crews were rested, Columbus left Puerto Bueno
after a three days’ stay, and skirted the northern shore, being visited
from each village by canoes full of Indians, who exchanged native
products for hawks’ bells and beads, till he came to Point Negril, which
he named “Cabo del Buen Tiempo.”

Owing partly to contrary winds and partly to the impression that there
was “no gold in it, or any other metal, although the island was
otherwise a paradise and worth more than gold,” Columbus now left
Jamaica and returned to Cuba.

The historians of Jamaica and the West Indies generally have thrown but
little light on the subject of the Jamaica landing. For a time the
honour was about equally divided between St. Ann’s Bay and Port Maria.
So far, however, as the somewhat scanty information warrants one in
coming to a conclusion, it may be assumed that Columbus’s Santa Gloria
was probably St. Ann’s Bay and that his Puerto Bueno was what is now
known as Dry Harbour, for it is said that he called the first port he
touched at Santa Gloria; that he stayed at Santa Gloria in 1504; that
Sevilla arose near Santa Gloria, and Sevilla, we are told, was near St.
Ann’s Bay. The horseshoe shape of Puerto Bueno, as well as other
evidence, points to Dry Harbour as the place of Columbus’s first landing
in Jamaica. It may be mentioned that the identification of Puerto Bueno
with Dry Harbour was dealt with by the present writer at greater length
than is possible here in “The Story of the Life of Columbus and the
Discovery of Jamaica” (Kingston, 1894). There was a Fort Columbus at Dry
Harbour in and about 1783.

It is not here necessary to follow Columbus in his further
voyaging—through “The Queen’s Garden,” as he named the islands off the
southern coast of Cuba, back to Jamaica, where on the south side he had,
as we have seen in the account of St. Catherine, an interview at Old
Harbour with an important cacique, thence to Isabella, on the north
coast of Hispaniola, and so home. But Dry Harbour was once again visited
by the admiral on his fourth and last voyage.

On his way back from the continent of America, which he saw for the last
time on May 1, 1503, while making for Hispaniola for succour, as his two
worm-eaten caravels the _Capitana_ and the _Santiago de Palos_ were in
no fit state to cross the Atlantic, after passing the Cayman Islands,
which he named Las Tortugas, and encountering a storm at the west end of
Cuba, he ran for Jamaica and reached Dry Harbour on June 23, 1503; when,
finding no water there, he went on to Puerto Santa Gloria (St. Ann’s
Bay) and ran his caravels on the beach in a cove, possibly in that which
is still called =Don Christopher’s Cove=. Why another cove in St. Mary
received the same name is not evident.

Being unable to keep the ships afloat any longer he stranded them as
best he could, one near the other, and propped them up on both sides so
that they could not move.

The lower parts soon filled when pumping ceased, and cabins had to be
built on deck thatched with straw to supplement the accommodation now
only found in the cabins under the poops and forecastles. There, in the
words of Mendez, they were “not without considerable danger from the
natives, who were not yet subdued, and who might easily set fire to our
habitation in the night, in spite of the greatest watchfulness.”

[Illustration:

Don Christopher’s Cove
]

The natives, however, soon showed that they were inclined to be
friendly, and Columbus endeavoured to see that nothing was done to abuse
their confidence. They brought in provisions such as cassava, fish and
birds, which they willingly exchanged for cheap ornaments; and we are
told that Columbus’s youthful son, Fernando, took great interest in
these barterings, which were organised on a large scale by Diego Mendez,
who had ever been a good and faithful follower of the admiral.

The following is Mendez’s account[11] of what he did:

It was there that I gave out the last ration of biscuit and wine; I
then took a sword in my hand, three men only accompanying me, and
advanced into the island; for no one else dared go to seek food for
the Admiral and those who were with him. It pleased God that I found
some people who were very gentle and did us no harm, but received us
cheerfully, and gave us food with hearty goodwill. I then made a
stipulation with the Indians, who lived in a village called
Aguacadiba, and with their cacique, that they should make cassava
bread, and that they should hunt and fish to supply the Admiral every
day with a sufficient quantity of provisions, which they were to bring
to the ships, where I promised there should be a person ready to pay
them in blue beads, combs and knives, hawks’-bells and fish hooks, and
other such articles which we had with us for that purpose. With this
understanding, I dispatched one of the Spaniards, whom I brought with
me, to the Admiral, in order that he might send a person to pay for
the provisions, and secure their being sent. From thence I went to
another village, at three leagues distance from the former, and made a
similar agreement with the natives and their cacique, and dispatched
another Spaniard to the Admiral, begging him to send another person
with a similar object to this village. After this I went further on,
and came to a great cacique named Huareo, living in a place which is
now called Melilla, thirteen leagues from where the ships lay. I was
very well received by him; he gave me plenty to eat, and ordered all
his subjects to bring together in the course of three days a great
quantity of provisions, which they did, and laid them before him,
whereupon I paid him for them to his full satisfaction. I stipulated
with him that they should furnish a constant supply, and engaged that
there should be a person appointed to pay them. Having made this
arrangement, I sent the other Spaniard to the Admiral with the
provisions they had given me, and then begged the cacique to allow me
two Indians to go with me to the extremity of the island, one to carry
the hammock in which I slept, and the other carrying the food.

In this manner I journeyed eastward to the end of the island, and came
to a cacique who was named Ameyro, with whom I entered into close
friendship. I gave him my name and took his, which amongst these
people is regarded as a pledge of brotherly attachment. I bought of
him a very good canoe, and gave him in exchange an excellent brass
helmet that I carried in a bag, a frock, and one of the two shirts
that I had with me; I then put out to sea in this canoe, in search of
the place that I had left, the cacique having given me six Indians to
assist in guiding the canoe. When I reached the spot to which I had
dispatched the provisions, I found there the Spaniards whom the
Admiral had sent, and I loaded them with the victuals that I had
brought with me, and went myself to the Admiral who gave me a very
cordial reception. He was not satisfied with seeing and embracing me,
but asked me respecting everything that had occurred in the voyage,
and offered up thanks to God for having delivered me in safety from so
barbarous a people. The men rejoiced greatly at my arrival, for there
was not a loaf left in the ships when I returned to them with the
means of allaying their hunger; this and every day after that, the
Indians came to the ships loaded with provisions from the places where
I had made the agreements; so that there was enough for the two
hundred and thirty people who were with the Admiral.

Footnote 11:

Mendez wrote in 1536.

In spite of Mendez’s efforts, it was evident to Columbus that the
present state of affairs was highly unsatisfactory. Neither of the
caravels could be made fit for sea, and it became necessary to seek aid
from Hispaniola. After a conversation with the admiral, and when no
response had been made to an appeal for volunteers for such a risky
journey, which appeal Columbus had made publicly at Mendez’s suggestion,
Mendez offered to go, saying:

“I have but one life, and I am willing to sacrifice it in the service of
your lordship, and for the welfare of all those who are here with us;
for I trust in God, that in consideration of the motive which actuates
me, he will give me deliverance, as he has done on many other
occasions.”

It was decided that he should be accompanied by Bartolomé Fiesco, in a
second canoe, who was to return and announce Mendez’s safe arrival in
Hispaniola, while the latter was to go on to Spain and let the
sovereigns know of the results of the voyage, and for that purpose
Columbus entrusted Mendez with a long letter descriptive of the voyage.

In the meantime hope of assistance deferred, their crowded quarters on
shipboard, and want of occupation and exercise began to have their
effects upon the health and spirits of the little settlement at Santa
Gloria. Discontent led to open rebellion. The brothers Porras (Francisco
the captain of the _Santiago_, and Diego the accountant) led the revolt,
followed by Juan Sanchez, the pilot Ledesma, Barba the gunner, and some
fifty others, who were moved to rebellion by Porras’s false
representations. On January 2, 1504, when Columbus was confined in bed
by gout, Francisco de Porras burst into his small cabin and accused the
admiral of having no intention of returning to Spain. Remonstrances were
useless, and, to quote the “Historie”:

“Porras replied, that it was not now time to talk, and that the Admiral
must either embark immediately or stay there by himself; and turning his
back upon the Admiral he called out in a loud voice, ‘I am bound for
Spain with those that are willing to follow me.’ On this all his
followers who were present shouted out, ‘We will go with you! we will go
with you!’ and running about in great confusion crying, ‘Let them die!
let them die! For Spain! for Spain!’ while others called on the captain
for his orders, they took possession of the poop, forecastle, and round
tops.

“Though the Admiral was then so lame of the gout that he could not
stand, he yet endeavoured to rise and come out upon deck on hearing this
uproar; but two or three worthy persons, his attendants, laid hold upon
him and forcibly laid him again in bed, that the mutineers might not
murder him; they then ran to his brother, who was going out courageously
with a half-pike, and wresting it from his hands, they forced him into
the cabin beside the admiral, desiring Captain Porras to go where he
liked, and not commit a crime for which they might all suffer; that he
might be satisfied in meeting no opposition to his going away, but if he
killed the Admiral he must lay his account with being severely punished
for what could not possibly be of the least benefit to his views.”

The rebels seized some stores and ten canoes which Columbus had
purchased at Maima, a native village near where the caravels were
grounded, and which perhaps stood by Mammee Bay, and made several futile
attempts to follow Mendez to Hispaniola; proving themselves such
wretches, it is said, as to force into the sea when the waves ran high,
in order to lighten the canoes, those poor Indians whom they had taken
with them to navigate their canoes.

Foiled by their own cowardice and want of enterprise from leaving
Jamaica, they ran riot throughout the island, ill-treating the natives,
and thereby upsetting the reputation for kindness and fair dealing which
the admiral had carefully been building up. The result was that the
natives, not able to distinguish between the followers of Columbus and
his renegades, began to change their regard for their visitors; the
consistent and steady labour necessary for the due supply of food also
was unusual and proved irksome to them, and the Spanish trinkets with
their loss of novelty lost much of their value in their eyes. Supplies
therefore were not now forthcoming, and Columbus found himself and his
companions, many of whom were with him owing rather to sickness than to
loyalty, in danger of starvation. Once again his resourceful nature
stood him in good stead, and he made use of an approaching eclipse to
bring them to reason in the manner related by Mendez.

But Columbus’s troubles were by no means over. In March, just as
discontent amongst his followers was again becoming formidable, a
caravel hove in sight, and all hearts were raised in thanksgiving in
anticipation of being removed from their disagreeable position. Bitter
must have been the disappointment when, the ship anchoring outside the
bay, a boat put off, and Escobar, the messenger sent by Ovanda, handed a
letter to Columbus, with a present of a bottle of wine and a piece of
bacon; and it was found that the letter contained merely condolences for
their sufferings, and regret that no vessels could be spared for the
purpose of bringing them from Jamaica. It was a sorry jest on Ovanda’s
part, and there seems reason for believing that Escobar had been sent
rather in the hope of finding that the admiral was dead, than to render
succour. Still Columbus’s dignity and courage did not desert him. He
sent an answer asking for assistance, consoling himself with the
reflection that Mendez was safe, and that sooner or later succour would
come: and Escobar left that same night.

At this time Columbus endeavoured to pacify the rebel party by sending
to tell them of the arrival of Escobar, giving them a piece of the bacon
as token; and he offered, if they returned to obedience, to give them a
free pardon and a passage to Spain. Porras persuaded his followers to
decline this offer and to demand permission to reside where they liked
in the island and a promise of half the room on ship board and half the
stores when help should arrive. On being told that these demands would
not be complied with, they said they would take them by force.

Hearing that Porras and his mutineers were marching in open rebellion
upon Maima, Columbus entrusted to the adelantado the task of pacifying
them or defying them. Bartolomé gathered together what men he could,
about fifty in all, and, after overtures had been rejected by Porras,
who calculated on his superior numbers to gain him an easy victory,
prepared to receive attack on May 19. Porras and six others made a dead
set at the adelantado, for they thought if they could kill him, the rest
would be easy. But the bold Bartolomé was not dismayed. His first three
blows disposed of the powerful Sanchez the pilot, Barba the gunner, and
Ledesma, who, however, recovered from his wounds in spite of the fact
that he fell into a ravine and was not discovered till the next day.
Then he received on his shield a fierce blow from Francisco de Porras,
who, his sword sticking in the shield, was overpowered and bound. His
followers fled, and the formidable revolt was quelled by the courage and
strength of one man. The adelantado lost but one soldier. This miniature
battle had been witnessed by the natives drawn up in battle array, and
after the fight was over they marvelled to find that the strangers from
the skies were but mortal like themselves. Columbus, with his usual
clemency, granted the pardon asked for by the rebels, and even spared
the lives of the two Porrases, whom he, however, kept in custody.

At last, about the end of June, the long looked for help arrived in the
shape of two caravels, one sent by Mendez under the command of Diego
Salcedo, and a second sent as an ostensible aid to Columbus by Ovando,
who, now that he found that the admiral could get assistance without
him, thought it well to take part in the relief.

On June 28, 1504, after a sojourn of twelve months and four days in the
island, Columbus and his followers, accompanied by Salcedo, left
Jamaica, which could have had but unhappy memories for the great
mariner.

Four years later the town of =Sevilla Nueva=, later known as Sevilla
d’Oro, was founded under the authority of the admiral’s son and
successor Diego, near the spot occupied by the wrecked caravels.

Sloane on his expedition to the north side visited Sevilla Nueva. He
says:

I observed the ruins of the town called Sevilla, among which a church
built by Peter Martyr of Angleria, of a sort of freestone (to be had
near this city) and bricks. A pavement was found two miles from this
church; the city was so large it had a fortified castle, the walls of
pebbles and bricks, four feet thick; it was and is a good port....
This town is now Captain Hemmings’ plantation. The church was not
finished; it was thirty paces broad and thirty paces long. There were
two rows of pillars within; over the place where the altar was to be
were some carvings under the ends of the arches. It was built out of a
sort of stone between freestone and marble, taken out of a quarry
about a mile up in the hills; the houses and foundations stand for
several miles along. The ground towards the country is rising. Captain
Hemmings told me he sometimes found pavements under his canes, three
feet covered with earth, and several times wells, and sometimes
burialstones finely cut. There are the beginnings of a great house
called a monastery, but I suppose the house was designed for the
Governor. There were two coats-of-arms not set up—a ducal one, and
that of a count, I suppose belonging to Columbus’s family, the
proprietors of the island. There had been raised a tower, part brick
and part hewn stones, as also several battlements on it, and other
lower buildings not finished. At the church lie several arched stones
to complete it, which had never been put up, but lay among the canes.
The rows of pillars within were for the most part plain. In the time
of the Spaniards it was thought the Europeans had been cut off by the
Indians, and so the church left unfinished. When the English took the
island the ruins of this city were so overgrown with wood that they
were all turned black; nay, I saw a mammee, or bastard mammee tree
grow within the walls of the tower, so high that it must have been a
very large gun could kill a bird on the top of it, and most part of
the timber fell’d off this place, when it was planted, was sixty foot
or more long. A great many wells are on this ground.... The west gate
of the church was a very fine work, and stands very entire; it was
seven feet wide, and as high before the arch began. Over the door in
the middle was our Saviour’s head with a crown of thorns between two
angels; on the right side a small round figure of some saint with a
knife struck into his head; on the left a Virgin Mary or Madonna, her
arm tied in three places, Spanish fashion. Over the gate, under a coat
of arms, this inscription:—Petrus Martir ab Angleria Italvs Civis
Mediolanen. Prothon. Apos. hvivs Insulæ Abbas Senatus Indici
Consiliarivs Ligneam privs Ædem hanc bis Igne consvmptam Latericio et
Quadrato Lapide primus a Fundamentis Extruxit.

This Long thus translates:—

Peter Martir, of Anghiera, an Italian citizen of Milan, chief
missionary and abbot of this island, member of the Council of the
Indies, first raised from its foundation, with brick and square stone,
this edifice, which formerly was built of wood, and twice destroyed by
fire.

This Peter Martyr must not be confounded with his namesake, Pietro
Martire Vermigli (1500–62), of Florence, who at Cranmer’s instance went
to England, and for six years occupied a professor’s chair of theology
at Oxford. Our Peter Martyr was Pietro Martire of Anghiera (1455–1526),
a native of Arona in Italy, apostolic protonotary, and a member of the
Council of the Indies to Charles V. and first abbot of Jamaica. He was a
prototype of the absentee proprietor; he never set foot in the island.
He is best known by his work entitled “De Orbe Novo,” commonly called
“The Decades.” The “some saint with a knife struck into his head,”
mentioned by Sloane, was the Dominican saint of the thirteenth century,
well known to students of mediæval Christian art, especially by reason
of Titian’s world-famous painting of his martyrdom, and the saint after
whom the two sixteenth-century Peter Martyrs were named.

At the time that Long wrote (1774), nearly a century later than Sloane,
several fragments of carved work in stone “that would be thought no mean
ornaments in an European church” were still to be seen there, and the
ruins of two edifices, one said to have been a castle and the other
probably the collegiate church, were still remaining, separated by about
half a mile. The walls were compacted with a very hard cement, and were
several feet in thickness. But he mentions that these walls were being
every day diminished for the sake of the materials, which were used in
repairing the buildings on the estate, so much so that the remains of
the castle were then below the surface of the earth. In 1764 he tells us
there were dug up two pilasters of about seven feet in length, “of no
particular order, but somewhat resembling the Ionic,” on which were
“some carvings in alto-relievo.” Four or five coarse images were
likewise found, one of which resembled a sphinx, another an alligator,
and the rest creatures of the mason’s fancy. Long says that the
Spaniards abandoned Sevilla Nueva because the south side ports were more
convenient for the galleons and other vessels passing between St.
Domingo and Cartagena.

The usual derivation of the name of =Ocho Rios=, one of the most
beautiful spots in the beautiful parish of St. Ann, as meaning eight
rivers, is probably wrong. The word is most likely a corruption of
_chorréra_, a spout, having reference to the waterfall near by. In
Long’s time it was called Chareiras, and as late as 1841 William Rob
wrote: “Ocho Rios called to this day by the old inhabitants ‘Cheireras,’
its early and appropriate name, ‘the bay of waterfalls.’” It is
interesting to note that there is a Chorréra River in Cuba, near
Havannah.

In 1657 a letter from Bayona, the governor of Cuba, to a certain Spanish
serjeant-major in Jamaica, making arrangements for an attack on Jamaica
to be aided by the whilom Spanish slaves in the island, was intercepted.
Immediate steps were taken by the resourceful Doyley; and Arnoldo Sasi,
the Spanish governor, who having yielded up Jamaica to Penn and Venables
had re-landed on the north side from Cuba, was signally defeated by
Doyley in person at Ocho Rios, whither he had sailed round from Passage
Fort.

The following is the account which Doyley himself gave to Cromwell in “A
Narrative of the Great Success God hath been pleased to give his
Highness Forces in Jamaica, against the King of Spain’s Forces.
Published by His Highness Special Command. London, 1658.”

Right Honourable,

Since my last to Your Honour, the First of _October last_, I have had
intelligence, that the Galleons with Plate, I then mentioned to be at
_Carthagena_ bound for_ Spain_, were cast away by a _Hirecane_; and an
evident token thereof, the _Burmudans_, our Informants, being in a
small Shallop, brought in hither about Twenty thousand pieces of
_Eight_, which they had taken in the Rack. And according to my former
to the Committee for _Jamaica_, having by a Prisoner notice, that
about Five hundred of the Enemy were landed here, and that the
Governour _Don Christopher Arnaldo Sasser_ [_sic_] was fortifying
himself at St. _Anne_ about Thirty-five miles from us, I was resolved
to give him time to fortifie so much, that he might think himself
secure enough to stand us (that we might not perpetually be put to the
toyl of hunting them in the Woods), and yet so that he might not be
able to give us any strong resistance: which accordingly being done, I
sent a Party of Stout, Well and Willing men, under the command of
Major _Richard Steevens_ to whom about Sixty of our Officers joyned,
Volunteers, exceedingly desirous of action (after so long a cessation)
who advanced to the place, very strongly situated on a Rock; as soon
as the Enemies Centinels discovered them, they threw down their Arms,
gave the Allarm to the Governour, who with the rest fled to the Woods,
leaving behinde them all their Arms and Ammunition; so, finding the
vanity of following them in the Woods and Mountains, we left them.

Before our Party came in, our Ships brought in a _Portugal_, running
into _Cuba_, who examined, told me that there were Five hundred landed
about the middle of _July_, that they had marched up the Countrey, and
finding the scarcity of provisions (contrary to what was told them)
were almost starved, had endeavoured to mutiny; and that about Three
hundred of them were by the _Spanish_ Commanders returned to a place
called the _Chareras_, in the _North_, over against _Cuba_, where they
first landed, where was their Magazine and Provisions, and more men
and Provisions dayly expected, where likewise they were fortified and
received their relief, which he had twice carried them.

Upon this intelligence, I met the Party coming home, and dismissing
about a hundred to their plantations (which wanted them) I shipped the
rest under the same command, on board the _Indian_, and went myself
with them for the better carrying on and expediting the business.

The 24 of _October_ we set sail from Cagway Point, and the thirty
stood over against the place. Early in the morning we spied a Sail
from _Cuba_ running into the place we were bound for, who had come
with relief, but told them he could not unlade himself because he saw
Ships at Sea. Our Party landed Six miles below the place intended,
there being no place nearer, and marcht on; who ere they had marched
Two miles, were saluted with a round Volley out of a wood, at which
ours, prepared for before by their Orders, never made stand, but fired
in boldly at the Ambuscade, in which the Enemy had Four wounded, we
One; the Captain with the rest made hast to their Fort, and ours so
fast after them, that onely the Captain and Four of the forty could
get in.

Our Party found them very well prepared with Matches lighted in the
Stockadoes (for that is the manner of their fortification, with great
Trees and Flankers) ours leaving a Third for a reserve, without any
gradual approaches, presently ran up to their Work, and with their
Musquets possest as much advantage, as the Enemy (the Work being not
at all Lined) between whom for the Space of near Three quarters of an
hour was a stiff dispute, till some of ours with the help of Hatchets
(which they were ordered to carry) made a Breach and entred; as soon
as the Enemy saw that, they betook themselves to run over the Rocks,
leaping into the Sea, and shifting for themselves (though the Officers
endeavoured to rally them) yet made not such hast, but that they left
One hundred and twenty, or thereabouts dead on the place, and many
wounded, amongst whom were most of the Officers; _the Mastre del Campe
Don Francis De Prencia_, by means of a Prisoner of ours, whom he kept
by him, got quarter, and some others whom we found in the Rocks whom
(though we had received barbarous usage from them) we could not kill
in cold blood.

We took here Thirty-three barrels of Powder, with Match and Bullet
proportionable, and good Store of Bread and Salt, and likewise their
Musters, their Commissaries book; which Powder, and what we took
before from the Governour, within less than Two Barrels did ballance
the Commissaries Accompt, so that they were wholly deprived of that.
And that which did more indear our Success; we had onely Four men
killed, and about Ten wounded, some whereof I have sent home, and
humbly and earnestly desire they may be provided for.

After I had refresht the men, I put them aboard again, and with small
Parties in several little Boats, Scoured all the Coast, and left them
that fled neither Boats nor time to get away; since which time some
are come in to us almost starved. The _Negroes_ formerly their Slaves,
using them roughly, and denying them Provisions, so that I saw a
Letter from _Don Francis de Liva_, the Deputy-Governor, to one of his
former Slaves, wofully bemoaning the condition of his Majesties
Infantry, and giving him the title of Worship at every word; to such a
necessity are they reduced, and we have not been idle to pursue them
in all quarters, though we now lie still for want of Shooes, if there
should any more of the Enemy come, which we have reason to expect; for
that I find by Letters, that the Governour of _Cuba_ _Don Peter de
Bayona_ being an old Souldier in _Italy_, doth not onely heartilie
solicite it, but makes a great benefit by it, having received money
from the _Vice Roy_, for the payment of Three Moneths to the
Souldiers, according to their Kings express command, whereof they
never received any; and since that, hath received Twenty thousand
pieces of _Eight_ from the _Vice Roy_ for levying more men. I shall
not fail in my endeavours to prepare for their coming, and doubt not,
but that the King of Spains lessening his Garrisons, may in time
produce good effect to our Nation.

I have sent the _Mastre del Campe_, the Colours, some Paper and
Letters; he is the onely man hereabouts, and hath chiefly advised in
this relief, and therefore I hope shall not be released till we are
better settled. I had almost forgot to acquaint your Honour that the
enemy at their first coming, sent a Lieutenant and two more, to
scatter Papers amongst our Souldiers signifying that who would come to
them, should have fair quarter and transport; who being met withall by
some of our Hunters, were all kil’d, and so that hopefull design of
theirs had no effect: And that the Governour of _Porto Rico_, having
set One hundred men to demand some _English_, living in new _Turtola_,
a Coloney of the _Dutch_, being refused to have them delivered up, was
in his return cast away by the _Hericane_, one onely _Mulatto_
escaped. The King of Spains Affairs do very much fail in these parts,
and his Trade is almost brought to nothing, by the many private Men of
War of _English_ and _French_ and ours are still abroad to annoy them.

All I have more is, onely to intreat your Honour, and all our Friends
with us, to magnifie the goodness of God, who hath given yett by his
glimmering, some hopes, that he altogether hath not forgotten us, but
doth, and will at length continue to own his Servants, who trust in
him, and to subscribe myself,

Your most Obedient and
Faithfull Servant,
EDWARD DOYLEY.

_Cagway, Feb. 3, 1657._

In spite of the fact that Doyley felt aggrieved at having been twice
superseded by Cromwell in military command (by Sedgwick and by Brayne,
both avowed followers of Cromwell) and at not being appointed actual
governor, and showed his resentment by asking to be allowed to return
home, he loyally did his best for the infant colony which fate had more
than once entrusted to his care; and it was owing to the wise and prompt
methods he pursued that the last serious attempt made by the Spaniards
to retake Jamaica was frustrated.

In the May of 1658, Spanish reinforcements of troops from Spain,
consisting of thirty small companies making in all about one thousand
men, landed at the mouth of the =Rio Novo= in St. Mary, where they
erected a fort of some strength on a rocky eminence near the sea and not
far from the west bank of the river.

The account of the occurrence given by Long, which is relied on by later
historians, is taken from the letter which Doyley sent home; and it is
better, therefore, to give the description in Doyley’s own words, which,
though not printed in the “Calendar of State Papers,” are given by
Thurloe:

Right Honourable,

[Illustration:

RIO NOVO
]

The 8th of May last the Spaniards made good my intelligence to your
honour, by landing thirty captaines, thirty alferes, and thirty
companyes of foote, at a place called Rio Nova, in the north of this
island, who were there about 12 days, before they were discovered; at
which tyme our ships playing up and downe, saw three sayle of Spanish
in that bay, and made an attempt to have boarded them; but being
becalmed could not effect it. That night the Spaniards stole away, and
a ship came out to acquaint me therewith. I immediately called a
counsell of warr, as the affair did importune; and we debated, whether
it were most advantageous to assault them presently, or let them
partake of the distemper and want of the country; and when sickness
had weakened them, to attempt them then, though much might have beene
and was urged, how invaders were to be used with delayes, &c., the
exceeding desire of the officers and soldiers to be doing with them,
cut of all debates, and termed a sudden resolution to fall on them,
before they were fortified; so I comanded out 750 officers and
souldiers; and on the 11th of June last, wee set sayle from this
harbour towards them, and on the 22d in the morning wee attempted the
landing on a bay, which was defended by 2 companies and 2 captains
within half shott of their cannon playing from their fort. Our
forelorne went on with such gallantry, and kept into the water with so
much chearfullness, that perswaded the enemy they would not be denyed
entrance, and so they ranne, leaving one of their captaines and about
23 slaine; the other were took wounded, who dyed since. Then we made
all the hast, and in a hour landed our men, their cannon playing all
the while with little successe. That day we spent in playing upon
their fort from our ships, though the place being of so vast an
height, they could bear to doe them little harme. The next day
understanding their numbers to be more than ours, we were at a stand
how to attempt them, having fortified themselves and having 6 pieces
of ordnance, and a river to passe, the depth whereof we knew not.
Wherefore after our ladders were made, and other things fitted as well
as we could, in the evening I sent a drummer, partly to discover the
depth of the river he was to passe, with this summons:

Sir, being here with the forces of the mighty prince, the protector of
England and the dominions thereunto belonging, I doe, in his name and
for his use, require and summon you to deliver up the fort of Rio
Novo, with the ordnance and amunition therein; assuring you honourable
termes and transport to your country; which, if you shall refuse, I
shall be acquitted of the bloud shall be shed. I expect the returne of
my drummer in an hower, and am,

Your very humble servant,
E. D.

For Don Christopher Arnoldo Sasi,
Commander in chiefe of the Spanish Forces.

Who was very civilly treated; the generall gave him twenty-five pieces
of eight, and sent me a jarr of sweate meates, and this answere:

Lord generall don Christopher Arnoldo & Sasi, Governor for his
majestie the king of Spayne, my lord of the island of Jamaica,
answering to your letter, wherein you require me to deliver the fort
of Rio nova, and what else is therein, I say, that his majestie, whom
God preserve, hath appointed me for governor of this island, being his
owne property, and hath remitted me unto it a regiment of Spanish
infantry, and twenty foote companies to defend it. The forts and
castles of his majestie are not yielded with so much facility
hitherto. I have received noe batteries, nor have you made any
advance. I want noe powder, ball, provisions, nor gallant men, that
know how to dye before they be overcome. God keepe your honour many
years in those commands that you desire.

Don Christopher Sasi Arnoldo.

To the generall Mons. Doyley,
governor of the forces of England, these.

Wee made noe more demurrs, but resolved to march the morrow morning:
soe I ordered two of our vessels to set sayle leeward, to perswade
them. We intended to stand on that side of them; the other ships to
warpe as neere as they could, and play in them, while wee fell on the
other side. Wee marcht as so’on as it was light, haveing two arches to
goe being through a wood on the back side of them. About a quarter of
a mile from their fort wee mett a party on a worke on a high hill,
prepared to obstruct our goeing over the river, who onely gave us a
fruitless volley, rann to their fort, and told them all the world was
comeing. Wee clymed that hill with much adoe, refreshed our weariness
and advanced. When wee came in sight of their fort, we found, to our
exceeding joy, that the work on that side was not finished to that
height, as that to the leeward. Wee ordered our business with our
forlorne ladders and handgranades, and without any further dispute
received their shott, and rann up to their flankers, which in a
quarter of an hower wee gained. Many of them made shift to runn out of
the works, and ours followed their chase about three or four miles,
doeing execution. The seamen likewise seeing of them runn along the
rocks, came out with their boats, and killed many of them.

In this fort, wee took about ten double barrels of powder, shott great
store, six peices of ordnance, great store of provisions, wyne,
brandy, salt, oyle, and other provisions for eight months, as they
termed it. There was slayne about three hundred persons, diverse
captaines, two priests, and their serjeant-major, about one hundred
taken, and six captaines, which we have sent home; the king of Spayn’s
standard and ten collours. The rest, especially the strangers, that
are in the woods, must of necessity perish. Though this mercy was very
great, yet our joy had some abatement, by the losse of capt. Wiseman,
capt. Meers, capt. lieutenant Walker, capt. lieutenant Robinson, and
ensign Ferror, men for their gallantry rather to be admired than
comended, about some twenty-three private souldiers killed, and
thirty-fower wounded, whereof some are since dead; some other of our
officers slightly wounded with stones. Thus hath the Lord made knowne
his salvation. His righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of
the heathen. I have sent this short narration, because it comes by
colonell Barry, who was an eye witness, and principal actor herein,
and rest

Your honour’s faithful servant,
EDW. DOYLEY.

Cagway in Jamaica the 12 July, 1658.

To the Colonel Barry, the first name mentioned in the list of Doyley’s
first Council elected in 1661, reference has been made in the chapter
dealing with Kingston.

In this action we can imagine that the soldiers played their part.
William Burough, the steward-general, wrote home on July 15, 1659: “The
ships in his Highness’s service here are the _Marston Moor_, _Grantham_,
_Cagway_, _Blackmore_, _Hector_, _Pearl_ and _Dolphin_, with upwards of
650 men all in good health. Three were slain in their late expedition to
Rio Novo. Their stay aboard was near six weeks, the soldiers about 700,
who made a great hole in the stores.”

On the 16th he wrote:

This comes by the _Martin_ to communicate our good news which he
desires may be kept from the press well knowing the Commander-in-Chief
sends a fuller account. Several letters of private persons here have
been inserted in the weekly prints “which is judged to be popularity
and a matter of great offence here.” Has seen a great deal of bloody
work in his time both by land and sea, but never saw any action
carried on with so much cheerfulness as this was, the
Commander-in-Chief, Colonel D’Oyley, telling the soldiers that a great
deal of England’s glory lay at stake, and therefore hoped they would
consider it and carry themselves accordingly, going himself from party
to party, and following the rear of the forlorn in a very signal
habit. His gallant behaviour was answered both by officers and
soldiers with a silent cheerful obedience, and through God’s gracious
goodness there was found such a joint unanimous willingness to the
work that the truth is it was of God and it hath exceedingly endeared
us one to another since we came here.

Doyley evidently had difficulty in beating round Port Morant, for he
mentions incidentally (on another occasion) that the Nevis settlers
there quartered 400 men for a week _en route_.

Among those who took part in the expedition was Captain Sibada, who had
joined Penn’s fleet from Antigua, and acted as pilot of the flagship.

The army evidently had to do its work on short commons. Burough wrote
home in November: “Stores almost spent, occasioned by entertainment of
soldiers on board the fleets in two expeditions, one to Rio Nuevo with
700 men, equal to the number of the fleet for six weeks, and 300 men in
the late expedition to find out the Spanish fleet, ten weeks. If they
had not pinched the army the fleet and garrison on the island must have
been starved.”

Hickeringill tells us that Doyley at Rio Novo made amends for the loss
of British honour at Hispaniola:

to whom our Nation in some measures stands indebted for the Reprizal
of the Honour at Rio Novo which was so shamefully Lost under the
Debauch’d conduct of General Venables in Hispaniola: the Spaniards
till then having so mean and despicable Thoughts of English Courage,
that upon the Onset at Rio Novo they upbraided our Men with the
opprobrious mention of Sancto Domingo, till the repeated Assay of
their Valour, disicplin’d them into better manners.

For though the number of the Spanish Forces at Rio Novo doubled the
English (being sent from Cuba to reinforce and settle the Island) and
those strongly Entrenched, yet such was the enraged earnestness of the
Soldiery to redeem their wounded Honours, that (regardless of all odds
and disadvantages) they storm’d them in their Trenches with a
resolution as undaunted as the success was prosperous. Hereby not only
retrieving the Prestine Fame of their Country-men; but also hitherto
frustrating all hopes in the Spaniards of further Attempts to regain
the Island.

Sir Hans Sloane, in his account of his visit to the north side of
Jamaica in 1688, says: “I went from St. _Anns_ towards St. _Georges_,
where I crossed the river called _Rio Nuevo_. I saw the old _Spanish_
Fortifications, whither the Spaniards retreated and kept themselves till
they were carried to _Cuba_, where they, for the most part, settled
about a place called _St. Jago_. Colonel _Ballard_, who was present at
the taking of the Island, assured me that the _Spaniards_ (who inhabited
the Island to the number of Five thousand, with as many Blacks) retired
to the North-side, where Seven hundred fortified themselves very well,
but were beat in their Forts by so many _English_. The Governour was an
old decrepid Man, who was brought to them in an _Hamaca_, his name was
_Don Juan Ramires de Arellano Cavalero del Habito de S. Jago_. They held
it out in this North-side for some time.”

In the beginning of the year 1660, Long tells us, Doyley was informed by
the friendly negroes that his old opponent Sasi, unwilling to resign his
pretensions to the government so long as he could maintain the least
party or show of authority, was lying _perdu_ on the north side of the
island. Doyley ordered out a detachment under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Tyson, consisting of eighty officers and soldiers,
and twenty-one of the revolted Spanish blacks; which, after a tedious
march across the mountains, found Sasi in a swampy place, now part of
=Shaw Park=, with one hundred and thirty-three men. Sasi himself was
then old and infirm, but his second in command was an experienced
soldier, who had served in Spain and had engaged in this new service in
consideration of double pay, and a promise of succeeding to the chief
command after the governor’s death.

The English advanced upon them with intrepidity, and at the first onset
the Spanish lieutenant-general received a lance-wound, of which he died
in two hours. On the loss of this able leader, upon whom all their hopes
had been fixed, the whole of the little army was panic-stricken. Sasi
was one of the first to retreat, and “ran so nimbly as to save himself
from being taken.” Several, however, were made prisoners, and about
fifty officers and soldiers slain on the part of the Spaniards, without
any loss to the victorious side. The negroes were extremely active and
dexterous in catching the fugitives. Long goes on to say:

The unfortunate old Governor, being now reduced to the last extremity,
and studious only for the preservation of life, sent commissioners to
treat on his behalf; and was permitted to retire to Cuba.

After this exploit the English proceeded to Chereiras Bay, where a
vessel lay at anchor, which the Spaniards had formerly taken and
employed to bring them monthly supplies of provision from Cuba, such
as cassada-bread, sweet-meats, chocolate and other conveniences. The
better to secure her from being surprised they kept several scouts at
some distance from the shore, to reconnoitre the country, and give the
alarm upon the approach of any enemy. Colonel Tyson had intelligence
of this caution; and disposing his men on different ambuscades, found
means to secure all the scouts one after another; after which he
concerted his measures so well as to make himself master of the
vessel, on board of which he found twenty officers and soldiers, who
were all taken prisoners.

The few remaining Spaniards who had eluded the search of the English
forces, embraced the first convenient opportunity of making their
escape from the Island, leaving about thirty of their negro slaves
behind, who secreted themselves in the mountains and afterwards
entered into alliance with other unsubdued banditti.

It is to be regretted that Tyson, who acquitted himself so nobly on this
occasion, shortly afterwards gave occasion to Doyley to have him shot,
as has been described in the chapter dealing with St. Catherine.

In his account Bridges says that “The British troops pursued him [Sasi]
to a little bay about eight miles to the westward of the ruins of
Seville; thence he escaped in a Canoe and ended his days in the bosom of
peace and Christianity, by retiring to a monastery in Spain.” The spot
from whence he embarked still retains the name of =Runaway Bay=.

In Modyford’s “View” of 1664 there is no reference to St. Ann. It first
appears in the same governor’s “Survey” of 1670; the other new parishes
being St. George, St. Mary, St. Elizabeth and St. James.

The parish is said to have been named after Anne Hyde, wife of James
Duke of York. If Roby is right in this, the correct spelling of the name
of the parish would be St. Anne, as indeed Long and others spell it.

Not more than a mile to the west of St. Ann’s Bay is the site of the
first capital of the island, =Sevilla Nueva=, or “Sevilla d’Oro,” as it
was afterwards called. This town was founded by Juan d’Esquivel, the
first Spanish governor of Jamaica, he having been commissioned and sent
over by Diego Columbus (Christopher’s son), the hereditary viceroy of
the New World, to establish a colony there. Esquivel arrived in Jamaica
in November 1509, accompanied by a number of the viceroy’s friends.
“Bringing with them the refinements of taste and the means of displaying
it, they assisted in the foundation of Sevilla Nueva, whose fame long
attested its superiority over every other town which has since been
built here.” The town contained many buildings worthy of note, amongst
which were a monastery, a cathedral, a theatre and many palaces. Sevilla
did not long, however, continue the capital, having been abandoned for
St. Jago de la Vega. The reason for the change is not quite agreed upon;
some say that it was owing to the Spanish inhabitants of Sevilla having
in their wars with the natives been suddenly and entirely cut off, and
others assigned the desertion to “a visitation of innumerable ants” that
destroyed all the provision grounds of the people and compelled them to
find a home elsewhere. Bridges, however, attributes the abandonment to
the depredations of the French filibusters, and states that “the
northern coast of Jamaica afforded frequent spoils to this bold band of
corsairs.”

No property in Jamaica has perhaps been handed down in the same family
for so many years as =Cardiff Hall=. The first Blagrove to settle in
Jamaica was a regicide. Land in St. Ann was early taken up—about 1665;
and before the middle of the eighteenth century Cardiff Hall was a place
of note. The earliest patent of land to a Blagrove of which a record has
been discovered is to John Blagrove of 700 acres in St. James in 1689.
On Orange Valley, near to Cardiff Hall, in the possession of the same
owner, are the remains of a so-called Spanish residence; and, going
further back, on “big pasture” is a series of Arawâk kitchen-middens of
the usual type, from which a small modelled human head of greater
naturalistic treatment than is usually met with was excavated in April
1914. Other middens are near this series, indicating a thick population
in aboriginal times. It is conceivable that the residents were amongst
the first to welcome Columbus on his landing at Dry Harbour, a few miles
off. The present building of Cardiff Hall, which possesses more
architectural features than most houses in the colony, of which the fine
old mahogany staircase is not the least noticeable, probably dates from
the middle of the eighteenth century. It displays details of a
Renaissance character, such as a line of columns in the entrance hall, a
three-light window in what was evidently the drawing room upstairs, and
an ornamentation over the doorways dating from about the closing years
of the century. The hospital and other buildings are also of a character
superior to those usually met with. The first named has Corinthian
pilasters of considerable beauty. Guns, too, that formerly protected the
property from buccaneers, are still _in situ_. In front of the house is
a vaulted chamber, half dug out of the rock, which is said to have been
designed as a place of refuge in case of hurricane. It measures some 7
feet by 20 feet, and is 10 feet high, with walls some 2 feet thick. The
house attracted the attention of Hakewill, who included it in his
“Picturesque Tour” (1825), the drawings of which were made in 1820–1.

John Blagrove, who was proprietor shortly before Hakewill visited the
island, was born at Cardiff Hall, but was sent, like the majority of
planters’ sons in those days, at an early age to England. He received
his education at Eton, and afterwards passed a considerable time in
travelling. On his return to Jamaica he occasionally took an active part
in the discussions which occurred in the House of Assembly, to which he
was returned by his native parish, St. Ann, in 1787. The only member of
the family to sit in the Assembly before him was his father, Thomas
Blagrove, who had represented Hanover in 1755. He (Thomas Blagrove) died
in that year, when only 21 years of age, leaving a widow and one son. He
was buried at Maggotty.

During the Maroon war John Blagrove was most actively engaged, and
shared in its privations and dangers. He, Hakewill tells us, bestowed
the greatest attention to improvement of the breed of cattle on his
several pens. He imported into the island some of the best-bred horses
England ever produced, and his liberality and public spirit were
rewarded by the high price which his stock, particularly his horses,
always commanded. He was a successful competitor on many occasions for
the cup given at the races held in the parish of St. Ann; in fact, his
horses for the most part beat the whole field. The Blagrove stables were
successful in other races as well. On the flat land by Runaway Bay the
memory of the old private racecourses on which the horses were trained
is still preserved in the names of three pastures. In Palache’s “Jamaica
Stud Book” John Blagrove is recorded as having imported for racing
purposes Lurcher, a bay colt, bred in 1789, and Buzzard, imported in
1809. For many years previous to his decease John Blagrove was resident
in England. He died at Great Abshot, near Titchfield, in Hampshire, in
1824.

At this period, when the whole system of colonial slavery was being
severely criticized, Blagrove was always considered by his slaves as a
most kind and humane master. His will states:

And, lastly, to my loving people, denominated and recognized by Law
as, and being in fact my slaves in Jamaica, but more estimated and
considered by me and my family as tenants for life attached to the
soil, I bequeath a dollar for every man, woman and child, as a small
token of my regard for their faithful and affectionate service and
willing labours to myself and family, being reciprocally bound in one
general tie of master and servant in the prosperity of the land, from
which we draw our mutual comforts and subsistence in our several
relations (a tie and interest not practised on by the hired labourer
of the day in the United Kingdom), the contrary of which doctrine is
held only by the visionists of the puritanical order against the
common feeling of mankind.

Henry John Blagrove sat for St. Ann for a short time in the middle of
the nineteenth century. In the library of the Institute of Jamaica,
which inherited the library of the House of Assembly, is a series of
twenty-five bound volumes of the “St. Jago de la Vega Gazette,” ranging
from 1791 to 1840, “presented to the Library of the Hon. House of
Assembly of Jamaica by Henry John Blagrove, Esq. Representative in
Assembly for the Parish of St. Ann. 1851.” He soon afterwards left the
colony, never to return.

[Illustration:

CARDIFF HALL
]

The view by Hakewill is “taken from the great interior road, and
represents, seen through the pimento grove, the south or entrance front
of the house. On the right is the barbecue or plaister floor, on which
the pimento is spread out to dry. The excellence of the house, the
delightful variety of the grounds and the contiguity of the sea, render
Cardiff Hall one of the most desirable residences in the island of
Jamaica.”

A sketch of a photograph taken recently from the same point of view is
shown on this page.

Near the house is a private burial-ground with five tombs. Three are
unnamed; of the other two one is inscribed as follows:

Here lyeth the body of Thomas Williams, Esqr., who departed this life
the 7th of June, 1746, aged 66 years.

Here lyeth the body of Mary Williams, who departed this life on April
14, 1753, aged....

The arms are those of the Williams of Herringstone, county Dorset.
Argent a greyhound courant in fess between three Cornish choughs proper,
a border engrailed gules charged with crosses pattée or and bezants
alternately. Crest, a man’s arm couped at the elbow, habited sable
charged with a cross pattée or the hand proper holding an oak branch
vert, fructified gold. Neither the motto, _Nil Solidum_, nor the
tinctures are given. The second tomb is inscribed:

In the memory of Peter Blagrove, Esq., son of John Blagrove, Esquire,
and Ann, his wife. Born at Cardiff Hall in this parish, 21st May,
1789, and died there 10th August, 1812.

The wife’s name was Shakespeare.

The following account of this Peter Blagrove is taken from the “Jamaica
Magazine” for 1812.

At Orange-Valley Pen, in St. Arm’s, on the 9th inst., aged 24 years,
Peter Blagrove, Esq., third son of John Blagrove, of Cardiff Hall. In
spite of the best medical skill and experience, he fell on the eighth
day a victim to one of those insidious fevers so fatal to many young
men from Europe. Detained with an elder brother in France, which he
visited after the peace of 1802, for the purpose of gaining a
knowledge of mankind, he endured, for seven years, an exile from his
family and friends—which as it was inflicted on himself, and his
unoffending countrymen, during a profound peace, will continue to
stamp with infamy the despot and government that sanctioned it as long
as the laws of nature and nations shall be understood. Impelled by his
attachment to liberty and his country, he adopted the disguise of one
of the meanest of the French peasants to effect his escape; and with a
perseverance the most extraordinary, he encountered scenes and
hardships to which his earlier years were not accustomed. Unappalled
by the danger of the attempt such were the vigour of his mind and his
resources, amidst the hazard of hourly detection, that for many months
he eluded the vigilance of the most active police, employed by any
barbarian; and, having traversed the greater parts of France,
Switzerland and Germany he reached Trieste in safety, and soon after
repaired to his native country.

Amongst evil-doers mentioned in Jamaica history, Lewis Hutchinson of
=Edinburgh Castle= holds a high place. Some of the accounts of him are
based on that given by Bridges in his “Annals of Jamaica”; others, more
fantastical, on the imagination of their writers. But the following
account taken down in 1897 by Miss A. E. Cork, from her great-aunt Miss
Potenger, kindly contributed by the late Miss Robinson, of Trafalgar,
St. Ann, is based on better tradition, and is more likely to be correct.
Miss Cork is great-great-granddaughter of Dr. Hutton, mentioned in the
narrative.

“About the year 1768 there lived at Edinburgh Castle, in the Pedro
district of St. Ann, Jamaica, a desperado called Lewis Hutchinson. He
owned the property on which he lived, and was said to have been a man of
some education, but he was the terror of the neighbourhood, and it was
not infrequent for a white man to disappear mysteriously, and it would
then be said that Hutchinson had made away with him by shooting him as
he passed the ‘Castle,’ which was furnished with loopholes and
overlooked the road. But these stories were hard to verify, and such was
the unsettled and lawless state of the Island in those days that people
preferred to leave Hutchinson alone, rather than attempt to have him
arrested.

“A few miles from Edinburgh Castle was Hutton Bonvil, or Bonneville Pen,
as it is now called, which, with Lebanon Pen, adjoining, belonged to Dr.
Jonathan Hutton, an Englishman. Dr. Hutton was a retired naval doctor,
and also owned property in Lincolnshire, his native county. He spent his
time between England and Jamaica, sometimes remaining in the latter
place a year or two at a time.

“During one of these visits he got into a dispute with the redoubtable
Hutchinson about a boundary-line between their properties, Hutchinson
claiming some portion of land which Dr. Hutton asserted was his own.
This caused great bitterness of feeling on Hutchinson’s part towards Dr.
Hutton; and one evening as the doctor, who was colonel of militia for
the parish of St. Ann, was riding home from muster at Moneague with his
black servant man following on foot, carrying his sabre and other
accoutrements, Hutchinson overtook the man and took away the sabre from
him, saying, ‘You can give my compliments to Dr. Hutton and tell him I
have got his sabre.’ Dr. Hutton appeared to have taken no notice of
this. Some months later Dr. Hutton made arrangements to go to England.
His wife and one of his children—a little girl of about eight years of
age—were in Jamaica with him, and Mrs. Hutton went to the adjoining
parish of Clarendon on a visit, intending to meet her husband in
Kingston, and return with him to England. The little girl, Mary Hutton,
was left with her father at Bonneville; and Dr. Hutton set out one
morning on horseback on his journey to Kingston, little Mary being
carried by one of his servants in attendance before him on horseback.

“Dr. Hutton intended to pursue the route now usually taken from Pedro
through Moneague and St. Thomas-ye-Vale to Spanish Town, and on to
Kingston; with this exception that the public road from Pedro to
Moneague in those days lay across the hill from Grier Park, where they
were met by Hutchinson and a following of his slaves. He rode up to Dr.
Hutton, who was unarmed, and attacked him fiercely, the weapon he used
being Dr. Hutton’s own sabre which he had stolen. He struck the doctor
such a severe blow on the head with this sabre that the latter fell
senseless from his horse. Hutchinson made off with his servants, and Dr.
Hutton’s terrified servants carried him back to Bonneville, where he
stayed for a few days until he partially recovered, when, without
venturing to travel by the same road he had at first intended to take,
his servants took him across the hills to join his wife in Clarendon and
they and their little girl went on to Kingston together. Dr. Hutton laid
information there about Hutchinson; but as he was unable through the
cruel blow he had received to remain in the Island to prosecute the
matter, no steps appeared to have been taken. Dr. Hutton proceeded to
England still suffering much from the wound in his head, and when he got
there had to undergo the operation of trepanning, and wore a silver
plate in his head until the day of his death. Dr. Hutton remained in
England for about a year or more, and on his return to Jamaica tried to
get Hutchinson arrested; but such was the terror he inspired, that the
doctor found it hard to get anyone to take the warrant. At last a white
soldier named Callender agreed to go, and with some others proceeded to
Edinburgh Castle. As soon as Hutchinson found what was their errand, he
fired at Callender and shot him dead on the spot. The others fled, and
Hutchinson was again left unmolested for a short while. But this crime
committed before white witnesses could never be passed over, and a
strong body was sent to arrest him for the murder of Callender. He was
overpowered and taken to Spanish Town jail. The castle was searched and
forty-three watches were said to have been found there, besides
quantities of clothing and many other articles, showing that Hutchinson
had committed most, if not all, of the murders with which he was
popularly credited. His unfortunate slaves, to whom, as may be supposed,
he had been friendly, came now gladly and told all that they knew about
his proceedings, and showed what he used to do with the bodies of his
victims, which had hitherto been a puzzle.

“Not far from Edinburgh Castle House, in a small wood, was a sink-hole
with a large mouth and supposed to be bottomless. To this sink-hole the
bodies of Hutchinson’s victims were carried by the slaves on a plank in
the dead of night, and one edge being placed at the edge of the hole,
the other was raised and the body shot down never to be seen again by
human eyes. Many of his victims were persons against whom he had no
grudge, and murder was evidently a mania with the wretched man.
Edinburgh Castle overlooked the road, and it was Hutchinson’s playful
little practice to stand at one of the loopholes and fire at any
solitary white traveller who might be passing. As he was a dead shot
they never lived to tell the tale. His negroes would then bring the body
to the house, where after being rifled of whatever valuables might be on
it, it was kept until night and then disposed of in the manner already
stated. It was said by these slaves that once a young man—a stranger to
his reputation—being ill in the road, called up and asked for
hospitality, which was at once accorded to him; Hutchinson showing him
every kindness and administering remedies kept him for some time until
the young man was able to proceed on his journey. Hutchinson then took
his station at his loophole, and as the young man turned into the road,
shot him dead and disposed of his body as usual. Many such tales were
related by the slaves, but a coloured person’s evidence was not admitted
in those days; and so Hutchinson was tried, convicted and hanged for the
murder of Callender only.

“This story of Hutchinson and his crimes and connections has been
variously told. In Mr. Bridges’ ‘Annals of Jamaica,’ another version
will be found. This was owing to Mr. Bridges having sent for an old
Bonneville slave and obtaining from him the story as it was current
among slaves. But as I have told it, I think it is fairly correct,
allowing for the lapse of years. The little Mary Hutton—who was an
eye-witness of Hutchinson’s attack on her father, married in England,
and was Mrs. Potenger—lived afterwards at Bonneville for many years. One
of her daughters was my grandmother, and from my late great-aunt, Miss
Elizabeth Potenger, another of her daughters, I have often heard the
story related to her by her mother.

“ANNIE E. CORK.
“Great-great-grand-daughter of Dr. Hutton.

“_December 1897._”

George Wilson Bridges was rector of St. Ann from 1823 till 1837, when,
on losing four daughters by a boating accident in St. Ann’s Bay, he left
Jamaica never to return. In his story he appears to have confused
Callender with Dr. Hutton, and makes him manager of a neighbouring
property. The statement in the account given above, that Hutchinson was
“overpowered and taken to Spanish Town jail” is incorrect. Hutchinson,
when he saw that the authorities were determined to arrest him, escaped
south to Old Harbour and put out to sea in an open boat, where he was
captured by one of Rodney’s officers, acting under his directions. He
was hanged in Spanish Town on March 16, 1773.

Bridges states that Hutchinson left a hundred pounds to erect a monument
to his memory, and that he (Bridges) saw the following autograph
writing:

Lewis Hutchinson—hanged in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on the sixteenth
morning of March, in the year of _his_ Lord one thousand seven hundred
and seventy-three.—Aged forty years.

Their sentence, pride, and malice, I defy;
Despise their power, and, like a Roman, die.

Of his life little is known. In the St. Ann Vestry Records (February 5,
1768) his name appears on the jury list for the parish. In 1771 he was
called upon to supply slave labour for mending the road passing
Edinburgh Castle to Pedro River. In 1773 the “Estate of Lewis
Hutchinson” was returned at twenty-four slaves and ninety-three head of
stock; but it does not appear whether he had heirs or whether it went to
the Government.

On December 2, 1773, the House of Assembly resolved: “That the thanks of
the House be given to Sir George Brydges Rodney, baronet, rear-admiral
of Great Britain, vice-admiral of the red, and commander-in-chief of His
Majesty’s squadron on this station, for the essential service rendered
to this Island by his ready and effectual assistance of the civil power,
at the instance of his Majesty’s Attorney-General, in apprehending Lewis
Hutchinson, since executed for murder, and that Mr. Speaker do transmit
the same to the Admiral, in the most acceptable manner.”

And it was further resolved: “That as a testimony of the approbation of
the House, respecting the behaviour of Mr. George Turnbull (an officer
in his Majesty’s Navy, employed by the Admiral to take and secure the
said Lewis Hutchinson), and of the spirit and address with which he
executed that charge, the Receiver-General to pay to the said Mr. George
Turnbull, or his order, the sum of £50 sterling, to be laid out in the
purchase of a gold-hilted sword; and this or any future assembly will
make the same good; and that the admiral be desired to signify, to the
proper department of state, the sense the House entertains of Mr.
Turnbull’s merit on that occasion.” An account—basing his undoing on a
quarrel with a neighbour named Callender over a jackass—is given in the
“Columbian Magazine” for June 1797, published in Kingston.

The ruins of Edinburgh Castle still stand on a rising piece of ground
near the main road, which it commands, running from St. Ann’s Bay to the
south side of the island. It was a small two-storeyed rectangular
building with two loopholed towers, circular in plan, at diagonally
opposite corners. A doorway was at one side of the front angle, and
another at the side to the east near the front tower. There are
evidences of there having been a fireplace on each story of the front
tower, and of a series of spiral steps in the back tower. The adjacent
ruins to the west are said to mark the site of the slave quarters.

Mr. R. F. Perkins, who went down the sink-hole some years ago, wrote as
follows:

“Sir Henry Blake with two or three others, I among the number, went down
it. It is 265 feet deep from its edge to the point where a stone dropped
down would first strike, and it slopes down for another ten feet or so,
where it stops. The ground around the top of the hole slopes rapidly
down to its edge, and the bottom is wider than the top; the sides of the
hole are of nearly vertical rock.

“All this refers to the hole known as ‘Hutchinson’s Hole,’ which local
tradition connects with the murderer. Hundreds of people have visited
the place and rolled down stones, so it is possible that any remains
might well have been covered. We did not find a vestige of anything
connected with the atrocities. From more recent investigations I believe
that ‘Hutchinson’s Hole’ is not the hole at all. It is about a quarter
of a mile away from the castle, to the south; and there is another far
less formidable one quite close, that, I should not be surprised to
find, has some hidden entrance from the castle.”

Sir Henry Blake wrote as follows:

I had, of course, heard the accounts of the various murders committed
by the notorious Hutchinson, and I determined to ascertain the depth
and details of the cave, which is in limestone formation, and to see
if any remains of bones, arms, &c., could be found.... On July 22,
1895, I was lowered to the bottom and examined the cave, or “Swallow
Hole,” carefully. The opening at the surface was 15 feet by 8 feet.
The cave was, in shape, somewhat like a champagne bottle, 270 feet
deep, and 70 feet by 50 feet at the bottom, which was formed by a
level mass of stones of all sizes. There were no bones to be seen; but
remembering the time that has elapsed since the notorious Hutchinson
held the country in terror, bones, if any, may well have been covered
to a considerable depth by the stones flung down by curious visitors,
and the stones and rubbish from the adjacent fields flung into the pit
by the inhabitants.

The old tavern at =Moneague=, which was represented by Duperly in 1844,
has been succeeded by the Moneague hotel. A reference to the early
taverns of Jamaica will be found in the Introduction.

As we have seen in the Introduction, in the eighteenth century there
were many forts around the coast of Jamaica, as protection against
privateers. St. Ann had her fair share of such forts, of which remains
still exist. There was one at =Mammee Bay=, two miles east of St. Ann’s
Bay, where the St. Ann volunteers repelled an attack by pirates in 1795;
another between Roaring River bridge and =Ocho Rios=, close to the main
road, dating from the eighteenth century; two at =St. Ann’s Bay=—one,
erected in 1777, now used as a slaughter-house; =Windsor Fort=, erected
in 1803; and Dry Harbour, existing in 1777. In 1737 an Act was passed to
enable the inhabitants of the parish of St. Ann to build a barrack at or
near the head of the Rio Bueno, which divides the parish of St. Ann from
the parish of St. James. Other places of historic interest in the parish
are: =Priory=, nine miles west of St. Ann’s Bay, where are the ruins of
an old church, the oldest tomb being dated 1750; best known during the
incumbency of Bridges the historian, who resided at one time at
=Tydenham=, which was purchased by the vestry as a rectory in 1817. At
=Dixon Pen=, in the Pedro district, there are remains of a very old
building said to have been the residence of a Spanish governor of the
island. At =Green Park=, near Claremont, is said to be the house
mentioned in Scott’s “Cruise of the Midge.”

At =Geddes=, about five miles from Claremont, there is a curious slave
punishment cell, with holes in one wall, through which it is possible
the hands of the prisoner were fastened.

[Illustration:

MONEAGUE TAVERN IN 1844

From a daguerreotype by Adolphe Duperley
]

At =Rio Hoe=, properly Rio Hoja, two miles south-east from Moneague, was
the last settlement of the Spaniards prior to their departure from the
Island. At =York Castle=, in the Pedro district, was held from 1576 to
1900 the Wesleyan High School for boys, which during that period
contributed eight of the Jamaica scholars. The =Dry Harbour Caves=, on
Hopewell and Cardiff Hall, are about a mile and a half from the village
of Dry Harbour. They inspired a poem entitled, “The Grotto of
Melancholy,” in “A Short Journey in the West Indies,” published in 1790.
=Moseley Hall Cave=, on Guy’s Hill, on the border of St. Mary and St.
Ann, has fine stalactites, which were much visited in former times.
=Llandovery Falls= are natural waterfalls on the Llandovery; a view of
them is reproduced on one issue of the Jamaica penny postage stamps.

[Illustration:

PUNISHMENT CELL, GEDDES
]

=Metcalfe Ville= is named after Sir Charles Metcalfe, mention of whom
has been made in the chapter on Kingston.

=Walton=, near Moneague—where a lake appears at intervals after very
heavy rains, is the site of an old military barracks, also the original
site of the Jamaica High School, now the Jamaica College at Hope, in St.
Andrew. Here also is a lake which appears at intervals after very heavy
rains.

Charles Drax, by will dated 1721, directed

that a charity school should be established in the said parish of St.
Ann for maintaining and educating eight poor boys and four poor girls
belonging to the said parish as well as for other charitable purposes:
And, as an endowment to the said charity, the testator made subject
and liable all that his estate in the said parish of St. Ann, called
Shelton; and if that estate be found insufficient, his will was, that
all his, the testator’s, other estates should be made liable for the
deficiency.

It appears from the report that William Beckford, the well-known author
of “Vathek,” had obtained possession of Drax Hall, the principal
property, in a manner “that excited the indignation of every honest man
who became acquainted with the transaction.”

Protracted legal proceedings resulted in Beckford having to disgorge
£5200. A free school, commenced by the vestry of St. Ann in the old
court house in that parish in 1795, was in 1802 by an Act of the
legislature (43 George 3, c. 32) endowed with the sum obtained from the
Drax bequest and called Drax’s Free School; and trustees, consisting of
the president of the Council, the speaker of the Assembly, and
representatives of St. Ann, were appointed. In 1806 the trustees of this
school purchased Walton, the buildings on which had originally been
erected as barracks. In 1807 they expressed their willingness to
surrender their charge for the public good, and new trustees (embodying
many of the old members) were appointed (by 48 George 3, c. 25), and the
name of the school was changed to the Jamaica Free School. At its
formation the school was thrown open to the island, ten nominations to
the school being reserved for the parish of St. Ann in view of the
bequest, and thirteen being for the other parishes on the nomination of
the Governor, this privilege being transferred by Sir John Peter Grant
in later days to the custodes of the thirteen parishes; and on the
school being removed and merged into the Jamaica High School, which was
opened in the newly constructed buildings at Hope in 1885, after a short
sojourn in Barbican great house hard by, the same course was followed,
the thirteen open scholarships being awarded by the Jamaica Schools
Commission, as the trustees and board of management of the College.

The old Jamaica Free School, like other schools in the island at that
period, was somewhat overweighted by trustees, consisting as they did of
the Governor, the president and members of the Council, the speaker and
members of the Assembly, the chief justice, the Attorney-general and
others. In the case of the Jamaica Free School their duties were not
onerous. The law enforced their meeting only “once in every year, during
the annual session of the Legislature of this Island, in the town of
Saint Jago de la Vega, for the purpose of examining into the state of
the said free-school, &c.”

When Bridges wrote his Annals, he said of it:

The total income of the establishment is now about £1700 per annum,
which educates, maintains and clothes ten boys, nominated by the
parish, and six named by the Governor. In the session of 1825, a grant
of £1500 displayed the liberal desire of the public to extend the
means of instruction, and dissemination of Christianity, by the
addition of a chapel to the establishment. The master’s salary is
£300; and he is allowed to appoint an under-master with £150 per
annum. Under the management of the late master, the establishment rose
to be the first in the Island; public examinations took place twice a
year; and besides the objects of the foundation, thirty-one boys were
educated there at £70 per annum each. The present master is permitted
to hold the curacy of the parish; but the chapel being thirty miles
distant, he is under an engagement to the Trustees, not to quit the
school, but to pay half the salary of his cure to an officiating
curate.

It is a curious record, that the estate of Drax Hall still remains
charged with the sum of £500, payable to the same fund, whenever the
old Spanish Abbey at Seville d’Oro shall be rebuilt.

In the Wesleyan church, Brown’s Town, are two recently erected memorials
to the Rev. W.C. Murray, D.D. (d. 1909), for fifty-one years a minister,
and for eighteen years Governor of York Castle, which school, while it
existed, did much for secondary education in Jamaica—in the church a
mural tablet, in the churchyard an obelisk of granite.

IX
TRELAWNY

The parish of Trelawny derives its name from Sir William Trelawny, the
Governor, who died in Jamaica in 1772. It was taken out of part of St.
James in 1770.

=Falmouth= was a town of considerable importance, and is more regularly
laid out than any other town in the island, except Kingston. The court
house, a building erected in the days of Jamaica’s extravagance, is
lofty and spacious and affords accommodation for nearly all the
parochial officers. It contains full-length portraits of General Sir
John Keane, lieutenant-governor from 1827 to 1829, and of Sir Charles
Theophilus Metcalfe, Governor in 1839–42, the former being a replica of
the portrait by Sir Martin Archer Shee in the possession of the family.
The =Parish Church= contains monuments to John Hodges, who died in 1787,
and James Blake (d. 1753), and to James Stewart (b. 1762, d. 1828),
custos of Trelawny, and member of the Assembly for the parish from 1794
to 1822, and from 1826 till his death. The spacious Baptist chapel was
erected under the auspices of William Knibb.

=Martha Brae=, one and a half miles inland from Falmouth, is supposed by
some to have been the site of the old Spanish settlement of Melilla
(which, however, was probably in St. James), which was abandoned soon
after its establishment owing to the depredations of the French
filibusters. “The secret gold mine” of the Spaniards is said to be in
the neighbourhood of Martha Brae. The origin of the name has puzzled
antiquaries, but Mr. G. F. Judah a few years ago discovered it in Rio
Matibereon recorded in a patent of the year 1674. In the map in “The
Laws of Jamaica” of 1683 the Para Mater Tiberen Rio is marked where the
Martha Brae now flows.

=Bryan Castle=, where Bryan Edwards’s “History of the British West
Indies” was written, was, together with the neighbouring estate of
Brampton (now called Brampton Bryan), acquired by him from Zachary Bayly
in or before 1792. It is within three miles of the port of Rio Bueno. It
afterwards became by purchase the property of Alexander Donaldson, whose
estate went into bankruptcy, and is now in the possession of the heirs
of Mr. A. W. Gordon. A view of the great house is given in James
Hakewill’s “Picturesque Tour of the Island of Jamaica” (London, 1825),
the most artistic work ever published on the island. In 1825 the
property contained 1402 acres of land, 300 of which were in sugar-canes,
600 in pasture and pimento, and the remainder was occupied by negroes
and their provision grounds. The crops had then averaged during the
previous twelve years 300 hogsheads of sugar, with the usual proportion
of rum, and, in good seasons, 300 bags of pimento. There were employed
165 estate negroes, with the addition of extra labour.

[Illustration:

BRYAN CASTLE
]

The great house is a typical Jamaica house of the period, solidly built,
but without any pretensions to architectural beauty, and surrounded on
all four sides by the usual verandah. When Hakewill wrote, Edwards’s
books and furniture were still preserved in his study upstairs, where he
compiled his history. His writing-table is now all that remains. From
the only window of the room that was his study an extensive view is
obtained across the Bryan Castle works and cane-fields in the
foreground, and more cane-fields and woodlands in the distance, to the
open sea in the neighbourhood of Falmouth.

Bryan Edwards, the son of a gentleman of Westbury in Wiltshire, who
tried not very successfully to add to his patrimony by dealing in corn
and malt, was born at Westbury in 1743. On his father’s death in 1756,
his widowed mother, who had great difficulty in maintaining her six
children, was taken under the protection of the elder of her two
brothers, Zachary Bayly, a liberal-minded man of considerable wealth,
custos of St. Mary and St. George, and a member of the Council, who had
come to Jamaica from Westbury. After acquiring some education and a love
of letters at two schools in Bristol, and after spending a few months
with his younger uncle, Nathaniel Bayly, with whom he disagreed, young
Bryan was in 1759 sent out to his uncle, Zachary Bayly. The epitaph on
the monument of the uncle in Halfway-Tree church is from the pen of the
nephew. In Jamaica Edwards resided under the care of his “great and good
uncle,” continuing his studies under the Rev. Isaac Teale, who was
specially engaged by his uncle for this purpose—the T—— of Edwards’s
“Poems.” They evidently lived on one of Zachary Bayly’s properties in
St. Mary, on the banks of the Agua Alta (Wag Water); and the chief
outcome of the instruction seems to have been a love for literature, and
a propensity for writing poetry. In his “Elegy on the Death of a Friend”
Edwards says:

Enamour’d echo bade each mountain hear,
And pleas’d Agualta smoother flow’d along.

Oft round thy banks, sweet stream (now sacred made)
Together we explor’d the classic page.

Teale, who died in 1794, was at his own request buried on its banks.

In 1769, Edwards was left heir in tail male to his uncle’s properties,
and four years later he acquired by bequest the great possessions of
Benjamin Hume, of Jamaica, a friend of his uncle’s, and became a
merchant. Hume, it may be mentioned, had been removed from the post of
receiver-general on its being proved that he had embezzled upwards of
£20,000 of public money. In 1765 Edwards had been elected a member of
the House of Assembly for the parish of St. George, now merged in
Portland. In February 1770 he resigned his seat on the plea that his
ill-health necessitated a change of climate, but he apparently did not
leave the island, and in December 1771 he was again elected for St.
George, but in 1772 he was called up to a seat in the Council. As a
member of the Assembly he attacked the restrictions placed by the
British Government on trade between Jamaica and the United States.

In 1782 he returned to England, where he tried, without success, to
enter Parliament as member for Chichester against the Duke of Richmond’s
nominee, losing by eight votes only. In 1787 he came out again to
Jamaica, and in the Assembly which first met in the October of that year
he sat as member for Trelawny. In 1788 he received in his place the
unanimous thanks of the House for his reports on the slave trade.

Soon after the revolt of the negroes in 1791 he paid a short visit to
San Domingo, in the welfare of which island he took a deep interest,
endeavouring to obtain for it a loan from Jamaica. This was recommended
by a Committee of the Assembly; but the matter met with public
opposition, and the loan did not pass the House. In a long letter from
his pen which appeared in the “Royal Gazette,” April 21, 1792, he says:

For myself, I propose shortly to quit the island, and probably shall
never return to it; but my wishes for its happiness, freedom and
prosperity shall never be suppressed, so long as I have life and
recollection. I have exerted myself in its service for the last five
years with unabating zeal and perseverance, and, I hope, on some
occasions, with success.

In 1793 his seat in the Assembly was declared vacant, he having gone to
England the previous year.

While in the Assembly he was often called upon to assist in drawing up
addresses and reports, and he now and then acted as chairman of
committees.

In England he settled permanently at Southampton as a West Indian
merchant and banker. After contesting Southampton in vain in 1794, he
was in 1796 elected M.P. for Grampound. He supported the slave trade
with certain restrictions, and was admitted by Wilberforce to be a
powerful opponent to abolition. He was, however, not unmindful of the
great hardships done in Africa, and he had stated in Jamaica “that if
all the nations of Europe would concur in a determination to relinquish
the slave trade altogether, it ought to be relinquished.”

In 1797 he succeeded Sir Joseph Banks as secretary of the Association
for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa, and he
edited some of Mungo Park’s contributions to its Proceedings. He died at
his residence in the Polygon at Southampton, in July 1800. He was buried
in the catacombs of the church, but there is no recording tablet. His
wife, whom he married in 1774, was Martha, daughter of Thomas Phipps, of
Westbury. His vast wealth was inherited by his only surviving son,
Zachary Hume Edwards, who was not of age when his father died; but he
died on board the _Montague_ packet on his passage from Jamaica to
England in 1812. An elder son had died at Winchester College in his
seventeenth year, in 1794, of a “nervous malignant fever.”

Bryan Edwards’s elder brother, Nathaniel Bayly Edwards, died in 1771,
aged 19, and lies buried at Halfway Tree; his younger brother, Zachary
Bayly Edwards, of Dove Hall, Jamaica, was member of the Assembly for St.
Andrew in 1785–90. He married Catherine, daughter of Rowland
Otto-Baijer, of Antigua and Ffarleigh Castle, Somerset, England. Their
son was Sir Bryan Edwards, chief justice of Jamaica from 1855 to 1869,
and their daughter Eliza married her cousin Samuel Otto-Baijer, a member
of the Council of Antigua. A genealogical table of the Edwards family
will be found in Mr. Oliver’s “History of the Island of Antigua.” What
relation to the historian the Bryan Edwards, special stipendiary
magistrate for the parish of Westmoreland, who died in 1835, aged 29,
was, it is difficult to say. He could not have been a son of his brother
Nathaniel Bayly Edwards (who died at Cheltenham in September 1800). He
may have been a son of his cousin William mentioned below. We know that
the historian was one of a family of six, and that he had two brothers;
whether the remaining two were brothers or sisters is not recorded; but
it would seem from his will that he left but one brother, who only
survived him two months.

That Bryan Edwards was, to some extent at all events, a patron of the
arts, is evident from the following extract from the second codicil to
his will:

I give and devise to my wife, Martha Edwards ... the full length
portrait of herself, drawn by Pine,[12] now in my drawing-room in
London, if she thinks proper to accept it. I give and devise to my
brother the portraits of my mother and brother, Nathaniel McHume; and
my own portrait now in London and any six other pictures in my
collection which he may make choice of.

Footnote 12:

Robert Edge Pine, the painter of the picture of Rodney in the
Institute of Jamaica.

One wonders whether the fact that Edwards had employed Pine to paint his
wife’s portrait had any influence in the purchase by the people of
Kingston of that artist’s celebrated portrait of Rodney on board the
_Formidable_.

In an obituary notice of him, a writer in the “Gentleman’s Magazine”
said: “He exercised his literary talents in a memorable way in Jamaica;
for, by the strokes of his pen, he drove Peter Pindar from the Island,
and the bitter satirist never dared to attack his character while he
remained in this country.”

The first time Wolcot left Jamaica it was in order to take Holy Orders,
so that he might be presented to a living in Jamaica by his kinsman the
governor, Sir William Trelawny; the second time he left—never to
return—it was to accompany Lady Trelawny, his patron’s widow, to whom he
was deeply attached. Moreover, Edwards never in his writings, at all
events, gave evidence of satire equal to Wolcot’s; and the latter, one
would think, was too pachydermatous to be driven anywhere by anybody
against his will.

Four later members of the Edwards family have also been famous. Sir
Bryan Edwards, chief justice of Jamaica, died in December 1876. Dr.
William Frédéric Edwards, who was born in Jamaica in 1776, was the son
of a rich English planter—William Edwards by name (a cousin of
Bryan)—who afterwards settled at Bruges, where the younger William was
educated. In early life he became a Frenchman, and won for himself much
fame as a physiologist, dying at Versailles in 1842. William’s younger
brother, Henri Milne Edwards (born at Bruges in 1800 and died in 1885),
the zoologist, and Henri’s son, Alphonse Milne Edwards (born in Paris in
1835 and died in 1900), successively held the post of professor of
zoology at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

In 1793 Bryan Edwards published in London, in two quarto volumes, “The
History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West
Indies,” with plates and maps, which has remained the standard work on
its subject—the history of the British West Indies till the close of the
last century—till to-day. A third volume was added in 1801.

He evidently took much pains to collect all the trustworthy information
available, especially about current affairs. But he wrote more as a
politician than as an historian, and the chief value of the work lies in
the large amount of light it throws on the condition of affairs in the
West Indies at his time. The arrangement, it must be admitted, leaves a
good deal to be desired; and it partakes rather of a collection of
essays and articles than of a connected history, and is sadly in need of
editing; but the nature of the subject makes it difficult to treat it as
a whole while at the same time going into details. Edwards himself only
visited San Domingo, and the information about the British islands other
than Jamaica is scanty. For instance, Barbados is dismissed in
thirty-five pages.

The fifth edition was published in London in 1819, many years after the
author’s death. It contains (as did the third and fourth editions) a
“prefatory advertisement” by his friend and collaborator, Sir William
Young, Governor of Tobago, and a brief “sketch of the life of the
author, written by himself a short time before his death.” It also
contains descriptions of colonies ceded after Edwards’s death, a
“History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade,” and later particulars of
the West Indies generally, which would have been more useful had they
been put in their several places in the work, instead of at the end.

The following is a list of Bryan Edwards’s publications:

1. (_a_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. In two volumes. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., of the Island
of Jamaica. _London_, 1793. 4to. [With plates and preface to 2nd
edition added afterwards.]

(_b_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. In two volumes. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., of the Island
of Jamaica. _Dublin_, 1793. 8vo.

(_c_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. In two volumes. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., of the Island
of Jamaica, F.R.S., S.A., and Member of the American Philosophical
Society at Philadelphia. The second edition, illustrated with maps.
_London_, 1794. 4to.

(_d_) List of Maps and Plates for the History, Civil and Commercial,
of the British Colonies in the West Indies. In two volumes. By Bryan
Edwards, Esq., of the Island of Jamaica, F.R.S., S.A., and Member of
the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. _London_, 1794.
4to. [Issued in order that owners of the 1st edition might add to
their copies the map and plates included in the 2nd edition.]

(_e_) An Abridgment of Mr. Edwards’ Civil and Commercial History of
the British West Indies. In two volumes. _London_, 1794. 8vo.

(_f_) Beschreibung der Brittischen Kolonien in Westindien. [Translated
from the English of Bryan Edwards by Matthias Christian Sprengel in
“Auswahl der basten ausländischen geographischen und statistischen
Nachrichten zur Aufklärung der Volker und Länderkunde.” _Halle_,
1794–1800. 8vo.]

(_g_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies: To which is added a Survey of the French Colony in
the Island of St. Domingo. Abridged from the History written by Bryan
Edwards, Esq. Illustrated with a map. _London_, 1798. Small 4to.

(_h_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. To which is added an Historical Survey of the French
Colony in the Island of St. Domingo. Abridged from the History written
by Bryan Edwards, Esq. Illustrated with a map. _London_, 1799. Small
4to.

(_i_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. Vol. 3. Edited by Sir William Young. [Issued to be
added to the two volumes of the 1st edition of 1793.] _London_, 1801.
4to.

(_j_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., F.R.S., S.A. In three
volumes. Third edition, with considerable additions. Illustrated with
Plates. _London_, 1901. [With “Prefatory Advertisement,” by Sir
William Young, Bart.; a brief “Sketch of the Life of the Author,
written by himself a short time before his death”; and “A Tour through
the several Islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and
Grenada, in the years 1791 and 1792.” By Sir William Young, Bart.,
M.P., F.R.S., &c.] 8vo.

(_k_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in
the West Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., F.R.S., S.A. Fourth edition,
with considerable additions. Illustrated with Plates. In three
Volumes. _London_, 1807. [With “Prefatory Advertisement” by Sir
William Young, Bart., and a brief “Sketch of the Life of the Author,
written by himself a short time before his death.”] 8vo.

(_l_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British in the West
Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., F.R.S., S.A. Illustrated by an Atlas
and embellished with a portrait of the Author. To which is added a
general description of the Bahama Islands by Daniel M’Kinnen, Esq. In
four Volumes. _Philadelphia_, 1805–6. 8vo.

(_m_) Another edition. 4 Vols. _Baltimore_, 1810.

(_n_) Another edition. 4 Vols, and Atlas. _Philadelphia_, 1810.

(_o_) The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British West Indies.
By Bryan Edwards, Esq., F.R.S., S.A. With a continuation to the
present time. Fifth edition, with Maps and Plates. In five Volumes.
_London_, 1819. Five Volumes of Text, 8vo, and one Volume of Plates,
4to. The title-page of the plate is as follows: “History of the
British West Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., F.R.S., S.A. With a
continuation to the present time. Illustrated by Maps and Plates. In
four Volumes. _London._ Printed for the Proprietors, 1818.”

(_p_) Burgerlyke en Handelkundige Geschiedenis van de Englische
Volkplantingen in de West-Indiën. Door Bryan Edwards, Schildkn. Uit
het Engelsch. _Haarlem_, 1794–99. 6 Vols. 8vo.

(_q_) Extracto do livro quinto da Historia Civil e Commercial das
colonias occidentales Inglezias, por Bryan Edwards. [Translated by
José Mariano la Conceicao Velloso in “O. Fazendeiro do Brazil.”]
_Lisbon_, 1798. 8vo.

(_r_) Histoire civile et commerciale des Colonies Anglaises dans les
Indies occidentales: depuis leur découverte par Christophe Colomb
jusqu’a nos jours; suivie d’un Tableau historique et politique de
l’ile de Saint-Domingue avant et depuis la revolution française;
traduit de l’anglais de Bryan Edouard (_sic_), par le traducteur des
Voyages d’Arthur Young en France et en Italie. Orné d’une belle carte.
_Paris_, An. IX. [1801.] 8vo.

2. (_a_) An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of
St. Domingo: Comprehending a short account of its ancient government,
political state, population, productions, and exports; A Narrative of
the calamities which have desolated the country ever since the year
1789, with some Reflections on their causes and probable consequences;
and a detail of the military transactions of the British Army in that
Island to the end of 1794. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., &c.,
Author of the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies.
_London_, 1797. 4to.

(_b_) An Historical Survey of the Island of Saint Domingo, together
with an Account of the Maroon Negroes in the Island of Jamaica, and a
History of the War in the West Indies in 1793 and 1794. By Bryan
Edwards, Esq., Also a Tour through the several Islands of Barbadoes,
St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and Grenada in the years 1791 and 1792
by Sir William Young, Bart. Illustrated with Copper Plates. _London_,
1801. 4to. [Issued also as 1^i. of this list. Each sheet is marked
Vol. iii.]

(_c_) Geschichte des Revolutionskriegs in Sanct Domingo; von Bryan
Edwards, Esq. Aus dem Englischen. [_On title page of Vol. 2_: Nebst
einem schreiben: über Europens Interesse in Beziehung auf die
Wohlfahrt der Colonien in Amerika, von Herrn Malouet, und einer Rede
des Admiral Villaret Joyeuse.] _Leipzig_, 1798. 2 Vols., with map.
8vo.

(_d_) Geschiedkundige Beschouwing van St. Domingo, door Bryan Edwards.
Uit het Engelsch. _Haarlem_, 1802. 8vo.

(_e_) Histoire de l’île Saint-Domingue; extraite de l’Histoire civile
et commerciale des Antilles, de M. Bryan Edwards, et continuée
jusqu’aux derniers événemens. Contenant de nombreux détails sur ce qui
s’est passé dans cette importante colonie pendant la Révolution.
Traduite de l’Anglais par J. B. J. Breton, auteur du _Voyage dans la
Belgique_. Orné d’une carte de Saint Domingue. _Paris_, An. XI., 1802.
12mo.

(_f_) Storia dell’ Isola di S. Domingo ricavata dalla Storia civile e
del commercio delle Antille. Del. Sig. Bryan Edwards, e continuata
sino agli ultimi avvenimenti, che minutamente rappresentano quanto ê
succeduto in quella importante Colonia pendente la rivoluzione.
Tradotta dall’ Inglese da J. B. Breton, autore del Viaggia nel Belgio,
e trasportata dal francese in italiano da Giammichele Briolo.
_Torino._ Anno XI., 1803. 12mo.

(_g_) The History of the Island of St. Domingo. Abridged from the
History of Bryan Edwards, Esq., and continued to the present time.
Illustrated with a Map. _Edinburgh_, 1802. 6mo.

3. (_a_) Proceedings of the Honourable House of Assembly relative to
the Maroons; including the Correspondence between the Right Honourable
Earl Balcarres and the Honourable Major-General Walpole, during the
Maroon Rebellion, with the report of the Joint Special Secret
Committee, to whom those papers were referred. _St. Jago de la Vega_,
1796. 4to.

(_b_) The Proceedings of the Governor and Assembly of Jamaica, in
regard to the Maroon Negroes: Published by order of the Assembly. To
which is prefixed an Introductory Account, containing observations on
the disposition, character, manners, and habits of life, of the
Maroons, and a Detail of the origin, progress and termination of the
late war between those people and the white inhabitants. _London_,
1796. 8vo.

4. (_a_) Thoughts on the late Proceedings of Government respecting the
Trade of the West India Islands with the United States of North
America. By Brian [_sic_] Edwards, Esq. ... _London_, 1784. Small 4to.

(_b_) Thoughts on the late Proceedings of Government respecting the
Trade of the West India Islands with the United States of North
America. The Second Edition, corrected and enlarged. To which is now
first added a Postscript addressed to the Right Honourable Lord
Sheffield. By Bryan Edwards, Esq. _London_, 1784. Small 4to.

5. (_a_) A Speech delivered at a Free Conference between the
Honourable the Council and Assembly of Jamaica, held the 19th
November, 1789, on the subject of Mr. Wilberforce’s propositions in
the House of Commons concerning the Slave Trade. By Bryan Edwards,
Esq., Member of the Assembly of the said Island. _Kingston, Jamaica_,
1789. Small 4to.

(_b_) A Speech ... on the Subject of Mr. Wilberforce’s propositions in
the House of Commons concerning the Slave Trade. _London_, 1790. 8vo.

6. A Vindication of the Conduct and Proceedings of the English
Government towards the Spanish Nation in M.D.C.L.V., in reply to the
Misrepresentations of some late Historians. Also some account of the
State of Jamaica, its inhabitants and productions, on its surrender.
By Bryan Edwards, Esquire. _In_ “An Abridgement of the Laws of
Jamaica.... _St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica_, 1793.” 4to.

7. Poems written chiefly in the West Indies. _Kingston, Jamaica_,
1793. Small 4to.

[Contains a translation of the Second Epode of Horace, by his brother
Nathaniel Bayly Edwards.]

8. Abstract of Mr. Park’s Account of his Travels and Discoveries,
abridged, from his own minutes. By B. Edwards, Esq. _In_ “Proceedings
of the Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts
of Africa.” Vol. 2, 1798. 4to.

9. Travels in the interior districts of Africa; performed under the
direction and patronage of the African Association in the years 1795,
1796, 1797, with an appendix containing geographical illustrations of
Africa by Major Rennell. Edited by Bryan Edwardes. _London_, 1799.
4to.

His writings evoked the following publications:

10. A letter to Bryan Edwards, Esq., containing Observations on some
passages of his History of the West Indies. By William Preston,
M.R.I.A. _London_, 1795.

11. Lettre à M. Bryan Edwards, membre du parlement d’Angleterre et de
la Société Royale de Londres, colon propriétaire à la Jamaïque, en
réfutation de son ouvrage, intitulé Vues Historiques sur la Colonie
Française de Saint-Domingue, etc., etc., publié en Mars dernier, Par
M. le Colonel Venault de Charmilly, chevalier de l’ordre royal et
militaire de St. Louis, colon propriétaire à St. Domingue, ancien
membre de l’Assemblé générale de cette colonie: chargé par les
Ministres de sa Majesté Britannique, et par les Habitans de la
Grande-Anse de régler, accepter et signer la capitulation pour la
reddition de la partie Française de Saint-Domingue avec M. le
lieutenant-general Adam Williamson, lieutenant-gouverneur de la
Jamaïque, etc., etc. _Londres_, juillet, 1797. Small folio.

(_b_) Answer, by way of letter to Bryan Edwards, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.,
Planter of Jamaica, etc., containing a Refutation of his Historical
Survey of the French Colony of St. Domingo, etc. By Colonel Venault de
Charmilly.... _London_, 1797. Small folio.

12. An Address to Brian [_sic_] Edwards, Esq.; containing remarks on
his Pamphlet entitled “Thoughts on the late Proceedings of Government
respecting the Trade of the West India Islands with the United States
of America.” Also Observations on some parts of a pamphlet, lately
published by the West India Planters and Merchants, entitled
“Considerations on the present State of the Intercourse between His
Majesty’s Sugar Colonies and the Dominions of the United States of
America.” By John Stevenson. _London_, 1784. Small 4to.

In a copy of No. 12 from the library of Lord Sheffield is a note on the
title page in Sheffield’s handwriting:

Is this the John Stevenson who is included in the list of persons
restored to grace and pardon within the State of New York by an Act of
that State passed 12th May, 1784?

At Rio Bueno is =Fort Dundas=, dated 1778 and taken over as an Island
fort in 1800. At =Mayfield= are the tombs of John Spence (d. 1785) and
Anne Blake, the wife of John Hodges (d. 1787); at =Roslyn Castle= tombs
of Minto and Virgo; at =Golden Grove= that of Rebecca, wife of Colonel
Thomas Reid (d. 1747); at =Orange Valley= tombs of Mrs. Ann Jarrett (d.
1769) and of William Rhodes James (d. 1795); at =Weston Favell=, the
tomb of Thomas Harding (d. 1766). In the old slave village on =Hyde
Hall= Estate is the rare example of a monument erected to a slave, rare
at least in Jamaica, though not so rare in the smaller islands. It is
inscribed:—

In memory of
Eve
An honest, obedient and
faithful Slave, by her affectionate
and grateful master,
Henry Shirley
1800.

Tradition has it that Eve was the woman in charge of the children of the
slaves who went out to work during the day, and that she met her death
by being drowned in a pond on Hyde Hall.

Arawâk kitchen middens are to be found at =Stewart Castle=, the locality
being known as Indian Town to this day, and at _Wales_; while at
=Pantrepant= are Arawâk rock-carvings. =Kettering= was named about 1840
by the well-known Baptist missionary William Knibb after his birthplace
in Northamptonshire.

John Kenyon, the poet and philanthropist (1784–1856), was born in
Trelawny, where his father owned extensive sugar plantations. His mother
was a daughter of John Simpson of Bounty Hall in the same parish. Both
died while he was a boy at Fort Bristol School, Bristol. He it was who
first introduced Browning to Elizabeth Barrett, a distant relative and
_soi-disant_ cousin.

To Kenyon Browning dedicated his “Dramatic Romances and Lyrics”; and
Mrs. Browning dedicated to him “Aurora Leigh.”

X
ST. JAMES

The parish of St. James, which was one of the second batch of parishes
formed in Jamaica (the others in the batch being St. George, St. Mary,
St. Ann and St. Elizabeth), was so named by Sir Thomas Modyford in
1664–65, probably after James, Duke of York; and he may at the same time
have intended, as Roby suggests, to perpetuate the memory of his
brother, Sir James Modyford. The parish of Hanover was made out of parts
of Westmoreland and St. James in 1725–26, and Trelawny was made out of
parts of St. Ann and St. James in 1770. In this parish is the site
(probably at Spanish Quarters) of the first town built by the Spaniards
in the island, Melilla; and from this parish, from Cabo del Buen Tempo,
sailed with Columbus the first Jamaican who ever went to Europe—probably
the first willing emigrant from the New World to the Old. The origin of
the name of the chief town, Montego Bay, has been variously ascribed,
firstly to the bay in Portugal into which the Mondego river falls;
secondly to Francisco de Montego (or Montijo), who assisted Grijalva in
his discoveries in New Spain; and thirdly, with the greatest
probability, by Long to _manteca_, the Spanish word for butter. He adds,
“This part abounding formerly with wild hogs, the Spaniards probably
made here what they called hog’s butter (lard) for exportation.”

At the time of the formation of St. James’ parish (1665) the “north
side” was represented in the Assembly by Abraham Rutter and Samuel
Jenks. In 1673, jointly with St. Ann, St. James returned a member,
Captain Richard Guy. In that year, when there were in the twelve
inhabited parishes of Jamaica 17,268 persons, the parish of St. James
had only 146, of whom 22 were negroes. In 1675 St. James returned two
members on its own account, Richard Guy and Samuel Jenks.

Four years later, when the Assembly decided that £1300 should be raised
for the fortifications of the island, St. James was asked to contribute
£5 only. In 1711–12 the parishes of St. James and St. George were exempt
from taxation, “they having no towns, few inhabitants and little
commerce.” In 1724 the first Road Act for the parish was passed, the
road going from The Cave in Westmoreland to the west end of St. James;
and a court of quarter sessions was established four years later.

At =Montego Bay= was printed the third known book printed in Jamaica—an
almanack for the year 1776. St. James remained a poor parish till about
the middle of the eighteenth century, but by 1782 Montego Bay was called
“next to Kingstown the most flourishing town in the island.”

In 1733 a bill was passed “for appointing a proper plan for building a
church.” This church was probably built, but all traces of it are now
lost. In 1738 barracks were built, and were supplied by the
churchwardens with a pack of hounds, to be used in defence and offence
against revolted slaves. In that year Montego Bay was made a free port.
In March 1738–39 articles of pacification were signed at Trelawny Town
by Cudjoe, the Maroon chief.

In 1795 the Legislature passed an Act incorporating a company to be
formed by subscription under the title of “The President, Directors and
Company of the Close Harbour of Montego Bay,” with power to raise
£10,000 capital, and to make a harbour at “Meagre Bay, being a part of
Montego Bay,” for the protection of shipping and to create rules and
regulations for its management; which company, said to have been the
first formed in the West Indies for the execution of any public
undertaking, existed for about half a century, and for a time paid
dividends.

In January 1800 (to quote from the “Columbian Magazine,” Kingston,
1800):

one of those dreadful swells of the sea from the N.W. did much damage,
although the misfortune has been greatly decreased, by the extent of
the Moles erected, yet it has been very considerable.

Of the two channels through the reef, which were intended to be filled
up by the Moles, the largest only is made, and the other is hardly, as
yet, commenced. Vessels lying immediately behind the Mole, and not
near to the Southern channel, which is still open, lie secure and
easy; but the vessels moored near the South channel into which an
immense sea poured, and the small craft near the shore, round which
the waves coming in at the South channel washed, were, and still are
in the greatest danger.

There were twenty-four vessels of all sizes in the Close Harbour; of
these the ship _Clyde_, belonging to Kingston, which was anchored near
the Southern channel, is totally lost; but a brig still nearer,
fortunately escaped the first day, and has since been able to shift to
a safer birth (_sic_). Five small vessels from the great action of the
swell near the shore, or from bad tackling are also lost.

In the Outer Harbour were two vessels, one a Spanish schooner, prise
to the _Experiment_ lugger, is lost; and the other, an American brig,
after losing an anchor, and driving some hundred yards, has got into a
situation where the undertow gives her a more easy birth.

It is certainly a distressing consideration to the community that
after the expense of upwards of 16,000_l._ in building the Moles, so
much damage has happened to the shipping, within them, and this danger
cannot be completely guarded against, so as to protect the whole of
the harbour, until the Southern Mole is finished, or nearly joins to
the shore; but there is this consideration, that a great number of
valuable lives were saved, not a seaman having lost his life, and
upwards of 250 negroes being safely landed on Tuesday evening, from
the Thomas Guineaman.

Reference to the Close Harbour ceases in the Jamaica almanacks after
1848.

In 1798 two thirds of the town of Montego Bay was destroyed by fire, the
loss being estimated at £500,000. And in 1831–32 the parish was the
scene of one of the worst outbreaks of slaves recorded in the island’s
history. On one night sixteen incendiary fires took place, and many
lives were lost in quelling the outbreak. Martial law was declared, and
the commander of the forces, Sir Willoughby Cotton, took the field in
person.

The foundation stone of the present parish =Church of St. James=, was
laid on May 6, 1775, and the building was opened for public worship in
1782. It is Georgian in character, and typical of many churches erected
in the West Indies by those who, probably doing the best they could with
the money and knowledge at their disposal, considered that a building
was rendered ecclesiastical by putting rounded heads to ordinary
domestic windows, and did not hesitate to combine the Classic and Gothic
styles. In this case, however, the building, which is one of the best of
its kind, is helped by a tower, its most pleasing feature. Hakewill
called it the handsomest church in the island. The church is dedicated
to St. James the Great, the patron saint of Spain, whose name was given
to the Spanish capital of the island. The parochial seal, or seal of the
churchwardens, in establishment days, is—Argent, a palmer’s staff erect;
from its rest, dependent by a leathern thong, a gourd bottle, all
proper. On a bordure gules, five pineapples of the second. The
circumscription is “Sigill Aedilium Sancti Jacobi in Jamaica.”

The earliest baptism recorded in the existing register of St. James is
dated January 1, 1771; the earliest marriage, May 5, 1774, and the
earliest burial July 6, 1774.

The rectors have been, so far as they can be traced:

1771–74. Rev. Joseph Stoney.
1774–87. Rev. J. Grignon.
1787–95. Rev. Francis Dauney.
1795–1805. Rev. Francis Rickard.
1805–13. Rev. David Duff.
1814–27. Rev. Henry Jenkins.
1827–47. Rev. John M’Intyre, M.A.
1847–62. Archdeacon Thomas Price Williams, D.D.
1862–81. Rev. David R. Morris.
1881–85. Rev. W. H. Williamson.
1885–87. Rev. George Whyte.
1887–97. Rev. F. H. Sharpe.
1897–1904. Rev. J. W. Austin.
1905. Rev. J. Messiah, B.A.

Of the monuments in the church, the best is that of =Mrs. Rosa Palmer=,
by John Bacon, R.A., of the year 1794. It is, after the Rodney and
Effingham monuments at Spanish Town, the best work by Bacon in Jamaica.
She to whose memory it was erected, the wife of John Palmer, custos of
the parish, died in 1790, aged 72 years. This monument has been for
years connected with the legend of Rose Hall, about ten miles to the
east of Montego Bay. Into this legend, of cruelty to slaves and murder
of her several husbands by a certain Mrs. Palmer, it is not necessary to
enter. Controversies have raged having for their object the identity of
the figure on the monument; some maintaining that it was the good,
others the bad Mrs. Palmer. As a matter of fact it represents neither,
but is merely an emblematic figure, such as Bacon was very fond of
putting into his memorials, and in all probability the head on the vase
represents the features of Rosa Palmer. Mr. Joseph Shore, in his work
“In Old St. James” in 1911, solved the mystery. The good Mrs. Palmer was
Rosa Kelly, daughter of the Reverend John Kelly of St. Elizabeth, who
married John Palmer as her fourth husband, and was his faithful wife for
twenty-three years; her other husbands being Henry Fanning of St.
Catherine, George Ash of St. James, and the Honourable Norwood Witter of
Westmoreland. The wicked Mrs. Palmer was Annie Mary Paterson, who
married in St. James in 1820 John Rose Palmer, grand-nephew and
successor at Rose Hall and Palmyra of John Palmer. She ended her
ill-spent days in 1833.

Other good monuments in the church are to Dr. George Macfarquhar, also
by Bacon (1791), to Dr. William Fowle, an early work of Sir Richard
Westmacott (1796), and to Mrs. Sarah Newton Kerr, by Henry Westmacott
(1814). The works by John Bacon the younger are hardly worthy of
mention.

In 1911 a handsome three-light window by Jones and Willis was erected at
the east end of the church. The centre light represents the Crucifixion,
the side-lights the Resurrection and the Ascension. One of the
side-lights was presented by Mr. W. F. Lawrence, whose family owned
Fairfield and other estates on the north side for many years.

Space will not permit of more than a brief _résumé_ of the history of a
people in Jamaica around whom much romance has sprang up. This romance
is, however, apt to be a little modified by a closer acquaintance, for
the modern representatives show little of that physical enterprise and
endurance for which their ancestors were famous.

[Illustration:

BLOCK HOUSE, MAROON TOWN
]

The term Maroon—said to be a corruption of the Spanish _Cimarron_, wild,
untamed, and applied to those negroes, originally fugitive slaves, who
lived and still live in the mountains and forests of Guiana and the West
Indies—first occurs in the English language in 1628, in “Sir Francis
Drake Revived”: “The Symerons (a blacke people, which about eightie
yeeres past, fled from the Spaniards their Masters).” So, too, in 1655,
when Penn and Venables arrived, the negroes left their masters and
betook themselves to the mountainous parts of the island, with a natural
desire to escape from serving alien owners; and when the Spaniards
vacated the island, assumed to themselves, as they had every right to
do, not the _rôle_ of rebels, but of a people resisting to the utmost of
their power the invasion of the island by the English. And
thenceforward, their forces swelled from time to time by runaway slaves
of the newcomers, they were for many a long year a source of anxiety to
the planters living in their neighbourhood, and, indeed, to the colony
in general. It may be mentioned that Bridges, in his History, gives a
different origin to the Maroons, but he quotes no authority in support
of either of the following statements, and the first is certainly
untrue. He says:

It has been supposed that the present race of Maroons derive their
origin from the Spanish slaves who remained in the fastnesses of the
island after its conquest; but these were all disposed of and
accounted for to a man in less than eight years after that event. The
Maroons of Jamaica owe their peculiarity of feature to the mixture of
the Malay caste, which they derived from the crews of a Madagascar
slave-ship wrecked upon these shores.

That the Maroons of Jamaica were a real menace in the early days is
evident from the fact that General Robert Sedgwick, in writing home to
Thurloe, more than once referred to them with apprehension.

The name of their first chief known to history still lives in Juan de
Bolas, in the St. John district of St. Catherine, round which hill the
Maroons were scattered in Doyley’s time; but de Bolas in time
surrendered to the English, and was made colonel of the black regiment,
and trouble ceased for the moment. The next Maroon chief of whom we read
is Cudjoe. In 1690 there was an insurrection, in the parish of
Clarendon, of negro slaves who found a secure retreat in the interior of
the country, contenting themselves for a time with predatory excursions
against neighbouring estates. When later an armed force was sent against
them, they elected as their chief Cudjoe, who appointed his brothers,
Accompong, whose name still lives in =Accompong= in St. Elizabeth
(Akjampong was the name of an Ashantee chief who figured in the Ashantee
War of 1872) and Johnny, as leaders under him, the greater part of his
men being Coromantees. He was, in about 1730, joined by a party of
Cottawood negroes from St. George (now merged in Portland), and later by
a party from St. Elizabeth. From the similarity of their mode of life,
Cudjoe and his followers about this time became known as Maroons, the
same as the original Spanish runaway slaves. Up to this time forty-four
Acts of the Assembly, Long tells us, had been passed, and £240,000
expended for the suppression of the Maroons. On the commencement of
hostilities against them, their mere wish for plunder became a desire
for revenge. In 1733 the Government resolved to establish advanced posts
to hold the Maroons in check, one at Cave Valley being intended to guard
Cudjoe. These posts were garrisoned by independent companies,
confidential negroes (termed black shot), mulattoes, and some two
hundred Indians specially imported from the Mosquito Coast, who,
fighting the Maroons with their own weapons, destroyed their provision
grounds. Dogs, provided by the churchwardens of the parishes, were also
used for defence and for tracking purposes. Realising that his quarters
were accessible to the rangers, Cudjoe removed into Trelawny, on the
north-west side of the Cockpits. Finding them difficult to subdue, and
fearful of the risk of defeat of an organised attack on them, the
Governor, Edward Trelawny, was persuaded—at a time when, though he was
ignorant of it, the Maroons were prepared to surrender—to offer terms of
peace to the Maroons, the offer being made through Colonel Guthrie, of
the militia, and Captain Sadler, of the regulars, who had been placed in
command of the troops it had originally been intended to send against
them. Dr. Russell was selected as delegate to represent the English. In
order to placate Cudjoe he exchanged hats with him. Later, Colonel
Guthrie came forward, and under Cudjoe’s tree in Guthrie’s defile were
concluded “Articles of Pacification with the Maroons of Trelawny Town,
March 1, 1738,” by which the Maroons received full pardon, with
privilege to possess for ever 1500 acres between =Trelawny Town=, which
was then so called after the Governor, Edward Trelawny, and the
Cockpits, with right to hunt; the Maroons on their side undertaking to
take part in any action of the Government against rebels, and to hand
over runaway slaves to their masters. A similar treaty was made with
Quao and the Windward Maroons in July 1739, and the five Maroon
settlements of Jamaica were established—Trelawny Town, Accompong,
Scott’s Hall, Charles Town and Moore Town, the last three being in the
eastern part of the island. Later, some of the land was alienated from
Trelawny Town, and 1000 acres were attached to Accompong. It was really
this treaty, which kept the bodies of Maroons as a distinct tribe in the
strongest parts of the country, instead of encouraging their being
merged in the general negro population, that was the cause of all the
subsequent trouble.

We next in the history of the Maroons come to the rebellion in 1795, by
the Trelawny Town Maroons—sometimes spoken of as the Maroon War—when
James Montague was their leading chief. Their neighbours at Accompong
sided with the Government.

The immediate cause of (or rather excuse for) the rebellion was the
flogging at the workhouse at Montego Bay by a runaway negro (whom the
Maroons themselves had captured) of two Maroons who had been convicted
of stealing pigs. Previous to this the Maroons had become discontented
through the removal of their superintendent, which removal they
themselves had helped to bring about, and disapproval of his successor;
and they also desired new land in place of that allotted to them, which
they said was both worn out and insufficient. But Balcarres, the
Governor, always held that the origin of the war lay “in French
principles and the unjustifiable mode of warfare adopted in these
islands by the ruling power in France.”

At the first outbreak the whole island was put under martial law, and
the Governor himself, a veteran of the American war, went to the seat of
war and took command—his headquarters being first at Vaughan’s Field and
later at Montego Bay and Castle Wemyss—only leaving the scene of
operations to meet the Assembly from time to time in Spanish Town. Of a
nature prone to show his military prowess, and moved by fear of the
influence of the rebellion taking place in Haiti hard by, and the
presence of a number of questionable immigrants in Jamaica from that
island, as well as by his prejudice against the _imperium in imperio_
which the Maroons possessed under the treaty of 1738, he gave the
rebels, the Maroons of Trelawny Town (1660 in number all told) only four
days in which to surrender. Thirty-eight did so; but on August 12
hostilities commenced by a detachment of dragoons falling into an
ambuscade, five officers and thirty men being killed. It is said by some
that the Maroons chose their time for rising when they did, as they knew
that with the departure of the July fleet but few troops would be left
in the island; and it was only by the prompt action on the part of the
Governor in stopping the _Halifax_ packet for three weeks and in
detaining a convoy of troops on its way from England to St. Domingo
(where it was sadly needed), which had actually sailed from Port Royal,
that forces were available to meet the rebels. These forces numbered
some four hundred men of the 13th, 14th, 17th, and 18th Light Dragoons,
the 83rd Foot, and the recently raised 130th Foot. A tiresome campaign
then followed, in which twenty actions were fought, the seat of the
struggle being the wild Cockpit country. By another ambuscade Colonel
Fitch and two other officers lost their lives.

At the time of the meeting of the Assembly in September the rebellion
was not so near quelled as the Governor had hoped.

Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole, of the 13th Light Dragoons, who on the death
of Colonel Fitch had succeeded to the command of the forces, and was
made a major-general by Balcarres and given very full powers, altered
the whole plan of campaign, teaching the troopers of the 17th Light
Dragoons, who had had experience in colonial warfare with Tarleton in
America, to fight on foot and to work in twos, so that each could hold
the arms of the other while climbing had to be done—and by fighting the
Maroons in their own way paved the way for their surrender. But the
difficulty of the operation may be judged by the fact that Walpole,
after months of experience, wrote to Balcarres that there was “little
chance of any but a Maroon discovering a Maroon.”

When “cultivation was suspended, the courts at law had long been shut
up, and the Island seemed more like a garrison under the power of the
martial law than a country of agriculture and commerce,” one hundred
bloodhounds and forty chasseurs were imported from Cuba to aid in
tracking the Maroons. The news of the arrival (on December 14) of the
hounds had such an effect that without seeing them the Maroons sued for
peace a week or so later, only stipulating that they should not be
executed or transported. The treaty was ratified on December 28, but
they were only given till January 1 to come in and deliver up the
runaways. In the end they were transported on the grounds that they had
not surrendered by the date named (the last did not come in until March
21) and that they had not surrendered up the runaway slaves that had
joined them; and Walpole, considering that the Governor and House of
Assembly had broken faith with the Maroons, whom he had promised should
not be expatriated, refused a sword of honour offered him by that body
and resigned his commission in the army, which, however, he had
contemplated selling before the trouble with Balcarres began. That being
so, it is odd to read in the “Account of Expenses incurred in the late
Martial Law” “Present of swords to Lord Balcarres and General Walpole,
£1950.” The regard one feels for Walpole’s indignation at what he terms
“this guilt and infamy,” and his skill in quelling the rebellion, is
marred when one learns that he Wrote to Balcarres on December 24, 1795:
“Two Maroons (Smith and Dunbar) have come in from Johnstone’s party, to
beg the King’s mercy, and the whole are to be here on Saturday, to
construct their huts within our posts. I have allotted them a spot
between Cudjoe Town and the Old Town; there they are to remain until the
Legislature shall dispose of them. If I might give you an opinion, it
should be that they should be settled near Spanish Town, or some other
of the large towns in the lowlands; the access to spirits will soon
decrease their numbers, and destroy that hardy constitution which is
nourished by a healthy mountainous situation.” It is evident that his
indignation was aroused by the false position in which he had been
placed, and not by any humanitarian feeling towards the Maroons. It is
also evident that Balcarres was satisfied in his own conscience that his
action was right.

Parkinson was one of the last to surrender, about three months after the
date fixed. He and Palmer, who had both surrendered on August 11, 1795,
had been sent to the Maroons to try and persuade them to come in.
Instead, they had rejoined their companies. That General Walpole had a
high opinion of them as leaders is evident. He says in a letter to Lord
Balcarres, “If Palmer or Parkinson should refuse the terms, which I
think they will, you will never conquer them.”

In addition to the regular foot soldiers and militia employed, the 13th,
14th, 17th, 18th and 20th Light Dragoons and the York Hussars, as we
have seen, took part in the struggle, and =Horse-guards= in St. James’s
probably owes its name to their having been quartered there. Of the
Dragoons, the 20th (or Jamaica) were raised in the West Indies. On the
whole about 1520 chosen European troops, aided by twice that number of
colonial militia, were opposed to less than three hundred undisciplined
Maroons, who were, however, physically brave men, and fighting under
conditions very favourable to themselves and most unfavourable to their
adversaries. They had a system of horn-signals so perfect that there was
a distinct call by which every individual man could be hailed. The cost
of the war was about £350,000 sterling. In addition £49,400 was voted to
defray the expatriation expenses.

Under date December 22, 1795, General Walpole wrote to Lord Balcarres as
follows:

I have the honour to enclose to your Lordship the proposals of the
Maroons to which I have acceded.

The whole detachment behaved to their credit. I must not omit to
mention to your Lordship, that to the impression made in the action by
the undaunted bravery of the 17th Dragoons who were more particularly
engaged on the 15th, we owe the submission of the rebels: The Maroons
speak of them with astonishment. Mr. Werge was particularly signalized
with the advance guard; and the sergeant-major of that regiment is
strongly recommended, for his spirit and activity, by the commanding
officer Mr. Edwards, who is every way deserving your Lordship’s good
opinion.

On February 11, 1796, General Walpole wrote to Lord Balcarres as
follows:—

... I am preparing to move the 13th Dragoons through the cockpits,
from One-Eye.

On February 20 Lord Balcarres wrote to General Walpole:

... I think it will take a considerable force to guard the Maroon
prisoners. The 17th Light Dragoons and the 62nd Regiment may occupy
Montego-Bay, Falmouth and St. Ann’s.

The 17th are to hold themselves in readiness to embark for St.
Domingo, when they send shipping to receive them; of which no
requisition is as yet made.

I should be glad to know your wish as to the quartering of the 13th
Light Dragoons on their arrival.

The 14th regiment of Light Dragoons are not to remain in this country
if quiet is restored. If, however, the banditti of runaway slaves have
gone down to Old Woman Savanna, they must occupy posts in that
neighbourhood; the country that lies behind it I believe never was
explored.

The “XX (or Jamaica) Regiment of Light Dragoons” was formed in 1792 and
is last mentioned in the year 1802, when it was transferred to the
English establishment.

Major-Gen. Robert R. Gillespie, who was one of the first lieutenants
appointed when the regiment was raised in 1792, entered the army in
1783. When in the following year the French planters in San Domingo
applied to Jamaica for aid, he volunteered for service with the
infantry, and in the campaign there distinguished himself for bravery,
returning home at the fall of Port-au-Prince. On being appointed in 1795
major of brigade to General Wilford, he accompanied him to San Domingo,
and soon afterwards, though small in stature, killed six men single
handed. Returning to Jamaica, he assumed command of the regiment, and in
1799 was recommended by the lieutenant-governor and House of Assembly
for the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was so gazetted. He was offered
by Lord Hugh Seymour the military command at Curaçoa; but Lord Balcarres
said he could not spare him. At the Peace of Amiens in 1802, when the
20th Light Dragoons were transferred to the English establishment,
Gillespie returned home in command, and the House of Assembly, glad to
be rid of the regiment, voted one hundred pounds for a sword of honour
for him. He subsequently had a brilliant career in the East, and in 1812
he received the thanks of the commander-in-chief in India, Sir George
Nugent, for services in connection with the Palimbang expedition.

With regard to the unfairness to them in expatriating them, it is only
just to those who did it to add that those few Maroons to whom was
offered liberty to stay in Jamaica elected to go with the rest, on the
grounds that “they feared they could never live in security and quiet
with the free people of colour and negroes in this island.” Balcarres
was severely attacked in England for the use he made of the dogs from
Cuba; but he, it would seem, fully justified his action in that matter.

On June 6, 1796, the Maroons left Port Royal in three ships with the
96th Regiment as guard, and under convoy of H.M.S. _Africa_. The arrival
of the exiles in Halifax is thus described in “Maroons of Jamaica and
Nova Scotia, by J. C. Hamilton, LL.B.” in “Proceedings of the Canadian
Institute, April 1890”: “Four years after this (_i.e._ in 1796) three
ships entered the harbour of Halifax, laden with the most extraordinary
cargoes that ever entered that port. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, then
in command at Halifax, boarded the _Dover_, was met by Colonel W. D.
Quarrell, commissary-general of Jamaica, with whom Mr. Alexander
Ouchterlony was associated, and a detachment of the 96th Regiment drawn
up on board to receive him. Black men of good proportions, with many
women and children, all in neat uniform attire, were mustered in lines.
Other transports, the _Mary_ and _Anne_, were, his Highness was
informed, about to follow, and the main cargo was six hundred Maroons
exiled from Jamaica, with soldiers to guard them and meet any attacks
from French vessels on the voyage.

“The Prince was struck with the fine appearance of the black men, but
the citizens had heard of how Jamaica had been harried by its black
banditti, and were unwilling at first to have them added to their
population.”

They worked at the fortifications that were being erected to meet the
threatened attack of the French fleet under Richery; and Maroon Hill,
near Halifax, still bears their name. But the settlement of the Maroons
in Nova Scotia was ill-conceived and ill-controlled, and they, being
themselves unwilling to work, and both Jamaica and Nova Scotia unwilling
to keep them in idleness, followed in 1800 those “loyal negroes” of the
United States who had migrated first to Canada and then to Sierra Leone.
In the transport _Asia_ 550 of them reached Sierra Leone, where, as no
particular place could be secured for their location, efforts to obtain
an island having failed, they were allotted a place in Granville Town,
under a superintendent, Lieutenant Odburn. The “Settlers’ Rising” was in
progress when they arrived, and they assisted in quelling it.

Soon after the Trelawny Town Maroons were transported from Jamaica,
barracks were erected on the site of their old town, and regiments of
British troops were maintained there until the middle of the nineteenth
century, when they were withdrawn at the time of the Crimean war.
Trelawny Town was for a time the headquarters of the troops stationed in
the county of Cornwall, but it later was superseded by Falmouth. The
barracks at Trelawny Town have fallen into ruins, but the evidence of
the residents in the neighbourhood of a number of white soldiers in the
past exists in some of the peasantry there to-day.

In 1839 Maroon Town was made the site of a sanatorium for European
troops, and huts were erected there for the purpose, and the 68th
Regiment was stationed there.

On a visit made to the Cockpit country in 1905 by the present writer and
a friend, on entering the neighbourhood of Trelawny Town, or Maroon Town
as it is now called, we came across the remains of a block-house which
had loopholed chambers at three corners and evidently had had an upper
storey, now disappeared, for dwelling purposes. Being now in the heart
of the Cockpit country we could study its formation in detail. At one
time it gave the impression of a number of stunted cones rising from a
plain; at another the feeling was one of a number of basins like the
Devil’s Punch-bowls of England; at all times, except where there was a
clearing for corn, bananas or bread-kind, it appeared thickly
wooded—mahogany, cedar, mahoe, Santa Maria, and broadleaf being
prominent; and mosquito wood and red shingle wood, and other lesser
known woods, being pointed out by our guide. As the bridle path now runs
at some distance from the rocks, which here and there crop out of the
overhanging foliage and assume the form of solid masonry, tending to
deceive one into thinking that one is in front of the ruin of some fort,
it cannot be by it that the troops travelled when the Maroons hurled
stones on them from above. As one rides along these defiles the mournful
note of the solitaire, suggests the nervousness which might have fallen
on the soldiers marching through a thickly wooded, rocky, unknown
country, every crag of which might conceal a foe, to whose foot such
mountain paths were familiar. At Maroon Town itself we found a clearing
on which cattle were grazing, and a police station (just abandoned)
built on the site of the officers’ quarters of half a century ago. Near
by was the well which supplied the settlement with water, and a
barracks, some 130 ft. long by 30 ft. broad, which had once possessed an
upper storey of wood, little now remaining of the stoutly built lower
walls of limestone quarried in the neighbourhood. There also were the
powder-house and the cells, the hospital and the kitchens and the
mess-house, which, placed on an immense rock open to the sea breeze from
the east, commanded a view over Trelawny to the sea by Falmouth miles
away. It was once a substantial building of three storeys, the solid
steps leading up to the second floor being still usable. Opposite the
mess-house rise two large conical hills calling to mind the twin Pitons
of St. Lucia—the one called Gun Hill (because a gun had been placed in
position there, possibly the howitzer with which Walpole did great
execution), the other Garrison Hill. Then we saw the tank some thirty
feet long, fed by a clear stream in which the soldiers were wont to
bathe; then, saddest of all, a few tombs—one recalling the death in 1840
of a coloured sergeant of the 68th (or Durham) Regiment, another to the
wife of a quartermaster of the 38th Regiment who died in 1846, and a
third to the paymaster of the 101st Regiment who died in 1810; while a
nameless tomb, the oldest inhabitant told us, belonged to a Colonel
Skeate, who, being ill when his regiment left, was buried by the
incoming regiment. The wood behind the police station was, we were told,
almost impassable. For miles the thick woods lie untrodden by man,
except when a few Maroons or other negroes go hunting the wild hogs
which abound, or “fowling,” _i.e._ shooting pigeons.

After leaving Maroon Town we visited the chief settlement of the Maroons
in the west end of the island, Accompong, and experienced rough
travelling. In places there was nothing but the bare limestone rock for
yards, without a scrap of earth. Nothing but a pony bred in the district
could have negotiated it successfully. But once on the main path riding
was easy. One was struck by the amount of cultivation on either hand;
here and there a patch of bananas, here and there yams, and so on. On
reaching the town of Accompong we saw a number of houses scattered about
and a small church nearing completion. Across a “pit” stood the
“Colonel’s” house on the opposite side. There was a schoolhouse,
presided over by a teacher trained in the elementary school at
Retirement hard by; but the Maroons apparently did not set much store by
education, and only about a fourth of their children attended school.

The “Colonel’s” brother told us he knew more of their old language
(Coromantyn) than any one else, but all we could get out of them was pig
= bracho, bull = aboukani, cow = aboukress. From a philological point of
view one views them with suspicion, although the late Major J. W.
Powell, of the Bureau of Ethnology of the United States, assured the
writer that when he visited these Maroons a year or two ago, he had
discovered them talking their native language. Bryan Edwards tells us
that in his day their language was “a barbarous dissonance of the
African dialects with a mixture of Spanish and broken English.”

To the ordinary observer there is little or nothing to differentiate the
Maroons from the ordinary “bush-negroes,” although they seem to possess
more than an ordinary share of suspiciousness—a suspiciousness which was
engendered by the treatment which their brothers of Trelawny Town
received from Balcarres, and has been kept alive at odd times by
subsequent actions. This curious group of people numbering about 800
dwelt, each family in its own house, in the centre of their 1200 acres,
which they hold in common.

The following technical description of the Cockpit country, wherein
Maroon Town and Accompong are situated, is taken from Mr. F. C.
Nicholas’s paper on the subject in the “Journal of the Institute of
Jamaica,” 1897.

A marked feature of the geology of the West Indies is found in the
extensive deposits of massive white limestone common to all this part
of the world. This formation, though hard and compact, disintegrates
freely; tall cliffs and broken rocks are honeycombed with openings and
pit-marks, presenting a rough jagged surface, which is sometimes
almost impassable.

The Cockpit country where this formation is typical is situated in the
west central part of Jamaica, and comprises an area some ten by
fifteen miles in extent, and for the greater part one vast labyrinth
of glades among rough cliffs, with here and there patches of smoother
ground, and at other places, coming one after the other, a general
collection of impassable sink-holes, called cockpits.

The impression one gets in first visiting this region is that it is of
little interest; just a path between a few not very high cliffs. There
is such a sameness about it all that one is constantly expecting the
next turn to lead out into the open country, or to a cultivated
estate. After a few hours’ hard scrambling one realises that here in
truth there is a wilderness of rocks.

A large part of the Cockpit country has never been explored, nor is it
probable that it ever will be, because the land is useless. One can
cross the district from north to south, and east to west, and go all
round it; sufficient to show that there is nothing to compensate for
the effort, and that one part is quite similar to all the others. The
elevations averaged from 1400 ft. to 1500 ft. In the glades I noted
aneroid readings as low as 800 ft.; while on some of the ridges which
cross this district N.E. and S.W., bending at times N. and S., I took
readings as high as 2300 ft. These are the extremes, the average
variation is about 200 ft.; but these elevations are abrupt and almost
precipitous over nearly all the region.

In 1898 there arose, owing to a not unfrequent source, disputes about
land, some slight trouble amongst the Maroons of Charles Town, which
was, however, effectually suppressed by the prompt action of the general
commanding the forces. It, however, gave to the late Phil Robinson, who
was in the island at the time, an opportunity to write an article for
the “Contemporary Review,” entitled “A Dress Rehearsal of Rebellion
among the Maroons at Annotto Bay, Jamaica.”

In 1796 “The Proceedings of the Honourable House of Assembly relative to
the Maroons; including the correspondence between the Right Honourable
Earl Balcarres and the Honourable Major-General Walpole, during the
Maroon rebellion; with the report of the Joint Special Secret Committee,
to whom those papers were referred,” edited by Bryan Edwards, was
published at St. Jago de la Vega; while in the same year was published
in London “The Proceedings of the Governor and Assembly of Jamaica, in
regard to the Maroon negroes: published by order of the Assembly. To
which is prefixed an introductory account, containing observations on
the disposition, character, manners, and habits of life, of the Maroons,
and a detail of the origin, progress and termination of the late war
between those people and the white inhabitants.” This was published in
great measure as an answer to the attack made by Fox in the House of
Commons on the action of the Assembly of Jamaica with regard to the
Maroons. The same “Account of the Maroon Negroes in the Island of
Jamaica” was included in Bryan Edwards’ “Historical Survey of the Island
of St. Domingo,” published in 1801.

In the “Lives of the Lindsays,” published in 1858, is an account of “The
Rise, Progress and Termination of the Maroon War.” Accounts of the
Maroons will also be found in the histories of Long (to whom Edwards
owns his indebtedness) and Bridges. The story of the Maroon War, from a
military point of view, is told in the 7th chapter of the “History of
the 17th Lancers,” by the Honourable J. W. Fortescue, and in a briefer
form in the same writer’s “History of the British Army.” “The Maroon,”
the work of the well-known novelist, Captain Mayne Reid (first published
in 1862), described a sugar estate named “Welcome Hall” near Montego
Bay, and a neighbouring pen, and the scene is laid entirely in St. James
and Trelawny. The time is shortly anterior to the passing of the
Emancipation Act in 1833, and the story, which incidentally imparts much
information about local natural history and social life at the time, is,
as might be expected from its author, full of exciting adventures.

In 1898 Lady Blake contributed an article on “The Maroons of Jamaica” to
the “North American Review.”

The published accounts of the Maroon War are all more or less of a
partisan spirit. Bryan Edwards holds a brief for the planters, Dallas
for the Maroons, the writer of the “Lives of the Lindsays” for
Balcarres, and even Mr. Fortescue shows a slight partiality for Walpole.

An account of the cantonment of Maroon Town in 1848 is given in
“Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars, 97th Regiment,” 1881.

A brief account of the Maroons in Sierra Leone is given in “The Rise of
British West Africa,” by Claude George (1904).

The wife of William Scarlett (the second), who has been alluded to in
the chapter dealing with St. Andrew, had the Lecount estate in the
parish of St. John, which she parted with to Francis Morgan, mariner,
her brother-in-law, he being the husband of her sister Elizabeth. This
William (the second) had a son William, baptized in St. Andrew’s parish
church on January 17, 1711, but he is the only child so recorded. His
(William the second) second son, James Scarlett, had estates in St.
James, which by his will, proved in 1777, he left amongst his eleven
children, and this James’s second son was the Robert Scarlett of
=Duckett’s Spring=, alluded to above.

Robert Scarlett was born in 1737, probably in St. James. He died in
1798, and was buried in Montego Bay on March 18. He owned Duckett’s
Spring, Success estate and Forest pen in St. James. Scarlett’s Hall (not
far from Rose Hall and Palmyra) was a property of the family.

Elizabeth Anglin, daughter of Philip Anglin, of Paradise estate, was
born on June 25, 1747, and married firstly one John Wright, a planter,
who was killed in her presence by revolted slaves in 1763 or 1764, in
the month of March, on the estate of a Mr. Griswold. In 1765 she married
Robert Scarlett, of Duckett’s Spring, and had by him thirteen children,
but only four sons and three daughters survived their father, the four
sons being Philip Anglin Scarlett, custos and member of Assembly for
Hanover from 1816 till his death in 1823; James Scarlett,
“Silver-tongued Scarlett,” afterwards Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
and first Lord Abinger; Robert Scarlett, M.D. of Edinburgh 1795, member
of the Assembly for St. James in 1803–07, and later of the Council; and
Sir William Anglin Scarlett. Elizabeth Anglin died in 1828 at Montego
Bay, and was buried there on August 28.

Mary, daughter of John Lawrence, and wife of Philip Anglin, of Paradise
estate, was the mother of the above mentioned Elizabeth. She was born in
1713 and died in 1797.

Philip Anglin Scarlett, member of the Assembly for Hanover, was the
eldest son of Robert Scarlett, of Duckett’s Spring, and the owner of
Cambridge estate, where the railway now runs on the way to Montego Bay,
and near the road to Duckett’s.

William Anglin Scarlett was born on June 24, 1777. He died at Grove pen
in Manchester on October 9, 1831, and lies buried at Mandeville. The
following is the inscription on his tombstone: “Here rest the mortal
remains of the Honourable Sir William Scarlett, Knight, ten years Chief
Justice of Jamaica. He died October 9, 1831, aged 54. ‘The memory of the
just is blessed.’” He married in July 1809 Mary, daughter of Joseph
Williams, of Luana estate in the parish of St. Elizabeth; in that year
he was member of the Assembly for St. James. He became chief justice of
Jamaica in 1821. He was knighted in 1829. His widow survived him for one
year, dying at Worthing in Sussex, England, in 1832. In 1823 he presided
over the trial of Augustus Hardin Beaumont, the proprietor of a somewhat
scandalous paper called “The Trifler,” first published in that year, for
a libel on the Governor, the Duke of Manchester. The trial was the first
to take place in the new court house, Kingston, which, wrecked by the
earthquake of 1907, was only pulled down recently. The trial lasted for
fourteen hours, finishing at 12.30 A.M., and ended in a verdict of “Not
Guilty.” On leaving the court house the chief justice and
attorney-general (Burge) were hissed and pelted with stones.

In the rebellion of 1831 the great house and works on both Cambridge and
Duckett’s Spring were destroyed. On the former were 196 slaves, on the
latter 221. At the time of Emancipation nine Scarletts owned properties
in Hanover, Trelawny, St. James, St. Ann, St. Thomas-in-the-Vale and
Kingston, with an aggregate of 327 slaves.

At Cambridge is still to be seen a family burial vault. At Duckett’s are
the remains of the works and the great house. The latter was a square
building of stone, with two loopholed circular towers at diagonally
opposite corners. A similar arrangement is observable at The Cottage, on
Cow Park, hard by in Westmoreland.

In the history gallery of the Institute of Jamaica are photographic
reproductions of paintings of five members and connections of the
Scarlett family: Robert Scarlett of Duckett’s Spring, and Elizabeth
Anglin his wife; Mary Anglin, mother of Elizabeth Anglin, and Philip
Anglin Scarlett, the eldest son of Robert; and his fourth son, Sir
William Anglin Scarlett, chief justice of Jamaica. The slave boy who
holds the game bag in the portrait of Robert Scarlett was called Oliver,
and was entailed very strictly on his master’s death.

[Illustration:

ROSE HALL
]

=Grove Hill= house is mentioned in “Tom Cringle’s Log.” =Rose Hall=,
about 10 miles from Montego Bay, is one of the finest examples of
Jamaica architecture of the old time. It was erected in 1760 at a cost
of £30,000 by George Ash, the second husband of Rose Kelly (b. 1724).
Her fourth husband was the Hon. John Palmer. It is said to have been the
scene of a tragedy in the eighteenth century, when the owner, Annie Mary
Paterson, wife of John Rose Palmer, grand-nephew of the Hon. John
Palmer, was murdered by her slaves; but the occurrence more probably
took place at Palmyra hard by. In 1831 the great house at Rose Hall was
unoccupied and one wing had been removed, while a gable end is all that
remains of the other. =Adelphi= (formerly called Stretch and Set) is
said to have been the first spot on the north side at which religious
instruction was given to the slaves. At =Running Gut= estate are
monuments of the Lawrence family, _e.g._ Benjamin Lawrence (d. 1776).
The Lawrences for many years owned property from Little River to Montego
Bay. The last portion was sold in 1910. =Spring Mount= estate has
monuments of the Heath family, and =Catherine Hall= estate has tombs of
Stone, Barnett, Ross, and others. =Cinnamon Hill= is interesting as
being the home of the Barretts and the Moultons, from whom descended the
poetess wife of the poet Robert Browning. =Carlton= formerly belonged to
an old Scottish family, the Gordons of Earlston, well known by readers
of Crockett’s books, and part of the property is still called Earlston.
At =California= and =Williamsfield= are Arawâk kitchen middens; at
=Tryall= an Arawâk kitchen midden and cave, indicating the existence at
one time of an important Indian settlement; and at =Kempshot=, the site
of the observatory of the government meteorologist, there is an Arawâk
rock-carving. =Brandon Hill= has a curious cave; this was the town house
of the Hon. John Palmer, of Rose Hall. There is another cave at =Seven
Rivers=, near Cambridge, with stalactites. =Miranda Hill= has Spanish
remains. =Seaford Town=, in St. James, is named after Lord Seaford, who
there established a settlement of German immigrants from Hanover. Some
account of his family is given in the chapter on St. Mary.

XI
HANOVER

Kingston and Port Royal excepted, Hanover is the smallest parish in area
in the island. When it was formed the Assembly wished to call it St.
Sophia in honour of the mother of George I, but in this it was
overridden by the Council, and the name was chosen with reference to the
reigning family in England. In the “Jamaica Almanac” for 1751 it is
called, German fashion, Hannover.

In the =Church of Lucea= is a monument to Sir Simon Clarke, 7th baronet
(d. 1777) by Flaxman. The inscription runs: “In this church is deposited
the mortal part of Sir Simon Clarke, Bart., who was born in this island
A.D. 1727, and died on the 2nd of November, 1777, having that day
completed his 50th year.” His father, the sixth baronet, represented St.
John in the Assembly in 1731, and St. Mary in 1732 and 1736, and was
called to the Council in 1739. Sir Simon, the seventh baronet,
represented Hanover in the Assembly in 1760 and 1772. By his wife, Anne
Haughton, eldest daughter and co-heir of Philip Haughton, he left two
sons, Philip Haughton and Simon Haughton. Sir Simon Peter, the fifth
baronet, was an officer in the royal navy in 1730, but was transported
for highway robbery to Jamaica, where his uncle held the office of
patent clerk of the Crown.

Martin Rusea, a French refugee, in grateful recollection of the
hospitality manifested towards him on his arrival and settlement in the
colony, left by his will, dated July 23, 1764, all his real and personal
estate, which afterwards realised £4500 currency (£2700 sterling), for
the establishment of a free school in the parish of Hanover.

The devise was disputed, but in 1777 an Act was passed (18 Geo. 3, chap.
18) settling the trust and establishing an undenominational school,
which has been maintained since in Lucea. It is at present situated in
the old barracks, and is known as =Rusea’s School=.

Trinity Chapel, Green Island, has the tomb of Hugh Munro (d. 1829); at
Orange Bay estate is the tomb of Colonel James Campbell (d. 1744) and
others of the family, including one to John Campbell, custos of the
parish (d. 1808, aged 76) “erected by his dutiful and affectionate
nephew, John Blagrove, Esq.,” the John Blagrove, alluded to in the
account of Cardiff Hall, in St. Ann, to whom Campbell owned his
indebtedness for much financial assistance in his will, and to whom he
left his estates under certain conditions. He manumitted certain of his
mulatto slaves and left them money to purchase negroes to assist them in
carrying on their business. In a codicil he states:

It is my will and desire also that the place of my interment should be
about 20 feet in direct line from the front Bow windows of the
Hospital [for the completion of which he made provision] and that a
sun-dial be erected over my grave. The Sun Dial 18 inches in diameter
to be supported by both hands upon the head of a Leaden figure of a
Negro man with a bandage about his waist Kneeling upon the right knee,
placed upon a platform laid with Bristol Flags, six feet square and 18
inches higher than the ground round about, so that it requires three
steps of Bristol Flags six inches high and 18 inches wide to get up to
the platform, and this will effectually prevent the Cattle and Horses
while pasturing from rubbing against it, and putting it out of plumb.

At =Haughton Court Mountain= is the tomb of Christopher Crooks (d.
1762). The tomb of John Pearce is on the parochial road between Hopewell
and Welcome; he was murdered by the slaves of the adjoining estate on
December 30, 1831. =Salt Spring= estate burial-ground has a monument to
John Campbell (d. 1782); =Haughton Court= burial-ground has tombs of
Colonel Richard Haughton (d. 1740), Jonathan Haughton (d. 1767), and
others of the family who came to Jamaica from Barbados; =Fat Hog Quarter
Estate= burial-ground has tombs of Philip Haughton (d. 1765) and others
of the family; and at =Point Estate= burial-ground are tombs of David
Dehaney (d. 1701) and others of the family. =Haughton Hall=, =Rhodes
Hill=, =New-found River= and =Kew= are all places with Arawâk
kitchen-middens. At The Bluff, Round Hill, is a stone to James Reid (d.
1772). =Cousin’s Cove= is interesting as being the property which caused
Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, its present owner, to visit Jamaica in 1914 on
account of a lawsuit connected with it.

=Shettlewood=, originally belonging to an owner of that name, was for
many years, with Montpellier, the property of the Ellis family. In the
closing years of the nineteenth century extensive tobacco-growing
experiments were carried out, but were ultimately abandoned. Both pens
of recent years have had many head of imported Indian cattle placed on
them.

XII
WESTMORELAND

Westmoreland, which became a parish in 1703, was probably so called
because it is the westernmost parish in the colony.

The chief town was formerly called Queen’s Town (now Cross Path) and
contained a church and many inhabitants, but in 1730 Savanna-la-Mar
(“the plain by the sea”) rose into fame.

Its sad fate in the hurricane of 1744 can never be remembered without
horror. “The sea bursting its ancient limits overwhelmed that unhappy
town and swept it to instant destruction, leaving not a vestige of man,
beast, or habitation behind. So sudden and comprehensive was the
stroke,” says Bryan Edwards, “that I think the catastrophe of
Savanna-la-Mar was even more terrible, in many respects, than that of
Port Royal.”

The “Spanish road from Bluefields Bay to Martha Brae, by the head of the
Great River,” as Long wrote, is said to be still in existence.

The old parish =Church of Savanna-la-Mar= was pulled down in 1904 in
order that a new and more suitable building be erected in its place. The
old building took the place of what must have been the first parish
church erected there late in the seventeenth century or early in the
eighteenth century.

The church stood somewhere along the sea beach. It was destroyed in the
storm on October 3, 1780. For some years services were held in a
temporary building, and in 1797 the foundation-stone of the second
church was laid, but it would seem that it was really intended to be a
temporary structure. It was opened for divine service in 1799, so
considering that it was a wooden building it had done good service.
While excavating, the old foundation-stone was discovered, and in it was
inlaid a brass plate in a fine state of preservation, bearing the
following inscription:

Deo Juvante
Hoc primum Saxum
Templi hujus
Parochiæ Westmoriæ
Jamaicensis
Ornatissimus Georgius Murray, Arm.
Custos Rotulorum
(Attendentibus
Multis Parochianis præclaris)
Collocavit
Die quarto Mensis Junii
Natatis Auspicatissimo
Annoque Regni tricesimo Septimo
Georgii Tertii
Salutis humanæ
1797.
Thoma Stewart, Rectore
Hugone Fraser, Architecto
D. G.
C. L. Robertson, Sculpt.

Which may be thus translated:

Thanks be to God, the Hon. George Murray, Esquire, Custos, in the
presence of many distinguished parishioners, laid the foundation-stone
of this Church of the Parish of Westmoreland, in Jamaica, on the
fourth day of June, on the hallowed birthday and in the thirty-seventh
year of the reign of George III, and (in the year) of man’s salvation,
1797. Thomas Stewart, Rector. Hugh Fraser, Architect. To the glory of
God.

C. L. Robertson engraved

[this plate].

The accompanying list copied from an old bible once in the possession of
a former beadle, W. Robertson, gives the following rectors:

Rev. John Dickson From 1739 Died July 23, 1747
Rev. John Pool From 1747 Died Dec. 1766
Rev. Thomas Pollen From 1767 Died 1768
Rev. William Bartholomew, A.M. From July 1768 Died Sept. 15, 1780
Rev. Hanford Left Dec. 1793
Rev. Thomas Stewart From Dec. 17, 1793 To Sept. 15, 1815
Rev. Edmund Pope, LL.D. From Sept. 15, 1815 To July 9, 1820
Rev. James Dawn, A.M. From July 16, 1820 Died Jan. 25, 1822
Rev. W. W. Baynes Left Jan. 25, 1823
Rev. John McIntyre Left Dec. 1, 1827
Rev. Thos. Stewart, D.D. Left Dec. 6, 1847
Rev. Wm. Mayhew, M.A. Left Nov. 13, 1860
Rev. Daniel Fidler, B.D. Died Apr. 11, 1863
Rev. Josias Cork Left Sept. 21, 1870
Rev. Henry Clarke } To Oct. 1872
Rev. Edward Clarke }
Rev. Henry Clarke Till April 1894
Archdeacon Henderson
Davis, F.K.C. Died Jan. 1915

The new building is a stone structure with a clerestory of wood. It is
in length 105 ft. 3 in.; width 56 ft., with an apse 13 ft. 6 in. by 23
ft. It is dedicated to St. George. The foundation-stone was laid on St.
George’s Day, 1903, and the building was consecrated St. George’s Day,
1904.

Where =Bluefields= now stands once stood probably the township of
Oristan, one of the three principal early “cities” formed by the
Spaniards in Jamaica, named after a town in Sardinia when that island
was under the crown of Spain. Except for Sevilla (St. Ann’s Bay),
Bluefields was the only town mentioned in the description of Jamaica
supplied by Gage to Cromwell. It was connected by road with Mellila
(near Montego Bay) on the north, and with Esquivel (Old Harbour) to the
east. It had been deserted by the founders as a place of settlement
prior to 1655, although it was adopted as a temporary place of residence
by a number of Spaniards in 1657, before they were finally driven off
the island. Of it Blome writes in his “Description of the Island of
Jamaica, with other Isles and Territories in America” (1672):—

“_Orista_ reguards the _South-Sea_, in which are many _Rocks_, and
amongst their _Banks_, some _Isles_, as _Servavilla_, _Quitosvena_ and
_Serrana_, where _Augustin Pedro Serrano_ lost his _Vessel_, and saved
onely himself, and here in a solitary and lone Condition passed away 3
Yeares; at the end of which time he had the company of a _Marriner_
for 4 _Years_ more, that was likewise there _Ship-wrackt_, and also
alone saved himself.”

The Serrano above mentioned was a Spanish hidalgo, a passenger in one of
the plate fleets during the reign of Charles V, whose ship was wrecked
on the island. When, after his sojourn there, he reached Spain, Serrano
was sent into Germany to tell his experiences to the Emperor, who gave
him an order on the mines of Peru for four thousand eight hundred
ducats, but he died on his way to Panama.

Ruins of Oristan existed when Leslie wrote in 1739. In the Assembly
convened in October 1664, Bluefields was represented by James Perkman
and Christopher Pinder; but at the next election (January, 1671–72) the
district was called St. Elizabeth.

Whether Bluefields owes its name, as does its namesake Blewfields in
Nicaragua, to the use made of it by Bleevelt, the buccaneer, is merely
conjecture. In the map accompanying Blome’s “Description of Jamaica” it
is called Blew Fields.

In later days Bluefields has been chiefly noted as the temporary home of
the celebrated naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, well known as the inventor
of the marine aquarium, whose writings have done much to bring the
charms of Jamaica to the notice of students of natural history. While on
the one hand he was, as Huxley called him, an “honest hodman of
science,” on the other the unacademic freshness of his early habit of
mind, which met with the hearty approval of Darwin and Owen, remained
through life, and gave, as his son points out in his Life, its pleasant
tincture to all his subsequent works; and this is especially noticeable
in his “Naturalist’s Sojourn,” “one of the most valuable and best
written of his books.” He was not a true biologist; his real work in
life was the practical study of animal forms in detail, and his chief
attempts at theorising, “Life” and “Omphalos,” were failures. In these
days of nature study it may be interesting to quote the following
passage from the preface to the “Naturalist’s Sojourn,” written more
than half a century ago:

That alone is worthy to be called _Natural History_, which
investigates and records the condition of living things, of things in
a state of nature; if animals, of _living_ animals:—which tells of
their “sayings and doings,” their varied notes and utterances, songs
and cries; their actions, in ease and under the pressure of
circumstances; their affections and passions towards their young,
towards each other, towards other animals, towards man; their various
arts and devices to protect their progeny, to procure food, to escape
from their enemies, to defend themselves from attacks; their ingenious
resources for concealment; their stratagems to overcome their victims;
their modes of bringing forth, of feeding and of training their
offspring; the relations of their structure to their wants and habits;
the countries in which they dwell; their connexion with the inanimate
world around them, mountain or plain, forest or field, barren heath or
bushy dell, open savannah or wild hidden glen, river, lake or
sea:—this would be indeed _zoology_, _i.e._ the science of _living_
creatures.

Dr. Duerdon, in his article on Gosse, which appeared in the “Journal of
the Institute of Jamaica” in 1899, says:

There is no writer who has thrown such a charm around the natural
history of Jamaica, or who has contributed in the same degree to make
known the various representatives of its topical fauna, as Philip
Henry Gosse. Probably no other country possesses such a strictly
accurate and entertaining account of the nature and activities of its
leading animals, such as they were fifty years ago, as is found in the
pages of “A Naturalist’s Sojourn in Jamaica.” With its minute and
attractively written observations and descriptions of almost
everything which could appeal to the eye of a naturalist, Gosse has
accomplished for Jamaica what Gilbert White, in his letters of last
century, performed for Selborne.

Born in 1810, Gosse was from 1827 to 1835 in an office in Newfoundland;
from 1835 to 1838 in Canada. In 1836 he wrote his “Entomology of
Newfoundland” (which still remains unpublished); after a sojourn in
Canada and Alabama he returned to England in 1839 and sold the MS. of
his “Canadian Naturalist,” which had been written on his homeward
voyage. He published his “Introduction of Zoology” in 1843. In 1844 he
started for Jamaica, where he remained for eighteen months at Bluefields
as the paying guest of a Moravian minister and his wife, and collected
and sent home specimens of many rare animals. In 1847 he published his
“Birds of Jamaica,” and in 1849 a folio volume of plates in
illustration. In 1851 he produced his “Naturalist’s Sojourn in Jamaica,”
in which he was much assisted by Richard Hill, one of Jamaica’s most
talented sons. Several other works followed and added to his reputation.
In 1856 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, to the
Transactions of which he contributed numerous papers. He died in 1888,
after many years of seclusion, at St. Mary’s Church, Devonshire. Gosse’s
main purpose in visiting Jamaica was the collection, for dealers at
home, of the animals and plants, particularly in such popular groups as
insects, birds, shells and orchids. That he was an eminently successful
collector in every department may be gathered from the number of objects
which he gives in the “Sojourn,” namely: “Mammalia, 41 specimens; Birds,
1510; Reptiles, 102; Fishes, 94; Nests and Eggs, 34; Shells (marine),
1276; (terrestrial and fluviatile), about 1850; Crustacea, 100; Insects
(including Arachnida and Myriapoda), about 7800; Echinodermata, 57;
Zoophytes, &c., 42; Sponges, 550; Dried plants, about 5000; Living
plants (Orchideæ), about 800; Bulbs and Suckers, 932; Cacti, 32; Ferns,
222; other Living Plants and Young Trees, &c., 117; large Capsules and
Seed-vessels, 383; Seeds of Flowering Plants, 170 packets; Palm seeds,
14 boxes; Gums, 24 specimens; Woods, 50 blocks.”

The Bluefields of to-day differs but little from its condition of fifty
years ago. The actual property to which the name is applied was in
Gosse’s time in a very advanced ruinate condition, having been thrown up
as an estate years before. When he was there the prospect of planters
was by no means bright. “In 1844,” he says, “the beautiful sugar estates
throughout the Island were half desolate, and the planters had either
ceased to reside in their mansions or had pitifully retrenched their
expenses.”

A tinted lithograph of Bluefields House and its immediate surroundings
forms the frontispiece to the “Naturalist’s Sojourn”; but various
alterations have been effected in the house since the drawing was made,
and the internal re-arrangements have been so numerous that the actual
room used by Gosse—a naturalist’s workroom—cannot now be identified. A
view of Bluefields, entitled “The Torch was lying in Bluefields Bay,”
also forms the frontispiece to one of the many editions of “Tom
Cringle’s Log,” _i.e._ the third volume of “Blackwood’s Standard
Novels,” published in 1842. Gosse gave a copy of this work to his young
son on his request for information regarding the West Indies. Bluefields
River—the “romantic little stream,” as he fondly terms it—still glides
and tumbles down to the sea, its waters as pure and fresh as ever and as
well stocked with mullet, crayfish, and crabs as when the naturalist
wandered along its banks, turned aside its stones or searched its
crevices for specimens, or bathed in its enticing pools. The Bluefields
hills behind stretch upwards, their sides as thickly wooded as when
Gosse first gazed upon them from Bluefields Bay, or, as he himself says
of the Peak, “in the rude luxurious wildness that it bore in the days
when the glories of those Hesperides first broke upon the astonished
eyes of Europeans.”

In August 1694 Sir William Beeston sent home to the Duke of Shrewsbury
“A Brief Account of what passed in Jamaica during the preparations and
duration of the French attacks on it in 1694.” In it, while telling of
the French predatory attacks along the coast before the final landing at
Carlisle Bay, he says: “On the Thursday after their arrival at Cow Bay,
the wind blew hard and the Admiral’s ship and another were blown off
shore to Blackfield Bay at the west end of the Island, where they landed
sixty men. Major Andress, who had been left there with a few men,
engaged them and there was a small encounter in which we had one man
killed and two wounded, and they lost some; but the Admiral firing a gun
to recall them they hurried on board, leaving their food and captured
cattle behind them, and sailed away.”

Although the word is Bluckfield or Blackfield in the original manuscript
(it is printed Blackfield in the “Calendar of State Papers”) there is no
doubt that Bluefields is referred to. The Major Andress is evidently
identical with Lieutenant-Colonel Barnard Andreiss, who was custos and
member of the Assembly for St. Elizabeth, and died at Lacovia in 1710.

Matthew Gregory Lewis—usually known from the title of his most famous
work as Monk Lewis—though he only spent a few months in Jamaica, did
much for the welfare of the negro population, both by precept and
example. On both sides his ancestors had interests in the island. His
uncle Robert Sewell died Attorney-General of Jamaica. Another relative
and namesake, the Hon. John Lewis, was Chief Justice. The husband of one
of his father’s sisters, a Mr. Blake, was a West Indian planter, and his
maternal grandmother lies buried in Spanish Town cathedral, while the
mausoleum which he mentions as being at =Cornwall= points to a resident
proprietorship. Another aunt, it may be mentioned, was married to the
ill-fated General Whitelocke, who, after commanding with distinction in
1793–94 the expedition sent by General Williamson from Jamaica to St.
Domingo, and elsewhere, was cashiered in 1808 for cowardice in the
Buenos Ayres expedition of the previous year.

Lewis was born in London in 1775. His father was the deputy secretary at
war, and his mother the youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Sewell, the
Master of the Rolls. Much of his life and his inner thoughts may be
gathered from “The Life and Correspondence of M. G. Lewis,” published
anonymously—by Mrs. Margaret Baron-Wilson—in 1839, based in great
measure on the letters which he constantly wrote to a mother whom he
adored.

A more precocious child than he was it would be almost impossible to
conceive; but at the same time, though least like her in outward
appearance of all her four children, he inherited much of the
temperament of his mother, a timid and sensitive woman, whose constant
companion he was in early life.

Young Lewis’s histrionic talents were early developed, and at
Westminster he took part in the school plays. Intended by his parents
for a diplomatic career, he afterwards went to Oxford, spending his
vacations on the continent in the study of modern languages.

When he was nineteen, his father’s influence procured him an attachéship
to the British Embassy at the Hague. He stayed but a few months in the
Dutch capital, but in that time, in the short space of ten weeks, he
wrote a work by the publication of which in 1795 he at once sprang into
fame—“Ambrosio, or The Monk.”

The discrepancy to be noticed between the character of Lewis as a man
and the opinions expressed in the book are most curious. Mrs.
Baron-Wilson, evidently a close friend, says of him: “There is nothing
else in English literature so wild, so extravagant, so utterly at
variance with all the ordinary and received rules of art and of
criticism (not to mention the recognised codes of morals), as the chief
writings of ‘Monk’ Lewis. Yet we may tax the whole circle of our
biographical literature to show us a man whose personal character and
conduct—from his earliest youth to the close of his worldly career—were
more strictly and emphatically those which we are accustomed to look for
from a plain, right-thinking, commonsense view of human affairs.” Before
he had passed his majority by many months, Lewis was elected Member of
Parliament for Hindon in Wiltshire, in which borough he succeeded
William Beckford, of Fonthill Abbey, another Jamaica proprietor. But his
parliamentary career was singularly prosaic; he never addressed the
House. Henceforth he devoted himself to literature. From his facile pen
flowed contributions to every branch, from _vers de société_ to funeral
odes—novels, dramas, lyric poems, Scotch ballads, nautical songs,
imitations of classic writers, translations and adaptations from the
German, Italian, Spanish and Danish.

As a reviver of old ballads he paved the way for Hogg and for Scott, the
latter of whom collaborated with him in his “Tales of Terror” and “Tales
of Wonder,” which however were never popular.

The acquisition of wealth and the inheritance of his father’s West
Indian estates enabled him to enter on a larger sphere of philanthropic
work than he had hitherto been able to undertake. His action in this
respect was not a momentary impulse, but a practical outcome of firm
conviction, and he took steps to ensure that its effects should endure
after his death. His object was the amelioration of the condition of the
slaves on his Jamaica properties.

He arrived at Black River on New Year’s Day, 1816, where he found “John
Canoe” and all the rest of negro Christmastide festivities in full
swing. In his first letter home to his mother he told her he was keeping
a regular journal, and this was afterwards published posthumously in
1834, under the title of “The Journal of a West Indian Proprietor, kept
during a residence in the Island of Jamaica,” which Coleridge in his
“Table-Talk” denotes “delightful. It is almost the only unaffected book
of travels I have read of late years. You have the man himself. It is by
far his best work, and will live to be popular.” A new edition appeared
in 1861 under the title of “Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in
the West Indies.”

Lewis spent four months in Jamaica, and so much of his time did he give
to the amelioration of the condition of his slaves on his estate of
Cornwall, within a few miles of Savanna-la-Mar, that he left the island
without having visited Hordley, an estate in the Plantain Garden River
division of St. Thomas-in-the-East, in which estate he had a share. On
Cornwall there were 307 slaves and 287 head of stock, and on Hordley 283
slaves and 130 stock. His friend Lord Holland, it may be mentioned, then
owned Friendship and Greenwich, neighbouring estates in Westmoreland.

Lewis’s principal acts were the abolition of the lash, the acceptance of
negro evidence at enquiries into offences, &c., and an endeavour to
supplement manual labour by mechanical implements and improved stock. He
built better hospitals for the sick, granted extra holidays to his
negroes, and generally did his best to spoil them—not without success,
for he writes: “The negroes certainly are perverse beings. They had been
praying for a sight of their master year after year; they were in
raptures at my arrival; I have suffered no one to be punished, and shown
them every possible indulgence during my residence amongst them, and one
and all they declare themselves perfectly happy and well treated. Yet
previous to my arrival they made thirty-three hogsheads a week; in a
fortnight after my landing their product dwindled to twenty-three;
during this last week they have managed to make but thirteen.”

It is curious to read of the author of “The Monk,” a little lion in
London society, throwing himself heart and soul into the most minute
questions of domestic economy and policy at Cornwall, and adjusting
differences between Cubina and Phyllis.

He drew up rules for the better security of justice for his slaves after
he had left, and by his kindness he so won their hearts that when he
threatened to leave them, they professed to be filled with despair.

So strongly was he impressed with the evil arising from absent
landlordism that in a codicil to his will he made it a condition of
inheritance that the owner, whoever he or she might be, of his estates
should pass three clear calendar months in Jamaica every third year.

He made enemies for himself amongst the local magistrates, by taking
upon himself the part of intercessor with their masters for slaves on
neighbouring properties.

He made one more visit to Jamaica. In October 1817 accompanied by Tita,
an Italian valet, he set out for Jamaica in the same ship and with the
same captain as in 1815. He reached Black River in February 1818, and
this time he visited Hordley, but, as we have seen in the account of St.
Thomas, had hardly sufficient time to effect such drastic changes as he
had done at Cornwall.

On his way he stopped at Kingston, where he saw performed at the theatre
his own tragedy “Adelgitha,” whom the author meant only to be killed in
the last act, but whom the actors murdered in all five.

On May 4, 1818, he left Black River for England, and ten days later he
was committed to a watery grave, having succumbed to yellow fever, which
had broken out on board the _Sir Godfrey Webster_. He died in the arms
of the faithful Tita who was afterwards present at Byron’s death.

The following is Lewis’s description of Cornwall great house as it then
was:

The houses here are generally built and arranged to one and the same
model. My own is of wood, partly raised upon pillars; it consists of a
single floor: a long gallery, called a piazza, terminated at each end
by a square room, runs the whole length of the house. On each side of
the piazza is a range of bedrooms, and the porticoes of the two fronts
form two more rooms, with balustrades, and flights of steps descending
to the lawn. The whole house is virandoed with shifting Venetian
blinds to admit air; except that one of the end rooms has sash-windows
on account of the rains, which, when they arrive, are so heavy, and
shift with the wind so suddenly from the one side to the other, that
all the blinds are obliged to be kept closed; consequently the whole
house is in total darkness during their continuance, except the single
sash-windowed room. There is nothing underneath except a few
store-rooms and a kind of waiting-hall; but none of the domestic
negroes sleep in the house, all going home at night to their
respective cottages and families.

Cornwall House itself stands on a dead flat, and the works are built
in its immediate neighbourhood, for the convenience of their being the
more under the agent’s personal inspection (a point of material
consequence with them all, but more particularly for the hospital).
This dead flat is only ornamented with a few scattered bread-fruit and
cotton trees, a grove of mangoes, and the branch of a small river,
which turns the mill. Several of these buildings are ugly enough; but
the shops of the cooper, carpenter and blacksmith, some of the trees
in their vicinity, and the negro huts, embowered in shrubberies and
groves of oranges, plantains, cocoas and pepper-trees, would be
reckoned picturesque in the most ornamented grounds. A large spreading
tamarind fronts me at this moment and overshadows the stables, which
are formed of open wickerwork; and an orange tree, loaded with fruit,
grows against the window at which I am writing.

On three sides of the landscape the prospect is bounded by lofty,
purple mountains; and the variety of occupations going on all around
me, and at the same time, give an inconceivable air of life and
animation to the whole scene, especially as all those occupations look
clean—even those which in England look dirty. All the tradespeople are
dressed in jackets and trousers, either white or of red and sky-blue
stripe. One band of negroes are carrying the ripe canes on their heads
to the mill; another set are conveying away the “trash,” after the
juice has been extracted; flocks of turkeys are sheltering from the
heat under the trees; the river is filled with ducks and geese; the
coopers and carpenters are employed about the puncheons; carts drawn
some by six, others by eight, oxen, are bringing loads of Indian corn
from the fields; the black children are employed in gathering it into
the granary, and in quarrelling with pigs as black as themselves, who
are equally busy in stealing the corn whenever the children are
looking another way: in short, a plantation possesses all the movement
and interest of a farm, without its dung and its stench and its dirty
accompaniments.

The following inscriptions occur at Cornwall:

Here lieth the Body of
Mrs. Jane Lewis
Late wife of the Honourable William Lewis Esq.
and elder daughter of Matthew Gregory Esq.
who departed this life
on the 19th day of February 1765.
Aged 39 years and 10 months.
She was married 22 years and 5 Days During which time
She devoted herself entirely to her God and her Family.
She lived the inimitable Pattern
of Conjugal Affection and Goodness,
of Filial Love and Duty,
And of Maternal Care and Tenderness.

Oh Death Thou hast Shewn thy Sting
Oh Death Thou hast Obtained thy Victory.

Also the Body of
William Lewis
who died the 27th of April 1774
Aged 53 years
His Remains were brought from England
according to His own request
and Deposited in this Place
near those of his
Affectionate and beloved Wife.

For Beckford Town, now little more than a name, the land was given by
Richard Beckford, one of the family of that name, which numbered in it
some of Jamaica’s most wealthy planters.

Under date January 5, 1660–61, Pepys wrote: “The great Tom Fuller come
to me to desire a kindness for a friend of his who hath a mind to go to
Jamaica with these two ships that are going, which I promised to do.”
The friend, Peter Beckford, quitted England in search of adventures, and
settled in Jamaica, where he rose to considerable wealth as a planter.
He did not, as Bridges suggests, fly from Cromwell’s tyranny, for the
Restoration had taken place before he left England. In 1663 the name of
Beckford appears amongst the planters of St.-Thomas-in-the-Vale. Colonel
Peter Beckford, a son of the immigrant, was elected member of the
Assembly under Lord Carlisle, who must have been—if we are to believe
Nichols in his “Herald and Genealogist” and Burke in his “History of the
Commoners”—a man of somewhat humble estate in spite of his high
ancestry, for they tell us that Sir Thomas Beckford, sheriff of London,
and Colonel Peter Beckford, governor of Jamaica, were brothers—both sons
of a tailor of Maidenhead. Lord Braybrooke, in his notes to Pepy’s
Diary, says that Sir Thomas and Colonel Peter were uncle and nephew, the
former being a son of the tailor. Colonel Beckford was elected member
for St. Catherine in the Assembly which met on April 26, 1675. He
afterwards served in several Assemblies for the parishes of St. James,
Clarendon and St. Dorothy. He was then called to the Council and became
its president. On the death of the Governor, Major-General Selwyn, on
April 5, 1702, when the Legislature was sitting, Colonel Beckford, who
had a dormant commission of old date, caused himself to be proclaimed
lieutenant-governor. In his speech to the Assembly he said, “I have gone
through most of the offices of this Island, though with no great
applause, yet without complaint.” The manner of his death has been
already narrated in the account of St. Catherine. His personal wealth,
which was said to have amounted to £478,000, and his real estate to as
much more, gained for him great influence with the planters. This wealth
was inherited by his son Peter, the speaker of the Assembly above
mentioned. His second son, Thomas, married “en secondes noces” Mary
Ballard (apparently a cousin) and had three sons; the eldest, Ballard
Beckford, who married a daughter of John Clark, Governor of New York,
was expelled from the House “during the continuance of this Assembly” in
1739, for adultery with the wife of another member, Manning, the member
for Kingston. At his death his estate was in debt, and an Act was passed
to enable certain properties to be sold. The second, Thomas, married a
daughter of Robert Byndloss, the brother-in-law of Sir Henry Morgan, of
buccaneering fame, and their daughter and sole heiress married firstly
John Palmer, and secondly Edward Long, the historian. Thomas Beckford
himself, who sat in the Assembly for St. Catherine, and was elected
speaker in 1727 and 1728, died in 1731, “slain, it is believed, in an
encounter with one Cargill,” probably Captain Richard Cargill, member
for Vere.

[Illustration:

FORT WILLIAM—AQUEDUCT
]

Peter Beckford, the speaker, married Bathshua, daughter and co-heiress
of Colonel Julines Herring, of Jamaica. He was elected member of
Assembly for Port Royal in 1704, and in the next Assembly of 1705 was
chosen for three parishes, St. James, Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth,
but elected to sit for the last named. He continued to serve as a member
in every Assembly of the island until his death—in the early part of the
time generally for St. Elizabeth, in the later for St. Catherine. As
member for the former parish he was five times chosen speaker—in 1707,
1708–9, 1711, 1713, 1716. At this time he applied to be deputy secretary
of the island, under a deputation from William Congreve, but the
Governor (Lord Archibald Hamilton) refused to accept him on the ground
that he was “the chief actor in all the unhappy differences in the
country.” He was comptroller of her Majesty’s customs. He died in 1735,
aged 61. From the votes of the Assembly we learn that he bequeathed the
sum of £1000 to the poor of the parish of St. Catherine. This sum was
used in the formation of a school: it is now merged with the Smith
bequest in the Beckford and Smith School at Spanish Town. In the
“Gentleman’s Magazine” for December 1735 he is said to have left nearly
£300,000. Besides mortgages and similar investments, he had no less than
twenty-four plantations and twelve hundred slaves of his own in the
island.

[Illustration:

PORT WILLIAM ESTATE
]

He had thirteen children. The eldest, Peter, was member of the Assembly
for Westmoreland in 1728, while his father was sitting for St.
Catherine, and his uncle for Port Royal. He died unmarried in 1737, aged
31. On his death his fortune went to his brother William, afterwards
Lord Mayor of London, whose son was the celebrated William Beckford, of
“Vathek” and Fonthill fame.

A younger brother of the Lord Mayor, Richard Beckford, who was M.P. for
Bristol, had a natural son, William Beckford, who visited his father’s
Jamaica estates. His mother was Elizabeth Hay. He married his cousin,
Charlotte Hay, daughter of Thomas Hay, formerly Island Secretary of
Jamaica; and he impaled with his father’s arms those of the Hays—on a
field argent, three escutcheons gules: but in preference to the bend
sinister, the usual mark of illegitimacy, he added the less-known badge,
the fimbria or border. Richard Beckford by his will trusted to the
justice of his brother Julines to convey—to trustees in trust for his
reputed son William—Roaring River and such other estates in Jamaica as
had come into Julines’ possession by virtue of an agreement between
them, and accordingly he bequeathed these properties to his reputed son
William, who, on his coming of age, executed a deed in 1765, which was
registered at Spanish Town in 1766, a deed to bar the entail in favour
of another, who, however, subsequently re-conveyed it to him. He is
therein described as “of Balls, in the County of Hartford (_sic_), Esq.”
In a later deed, recorded in 1773, he is described as late of Balls, but
now of Summerley (_sic_) Hall.

One of his earliest works was “Remarks on the Situation of Negroes in
Jamaica,” 1788; and he published in 1794 a “History of France from the
most early records to the death of Louis XVI,” the early part of which
is by Beckford, and the more modern by an anonymous Englishman who had
been some time resident in Paris. But the work by which he is best known
is “A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica; with remarks upon
the cultivation of the Sugar-cane, throughout the different seasons of
the year, and chiefly considered in a picturesque point of view; also
observations and reflections upon what would probably be the
consequences of an abolition of the slave-trade and of the emancipation
of the Slaves,” published in two volumes in London in 1790. The title
fully describes the contents. It is a work of no considerable merit, and
displaying none of the genius which might have been expected of a near
relative of the author of “Vathek.” From the dedication we learn that
the author enjoyed the friendship of the Duke of Dorset, to whom it is
addressed, and from the preface that the work was written in the Fleet
prison—a strange residence for one who would claim kinship with the
owner of Fonthill. His position was, he says, the consequence of
“imprudences which I might have prevented, and of misfortunes which I
could not foresee”—a subject which is constantly referred to throughout
the book. Besides suffering from the great hurricane of 1780, he was
evidently deceived by some friend for whom he had become security.

He intended to illustrate his work with engravings from “some particular
views of the island that were taken on the spot” by George Robertson,
but pecuniary reasons obliged him to desist. He devotes several pages to
the praises of this artist’s work, comparing him—with an enthusiasm
which does more credit to his kindness of heart than to his faculties as
an art critic—to Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Poussin and Salvator Rosa, and
he concludes: “It is a pity that more of his drawings are not engraved;
of the numerous and interesting views he took in Jamaica, only six have
met the public eye, although there are many that richly deserve to be
removed from dust and oblivion. The names of Robertson and Earlom, to
the same plate, could not fail to render them immortal.”

In 1778 John Boydell published a series of six engravings from paintings
by George Robertson, by Thomas Vivares, James Mason and David
Lerpiniere. They are all dedicated to William Beckford, Esq. They
represent: (1) Part of the Rio Cobre, near Spanish Town; (ii) Roaring
River Estate; (iii) Fort William Estate, with part of Roaring River
belonging to William Beckford, Esq., near Savanna-la-Mar; (iv) Bridge
crossing Cabarita River; (v) The Spring Head of Roaring River on the
Estate of William Beckford, Esq.; (vi) The Bridge crossing the Rio
Cobre, near Spanish Town.

Two of the original paintings are in the possession of Mrs. C. E. de
Mercado, of Kingston.

As, with the exception of Hakewill and John Bartholomew Kidd, R.S.A.,
George Robertson is the only artist of any importance who has devoted
his pencil to portraying the beauties of Jamaica, a few notes about him
may prove of interest. The facts recorded about him by Redgrave are
somewhat scanty. Born in London, he was the son of a wine merchant, and
was brought up to that business. He studied in Shipley’s school, and in
1761 he gained a Society of Arts premium for his drawings of horses.
This brought him to the notice of William Beckford, with whom he
travelled in Italy, and studied, chiefly at Rome, during several years.
He returned to London about 1770, and although Beckford tried to push
his fortunes for him, he was not very successful, and he was induced to
accompany his patron to Jamaica. He painted views in the island, and,
returning to England, exhibited pictures of Jamaica scenes, twenty-six
in all, with the Incorporated Society of Artists (of which body he was
for some time vice-president) from 1775 to 1778. Most of them appeared
as “A View in Jamaica.” The names given are =Roaring River=, =Fort
William= and =Williamsfield=. These views were admired, and when
engraved created some interest; but he received no better encouragement
than before, and he had to have recourse to teaching and making drawings
for the dealers, to support his wife and children, till a bequest from
an uncle happily relieved him from anxiety. Never of robust health, a
fall from a horse increased his infirmity. He died in 1788, before he
reached his fortieth year. He occasionally painted subject pieces,
aiming at the “grand style,” and his “St. Martin dividing his cloak” is
in Vintners’ Hall, London. But his principal talents lay in the
direction of landscape. “His compositions,” Redgrave says, “were too
scenic, his trees, though spirited, were fanciful and exuberant in their
forms, yet his works are by no means without merit.”

[Illustration:

ROARING RIVER ESTATE IN 1774

From an engraving by Thomas Vivares after a painting by George
Robertson
]

William Beckford also employed in Jamaica the talents of Philip
Wickstead, a portrait painter, a pupil of Zoffany, and distinguished by
his small whole-length portraits, whose acquaintance he had made in Rome
in 1773. He accompanied his patron to Jamaica, and practised his art for
a considerable time in the island. He speculated as a planter, but was
unsuccessful. Losses led to drink, and his life was thereby shortened.
He died before 1790. Beckford said of him, his “powers of painting were
considerably weakened by his natural indolence, and more than all, by a
wonderful eccentricity of character. His colouring was almost equal to
that of any artist of his time, and the freedom and execution of his
pencil were particularly apparent in his representation of negroes of
every character, expression and age.” Unfortunately many of Wickstead’s
drawings perished in the hurricane of 1780.

In biographical dictionaries William Beckford is styled an historian,
and, as we have seen, he wrote part of a History of France, but in his
work on Jamaica he was content to reprint his historical facts from the
“Jamaica Almanack” of the day, and apparently he did not know the year
of the discovery of the island by Columbus, for he twice gives a wrong
date, and his date for the Port Royal earthquake is also wrong. Much may
be excused, however, in an historian who wrote in the Fleet prison.

One trait he had in common with his kinsman and namesake—a true love of
nature and the picturesque. But his description of the natural beauties
of the island is couched in the somewhat high-flown style of the
eighteenth century.

The following is part of his description of the great hurricane which
destroyed Savanna-la-Mar in 1780:

At Savanna-la-Mar, there was not even a vestige of a town (the parts
only of two or three houses having in partial ruin remained, as if to
indicate the situation and extent of the calamity); the very materials
of which it had been composed had been carried away by the resistless
fury of the waves, which finally completed what the wind began. A very
great proportion of the poor inhabitants were crushed to death or
drowned; and in one house alone, it was computed that forty, out of
one and forty souls, unhappily and prematurely perished. The sea drove
with progressive violence for more than a mile into the country; and
carried terror, as it left destruction, wherever it passed. Two large
ships and a schooner were at anchor in the bay, but were driven a
considerable distance from the shore, and totally wrecked among the
mango-trees upon land.

He concludes his description thus:

“Having resided for some time in that delightful country, from which
the most celebrated painters of landscape have made their principal
studies; and having always travelled with those who loved, or were
professors of the Art; and having accompanied the latter in all their
walks, and followed their imitations upon the easel, it is not
unnatural to suppose that I should catch, as it were by reflection, a
small portion of their curiosity, and endeavour to follow, at a
distance, those rays which have warmed, although they have not been
able to illuminate. As one, therefore, who has observed Nature with
more enthusiasm than taste, I must decide in favour of the rich and
magnificent scenery of the West Indies, in preference to any rural
appearances I have observed in other countries; and I should dwell
with more pertinacity upon this opinion, were they, by contrast, more
observed and better known.”

William Beckford was born in Jamaica in 1744.

In 1767 or 1768 he went abroad with “two others” (William Fullerton and
Glover) under the travelling preceptorship of Patrick Brydone, traveller
and author, and made a somewhat extensive tour. Fullerton, after a most
successful career in India, became known, from his conduct of the first
commissionership of the government of Trinidad, as “the persecutor of
Picton.” Beckford spent nearly thirteen years (between 1773 and 1788) in
Jamaica, on his estates, Fort William and Roaring River, near
Savanna-la-Mar, now the property of Miss G. C. Hay. Of the works at
Roaring River almost all that remain are two stones, one of which bears
the date 1737 and the other the Beckford crest, a heron’s head with a
fish in its beak, with the date 1778. On page 392 of his work he says,
“When I left Jamaica in the year 1777.” This is an evident misprint for
1788 or 1789. He also owned Williamsfield, and is said to have owned the
following properties, also in Westmoreland: The Crawl, Hertford Pen,
Hatfield Pen and Smithfield Wharf. During all these years he apparently
never visited the north side of the island. He is mentioned in the
Jamaica Almanacs from 1782 to 1788 (after which date his name
disappears) as a magistrate for Westmoreland. Much as he admired its
scenery, the island of Jamaica evidently had for him unpleasant
memories. He alludes to it as “that spot upon which it was my unhappy
fortune for so many years of my life to reside.” The only records of his
sojourn in Jamaica are Beckford street at Savanna-la-Mar, and Beckford
Lodge, a small holding near that town, and the mark R/WB which is still
used for the rum exported from Roaring River. On his return voyage to
England he passed the Cayman Islands, landing at Grand Cayman. In 1788
he published his “Remarks on the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.” He
retired to his estate at Somerly in Suffolk, which he had evidently
owned as early as 1773. He then spent, as we have seen, some time, about
1790–91, in the Fleet prison.

[Illustration:

SAVANNA-LA-MAR IN 1840
]

He died on February 4, 1799, of an apoplectic fit at the Earl of
Effingham’s in Wimpole street, London. His pecuniary losses had probably
led him to sell his property in Suffolk, for he is described as “late of
Somerly Hall.” The Earl of Effingham mentioned is Richard the fourth
earl, nephew to Thomas second earl, who had married a sister of Lord
Mayor Beckford in 1744, and brother to the third earl, who died while
Governor of Jamaica. Beckford evidently selected his friends from those
accomplished in literature and the arts. In his writings he refers to
Sir William Hamilton, who was a friend of the author of “Vathek,” to
Brydone, to “my friend Parsons,” the musician, to Charles Burney, nephew
of Dr. Burney and Robertson and Wickstead the artists; and Dr. Burney
has told us that he was the friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Joseph
Banks.

=Negril Harbour= is sometimes called Bloody Bay, said to be due to the
killing of whales there in former times. In it is a tomb of George
Murray (d. 1804), custos, who laid the foundation-stone of the church in
1797. At =Cross Path= is the tomb of Colonel John Guthrie (d. 1739),
custos of the parish and colonel of the militia, who reduced the rebel
negroes who had for many years harassed the island; at =Dryworks= there
is the tomb of Colonel William Williams (d. 1723), custos of the parish,
who had rendered valuable services during the hurricane of 1772, and
William Lewis (d. 1774), grandfather of Matthew Gregory Lewis; On the
roadside near =Kew Park= is a soldier’s tomb with the following
inscription:

In the rear of this stone lie the remains of Obediah Chambers, late a
private of the Light Infantry Company W.I.R. which, on the 5th of
January 1830 fell into an ambush of rebellious slaves, near this spot,
by whom the deceased was cruelly butchered.

A brave man, & valorous in course of life here, who died a Soldier &
an honest man.

This stone is erected by the Officers & N.C. Officers of the 6th
Battn. Coy.

At =Harmony Hall= is the tomb of John Lewis (d. 1820), chief justice and
custos of the parish, and also of Mary Lewis (d. 1813). At =Three-Mile
River= Estate is a mausoleum with a large marble slab “to the memory of
James Graham, late of this island” (d. 1795), erected by his friend John
Wedderburn. =Drummond= and =Indian Head= both have caves with Arawâk
remains.

XIII
ST. ELIZABETH

The parish of St. Elizabeth was probably named in honour of Elizabeth,
Lady Modyford, the daughter of William Palmer, whose tombstone is in the
cathedral. It is one of the largest parishes and one of the most
important. In the parish church at =Black River= are memorial tablets
recalling to the memory of the living the many good qualities of the
departed St. Elizabeth gentry. The handsomest are those on either side
of the chancel to the memory of Caleb Dickenson and Robert Hugh Munro,
founders of the Munro and Dickenson’s trust, which to-day maintains two
of the principal schools in the island. The Maroon township called
Accompong on the northern boundary of the parish has been referred to in
the account of the neighbouring parish of St. James.

Robert Hugh Munro, of the parish of St. Elizabeth, by his will dated
January 21, 1797, and a codicil of May 23, 1797, bequeathed the residue
of his real and personal estate in certain contingencies in trust to his
nephew, Caleb Dickenson, and the churchwardens of the parish of St.
Elizabeth, and their successors, to lay out the same in the endowment of
a school to be erected and maintained in the said parish, for the
education of as many poor children of the parish as the funds might be
sufficient to provide for and maintain, and, if necessary, to apply to
the Legislature for an act for the regulation of the charity and to
carry out his intentions. For years after the death of Dickenson, who
had bequeathed them fully to carry out his uncle’s intentions, the funds
of the Charity were applied to anything but their proper purpose, and at
length in 1825 an Act of the Legislature was passed for regulating the
charity, which recited the history of the trust up to that date, and
propounded a scheme which had been agreed upon for the management of the
trust; but this commendable scheme appears never to have been carried
out, and it was not until 1855 that the Act 18 Victoria, chap. 53, was
passed with the object of rescuing the remains of the charity.

In 1856 a Free School for boys was opened near Black River, and early in
1857 the premises at Potsdam, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, were
purchased and the school was removed thither. The Trust maintains two
schools situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains—that for boys still at
=Potsdam=; that for girls formerly at Mount Zion, now at =Hampton=.

At Lacovia, on the main road from Santa Cruz to Black River, precisely
at its junction with the road from Lacovia to Balaclava, there are two
tombs, side by side; the space between being only six feet. One, built
of large squares of stones or rock commonly used for building purposes,
is in the last stages of decay and ruin, and without any slab or
inscription. The other is a high brick tomb, with a massive white marble
slab on which is the following inscription:

Here lyes interr’d the body of
Thomas Jordan Spencer.
Born Octbr. the 14^{th}, 1723, who departed
this life Sunday morning, September the
17th, 1738.

The _Arms_ are: Quarterly argent and gules, in the second and third
quarters a frette or: over all, on a bend sable, three fleurs-de-lis of
the first. The _Crest_ an esquire’s helmet.

This monument is not mentioned in Lawrence-Archer’s “Monumental
Inscriptions of the British West Indies.” The quartering of the shield
is very much worn owing to the exposed position of the tomb.

Tradition says that at a tavern which formerly stood hard by, a friendly
party was interrupted by angry words which led to a duel, in which both
combatants fell, and that they were buried side by side.

At =Lacovia= estate is the tomb of Barnard Andreiss (d. 1710), custos of
the parish; =Dickenson’s Run= has Jewish tombs with inscriptions in
Hebrew and Portuguese. At =Pedro= is a cave with Arawâk remains, and
also at =Hounslow=. =Hampstead= great house is said to have been the
summer residence of former Jamaica governors.

Some one with classic taste named =Catadupa=, a word originally applied
to the cataracts of the Nile, and once used both in French and English
for a waterfall.

Long, after ridiculing the tale copied by many writers that the
rain-drops which fall at Magotty turn into maggots, goes on to suggest
the derivation of “_maga_ (an enchantress) and _oteo_ (watching on a
high place); alluding probably to the pinnacle of _Monte Diablo_, over
which the thunder clouds so frequently break, as together with its
horrid aspect to make it seem a proper residence for a witch, under
patronage of the devil, to whom the mountain was dedicated.”

=Surinam Quarters=, in St. Elizabeth, were settled in 1675 by planters
from Surinam, when that colony was exchanged with the Dutch for New
York.

=Culloden= and =Auchindown=, in St. Elizabeth, date from the time of the
arrival of the ill-fated Darien refugees.

XIV
MANCHESTER

Manchester was separated from the adjoining parishes of St. Elizabeth,
Clarendon and Vere in 1814, and was named after the Duke of Manchester,
who was Governor of the island at the time; while the chief town,
Mandeville, was named after his eldest son.

The parish is more noted for its agricultural than historic
associations. Mandeville is much frequented by visitors from the United
States and Canada and Great Britain. The court-house is said to have
cost upwards of £20,000. In the churchyard is the tombstone of Sir
William Scarlett, chief justice of the island from 1821 to 1832, who is
referred to in the account of St. James.

Bridges, the historian, was the rector from 1817 to 1823. In that period
he baptized 9547 slaves, and married 2187. In 1823 he published his
“Voice from Jamaica,” written in defence of slave-owners, for which the
Assembly two years later voted him £700. He valued his living at £1118
per annum. The Rev. Samuel Stewart, writing in 1840, says: “Four large
schoolhouses have been erected, one-half of the expense paid by the
Bishop, the other moiety by the Vestry.”

XV
CLARENDON

The parish of Clarendon was named in honour of the celebrated Lord
Chancellor. The parish of Vere, now merged in it, was named after Vere,
daughter of Sir Edward Herbert, Attorney-General to Charles I, and first
wife of Sir Thomas Lynch, who, with her two sons, died on her passage
from England to this island in 1683.

=Carlisle Bay=, the scene of the principal military engagement with a
foreign foe which has taken place in Jamaica during the British
occupation, is on the south-west coast of the old parish of Vere.

Much of the following account is taken from “A Narrative of the Descent
on Jamaica by the French,” by Sir William Beeston, in the MSS.
department of the British Museum. It is printed in “Interesting Tracts
relating to the Island of Jamaica,” published at St. Jago de la Vega in
1800. A letter from the Council in England in answer to Beeston’s
narrative is also in the British Museum, and a contemporary account of
the occurrence sworn to at Bermuda on October 2, 1694, by Benjamin
Thornton, master of the sloop _Content_, is in the Record Office at
Bermuda. Beeston came to the island in 1660, was employed in various
public capacities, and was lieutenant-governor from 1690 to 1700, and
thenceforward Governor till 1702; he is chiefly famous for the defence,
which he made, together with Colonel Long, against the attempt by Lord
Carlisle to assimilate the government of Jamaica to that of Ireland.

For some time prior to the engagement at Carlisle Bay the owners of the
plantations on the sea coast of Jamaica had been much distressed by
descents by French privateers (aided in some cases by disaffected
persons from the island itself who threw in their lot with them) from
San Domingo and the Leeward Islands, who plundered and murdered as
occasion offered.

Captain Du Casse—the Governor of San Domingo, perhaps best known in
England as the opponent to Benbow in the engagement which ended in the
latter’s death—being informed by two renegade Irishmen that the “island
was easily taken; the fortifications at Port Royal were out of order and
few men there, so that two hundred men would take that place, and two
hundred more would march in any part of the country the people were so
thin and so little used to arms,” and, being reinforced by three
men-of-war from France, decided to make a descent on the island. In the
meantime a Captain Elliott, of Jamaica, who had been taken prisoner into
Petit Goave, on the west coast of San Domingo, by French privateers, and
was probably the Captain Stephen Elliott who brought to England the news
of the great earthquake at Port Royal in 1692, managed to escape to
Jamaica in a small canoe, and give timely warning on May 31, 1694, that
Du Casse himself, with twenty sail and 3000 men, was coming to take the
island. For this he was subsequently rewarded by William III with a gold
chain and medal of £100 value and £500 in money.

Upon the receipt of Elliott’s news the House of Assembly, which was then
sitting, was adjourned for one month, a council of war was called
together, martial law proclaimed, and every officer ordered to his post.
Colonel Beckford (grandfather of the celebrated Lord Mayor of London),
who was in command at Port Royal, got Fort Charles into excellent order
and fortified the town. A fort also was built in the Parade at Kingston;
the pass by Rock Fort to the east of Kingston was guarded, and
breastworks were erected at Old Harbour and Carlisle Bay. Beeston,
realising that it was hopeless with the forces at command to try to
protect all his coast-line, decided to defend the strongest parts, and
drew all the forces from the out ports into St. Dorothy (a parish now
merged in St. Catherine), St. Catherine, St. Andrew and Port Royal; and
“some few” were left to defend the breastwork at Carlisle Bay. The
people from St. Thomas and St. David, the most exposed positions, were
called into St. Andrew and Kingston.

At Fort William and Port Morant the guns were spiked, the shot buried,
and the powder brought away.

[Illustration:

CARLISLE BAY
]

The French fleet, consisting of three men-of-war and twenty-three
transports, appeared in the offing on June 17. Rollon, the admiral,
sailed in the _Téméraire_, of fifty-four guns. Eight ships stayed about
Port Morant, but the remainder went into Cow Bay, near Yallahs, where
they laid waste the country, plundered the houses, murdered what
inhabitants they could find, and generally behaved with barbarity.

On July 15 the fleet, having done all the damage it could in the
neighbourhood of Port Morant, set sail, and after reconnoitring Port
Royal, put into Cow Bay the next day. Fearing an attack on Kingston by
land, Beeston sent a hundred men from St. Catherine to reinforce the
troops guarding the Windward road; but on the morning of the 18th he saw
seventeen ships making, as he rightly judged, for Carlisle Bay, thirty
six miles from Spanish Town. He took prompt action. He sent to Carlisle
Bay two troops of horse, and parts of the regiments of St. Catherine,
Clarendon and St. Elizabeth, the foot to be mounted on what horses they
could find. The cavalry and the mounted infantry got there that night,
and those on foot “marched so hard” that they arrived by ten the next
morning. The enemy had anchored in Carlisle Bay on the afternoon of the
18th. The editor of the earliest edition of the “Laws of Jamaica,”
published in 1683, refers to “Carlisle Bay, a safe Road for Shipping,
and there is likewise built a pretty Town of that name, of about 100
Houses which has a fine Trade, that also increases, as the Country does
in Plantations.”

Into the breastwork, which was commanded by Colonel Sutton of Clarendon,
who had constructed it, were packed 250 men, in addition to negroes,
being those of the several regiments that had come in during the night.
Beeston tells us that the fort was ill-made and worse contrived. “On the
south was the sea, on the west a large river [the Rio Minho], and on the
east they had left a wood standing,” which formed a natural covert for
the enemy. They also failed to lay in provisions for either man or
horse.

By daylight on the morning of the 19th the enemy had landed about 1400
or 1500 men about a mile and a half to the east of the breastwork, where
the small guard, after firing on them, retreated to the breastwork,
which the French attacked so hotly that the defenders had to retreat
over the river, not, however, before they had fought bravely and killed
many of the enemy. Just as the French forced the breastwork three or
four companies of the St. Catherine regiment and one of the St.
Elizabeth and some horse came in, weary, footsore and hungry with their
march of about thirty-six miles from Spanish Town. Yet they fell on
bravely on the right of the enemy and charged them so warmly that they
not only prevented them from pursuing the party that had crossed the
river, but made them retire.

Nothing but skirmishes took place till Sunday the 22nd, when the French
marched upwards till they came to the house of a certain Mr. Hubbard,
which was garrisoned with twenty men and well provisioned. Local
tradition says that this stood where Gales, a hamlet now occupied by the
Coolie barracks on Amity Hall estate, now is. Bridges, in his “Annals,”
writing in 1828, said: “The brick house in which so gallant a stand was
made, remains with the shot visible in its walls, and a solitary cotton
tree in the road from the Abbey [_sic_, Alley] to Carlisle Bay still
marks the rallying-point of the English and the grave of many a valiant
soldier.” An attack on this house by the French resulted in the loss of
several of their best officers, as the besieged were aided by a
detachment from the Bay. On hearing that a more determined attack was
intended on the morrow, Major Richard Lloyd, who was chosen to command,
put fifty men into the house and prepared an ambuscade. But the French,
finding that they had lost so many of their officers and men, and that
they could not penetrate further into the country, contented themselves
with firing the small town of Carlisle, spiking the guns and doing what
mischief they could, and then retreated to their ships. On Tuesday,
24th, the whole fleet sailed—Du Casse and two or three ships going
straight back to San Domingo, the rest staying only to put into Port
Morant to wood and water and land prisoners. And thus ended the most
serious attempt at the capture of Jamaica ever made upon its shores
during the English occupation.

Beeston estimates that the French lost on the expedition, by their
different engagements and sickness, about 700 men; of these about 550
were killed at Carlisle Bay, albeit Père Labat puts it down at 150 only.
On the English side 100 were killed or wounded; but 50 sugar-works were
destroyed and many plantations burnt, and about 1300 negroes carried
off. Du Casse received a pension of 100 pistoles per annum.

A sum of £4000 was received as a royal bounty to the sufferers by the
French invasion. When called upon by the House of Assembly to account
for it, Beeston declined; and the House, refusing to proceed with
business, was dissolved by him. The matter was subsequently allowed to
drop.

Colonel Richard Lloyd, alluded to above, who was chief justice of
Jamaica in 1696–98, entered, however, a caveat with the Council of Trade
and Plantations, received by them on April 26, 1699, against the late
act of Assembly for a present of £1500 to Sir William Beeston. He says:
“The pretence for giving him this money is to reward his care in the
time of the French invasion of that island. I was a principal actor
against them at that time, and have a journal of the whole affair. It
will be ready for the press by the beginning of next week. I intend to
dedicate it to your Lordships, and think it may induce you to think he
deserves not to be gratified for his behaviour on that occasion.” If the
journal was ever printed, no copy is now known to exist. It is difficult
to say where the truth lay in the dispute, at a time when corruption was
rife in high places.

In consequence of this descent of the French, the Government set to work
to guard the coast as well as it could, and Carlisle Fort was built the
following year. When Leslie wrote in 1740 “A New History of Jamaica,”
the fort was “now in ruins and little regarded.” There is little left of
it now, and that little is in the sea—part being shown in the
illustration on page 375.

When Long wrote his “History” in 1774, the town of Carlisle, so-called
in honour of the Earl of Carlisle, who was governor in 1678–80, was only
a hamlet of ten or twelve houses near the mouth of the Rio Minho, or, as
it is sometimes called the Dry River. Now all that is left is Carlisle
estate and one house at the Bay. As the mouth of the river is known to
have moved of late years considerably further to the east, it is
probably about the site of this house, now about half a mile from the
river mouth, that the French landed.

In those days the parish of Vere, which was formerly called Withywood,
was very thickly wooded. Later the trees were cut down to make way for
the sugar-cane, which still holds its own, thanks to the adoption of the
central factory system.

Withywood took its name, Long tells us in his History (1774), from its
having been

formerly overspread with wood and withes when the English first
settled upon it, and which grew so thick that it was impossible to
walk among them without a cutlass to clear the way. This is the part
which, on account of its rich soil, was afterwards filled with indigo
and sugar works, the opulence of whose owners is spoken of by several
writers; and though it has been called in question by some, yet it is
very certain that more carriages of pleasure were at one time kept
there than in all the rest of the island, Spanish Town only excepted.
It is indeed almost incredible to think that vast fortunes were made
here by cultivation of this simple commodity.

And in describing the cultivation of Jamaica:

There were formerly upwards of seventy gentlemen’s carriages kept in
the parish of Vere, the vast profits of their indigo works enabled
them to live in such splendour; and that part of the country for its
number of houses and inhabitants, on both sides of the Rio Minho
resembled a populous town.

One may compare with this Rampini’s account of 1873, just one hundred
years later than Long:

How can we describe the unutterably bare and barren character of the
scenery between the Alley and Four Paths, our half-way station on the
road to Chapelton?

Dusty roads, bordered with stunted logwood trees for miles; then dusty
roads without the logwood trees; then a dry river course full of rough
stones, which broke our buggy springs, and delayed us an hour to have
them tied up with ropes and branches; then more dusty roads and
logwood trees, and then dusty roads without logwood trees as before.
Not a bird to be seen, not a butterfly on the wing; not a bit of
colour, except a stray orchid or two, to break the drear monotony of
the landscape.

Rampini evidently visited Vere during a period of drought; or when he
was suffering from dyspepsia.

Withywood appears as Wither Wood in Blome’s map of 1671, which is copied
in Long’s History as “according to a survey made in the year MDCLXX.”
The name does not appear on modern maps, though it was used as late as
1728 in the Journals of the House of Assembly. The village that has
arisen around the old church is now known as Alley. Remains of the old
indigo works are still to be seen here and there in the cane pieces, and
indigo grows as a weed. There cotton was formerly cultivated
extensively. As late as 1808 Vere had some cotton plantations, while at
the same time there were thirty sugar estates. Cotton is again being
grown there.

Vere, from 1673 to 1867, was a distinct parish of Jamaica, albeit it
lost part of its area when Manchester was formed in 1814.

The =Church= itself, with its magnificent old cotton tree, forms one of
the most attractive pictures of a simple type in Jamaica, and approaches
more nearly to an English village church in character than any other in
the colony. Built of brick, with stone quoins, it is a serviceable
structure which has successfully withstood earthquake and hurricane
since it was constructed in the earlier part of the 18th century, about
1715–35. It was originally a squat building about 33 ft. wide and some
48 ft. long with the present tower. The eastern end was erected and
consecrated in 1872. Some monuments which Lawrence-Archer recorded are
now covered by the flooring of the seats in the nave. On the other hand,
some which he did not record are now visible in the nave.

On February 1, 1671, a petition was submitted to the Council by
Christopher Horner, George Osborne, John Aldred, George Child, Tho.
Coswell, Jno. Warren, Wm. Hinkston, Robt. Smith, James Jenner, Jno.
Downer, and Phi. Robarts, inhabitants of Withywood and Dry River:

“that whereas His Excellency had recommended Mr. Lander to them for
their minister, and they had bought land and were building him a
church, and had provided him a competent maintenance, pray they may
not be liable to contribute to any other church within the parish.”
This was “referred to the next General Assembly in regard the justices
and vestry men of every parish are empowered by Act of the General
Assembly to lay such assessments and parish duties as they shall think
requisite and that power cannot be taken from them by the Governor and
Council only.”

There was a church in Withywood, although no parson, as early as 1675.
Sir Thomas Lynch, writing in May of that year, says,

None but these four parishes, Port Royal, St. Catherine, St. John and
St. Andrew, are supplied, though there are 14 in the island. In Vere
or Withywood there is a church, and that and Clarendon parish
adjoining are able and willing to give a minister £100 per annum.

At a meeting of the Council held at St. Jago de la Vega on February 19,
1693,

The Council being acquainted that Mr. Samuell Cook, Rector of the
parish of Vere, was attending at the Door, To answer for a Certaine
Remonstrance by him writt and published, was ordered to be called in.
Then the Clerke of the Councill was ordered to read the same in his
presence. Acknowledged his Error and promised to give a Recantation
under his hand and presented to this board which he did accordingly
and was accepted of.

In a list of the Parishes, Churches and Ministers in Jamaica, April 18,
1715, under Vere is recorded “a church rebuilding” but no rector’s name
is given.

In 1737 the Committee appointed by the Assembly to inspect the list of
dockets of the charitable devises and donations in the Secretary’s
office, drew up and submitted a very interesting analysis of the list,
parish by parish.

So far as Vere is concerned we find that:

William Gibbons gave £20 for a communion plate; George Forsett in 1680
gave £10 for a church Bible and pulpit cloth; Andrew Knight in 1683
gave £20 to the church and poor; Hugh Gurge in 1687 gave £10 towards
building a church; Magdalen Fawcett in 1688 gave £10 to the poor, and
£10 for the minister and pall; Joseph Taylor in 1689 gave fourteen
acres of land for the minister and poor; John Moore in 1690 gave £150
towards building a church; Christian Flyer in 1715 gave £50 towards
building a wall round the church [then being built]; Nathaniel Skeen
in 1721 gave £100 for ornaments for the pulpit and pall; and Robert
Cargill in 1731 gave £30 towards building the church.

The principal monuments in the church are those to the Morants, the
Gales and the Suttons, families long and honourably connected with
Jamaica history as members of the Council and the Assembly and in other
capacities; the Gales having, however, more to do with St. Elizabeth and
Westmoreland than Vere. John Gale (1680–1721), the general Baptist
Minister, son of Nathaniel Gale, “an eminent citizen” who had property
in the West Indies, was evidently connected with this family. Colonel
Jonathan Gale was custos of St. Elizabeth, and member for St. Elizabeth
1709–11, and for Westmoreland 1721–26.

[Illustration:

THE ALLEY CHURCH
]

Vere gave but two speakers to the Assembly from among its members,
Andrew Langley and William Pusey, but among its representatives were
those bearing the well-known names of Ivy, Sutton, Vassall, Cargill,
Beckford, Lawes, Morant, Dawkins, Nedham and Batty. Andrew Knight, who
was its member in 1677–79, was, his tombstone tells us, custos of
Clarendon and Vere, and he was probably its first custos.

John Morant settled in Jamaica soon after the occupation. His son John
Morant, Custos of Clarendon and Vere, married Mary Pennant, aunt of the
first Lord Penrhyn.

Edward Morant, son of John, represented Vere in 1752, 1754, in both the
Assembly of 1755, and in 1756. He was called up to the Council in 1757,
left Jamaica in 1760, and purchased Brockenhurst manor, which is owned
by his descendants. In 1761 he was elected M.P. for Hindon. On July 16,
1791, as he was driving in Kensington, his horses took fright, when he
was precipitated from his carriage, carried home senseless, and died
four days afterwards. He married first in Clarendon, June 10, 1754,
Eleanor Angelina, widow of William Dawkins, member for Portland in 1749,
and St. Thomas in the Vale in 1752, whose tombstone in Clarendon old
church is inscribed:

Here lieth the Body of
William Dawkins Esqre.,
of this Parish, who died
the 14th of December,
1752, aged 26 years.

Edward Morant married secondly in England, April 22, 1762, a Miss
Goddard, grand-daughter and only remaining descendant of President John
Gregory, who twice administered the government of Jamaica, on the
refusal of Edward Pennant, the senior member of the Council, to act in
that capacity.

Elizabeth Morant, daughter of John Morant, the younger, and sister of
Edward, married in Vere, January 11, 1753–54, her cousin, William Gale,
who represented Hanover in 1754 and 1755, and St. John in the second
Assembly of 1755, and in 1756. He was the younger son of John Gale, the
member of Council, who in 1747 first settled the estate of York (from
the county of his ancestors) in this parish, and died 1749–50. Another
mural monument in the church commemorates his elder son, a younger
daughter, himself and his daughter-in-law.

Lawrence-Archer records Colonel Thomas Sutton, who played an important
part in the successful repulse of the French at Carlisle Bay in 1694;
but the monument is no longer to be seen. It probably is hidden by the
flooring of the nave. It is to be regretted that copies of the
inscriptions were not taken before they were covered up.

One of the most interesting accounts of the earthquake which destroyed
Port Royal in 1692 is “The Truest and Largest Account of the Late
Earthquake in Jamaica, June the 7th, 1692, Written by a Reverend Divine
there to his Friend in London. With some Improvement thereof by another
Hand. London: Printed, and are to be sold by J. Buttler, Bookseller at
Worcester, 1693,” of which a copy is in the library of the Institute of
Jamaica, and a reprint is given in the second volume of the “Journal of
the Institute of Jamaica.” It is dated “Withywood, in the parish of
Vere, June 30th, 1692.” Nothing is known for certain of the author. He
was probably the Thomas Hardwicke who was made rector of Vere by the
Earl of Carlisle in 1678. The following extract shows how Vere fared in
the great calamity:

It overthrew all the Brick and Stone buildings in the Countrey,
whereof several in my own Parish, which now are either leveled with
the ground or standing Monuments of the Wrath of God, are so shattered
and torn that they are irrepairable. While these were trembling, the
Earth opened in my Parish in multitudes of Places, and through thier
dire Chasms spew’d out Water to a considerable height above ground, in
such quantities in some Places, that it made our Gullies run on a
suddain, tho’ before exceeding dry; in so much that some were afraid
of being overwhelmed at once by the River and Sea joining together to
swallow up the Countrey, especially nigh the River, in the purest
Mould, which had not Clay or other Consolidating Matter beneath to
oppose the force of the Fountain of the Deep breaking up; for where
that was, we do not find any cracks of the Earth at all; and yet it
pleases God that we in the Parish have escaped the Danger much better
than our Neighbour Parishes; for happening to content ourselves with
mean and low built Houses, for the most part built with Timber, and
boarded, or with Cratches set deep in the ground and Plaistered, such
Houses are generally standing: So that we have means to assist one
another in this calamitous distress.

In 1728 the finances of the parish were in such a bad condition that a
Bill was passed by the Assembly to reduce the rector’s salary from £150
to £100.

Under date February 11, 1803, Lady Nugent records that “The Admiral
brought Mr. and Mrs. Ledwich and Captain Dunn with him.” This may refer
either to the rector of Vere or to his brother, G. Ledwich, the rector
of Port Royal. On July 2 she entertained “the Mr. and Mrs. Ledwich”
again.

The following is a list of the rectors as complete as it has possible to
make it:

1671. Rev. Lander.
1675. Vacant.
1678. Rev. Thomas Hardwicke.
1693. Rev. Samuel Cook.
1701. Rev. Richard Tabor.
1716. Rev. James White.
1762–63. Rev. Samuel Griffiths, A.M. Cantab.
1763–70. Rev. John Lindsay, D.D.
1770–72. Rev. John Wolcot (Peter Pindar).
1776. Rev. William Morgan.
1782–94. Rev. Francis Johnstone.
1795–96. Rev. Thomas Markly.
1797–1802. Rev. Edward Ledwich.
1803. Vacant.
1804. Rev. Thomas Underwood.
1805. Rev. Humphries.
1806. Vacant.
1807–09. Rev. Isaac Mann.
1811–15. Rev. Edmund Pope, LL.D.
1816. Rev. John M’Cammon Trew.
1817–20. Rev. George Crawford Ricketts Fearon.
1821–24. Rev. Joseph Jefferson.
1825. Rev. Edward F. Hughes.
1826. Rev. Urquhart Gillespie Rose.
1827. Rev. Henry V. Towton, M.D. Edin. 1817.
1828–44. Rev. John Smith, A.B.
1845–47. Rev. B. Robinson, B.A.
1849–50. Rev. J. Williams.
1851. Rev. W. S. Coward.
1855–69. Rev. Thomas Garrett, B.A.
1870. Rev. Alexander Foote.
1871–76. Rev. C. Douet, B.A. (later Assistant Bishop).
1876. Rev. C. T. Husband.
1905. Rev. S. Negus.

Griffiths accompanied the Governor, William Henry Lyttelton, to the
island in 1762, and was in the same year presented to the rectory of
Vere. He afterwards removed to St. Dorothy, and later to St. Jago de la
Vega. Of Dr. Lindsay some account was given in the notice of the
Cathedral.

Wolcot, satirist and poet, best known perhaps by his satires on the King
and the Royal Academy, accompanied as physician his kinsman, Sir William
Trelawny, when he came out to take up the governorship of Jamaica in
1767. They were both Cornishmen, and Wolcot had been chaplain on
Trelawny’s ship when the latter was a captain in the navy. Finding that
medical prospects in Jamaica were not promising he returned to England
in 1769, and took orders with a view to being appointed rector of St.
Ann, the Bishop of London ordaining him deacon and priest on succeeding
days. Returning to Jamaica early in 1770 he found the rectory of St. Ann
not vacant, and he was appointed to Vere. He was _ex-officio_ a trustee
of the Vere School. He lived with the Governor at Spanish Town and
performed most of his duties by deputy. In May of the same year he was
appointed physician general to the horse and foot soldiers in the
island. He lived on terms of close intimacy with the Trelawnys, and one
of his earlier poems, “The Nymph of Tauris,” which first saw the light
of day in Jamaica, is an elegy on the death of Ann Trelawny, sister to
Sir William. Soon after the Governor’s death, which occurred in December
1772, Wolcot accompanied Lady Trelawny to England, and Redding in his
“Recollections Literary and Personal,” tells us that her death shortly
afterwards robbed him of a future wife.

While rector of Vere he published a work entitled “Persian Love Elegies,
to which is added the Nymph of Tauris,” printed in Kingston in 1773 by
Joseph Thompson and Co. It is dedicated to Lady Trelawny. This work is,
apart from the Kingston printed Almanac of 1751, the oldest Jamaica
printed book in the library of the Institute.

The following tale is told of Wolcot’s ready wit in Jamaica. At a
dinner-party given by Pusey Manning of Vere, he jokingly introduced the
rector to a stranger in the following manner, “This is Dr. Wolcot, the
unworthy incumbrance of this parish.” “And this, Sir,” retorted Wolcot,
“is Pusey Manning, Esq., the scabbiest sheep in my flock.”

The east window of the church is filled with stained glass, and stained
glass is in two lights of the west window. That to the south is “In
memory of Marie Sophie, the beloved wife of James Harvey, who died on
July 24, 1871, aged 41 years”: that to the north is “In memory of George
Harrison Townsend, died July 10, 1846, and Sarah Bevil his wife died
Feb. 22, 1871.”

The church owns a most interesting chalice and paten: on the former is
inscribed “The Gift of Ralph Rippon, sen., to the Parish Church of Vere,
in Jamaica, 1687”: on the paten “Ralph Rippon, 1687.” Except for the
paten at Yallahs, which dates from 1683, these are the oldest examples
of plate in the colony. Both bear the date mark of 1685. The chalice is
typical of what Cripps calls “the rude vessels of the latter part of the
century.” Rippon represented Vere in the Assembly from 1726 to 1733,
with an interval in 1731, when he sat for St. Elizabeth.

The following are the principal tombs in Vere Church, those that are
given in Lawrence-Archer being so stated:

MURAL MONUMENTS

1. Underneath, amidst the ashes of her father, mother, brothers and
sisters, lyes interred the body of Elizabeth, daughter to ye Honble.
John Gale, Esq., and Elizabeth, his wiffe, who dyed April the 30,
1761, in the 34th year of her age, in memory of whose many amiable
qualities her Husband Daniel McGilchrist, Esq., hath erected this
monument of his love and regard to one of the best of wives.

[In Lawrence-Archer, who, however, omits the arms:—A lion rampant:
impaling a bar charged with 3 lions heads between 3 pairs of fish in
saltire.]

2. Beneath this marble, in this pew, lieth interred the body’s of the
Honourable John Morant, Esq., who departed this life October the 3rd
anno domini 1723, in the 44th year of his age, and his son, John
Morant, Esq., who departed this life February the 6th, anno domini
1734, in the 36th year of his age, and also Elizabeth, the wife of
John Gale, Esq., daughter of John Morant the elder, who departed this
life January the 10th, 1740, in the 34th year of her age.

_Arms_—Gules, a fess lozengy argent and azure, between three talbots
passant or.

[In Lawrence-Archer, who has “38th year” for “36th year,” and calls
the azure sable, and puts rampant for passant.]

3. Near this place are deposited the remains of John Morant, who died
the 9th of August, 1741, aged 18, William Morant, who died the 9th of
November, 1744, aged 19, Samuel Morant, who died the ... October 1752,
aged 18, Eleanor Angelina Morant, who died the 5th of February, 1756,
aged 24, Mary Morant, who died the 9th August, 1759, aged 60.

_Arms_—Gules a fess lozengy argent or sable, between three talbots or.

[In Lawrence-Archer, who has “1756” for 1759.]

4. Near this place are deposited the remains of John Gale, Esquire,
who departed this life on the 24th June 1758, aged 24 year, Sarah
Gale, who died on 29th August, 1748, aged 14 year, the Honble. John
Gale, Esquire, who died on 27th February, 1749–50, aged 52 year,
Jonathan Gale, who died 30th April, 1756, aged 25 year, and Elizabeth,
the wife of William Gale, and daughter of John Morant, Esquire, who
departed this life the 14th of June, 1759, aged 31 year.

_Arms_—Quarterly 1 and 4, on a fess between three pairs of fish in
saltire as many lions heads erased; 2 and 3 a chevron between three
talbots passant.

[In Lawrence-Archer, who gives “1743” for 1748, omits all reference to
Jonathan Gale, and calls the fish in saltire merely saltires.]

5. To the memory of the Hon. Kean Osborn of Caswell Hill in the parish
of Vere and of Montpelier, Saint Thomas-in-the-East, late Speaker of
the House of Assembly in this Island, who departed this life the 4th
of September, 1820, at Mont-sur-Vaudray, in France, on his way to
Italy for the health of the wretched survivor, Elizabeth Osborn.

6. Sacred to the memory of Ennis Read, Esq., who departed this life on
the 10th day of Novr., 1771, aged 58, and of Margaret, his wife, who
died on the 29th of Septr., 1745, aged 34. A pair that by a primæval
purity of manners acquired the universal esteem of and reflected
honour on human nature. To the world their lives were fair models of
imitation: their last moments an instructive lesson that shew’d with
what fortitude and serenity, virtue can support her votaries in the
awful hour of dissolution.

O’er Birth and Titles let the column heave
And venal flattery mock the lifeless ear,
Far nobler honours grace your humble grave,
Truth’s simple sigh and Virtue’s sacred tear.

_Arms_—Azure a griffin rampant or, impaling between three stags
passant or a chevron charged with three rosettes gules.

7. Erected to the memory of Saml. Alpress Geo. Osborn, lieutenant 74th
regiment, aged 20 years, who departed this life on the 26th September,
1828, at Gibraltar, of the malignant fever prevalent there, by his
broken-hearted grandmother, Elizabeth Osborn....

8. George Cussans Richards, Esqr., Obit. Jany. 1828. Erected to the
memory of their relative by John Morant, George Morant, Esquires, Sir
John and Lady Lambert. Sacred to the memory of Edward Sympson, Esqre.,
younger son of Robert Sympson, Esqr., of Monymusk, in this parish.
Previous to his residence in this island, he served with credit many
years in the royal navy and was present at the Battle of Navarino,
20th October, 1827, in H.M. Ship _Asia_, 84 guns, Admiral Sir Edward
Codrington, G.C.B. He obtained and preserved the universal goodwill
and affection of his comrades and of those amongst whom his lot was
subsequently cast. Died at Monymusk, March 8th, 1846, aged 33 years.

9. Near this monument lies interred the body of John Pusey. Esqr., who
died the 24th day of January, 1767, aged 75 years, Disinterestedly
sincere, and uniformly steady in the interest of his native country;
he lived truly and justly venerated. Unsolicitous of public honours,
he knew no ambition but that of doing good; and possessing a soul rich
in humanity and benevolence which poured forth its bounty with a
generous and unbounded hand. He died gratefully lamented.

_Arms_—Gules 2 bars or. Crest: a cat o’mountain statant gules.

10. In memory of John, who died the 14th January, 1860, also of Mary
Agatha, who died 22 March, 1862, the infant children of Rev. Thos.
Garrett, M.A., rector of this parish, and of Sarah, his wife, this
tablet was erected in the 16th year of his incumbency, in the year of
the Lord, 1869.

11. Sacred to the memory of Anna Maria, widow of the late Stephen
Hannaford, Esquire, of Amity Hall, in the parish of St. Dorothy, who
departed this life on the 20th day of January, 1874, in the 68th year
of her age. Deeply regretted by her family and friends who mourne her
loss.

12. Sacred to the memory of William Lewis, who died at Moreland
Estate, August 4th, 1838, aged 41 years. Beloved, esteemed and
respected by everyone who knew him as an able, kind and honest man,
the loss of whom is by no one more sincerely regretted and lamented
than by Robert and Edward Sympson of Moneymusk Estate, who have caused
this tablet to be erected to his memory.

13. Sacred to the memory of William Collman, Esquire, born 15th May,
1807, died 25th January, 1853, at Caswell Hill Estate, in the Parish
of Vere. Also George Munro Collman, born Nov. 29th, 1834, died 29th
May, 1853, at Bushy Park Estate in the parish of St. Dorothy, and
Elizabeth Caroline Collman, born 28th August, 1846, died 27th July,
1849, at Salt River in the parish of Vere. As a tribute of conjugal
and maternal remembrance this tablet has been inscribed by Elizabeth
Collman.

14. Sacred to the memory of George Willett Hannaford, youngest son of
the late Stephen Hannaford, Esq., of the parish of St. Dorothy, who
departed this life on the 23rd day of October, 1875, in the 37th year
of his age....

15. In memory of Canute Wilson, many years Clerk of the Peace for this
parish, this monument is erected by the many friends who experienced
his kindness. He departed this life at Gibbons on the 16th October,
1848, aged 47 years.

16. To the memory of Emma Edwardes, only daughter of Richard Crewe,
Esqr., of Raymonds Estate, and wife of John Pusey Edwardes, Esq., of
Pusey Hall, at which place she died on the 23rd of November, 1820....

Near this place lies intern’d with her parents, &c., the body of Mrs.
Deborah Gibbons, wife to Willm. Gibbons, Esq., and daughter of John
Favell, Esq., of ye county of York, who departed this life the 20th of
July, 1711, in the 29th year of her age. To summ up her character in
brief she was one of the best of women and a most pious Christian. She
left only one daughter, who married the Honble. James Lawes, eldest
son of Sir N. S. Lawes, Kt., Governor of this island, who in honour to
the memory of so good a parent erected this monument to her.

_Arms_—Or a lion rampant sable surmounted by a bend argent charged
with three escallops argent: impaling sable a chevron argent between
three escallops argent.

17. Sacred to the memory of William Pusey, Esq., representative in
Assembly for this parish & Colonel of the Midland Division of horse
militia, who died the 11th day of June, 1783, aged 42 years. And of
Elizabeth, his wife, who departed this life the 8th day of June, 1780,
in her 40th year.

While here a brother’s sorrowing eye
Surveys the melancholy stone;
Dear Shades! Accept a Muse’s sigh,
A Muse that mourns for worth alone.

[This epitaph is said to have been written by Peter Pindar].

18. A tribute to filial and parental affection, this monument is
erected by Kean Osborn, Esq., and Elizabeth, his wife, to the memory
of her father, the Honble. Samuel Alpress, Esquire, of Caswell Hill,
in this parish, and of Margaret Eleanor, her mother. Also to the
memory of the two sons of Kean Osborn and Elizabeth his wife, Samuel
Alpress Osborn, who departed this life on xxx day of July MDCCCI, on
his passage from this island to resume his studies at Trinity Hall,
Cambridge; and of Kean Osborn, a Captain in the Vth Dragoon Guards,
and a Q.M.G., to Lt. Genl. Sir Thomas Picton’s Division, who fell at
the Battle of Salamanca in Spain on the xxii day of July MDCCCXII,
after having distinguished himself at the Battle of Vimeira and
besieges of Ciudad Rodrigo & Badajos.

[Executed in Rome, 1818.]

19. In memory of Robert Edward Mitchell, who died in the discharge of
his duty, April 3, 1899, aged 28.

20. In memory of Robert Charles Gibb, M.R.C.S., Eng., L.S.A., who for
over twenty years worked faithfully as a medical man in this parish.
Died at Lismore House, St. Andrew, Jany. 27th, 1900, aged 49 years and
was interred at Halfway-Tree.

21. Erected by many friends to the glory of God & in memory of the
Rev. Charles Townshend Husband, rector of St. Peter’s Vere from 1876
to 1904. Died 28th January, 1904.

ON THE FLOOR OF THE NAVE

22. D.O.M.L. In piam memoriam dni dni Andrer, Knight, Rotulorum
Custodis et Supremi Judicis communium placitorum in Provinciis
Clarendon et Vere in Jamaica, et turmae pedestris centurionis, qui
obiit 42^o aetatis anno, 19^o julii, 1683.

EPITAPHIUM

Dives opum Andreas: famae virtutis et artis
ditior; hocque magis dives honoris erat.
Plura darent superi, ni fata invicta negarent
sternendo humani [_sic_] futile molis onus.
Ni superi tamen huic et sors sibi fida deessent
urna tenet corpus, mens habet alta polum,
dicat, vovet, dedicat.
Ja. Barclay.

_Arms_—... on a fess ... between three bulls heads erased ... (each
with a ring in its nose ...) a fret between two eagles close....

[In Lawrence-Archer; now in great part covered up.]

It may be thus translated:

To God, the best and greatest, praise.

In affectionate memory of Sir Andrew Knight, Custos Rotulorum: and
Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the Parishes of Clarendon
and Vere in Jamaica, Captain of a troop of infantry, who died in the
42nd year of his age, 19th July, 1683.

EPITAPH

Rich in this world’s goods was Andrew: richer in his renown for virtue
and learning: and therefore the richer in honours. The Gods above had
given him more, had not the fates unconquerable gainsaid it by laying
low the worthless burden of human toil. Yet unless the Gods above and
his destiny, faithful to itself, proved wanting, a funeral now holds
his body, his soul soaring on high is in heaven.

James Barclay, gives vows and dedicates this.

23. Here lyes the body of John Favell, Esqr., who died March the 20th,
1720–21, aged 72 years.

_Arms_—A chevron between 3 escallops.

24. Here lyeth ye body of George Fawcett ... of William Fawcett of ...
ewill in ye county of York, who departed this life 13th day of
January, 1681.

[Partly covered.]

25. In memory of Cap. John Watt, who departed this life April 20th, in
the year of our Lord, 1767, aged 54 years.

26. Here lies the body of John Pusey, Esquire, who died the 24th of
January, 1767, aged 75 years.

27. ... yeth interr’d the body of ... grett Read, wife of ... is Read,
who departed ... the 29th day of September ...ar of our Lord, 1745,
and in ...ty second year of her age.

_Arms_—A griffin rampant. [Partly covered.]

The following are given by Lawrence-Archer but are not now visible:

28. Here lyeth interr’d the body of Coll. Thomas Sutton, who departed
this life, the 15th day of November, in the seventy-second year of his
age, and in the year of our Lord God, 1710. B.M. Slab.

29. (Ab.) In memory of John Sutton, son of John Sutton, Esq., of this
parish ... (Eulogium). Post tam illustre diluculum qualis expectandus
esset meridies? Sed nubes—sed tenebrae—sed umbra mortis. He was cut
off in the flower of his age by the violence of a fever, 23rd August,
anno 1745. W.M. Slab.

IN CHURCHYARD

30. Sacred to the memory of Walter Comrie, eldest son of Walter
Sterling Comrie, late of the parish of Westmoreland, obt. 12 October,
1880, aged 46 years.

31. This tomb was erected by Mr. Daniel Callaghan, consignee, and
Messrs. Anderson Thomson & Co., owners of the barque _Vere_ of London
in memory of their loyal friend and servant Archibald Boyd, who traded
regularly to Jamaica in command of the above vessel for many years. He
died at Pusey Hall in this parish on the 24th December 1862, in the
52nd year of his age, & was buried thre.

32. Beneath this stone lieth the body of Ann Livingston, the beloved
wife of William Livingston Reid, born 11th April, 1880, died on the
12th February, 1861, aged 53 years.

Raines Waite, in the year 1694, left the remainder of his estate to poor
children. As several persons of the old parish of Vere (which included a
part of the present parish of Manchester) had made several charitable
donations, consisting of lands, slaves and money, for the use of the
said parish, without giving any particular directions or making any
particular appointments touching the management or disposal of the
proceeds of these gifts, an act of the Island Legislature was passed in
1740, vesting the funds of the Charity in certain trustees for the
purpose of erecting buildings and endowing a free school at the Alley in
the then parish of Vere, for the education and maintenance of as many
poor children as the trustees might approve of. The present =Free
School= at the Alley was founded under the provisions of this Act, which
was amended by an act of 1768 and again by 18 Vic. c. 54. When Bridges
wrote: “The funds at present amount to £12,000, vested in Island
certificates, bearing 6 per cent. interest, with a parcel of land rented
to Moneymusk estate, for £383 per annum, and some slaves, leased by the
proprietor of Pusey Hall estate for the annual sum of £103. There is
besides an excellent house, with five acres of land, and the
establishment, which has been lately opened to the adjoining parishes of
Manchester and Clarendon, maintains twelve boys.”

In 1908 a secondary school was established.

Of =Hillside= Peter Pindar wrote a ballad entitled “The Fisherman,”
published in the “Columbian Magazine” for 1797, commencing:

At Hillside where you’ll meet with most excellent Cheer,
Good Burgundy, Claret, Hock, Cyder and Beer,
Where the Master and Mistress seem both to Contest,
Who shall treat with most kindness and welcome each Guest.

The site of the old parish church of Clarendon, known as the =Church of
the White Cross=, as distinguished from that of the Red Cross (the
Cathedral) at Spanish Town, was on a rising piece of land about four
miles from May Pen and eight from Old Harbour. It is now covered with
dense undergrowth, and very few even of the negro squatters in the
district know of its whereabouts. The bush was recently so thick that
two men were necessary to cut a path through with machettes; and though
the old rectory was found, an hour’s search failed to discover the
church.

The face of the country has been completely altered since the old days,
but it is difficult to understand why such an out-of-the-way situation
should have been selected. The only road in the district used when the
church was dedicated was the present rough parochial road from May Pen
which debouches on to the Free Town road about half a mile from Old
Harbour. This latter road was not, it is believed, in existence 150
years ago, so that the old road probably was continued to Old Harbour
Bay, whither the sugar from the estates in Upper Clarendon was conveyed.
It is about three-quarters of a mile from the church, and now there is
no trace of any road connecting them.

[Illustration:

MORGAN’S VALLEY
]

The old church has now completely disappeared, as not so long ago local
squatters pulled the walls down to utilise the stones. On the occasion
of a visit in 1907 the walls of strong masonry were still standing,
undamaged by the recent earthquake, though the roof had fallen in,
several of its beams lying rotting in the grass. It was evidently a very
small stone building, not more than 40 by 20 ft., though at the west end
there was a small room about 12 ft. square, probably a vestry. The walls
were not more than 10 ft. high.

The foundations of the rectory are clearly visible, distant about 300
yards in the bush. Local tradition is that it was a large house with
good stables. It was evidently built of bricks and must have been of a
good size, larger than the church. There was a churchyard immediately
joining the house. Besides traces of several other graves, there is a
bricked and railed-in space containing several gravestones level with
the ground. The slabs have no armorial bearing, but contain a full list
of the virtues appertaining to the Hon. Edward Pennant (1736), chief
justice and president of the Council, and of his wife Elizabeth (1735),
Francis Reading (1738), and, William Dawkins, who died in 14/12/32
(1752), aged 26 years.

Sir Henry Morgan, the buccaneer governor (1675–82), is commemorated in
=Morgan’s Valley=, where he for some time is said to have resided.

The =Chapelton Church=, dedicated to St. Paul, was built at the time
when the present parish of Clarendon was divided into the parishes of
Clarendon and Vere. The “Cross” Church, near May Pen, now in ruins, was
then the parish church of Clarendon. The Chapelton Church was built as a
chapel of “ease” to the Cross Church, and was the first place of worship
of any size erected in Upper Clarendon. It was commonly known as the
“Chapel,” and the village around it took the name from the church, being
called “Chapel Town,” and in the course of time shortened into its
present form, Chapelton. The oldest records go back to the year 1666.

The building when first erected was about one-fourth of its present
size. It was then enlarged to half its present size, and finally was
increased to its present size. This history of the growth of the church
accounts for the fact that the old building had a double roof with a
column of pillars down the centre. It appears that after the Cross
Church fell into disuse, the daughter church of St. Paul’s, Chapelton,
became the Parish Church of Upper Clarendon, and what was then called
“Lime Savannah Chapel” (now St. Gabriel’s Church) took the place of the
old church at the Cross.

The list of incumbents as far as it has been possible to complete it is
as follows:

Rev. Edward Reading.
1765 (about). Rev. Michael Smith.
1769. Rev. Richard Call.
1771. Rev. William Pagett, A.M.
1775. Rev. Thomas Pool.
1779. Rev. Isham Baggs.
1794. Rev. Adam Sibbit.
1804. Rev. Alexander Campbell.
1806. Rev. Hugh Price Hughes.
1808. Rev. Wm. Henry Lynch.
1811. Rev. Lewis Bowerbank.
1814. Rev. Thomas P. Williams.
1820. Rev. G. C. R. Fearon.
1822. Rev. J. W. Austin.
1840. Rev. Sam. Hy. Stewart, LL.D.
1852. Rev. Chas. Hy. Hall.
1877. Rev. Hy. Wase Whitfield.
1897. Rev. C. P. Muirhead.
1913. Rev. R. J. Macpherson.

There are monuments to John Moore (d. 1733), the grandfather of Henry
Moore, lieutenant governor of Jamaica and Governor of New York; to
Edward Pennant (d. 1736); to Elizabeth his wife (d. 1735), from whom
descended the Barons Penrhyn; to Thomas Beach (d. 1774),
Attorney-General and Chief Justice, and grandfather to Sir Henry de la
Beche, the eminent geologist.

[Illustration:

HALSE HALL
]

The =Halse Hall= Burial-Ground contains a tomb of the Halse family—Major
Thomas Halse (d. 1702), who came from Barbados with Penn and Venables,
and Thomas Halse (d. 1727); on =Old Plantations= Estate are tombs of
Henry Dawkins (d. 1744), a member of the Assembly for Vere, and James
Dawkins (d. 1757); at =Sheckle’s= estate is the tomb of John Sheckle (d.
1782), the custos of Clarendon and Vere. =Kemp’s Hill Look-out= is about
four miles north of the Alley; on the top of the hill are some old
cannon. The look-out commanded a view of Carlisle Bay. At =Harmony Hall=
is an Arawâk kitchen-midden; at =Mountain River= (St. John’s) are Arawâk
rock-carvings (illustrated in the “Journal of the Institute of
Jamaica”); at Jackson’s Bay and Three Sandy Bay are caves with Arawâk
remains. The mountain, =Juan de Bolas=, was the haunt of the leader of
rebellious negroes of that name who surrendered to the English soldiers
soon after the conquest. At =Longville=, named after Samuel Long, who
came out with Penn and Venables and settled there, on the Rio Minho, are
indications of the places where the Spaniards washed for gold.

According to reports furnished to the Assembly for 1832 and 1833 by the
physician, A. Murchison, M.D., there were 112 patients admitted to =Milk
River Baths= in the former year and 82 in the latter. In both cases a
large proportion suffered from disorders of the stomach and liver, and
rheumatism.

Moses Kellet, who represented Clarendon in the Assembly in 1746–51, was
the owner of =Kellets= in Clarendon.

INDEX

Names of ships are printed in _italics_

Abercromby, Sir Ralph, 72

Able, Eliz., 244

Accompong, 325, 327, 335, 369

Adelaide street, 123

“Adelgitha,” 356

Adelphi, 342

Admiral’s Mountain, 72, 211

— Pen, 66, 72, 210, 211

Affleck, Rear-Admiral Philip, 210

_Africa_, 332

Agricultural Department, 24, 25

— Society, 28, 99

Agua Alta Bahia, 9

Aguacadiba, 273

Agualta, 11, 217, 308

— Vale, 179, 265

Aikman, A., 103

Akee, 25

Akers, Mrs. 137

Akjampong, 325

Albemarle, Christopher, Duke of, xiii, 16, 114, 172

Albert, Prince, 79

Albion Estate, 252

Aldred, John, 380

_Alexander_, 169

Allen, Grant, 118

Alley, 377, 379, 380

— Church, 382

— Free School, 393

Allman, George, 155

— Thomas, 155

Allwood, Robert, xvii, 103

Almanac, Jamaica, 39, 320, 386

Almond tree, 25

Alpress, Hon. Samuel, 390

— Margaret Eleanor, 390

Alsop, Rev. William, 94

Alta Mela, 9, 11

_Ambuscade_, 75

America, 272

American Hotels Company, 218

Ameyro, 274

Amiens, Peace of, 332

Amity Hall, 389

— — Estate, 377

Anderson, Thomson and Co., 392

Andreiss, Lieut.-Col. Barnard, 353

— Tomb of, 371

Andress, Major, 352

Anglin, Elizabeth, 339, 340

— Philip, 339

Annals of Jamaica, 295

_Anne_, 333

Annotto Bay, 259, 266

Aqueducts, 13, 220

Arawâk beads, 3

— carvings, 270

— caves, 342, 368, 371, 397

— huts, 12

— implements, 182

— Indians, 1, 267

— kitchen-midden, 146, 292, 318, 342, 345, 397

— pottery, 182, 269

— remains, 146, 233, 253, 368, 371, 397

— rock-carvings, 146, 266, 318, 342, 397

Archæology, 6

Archbishop of the West Indies, 162

Archbold, Henry, 197

Archbould, 235

— Henry, 217, 262

— Lieut.-Col. Henry, 216

— Col. Henry, 216

—, James, 217

— Major William, 217

— Sarah Elizabeth, 217

Architecture, 13

_Ardent_, 74

Arms, 182

Arrowroot, 271

Ash, George, 323, 341

Ashmore, Charles, 181

_Asia_, 333, 389

Assembly, House of, 15–17, 47, 69, 92, 98, 101, 111, 119, 124, 127,
132, 149, 156, 174, 175, 177, 179, 185, 191, 209, 210, 214, 219,
226, 235, 240, 261, 265, 293, 300, 309, 319, 332, 337, 374, 377, 387

Assiento, 109, 138, 213

Atherton, Rev. W. B., B.A., 178

Atkins, John, 4, 62

— Rev. Robert, 165

Auchindown, 371

Auracabeza, 9

Austin, Rev. Canon John W., 94, 322, 396

Aylmer, 124

— Colonel Whitgift, 127, 128

Ayscough, John, xiv, xv, xviii, 124

Bacon, John, 12, 120, 123, 167–169, 323

Baggs, Rev. Isham, 396

Baily, E. H., R.A., 191

Balaclava, 370

Balcarres, Alexander Earl of, xiv, 181, 327, 328, 331, 337–38

Balcarres Hill, 258

Ballard, Colonel, 289

— Mary, 360

Bancroft, Dr. E. N., 170, 176

Bang, Aaron, 171, 223

Banks, Sir Joseph, 249, 310, 367

Bannister, Maj.-Gen. James, xv

Banns, 165

Baptism Registers, 24, 93, 126, 166, 199, 206, 322

— of slaves, 166, 206

Baptist Ground, 195

Baptists, 161, 188

Barba, 275, 278

“Barbados Gazette,” 39

Barbican, 304

Barclay, James, 391

_Barfleur_, 73, 75, 122

Barham, 25, 33

Barker, Andrew, 230

Barkly, Sir Henry, xiv, 36, 106

Barne, G. H., xx

Barnes, Joseph, 170

Barnes Gully, 155, 170

Barnett, 342

Baron-Wilson, Mrs. Margaret, 353

Barracks, 19, 146, 193, 302, 303, 333

Barrett, Elizabeth, 318

— Richard, xvii, 33

Barrett street, 123

Barrow, Thomas, xix

Barry, Colonel Samuel, xviii, 199, 206, 234, 235, 287

Barry street, 155

Bath, 247

— Court House, 248

— Garden, 25, 175

Bartholomew, Rev. W., 348

Batty, 382

— FitzHerbert, xx

— Richard, 12

Bayly, Nathaniel, 308

— Zachary, 205, 210, 307, 308

Baynes, Rev. W. W., 348

Bayona, Peter de, 281, 283

Beach, Thomas, xviii, xix, 124, 175, 396

Beads, Indian, 3, 270, 273

Beaumont, Augustus Hardin, 340

— Jamima, 166

Beckford, 124, 267, 360, 382

— Ballard, 174, 360

— Nathaniel, xv

— Colonel Peter, xiii, xv, xvii, 33, 45, 47, 71, 98, 101, 102, 206,
247, 359, 360

— Peter, junr., xvi, xvii

— Richard, xvii, xix, 358, 362

— Robert, 206

— Sir Thomas, xvii, 175, 359, 360

— William, 304, 354, 361–67

Beckford and Smith School, 102, 361

— Lodge, 367

— street, 123, 154, 367

— Town, 358

Beeston, 375, 377

— Edward, 200

— Henry, 200

— Jane, 200

— Sir William, xiii, xvi, xxiii, 45, 48, 60, 150, 158, 199, 200, 201,
206, 213, 247, 352, 373, 375, 377

— Lady, 158

Beeston street, 154

Bell, Maj.-Gen. E. Wells, xiv, 181

Belle Vue, 270

Bellthrapp, Richard, 249

Belmore, Somerset Earl of, xiv

Belvedere, 249

Benbo, Admiral John, xx, 46, 59, 170, 172, 207, 374

Benbow, tomb of, 167

Bendish, 266

Bennett, George, 200

— Rev. Philip, 94

— Thomas, xxii

Berkeley, Maj.-Gen. Sackville, xiv, 181

Bernaldez, 129, 270

Bernard, Peter, xviii

— Samuel, xvi, xviii, 55, 204

Berry, Mr., 228

Berthaville, 228

_Bethania_, 80

Bevil, Sarah, 387

Bickell, Rev. R., 161

Birds, 273

Bishop of Antigua, 162

— of Honduras, 162

— of North Carolina, 162

— of St. Albans, 162

Black Carolina Corps, 227

Blackfield Bay, 352

Blackheath, 38

Blackmore, Francis, 55

_Blackmore_, 287

Black River, 12, 355, 356, 369

Black Rod, 108

Blackwood, 221

Blagrove, 291

— Henry John, 293

— John, 291, 292, 293, 341

— Peter, 295

— Thomas, 293

Blair, John, xvii

Blake, 353

— Anne, 318

— Sir Henry Arthur, xv, 301

— James, 306

— Lady, 338

— William, xvii, 121

Blake road, 155

Bleby, 76

Bleevelt, 349

Blew Fields, 349

Bligh, Captain, 25, 26

— Commodore Richard Rodney, xxi

Blimbling, 26

Block-house, 334

Blome, 13, 40, 348, 349

Blome’s map, 379

Bloody Bay, 367

Bloxburgh Cave, 233

Bluckfield, 353

Bluefield, 39, 74, 348, 349, 352

— Bay, 346

— River, 352

Blue Mountain, 25, 43

Bluff, The, 345

Blundell Hall, 182

Boca d’Agua, 11

Boddington, John, 202

Bogle and Cathcart’s, 196

— Jopp and Co.’s, 196

— Margaret, 221

— Robert, 171, 221

Bog Walk, 11

Bolas, Juan de, 132

Bonnervalle, Parson, 244

Bonneville Pen, 296

Botanic Garden at Bath, 29, 248

— — at Castleton, 30

Botany Bay, 253

Bouchier, Charles, 145

Boundaries, 43

Bounty Hall, 318

Bourden, John, xiii, xv, 55

Bourke, Nicholas, xvii

Bourne, H. Clarence, xv

Bowerbank, Dr., 164, 195

— Rev. Lewis, 94, 396

Bowers, 133

Bowrey road, 155

Boyd, Archibald, 392

Boydell, John, 363

Bradford, William, 158

Bradshaw, Rev. F. S., 94

— James, xvi, 149

Braine, Rev. George Taylor, 207

Brampton, 307

Branch, E. St. John, xx

Branding iron, 15

— slaves, 14

Brandon Hill, 342

Bravo, Alexander, 131

— Alexandre, 107

— Moses, 107

Braybrooke, Lord, 359

Brayne, 206, 239, 284

Breadfruit, 27

Breastwork, 255

Bridge Pen, 228

Bridges, George Wilson, 5, 290, 291, 295, 299, 302, 305, 325, 338, 359,
372, 377, 393

British occupation, 111

Broadleaf, 334

Broadside, 53

Brock, Sir Thomas, 195

Brockenhurst, 383

Brodrick, 124

— Charles, xix

— William, xvii, xix

Brookbank, Joseph Fennell, 166

Brooke-Knight, Captain, 219

Broughton, Dr. A., 26

Brown, Captain Charles, 169

— Rear-Admiral William, xxii, 176

— William S., xxii

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 318

— Robert, 318, 342

Brown’s Town Church, 305

Bruce, Lord, 98

— Elizabeth Mary, 98

Brunswick street, 123

Bryan Castle, 307

Bryan and Co., W. B., 196

Brydone, Patrick, 366, 367

Buckingham, Duke of, 229

Bull, John, 179, 180

Bull Bay, 253

— House, 179

Bullock, William, 103

Bunbury, Thomas, 181

Burford-Hancock, Sir Henry James, xix

Burge, William, xx, xxiii, 340

Burial-Grounds, 195, 233, 344, 396

— Registers, 24, 126, 207, 322

Burke, 359

Burnaby, Sir William, xxi, 210

Burnett, Stirling and Co., 196

Burney, Charles, 367

Burnt Savannah, 43

Burough, William, 287, 288

Burrows, William, 84

Burton, Elizabeth, 144

Bushy Park, 389

Buston, Rev. William, 144

Buttler, J., 384

Buxton, Thomas Fowell, 232

Buzzard, 293

Byndloss, Henry Morgan, xix

— Robert, xviii, 71, 216, 360

Byndloss lane, 155

Byng, Hon. Henry Dilkes, xxii

Byron, 357

Cabarita Punta, 10

Cabo Bonito, 10

Cabo del Buen Tempo, 319

— — Tiempo, 271

Cabonico, 6

Caborido, 10

Cacao, 26

Caciques, 1, 129, 271, 272

Cage, 182

Cagua, 11, 46

Cagway, 11, 282, 284, 287

_Cagway_, 287

Caillard, Peter, 158

Calabar College, 36

Calendar of State Papers, 54, 284, 353

California, 342

Call, Rev. Richard, 395

Callaghan, Daniel, 392

Callender, 298

Cambridge Estate, 340

— Hill, 253

— Local Examinations, 37

Camellia, 25

Cameron, Lady Margaret, 212

Campbell, Rev. Alexander, 165, 207, 396

— Archibald, xiv, 175, 181

— Ven. Archdeacon D. H., 164, 165, 207

— Dr. Charles, 164

— Donald, xvii

— Colonel James, 344

— John, 344

— Rev. John, 106, 207

Campbell memorial chancel, 202

Camphor tree, 25

Can, Robert, 243

Cane River Falls, 233

Canning lane, 123

Cannons, 123, 397

Canoes, 76, 270

Cape St. Nicholas, 270

_Capitana_, 272

Caravels, 274, 276

Carder Park, 258

Cardiff Hall, 292, 303

Cardwell, Mr., 245

Carey, Rev. John, 207

Cary, Theodore, 48

Cargill, 382

— Dr., 220, 227

— Judge J. F., 220

— Mrs. J. F. 218, 220

— Captain Richard, 175, 243, 360

— Robert, 381

Caribs, 267

Carlisle, Charles Earl of, xiii, 15, 139, 200, 234, 359, 373, 378, 384

Carlisle Bay, 214, 352, 373, 374, 377, 383

— Fort, 378

Carlton, 342

Carlyle, 246

Carmichael, General Hugh, 146, 181

Carr, Mary, 169

Carsden, Hans, 71

Carson, Captain, 218

Cartagena, 205

Carvil Bahia, 10, 11

Cary, Colonel Theodore, 71

Cassada-bread, 290

Cassava, 271, 273

Cassia Park, 203

Castelfranc, Rev. Gideon, 207

Castile, Sir James, 109, 213

Castile Fort, 216

Castleton, Botanic Garden at, 30, 259

Castle Wemyss, 327

Caswell Hill, 388

Catadupa, 371

Cathedral, 89

Catherine Hall, 342

Catherine’s Peak, 174, 233

Catholic Chapel, 161

Cattle, importation of, 266

Cavaliers, 199

Cave, The, 320

— Valley, 326

Cayman Islands, 272, 367

Caymanas, 146

Cedar, 334

Cellier, Mr., 198

Celts, 3

Census, 40

Chalice, 387

Chambers, Obediah, 368

Chancellor’s purse, 182, 184

Chandos, Duchess of, 206

Chapelton, 379

Chapelton Church, 395

Chareras, 11, 281, 282, 290

Charity Commissioners, 35

_Charles_, 82

Charles II, 235

Charles square, 175

— Town, 327, 337

Charlotte, Queen, 209

Charlton, Edward, xxiii

Cheere, Sir Henry, 203

— John, 168, 203

Chereiras. _See_ Chareras

Cherimoyer, 25

Cherry Garden, 229

Child, George, 380

Chireras. _See_ Chareras

Chocolate, 290

Chorréra, 281

— River, 281

Christchurch, 48

Christopher’s Cove, 266

Chrystie, 218

Church, Brown’s Town, 305

— at Chapelton, 395

— “Cross,” 395

— of St. Dorothy, 130

— Entries, 161

— of St. James, 322

— of St. John, 264

— Kingston Parish, 156, 159, 161

— of Lucea, 343

— of Morant Bay, 246

— Registers, 199

— of St. Andrew, 201

— of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, 144

— of Savanna-la-Mar, 346

— at Sevilla, 279

— Trelawny, 306

— of the White Cross, 393

Church street, 196

Churchill, Thomas, 115

Cimarron, 324

Cinchona, 30

Cinnamon, 25

— Hill, 342

City Council, 164

Claremont, 302

Clarendon, 373

Clark, John, 360

Clarke, 33

— Sir Alured, xiv, 181, 187

— Colonel, 83

— Dr., 25, 175

— Rev. Edward, 348

— Sir Fielding, xix

— Rev. Henry, 348

— Sir Simon, 343

— Somerset M. Wiseman, xv

— Thomas, 149

— Dr. Thomas, 25, 26

Clee, William, 124

Cleland’s, W., 196

Clement, John, 103

Clies, John, 207

— Mrs., 207

— Henrietta, 207

Close Harbour, 321

_Clyde_, 321

Coach, 185

Coadjutor Bishop of Jamaica, 162

Coape, Colonel, 31, 125

Coates, Captain, 75

Cobham Hall, 209

Cobre, Rio, 10

Cochrane, 211

— Hon. Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis, xxii, 123

Cochrane lane, 123

Cockburn, Vice-Admiral Sir George, xxii

Cockpit country, 334, 336

Cockpits, 326

Cocoa-plums, 271

Codrington, Sir Edward, 389

Coffee, 25, 204

Cold Spring, 25

Colebeck, Major John, xvi, 132, 133

Colebeck Castle, 131

Coll, Sir Anthony, xix

College, Spanish Town, 37

Collier, Captain Anthony, 124

Collingwood, 48, 72

Collins, Rev. William, 165

Collman, Elizabeth Caroline, 389

— George Murro, 389

— William, 389

Colours of W.I. Regiment, 164

Colpoys, Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Griffith, xxii

Colt, St. John, 249

Colthirst, Hon. H. F., 164

“Columbian Magazine,” 196, 220, 262, 300, 321

Columbus Bartolomé, 277

— Christopher, 1, 12, 46, 130, 267, 270, 273, 292, 319

— Diego, 86, 291

— Fernando, 5, 270, 273

Combs, 273

Communion plate, 163

— Service, 202

Comrie, Walter Stirling, 392

Concanen, Matthew, xix, 45

Concrete, 164

Congregational Church, 195

Congreve, William, 361

Conran, Maj.-Gen. Henry, xiv, 181

Conran lane, 123

Constantine House, 179

Constant Spring, 216, 217

“Contemporary Review,” 337

_Content_, 373

Cook, Rev. Samuel, 381, 385

Coolies, 99

Coote, Sir Eyre, xiv, 181

Cope, Colonel, 124

— Hester, 249

Cope Place, 124

Corbin, William, 158

Cork, Rev. Josias, 348

— Philip C., xv

— Miss A. E., 295

Cornwall, 353, 355, 357

Cornwallis, 181

— Couba, 72, 75

Coswell, Tho., 380

Cotes, Rear-Admiral Thomas, xxi

Cotman, Benjamin, 32

Cottage, The, 210, 341

Cottawood negroes, 326

Cotton, Sir Willoughby, 181, 321

Cotton tree, 197, 380

Council, 15, 103, 111, 115, 128, 184, 197

Counties, 42

Courtenay, Richard W., xxii

Court House, Kingston, 152, 177, 340

— — Spanish Town, 102

— — Trelawny, 306

Cousins, H. H., 30

Cousins Cove, 345

Coventry, 270

Coward, Rev. W. S., 385

Cow Bay, 19, 253, 352, 375

Cowgill and Co., 196

Cowhides, 124

Cowlairs, 221

Cow Park, 341

Cow Pen Estate, 124

Coxeter, Rev. Thomas, 165

Cracroft, Commodore Peter, xxii, 205

Craigton, 100

Crandfield, Mr., 22

Craskell, 116

Crawford Town, 258

Crawl, The, 366

Crewe, Richard, 390

Cripps, 387

Crocket, Captain, 136

Cromwell, 200, 281

Crooks, Christopher, 344

“Cross” Church, 395

Cross Path, 346, 367

“Cruise of the Midge,” 222, 302

Cuba, 270

Cubina, 356

Cudjoe, 320, 325

Cudjoe Town, 329

Cudjoe’s tree, 326

Culloden, 371

Cumine, Rev. Alexander, 94

Cunningham, Henry, xiv

— Rev. James, 94

Cushnie, Thomas, 211

Custos of Clarendon, 173

— of Kingston, 170, 174, 177

— of Port Royal, 48

— of St. Catherine, 127

— of St. James, 175

— of Trelawny, 306

Cuthbert, George, xiv, xv, 217, 249

Cutlers’ Company, 209

Cyrmble, Murray, 172

Dacres, Vice-Admiral James Richard, xxii, 76, 211

Dakins, Henry, 200

Dale, Stephen, 203

Dallas, 33

— Alexander, 106

— Robert Charles, 206, 338

— Samuel Jackson, xvii, 45

Dallas Castle, 234

Dalling, Colonel John, xiv, 70, 71, 210

— William, 206

Dalrymple, Captain, 71

Dancer, Dr. Thomas, 25, 27, 72, 248

Darien refugees, 371

Darley, Major John Sankey, 146

Darling, Captain Charles, xiv, 258

Darling street, 155

Darlingford, 258

Darwin, 349

Date Tree Hall, 182

Dauney, Rev. Francis, 322

Davers, Vice-Admiral Thomas, xxi, 205

Davidson, John, 196

Davis, Archdeacon C. H., 348

— Commodore Edward H. M., xxiii

— N. Darnell, 149

Dawkins, 33, 382

— Eleanor Angelina, 383

— Henry, 396

— James, 396

— William, 383, 395

Dawn, Rev. James, 348

De Booy, T., 268

Decoy, 127, 259, 262

de Crespigny, Captain, 48

Defence of Jamaica, 134

De Grasse, 73

Dehaney, David, 345

De Horsey, Algernon F. R., xxii

— A. M., xxii

De la Beche, Sir Henry, 396

Delacree, Charles, 32

De la Foy, Charles, xxiii

Delaney, Mr. James, 178

Delawnay, Colonel Joseph, 71

De Leon, Dr. Solomon, 180

de Liva, Don Francis, 283

de Mercado, Mrs. C. E., 363

Dennys, N. B., 162

— William, 21

Dent, Captain Digby, xxi

Dereham, Sir Richard, xix

Despard, Colonel, 72

Despouches, Maria, 206

Diablo, Monte, 10

Dick, McCall and Co., 196

Dickenson, Caleb, 369

Dickenson’s Run, 371

Dickson, Rev. John, 347

Dissenters, 161

Divorce Act, 174

Dixon Pen, 302

Dodd, Robert, 74

Dogs, 326

Doherty, Sir Richard, 181

_Dolphin_, 82, 288

Donaldson, Alexander, 242, 307

— William, 237

— Forbes, Grant and Stewarts, 196

— and Heron, 196

Don Christopher’s Cove, 267, 272

Doolittle, Thomas, 54

Dorset, Duke of, 363

Douet, Rev. Charles F., A.M., 94, 95, 385

Douglas, 211

— and Co., G., 196

— Peter John, xxii

— Commodore Sir James, xxi

— Rear-Admiral John Erskine, xxii, 229

Dousabel plantation, 240

Dove Hall, 310

Dove, John, 142

_Dover_, 332

Dowding, H. W., xxiii

Downer, Archdeacon G. W., 163, 164, 165

— Jno., 380

Downes, Ann, 243

Doyley, Edward, xiii, xv, 15, 87, 89, 132, 236, 239, 259, 281, 284,
287, 288

Drax, Charles, 303

Drax Hall, 267, 304

Drax’s Free School, 304

Drinking-trough, 229

Drummond, 368

Dry Harbour, 43, 270, 272, 302, 303

Dryland, 266

Dry Mountains, 43

— River, 43, 258, 378, 380

Dryworks, 367

Du Casse, 60, 213, 214, 374, 377

Ducke, Edmund, xix

Duckett’s Spring, 339, 340

Duckworth, 76

— Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas, xxii, 140, 211, 212

Duerden, Dr., 269, 350

Duff, Rev. David, 322

Duke street, 181, 196

Dunbar, 329

Duncomb and Pownal, 196

Dunlop, Hugh, xxii

Dunn, Captain, 384

Duperly, A., 177, 193, 302

Dupont, Father, 195

Duquesne, Marquis, 64, 71

Durham Regiment, 335

Dwarris, 33

— Dr. Fortunatus, 168

— Sir F. W. L., 168

Eado, El, 6

Eagle House, 108

Earlom, 363

Earlston, 342

Earthquake of A.D. 1907, 144, 146, 154

— Port Royal, 42, 52, 53, 135, 136

East, 33

— Sir Edward Hyde, 171, 223

— Hinton, 25, 228

— Captain Hinton, 223

Eccles, Rev. George, 207

Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 23

Edinburgh Castle, 296

Edwardes, John Pusey, 390

— Emma, 390

Edwards, 331

— Alphonse Milne, 312

— Bryan, 5, 26, 34, 38, 97, 123, 184, 205, 210, 308, 313, 336, 338, 346

— Sir Bryan, xix, 310, 312

— Eliza, 310

— Henri Milne, 312

— J. P., 103

— Martha, 311

— Nathaniel Bayly, 310

— Nathaniel McHume, 311

— William, 312

— Dr. William Frédéric, 312

— Zachary Bayly, 310

— Zachary Hume, 310

Edward’s Clock Tower, King, 209

Education, 31

Effingham, Thomas Earl of, xiv, 98, 367

— Countess of, 98

Elgin, James Earl of, xiv, 100

— Lady, 100

Elgin street, 155

Elletson, 206

— Roger Hope, xvi, xviii, 32, 45, 175

Elletson road, 154

Elliott, Captain, 374

Ellis, 33, 345

— Charles Rose, 266

— George, xviii, 266

— Jane, 247

— John, 266

— Rev. J. B., 24

— Lieutenant and Adjutant, 146

— Lieut.-Col. Augustus Frederick, 205

— Sir Adam Gibb, xix

Ellis street, 123

Emancipation, 188, 195, 232

Emigrant, first, 319

Escobar, 277

Escondido Puerto, 10

Espeut, Peter Alexander, 170

Esquivel, Juan d’, 291, 348

_Essex_, H.M.S., 80

Evans, John, 240

Eve, 318

Exhibition, Jamaica, 79

_Experiment_, 321

Eyre, Edward John, xiv, 18, 177, 244

Fairclough and Barnes, 196

Fairfax, Virginia, 170

Fairfield, 324

Fair Hill, 206

Falconer, William, 175

Falmouth, 306

“Falmouth Post,” 58

Fanning, Henry, 323

Farm School, 30

Farmer, Jasper, 217

Farquhar, Commodore Arthur, xxii

Fat Hog Quarter Estate, 347

Favell, John, 390, 391

Fawcett, George, 391

— Magdalen, 381

— William, 2, 390

Fearon, Rev. G. C. R., 385, 396

— Thomas, xvii, xviii

Fergusson, Sir James, 205

Ferror, Ensign, 287

Ferry Inn, 138

— River, 139

— road, 140

Feurtado, 217

Fidler, Rev. Daniel, 348

Field, 229

Fiesco, Bartolomé, 275

Figure-head of _Aboukir_, 71

— of _Argent_, 71

— of _Imaum_, 71

— of _Megaera_, 71

Finlayson, D., xvii

Fish, 273

Fisher, Commodore F. W., xxiii, 80

Fish-hooks, 273

Fitch, Colonel, 328

FitzGerald, Edward, 71

Flags of W.I. Regiment, 205

Flaxman, 191, 343

Fleeming, Vice-Admiral the Hon.
C. E., xxii, 211

Fleet Prison, 363, 365, 367

Fletcher’s Town, 197

Flora Ria, 10

Flyer, Christian, 381

Foord, Gilbert, xix

Foote, Rev. Alexander, 385

Forbes, William, 248

Ford, Rear-Admiral John, xxi

Forest Pen, 339

_Formidable_, 73, 311

Forrest, Commodore Arthur, xxi

Forsett, George, 381

Fortaleza Punta, 10

Forts, 50, 302

Fort Augusta, 64, 145, 181, 214

— Carlisle, 47

— Castile, 213

— Charles, 48, 64, 68, 374

— Clarence, 50

— Columbus, 272

— Dundas, 317

— George, 254, 266

— Haldane, 266

— James, 47

— Nugent, 216

— Rupert, 47

— William, 364, 366, 375

Fort House, 109

Fortescue, Hon. J. W., 338

Foster, 165

_Foudroyant_, 72

Four Paths, 379

Fowle, Dr. William, 323

Fox, C. J., 338

— Mordecai, 185

Foxley, Samuel, 149

Fraser, Hugone, 347

Freeman, Anne, 249

— Charles, 249

— Howard, 249

— John, 249

— Marmaduke, 45, 247

— Richard, 249

— Robert, xvi, 15

— Thomas, 124, 249

Freemasons, Sussex Lodge of, 170

Free Town road, 394

French, Thomas, xvii, xviii

French cruisers, 111

Friendship, 270, 355

Froude, 223

Fruit trade, 258

Fuller, 124

— Catherine, 130

— Francis, 181

— Stephen, xxiii, 119

— Colonel Thomas, 130, 131

— Tom, 359

Fuller’s Pen, 130

Fullerton, William, 366

Gage, Thomas, 21, 348

Galdy, Lewis, 52, 135, 138

Gale, 33

Gales, 379

— Elizabeth, 387, 388

— Hon. John, 381, 388

— Jonathan, 382, 388

— Nathaniel, 382

— Sarah, 388

— William, 383

Gale, 383

Gales, 379

Gallina Punta, 10

Gallows Point, 51

Galpine, Rev. Calvin, 94

Gamble, Maj.-Gen., xv

Gambier, Vice-Admiral James, xxi

Garbrand, 33

— Rev. Thomas, 144

Garden House, 228

Gardner, Commodore Alan, xxi

— Rev. W. J., 36, 195, 210

Garrett, John, 389

— Mary Agatha, 389

— Rev. Thomas, 385, 389

— Sarah, 389

Garrison Hill, 335

Gascoigne, Captain John, 61

Gaulton, Zacharia, 32

Gayleard, James, xvi, 107

Gayton, Vice-Admiral Clarke, xxi, 210

Geddes, 302

Genip, 26

“Gentleman’s Magazine,” 53, 311, 361

Geology, 336

George, Claude, 339

George III, portrait of, 209

German immigrants, 342

Gibb, Robert Charles, 390

Gibbon, Elizabeth, 204

Gibbons, Mrs. Deborah, 390

— William, 381, 390

Gilbert, Sir John, 220

Gillespie, Maj.-Gen. Robert R., 331

Ginger, 26

Glover, 366

Goat Island, 146

Goddard, Miss, 383

Golden Grove, 252, 318

— Vale road, 255

Gomm, Sir W. M., 181

Good Air, 177

Goodsonn, Admiral William, xx, 21, 238, 239

Gordon, A. W., 307

— George William, 229, 245

— Susanna, 169

— Thomas, xix

Gordon Town, 169, 197, 228, 233

Gosse, Philip Henry, 78, 350

Government Laboratory, 30

— Pen, 146

Gracedieu, Sir Bartholomew, xxiii, 235

Graham, James, 368

— Robert, 261

Grand Cayman, 172

Grant, Sir Alexander, 226

— John, xviii

— Sir John Peter, xv, 43, 186, 304

_Grantham_, 287

Grants of land, 254

Granville Town, 333

Grass, guinea, 26

— Scotch, 26

Graydon, Vice-Admiral John, xx

Gray’s Charity, 266

Gray’s Inn, 259

Greathead, Ralph, 166

Great River, 43, 346

Green, Commander, 192

— Henry, 185

Green Bay, 135

— Island, 43, 344

— Park, 302

Greenwich, 198, 207, 355

— Park, 210

Gregory, 33

— John, xiv, xv, xviii, 383

— Matthew, xvi, 358

Grey, Sir Charles, xiv, 107, 177

— Sir William, xv

Grier Park, 297

Griffiths, Rev. Samuel, 94, 385

Grignon, Rev. J., 322

Grijalva, 319

Griswold, Mr., 339

“Grog,” 65

Grove Hill House, 341

— Pen, 340

Guada Bocca, 10, 11

Guaf, 26

Guanaboa, 6, 123

Guanaha, 124

Guanahani, 270

Guango, 26

Guantanamo, 270

Guatabaco, 6

Guavas, 271

_Guernsey_, 55

Guinea grass, importation of, 266

Gun Hill, 335

Guns, 292

Gurge, Hugh, 381

Guthrie, Edward, 326

— John, 367

Gutturs, The, 38

Guy, John Hudson, xviii

— Richard, 126, 127, 319

— Samuel, 200

Guy’s Hill, 303

Hagley Gap, 233

Hakewill, James, 91, 160, 178, 259, 292, 307, 322, 363

Halberstadt, 3

Haldane, General George, xiv, 266

Halfway Tree, 158, 197

— — Church, 201

_Halifax_, 328

Halifax, 332

Hall, Rev. Charles, 131, 396

— Jasper, xvii,

— William, 142, 158, 172

Hallowes, Major-General, xv

Halse, Major Thomas, 396

Halse Hall, 396

Halstead, Sir Lawrence William, xxii

Hamaca, 289

Hamilton, Lord Archibald, xiii, 116, 361

— Captain, 71

— Sir Charles, 78

— Dr., 164

— J. C., 332

— Mr., 223

— Robert, 171

— Sir William, 367

— Rev. William Vaughan, 94

Hammond, John, 237

Hampstead, 371

Hampton School, 370

Hand, Henry, xxiii

Handasyd, Sir Thomas, xiii, 18

Hane, Joachim, 31

Hanford, Rev., 348

Hannaford, Anna Maria, 389

— George Willett, 389

— Stephen, 389

Hannah’s Town, 197

Hanover, 19, 319

— street, 155, 179

Hanson, Francis, 51

Harbour Head, 66, 213

Harding, Thomas, 318

Hardwar Gap, 234

Hardwar, John, 234

Hardwicke, Rev. Thomas, 384, 385

Hardy, Pennock and Brittan, 196

Harewood, Baron, 144

Harmony Hall, 179, 368, 397

Harriot’s, I., 196

Harris, Thomas, 242

— Thomas Stokes, 242

Harrison, Edward, 32, 205

— Colonel Robert Munroe, 170

— Thomas, xviii, xix, 58

Harvey, James, 386

— Marie Sophie, 386

Haskins, Edward, xix

Hatfield House, 209

— Pen, 366

Hato, 236

Haughton, 33

— Anne, 343

— Colonel Richard, 344

— Jonathan, 344

— Philip, 343, 344

— Samuel William, xvii

— Simon, 343

— Sir Simon Peter, 343

Haughton Court, 344

— — Mountain, 344

Haughton Hall, 345

Havelock, 181

Hawks’ bells, 270, 273

Hay, Charlotte, 362

— Elizabeth, 362

— James, xviii

— Miss G., 366

Haywood, Peter, xviii

Headquarters House, 155, 175, 179, 265

Heathcote, Josiah, 158

— Sir Gilbert, xxiii

_Hector_, 287

Hemming, Sir Augustus W. L., xv

Hemmings, Captain, 279

Henckell, John, xix

Henderson, Alexander, xix

— Colonel John, 146

— Thomas, xxii

— William H., xxiii

Hendrick, Canon S. P., 94

Henley, Lord, 231

Herbert, James, 235

— Vere, 373

_Hercules_, 75

Herne, Prichard, 48

Herring, Bathshua, 360

— Colonel Julines, 360

Hertford Pen, 366

Heslop, Alexander, xx

Hethcott, Josiah, 149

Hetley’s inn, Miss, 38

Heywood, Peter, xiii, xviii, 55, 247

Heywood Hall, 266

— street, 154

Hibanal, 8

Hibbert, George, xxiii

— Mary, 265

— Robert, 206, 265

— Thomas, xvii, 179, 265

Hibbert House, 175

— street, 155

— Trust, 180

Hickeringill, 288

Hickman, Thomas, 236

Higgins, Dr. Bryan, 219

Highgate, 191

High Holborn street, 179

Higson, Thomas, 29, 170, 175

Hill, Colonel, 170

— Richard, 78, 197, 202, 265, 351

— Robert T., 61

— Thomas, xix

Hillside, 393

_Hinchinbrook_, 69, 72

Hinkston, Wm., 380

Hispaniola, 237, 270, 274, 276, 288

History Gallery, Jamaica, 177, 341

“History of the British West Indies,” 307

Hocking, Sir H. H., xx

Hodges, John, 306

Hoja Rio, 10

Holdsworth, Michael, 141

Holland Bay, 241

Holland, Lord, 355

Holmes, Rear-Admiral Charles, xxi, 205

Home, William, 204

Hood, 75

Hope, 235

— Anne, 206

Hope Estate, 218, 229

— midden, 233

— Tavern, 228

Hopewell, 303, 344

Hopson, Vice-Admiral Edward, xxi

Hordley, 251, 355, 356

Horner, Christopher, 380

Horse-guards, 330

Horses, 293

Hosier, Vice-Admiral Francis, xxi, 46

Hotchkyn, Robert, xix

Hotel, Wellington, 38

Hounds, 320, 329

Hounslow, 371

Houses, Indian, 2

House of Assembly. _See_ Assembly

Howard, Major, 71

— de Walden, Baron, 266

Howe, Thomas, xix

Howell, 235

Howser, Rev. Henry, 21, 94

Huareo, 274

Hubbard, Mr., 377

Hughes, Rev. Edward F., 385

— Rev. Hugh Price, 396

Humberstone, 170

— Rev. Francis, 170, 176

Hume, Benjamin, 309

Humphries, Rev., 385

Hunt, William Augustus, 170

Hunt’s Bay, 233

Hunter, Major-General Robert, xiv

Hurricane, 144, 346, 365

— of Port Royal, 62

Husband, Rev. C. T., 385, 391

Hutchinson, Lewis, 296

Hutchinson’s Hole, 301

Hutton, Dr., 296, 299

— Mary, 297

Hutton, Mrs., 297

Hutton Bonvil, 296

Huxley, 349

Hyde, Ann, 290

Hyde Hall Estate, 318

Hyne, Thomas, 196

Images, Indian, 3

Imperial Loan, 154

im Thurn, Sir Everard, 2

Inchiquin, Earl of, xiii, 17, 92, 108, 110, 111

— Lady, 110, 113

Indian Head, 368

— remains, 3

— Town, 318

Industrial School, 209

Inglis, Rev. Alexander, 207

Inhabitants, 1

Innes, Rear-Admiral Alexander, xxi

Innians, Mr., 40

Institute of Jamaica, 37, 182

Iredell, Thomas, xv

Isaacs, Rev. H. H., 203, 208

Isabella, 270

Island records, 240

Isle de France, 230

Ivy, 382

Jackson, Captain William, 46, 81

— Charles Hamilton, xviii

— T. S., xxiii

— Thomas Witter, xix

— William, xix

Jackson’s Bay, 397

Jacques, John, 103

Jamaica Almanac, 223, 227, 242, 365, 366

— Bay, 44

— Churchman, 178

— Coffee-house, 44

— College, 229, 303

— Courant, 39

— Exhibition, 186, 218

— fleet, 52

— Free School, 36

— High School, 37, 229, 303

— History Gallery, 189

— Long Island, 44

“Jamaica Magazine,” 160, 295

Jamaica naval station, 209

Jamaica, Plain, 44

— Schools Commission, 37, 257, 304

— Spa, 233

— street, 44

Jaques, John, 170

— Laing and Ewing’s, 196

James, Hugo, xx

— John, 142

— Mary, 175

— William Rhodes, 318

Jarisse Punta, 10, 11

Jarrett, Mrs., 318

Jasper Hall, 179

Jasper, Mrs., 228

Javareen, 10, 11

Jefferson, Rev. Joseph, 385

Jekyll, 233

Jenkins, Rev. Henry, 322

— Robert, 64

Jenks, Samuel, 319

Jenner, James, 380

Jennings, Sir John, xx

Jerusalem thorn, 26

Jewish Burial-Ground, 233

— Cemetery, 195

— tombs, 371

Joanes, Arabella, 199

John Canoe, 70, 355

Johnny, 326

John’s lane, 196

Johnson River, 249

Johnson, Sarah, 206

Johnstone, Rev. Francis, 385

Jones and Willis, 323

Jordan, Edward, xviii, 170, 177, 195

Juan de Bolas, 325, 397

Judah, G. F., 107, 212, 217, 306

Judy James’s, 38

Justice, Colonel William Clive, xv

Justices of Peace, 48

Juxod, William, 183

Kaye, Sir John William, 189

Keane, Major-General Sir John, xiv, 181, 306

Keith Hall, 146

Keith, Sir Basil, xiv, 92, 146

Kellet, Henry, xxii

— Moses, 397

Kellets, 397

Kelly, 124

— Dennis, xviii

— Edmund, xvii, xix

— Rev. John, 323

— Rosa, 323, 341

Kemp’s Hill, 397

Kempshot, 342

Kent, Prince Edward Duke of, 332

Kenyon, John, 318

Keppel, Admiral, xxi, 46, 210

Kerr, Commodore William, xx

— Mrs. Sarah Newton, 323

Kettering, 318

Kew, 345

— Gardens, 98

— Park, 368

Kidd, John Bartholomew, 364

King, Dr. William, 114

Kinghorne, George, 170

King’s House, 101, 112, 115, 198, 208

King street, 191, 196

Kingston, 20, 213, 224

— Church, 156, 159, 161, 164

— City seal, 152

— fire, 152–54

— Gardens, 173

— Pen, 217

— plan of, 150, 159

Kinkhead and Sproull, 196

Kirby, John, xix

Kitchen-middens, 233, 267

Knibb, William, 306, 318

Knight, Andrew, 381, 382, 391

— Charles, 55

— Colonel, 71

— James, 4, 159, 207

— Ralph, xxiii

— Dr. Samuel, 156

Knives, 273

Knockpatrick, 38

Knole, 209

Knowles, Admiral Charles, xiv, xxi, 71, 101, 175, 214

Koromantyn slaves, 266

Labat, Père, 377

Laboratory, 146

Labour-in-vain Savannah, 43

Lacovia, 10, 38, 353, 370, 371

_Lady Juliana_, 74

Laidlaw, Henry, 257

Laing, Malcolm, 168

Lambe, Rev. Charles, 165

Lambert, Major-General, 205

— Sir John and Lady, 388

— Samuel, 181

Lander, Rev., 380, 385

Lang, Malcolm, 261

Langley, Andrew, xvi, 382

— Elizabeth, 114

Lard, 319

Las Casas, 1

Lascelles, Daniel, 144

Las Tortugas, 272

Lawes, Frances, 201

— James, 168, 203, 390

— Sir Nicholas, xiii, xviii, 25, 32, 55, 156, 205, 206, 213, 235, 247,
382, 390

Lawford, Exelbee, 71

Lawrence, 33, 170

— Benjamin, 342

— Henry, 174

— James, 174, 180

— John, 339

— Mary, 339

— W. F., 324

Lawrence-Archer, Captain, 12, 24, 127, 170, 172, 183, 370, 380, 383,
387, 391, 392

Lawrencefield, 146

Laws of Jamaica, 51, 376

Laws street, 154, 201

Leacock, Rev. William, 131

Lebanon Pen, 296

Lecount, Gideon, 235

— Judith, 235

Ledesma, 275, 278

Ledwich, G., 384

— Mr. and Mrs., 384

— Rev. Edward, 385

Legislative Council, 17

“Leisure Hour,” 220

Leith, Sir Alexander, 170

Lemmings, Rev., 22, 31, 125

Lerpinière, David, 363

Leslie, Charles, 13, 33, 349, 378

Lestock, Commodore Richard, xxi

Lewis, 33

— James, xvii, 103

— Jane, 358

— John, xv, xix, 103, 353, 368

— Mary, 368

— Matthew Gregory, 76, 162, 251, 353, 367

— William, 358, 367, 389

Lezama, 6

Liberty Hall, 267

Liddle and Rennie’s, 196

Light Dragoons, 330–32

Liguanea, 10, 147, 150, 197

Lilly, Colonel Christian, 48, 60, 69, 71, 150, 155, 193

— Cornelius, 166

Lime Hall, 269

Lime Savannah Chapel, 395

Lind, 215

Lindo, Abraham A., 217

— Alexandre, 217

— and Brothers, 196

Lindsay, Rev. John, 94, 95, 385

Lipscomb, Christopher, 205

Lismore House, 391

Littleton, Commodore James, xx

Livingston, Ann, 392

— Mr., 201

— Philip, 206

Llandovery Falls, 303

Lloyd, Admiral, 46

— Colonel Richard, xviii, 377, 378

— Rodney M., xxiii

— Dr. William, 250, 252

Lobley, James, 237

Locker, Captain, 69, 72

Locust tree, 26

Logwood, 25

London, Bishop of, 22

Long, Beeston, 74

— Catherine, 174, 233

— Charles, 200

— Edward, xvii, 5, 8, 13, 53, 69, 74, 145, 200, 214, 239, 248, 256,
263, 280, 284, 289, 319, 326, 338, 346, 360, 371, 378, 379

— Samuel, xvi, xviii, 45,92, 200, 373

Long Mountain, 224

— — midden, 233

Longville, 200, 397

Lookmore, John, 31

Lookout River, 267

Lord Elgin street, 155

Lords of Trade and Plantations, 16

Lorrain, Claude, 363

Los Angelos, 9

Lowder, Ann, 149

Low Layton, 258

Luana Estate, 340

Lucie-Smith, Sir John, xix

Luidas, 11

Luke lane, 196

Lumb, Sir Charles Frederick, 229

Lumbard, Mary Elizabeth, 173

Lundie’s Pen, 208

Lurcher, 293

Lushington, Stephen, 232

Lycence, Nicholas, 250

Lynch, 16

— Sir Thomas, xiii, xv, xviii, 23, 48, 125, 198, 236, 373, 381

— Rev. Wm. Henry, 396

Lynch’s Island, 255

Lyon, Edmund Pusey, xxiii

Lyons, Algernon McLennan, xxii

Lyssons, 250

Lyssons, Sara, 31

Lyttelton, 15, 47

— Sir Charles, xiii, xxiii, 21, 109, 183, 204, 236

— Mary, 247

— William Henry, xiv, 233, 385

McAlves, Rev., 131

Macari Bahia, 10

Macary Bay, 11

M’Bean and Bagnold, 196

McCalla, Rev. W. C., 131

M’Clintock, Sir Francis Leopold, xxii, 46

McCornock, Thomas, 252

Maccragh, Redman, 197

Macdonald, Flora, 74

Macdougall, William Church, 107

Mace, Jamaica, 52, 53, 108, 184

Macfadyen, James, 29, 175

Macfarquhar, Dr. George, 323

McGeachy, 43

McGilchrist, Daniel, 387

McIntyre, Rev. John, 322, 348

Mackglashan, Dr. Charles, 205

Macky, Jane, 166

Macpherson, Rev. R. J., 396

McQueen, Daniel, 242

McQuhae, Commodore, 205

Magatee, 125

Maggotty, 293, 371

Mahoe, 334

Mahogany, 334

— River, 12

Mahony, Dorothy Morgan, 166

Maima, 276, 277

Maitland, 217

Malmesbury, Earl of, 209

Mammee Bay, 276, 302

— River, 215

— (tree), 279

Man, Serjeant-Major John, 40, 71

Manatees, 129

Manchester, Duke of, xiv, 57, 340, 372

Manchester square, 155

— street, 123

Manchioneal, 19, 258

Mandeville, 340, 372

Mango, 25

Manley, John, xvii

Mann, 170

— Rev. Isaac, 94, 103, 162, 165, 176, 385

— J. R., 58

— Major-General, xv

Manning, Edward, xvii, 167, 170, 173, 234, 360

— Pusey, 386

— Sir William H., xv

Manning’s Hill, 234

Manson, Mrs., 189

Manteca, 319

Mantica Bahia, 11

Map, Craskell and Simpson’s, 13

Maps of Jamaica, 3, 147, 237, 349

Marescaux, Mrs., 223

Marescaux road, 155

Mari bona, 10

Markham, Lieut.-Colonel Charles, 205

Mark lane, 196

Markly, Rev. Thomas, 385

_Marmaduke_, 240

Maroon Hill, 333

— Town, 334

— Treaty, 329

— War, 181, 293, 327, 338

Maroons, 132, 258, 324, 332

Marriage Registers, 24, 93, 126, 322

Marsden, Peter, 14

Marsh, F., xxiii

Marshall, Captain, 25

Marston, Dr. John, 228

— Jane, 218

— Miss, 220

_Marston Moor_, 288

Marter, Dr., 26

Martial Law, 216, 245, 321, 327, 374

_Martin_, 83, 287

Martha Brea, 11, 306, 346

_Mary_, 333

Maryland, 171, 223

Mason, James, 363

— Professor, 269

— Rev., 137

Masonry, 8

Massachusetts, troops from, 60

Mathan, Montgomery, 71

Matilda Corner, 229

Matthew’s lane, 196

Maurin, A., 177

Mausoleum, 353, 368

Maxwell, George, 144

— Mr., 22

May, Rose Herring, 173

— Rev. William, 165, 169, 170, 173

May Pen, 393

— — Cemetery, 233

Mayfield, 318

Mayhew, Rev. William, M.A., 207, 348

Mayor of Kingston, 177

Meers, Captain, 287

Melbourne lane, 123

Melilla, 8, 274, 306, 319, 348

Melling, Francis, xvii

Mendez, 273, 276

Mendiza, Francisco de, 26

Messiah, Rev. J., 322

Messiter, G., 163

Metcalfe, Sir Charles, xiv, 190

— papers of, 192

— portrait of, 189, 306

— statue of, 121, 186

Metcalfe, parish of, 259

— Ville, 303

Micault, 236

Mico College, 182, 229

Mico, John, 230

— Lady, 230

— Sir Samuel, 230

Military Tombs, 146

Milk River, 43

— — Baths, 397

Mill, John Stuart, 246

— Richard, xviii

Miller, R. G., 195

Mills, John, 32

Mimosa, 25

Mining operations, 30

Ministers, 21

Minot, 103

Minto, 318

Miranda Hill, 342

Mitchell, Colonel William, xviii, xx

— Captain Cornelius, xxi

— Hector, 170, 177

— Robert Edward, 390

Moat House, 110

Modd, 124

— George, xvii, 127

Modyford, Elizabeth Lady, 369

— Sir James, xxiii, 71, 319

— Mary, 259

— Sir Thomas, xiii, xviii, 21, 25, 40, 47, 124, 198, 200, 235, 236,
240, 290, 319

Modyford’s Gully, 258

— Survey, 240

— “View,” 290

Molesworth, Colonel Hender, xiii, xv, 71, 115

Mona Estate, 206

Mondego River, 319

Moneague, 19, 270, 297

— Hotel, 302

Moneque or Monesca Savannah, 10

Monk, William, xix

Montagu, Lord Charles, 226

Montague, James, 327

— Rear-Admiral Robert, xxii

_Montague_, 310

Monte Diablo, 371

Montego, Francisco de, 319

Montego Bay, 11, 319, 320, 327

— — Barracks, 320

— — Church, 320

— — Fire, 321

— — Harbour, 320

Montpellier, 345

Monument to a slave, 318

Monumental Brasses, 164

Monuments, 92, 126, 127, 131, 167, 186, 195, 203, 233, 306, 323, 381,
396

Monymusk, 389

Moodie, Rev. John, 207

Moone, John, 141

Moore, Daniel, 217

— Elizabeth, 174

— Henry, xiv, 174, 233, 258

— John, 381, 396

Moore Town, 258, 327

Morales, Charles McLarty, xviii

Morant, 15, 33, 382

— Edward, 382

— Eleanor Angelina, 387

— Elizabeth, 383

— John, 173, 382, 387

— Mary, 388

— Samuel, 387

— William, 387

Morant Bay, 19, 244

— — rebellion, 18, 182, 244

— Cays, 12

Morante, 6, 236

Morants, 381

Morce, John, 234

Morce’s Gap, 234

Moreland Estate, 389

Moreton, Emanuel, 142

Morgan, Charles, 71

— Edward, xiii, 93

— Francis, 339

— Sir Henry, xiii, xx, 31, 46, 48, 52, 113, 146, 216, 360, 395

— Rev. William, 165, 385

Morgan’s Valley, 395

“Morning Journal,” 201

Morris, Sir Daniel, 30

— Rev. David R., 322

— Lieutenant Edward, 124

— Mowbray, 222

— Philip A., 57

Morrish, Captain, 205

Morrison, Lieut.-General Edward, xiv, 103, 181

Moseley Hall Cave, 303

Mosquito Point, 145, 214

— Wood, 334

Mount Bay Fort, 246

— Diablo, 11

— Salus, 72

— Zion, 370

Mountain River, 146, 397

Muirhead, Rev. C. P., 396

Muirton, 258

Mulberry Garden, 88

— tree, 25

Mulgrave, Constantine Earl of, xiv

Multi-bezon Rio, 10, 11

Munro, Hugh, 344

— Robert Hugh, 369

— and Dickenson’s Trust, 369

Murchison, A., M.D., 397

Murphy, Jeremiah D., 59

Murray, Hon. George, 347, 367

— Rev. W. C., 305

Musgrave, Sir Anthony, xv, 205

— Simon, xix

Musgrave Avenue, 155

Museum, 269

Musqueto Point, 145

Musson, Rev. Samuel, D.D., 94, 95

Myngs, Vice-Admiral Christopher, xx, 46, 52

Name of Jamaica, 3

Names, Spanish, 9

— typical, 44

Narcissa, 66

Naseberries, 271

Natives, 1

Naturalist’s Sojourn, 349

Naval Watering Place, 213

Neave, Richard, 74

Nedham, 33, 144, 382

— George, xvi, 234, 259

— William, xvii, xviii, 92, 175

Negril Harbour, 367

Negus, Rev. S., 385

Neish, Dr. G. J., 247

Nelson, Captain Horatio, xxi, 46, 48, 67, 69, 70–72, 75, 209, 211, 248

Nelson lane, 123

Nelson’s Quarter-deck, 70

Nembhard, Elizabeth Jane, 206

Nevell, 46

Nevil, Mr., 16

Newcastle, 189, 223, 233

New-found River, 345

Newton, Edward, xv

— Captain, 71

Nezerau, Mr. Elias, 163

Nicholas, F. C., 336

Nichols, 359

Nicholson, Sir Charles, 209

_Niña_, 46, 270

Noell, Robert, xviii

Norbrook, 233

Norcot, Major-General Sir Amos, xiv

Norman range, 155

— road, 155

Norman, Sir Henry, xv

“North American Review,” 338

North street, 179

Norwood, Richard, 82

Nova Scotia, 333

Nugent, Sir George, xiv, 181, 184, 187 332

— Lady, 75, 118, 140, 184, 211, 384

Nugent lane, 155

— street, 123

Nutmeg, 26

Oak, 25

O’Brien, James, 71, 111

Observatory, Government, 342

Occupation, Spanish, 46

Occupations, Indian, 2

Ocho Rios, 11, 267, 281, 302

O’Connor, Luke Smythe, 181

Odburn, Lieutenant, 333

Oexmelin, 52

Ogle, Sir Chaloner, xxi, 46, 65, 205

Old Harbour, 20, 82, 129, 157, 189, 299, 348, 374, 393

— — Bay, 46, 394

— Plantations Estate, 396

— Pound road, 198

— Woman’s Savannah, 32, 331

Oleander, 25

Oliver, 341

— Mr., 12, 311

Olivier Park, 258

— road, 221

Olivier, Sir Sydney, xv, 221

O’Mally, E. L., xx

One-Eye, 331

Onion, Grace, 199

Orange, 26

— Bay Estate, 344

— street, 155, 196

— Valley, 270, 291, 318

— — Pen, 295

Ord, James, 174

Ordnance, 196

O’Reilly, Dowell, xx

Oristan, 8, 348, 349

Ornamental Gardens, 193

Ornaments, 129

— Indian, 2

Osborn, Elizabeth, 388, 390

— Kean, xvii, 388, 390

— Samuel Alpress, 388, 390

Osborne, George, 380

Otto-Baijer, Rowland, 310

Ouchterlony, Mr. A., 333

Oughton, Thomas Bancroft, xix

Ovanda, 277, 278

Owen, 349

— Commodore E. W. C. R., xxii

Pagett, Rev. William, 395

Painting, Arawâk, 2

Pakenham, Commodore John, xxi

Palache, J., 293

Palisadoes, 61, 67, 77, 213

— Plantation, 30

Palmer, 330

— John, xv, 323, 341, 342, 360

— John Rose, 323, 341

— Rosa, 323

— William, 369

Palmyra, 323, 341

Panton, Edward, xvii

— Archdeacon R., 207

Pantrepant, 318

Papine, 229

Parade, Kingston, 374

— Gardens, 193, 194

Paradise Estate, 339

Parishes, 40, 43

Park, Mungo, 310

Parker, Sir Hyde, xxii, 75, 141, 206, 210, 235

— Marie Antoinette, 206

— Sir Peter, xxi, 46, 67, 70, 210

— Lady, 72, 211

— William, xxi, 138

Parkinson, 330

Parattee, 6

Parnaby, John, 235

Parry, Rear-Admiral W., xxi, 210

Parsons, 367

Passage Port, 81, 146, 198, 281

Paten, 387

Paterson, Annie Mary, 323, 341

Pattison’s Point, 256

Pearce, John, 344

_Pearl_, 287

Pechon street, 155

Pedro, 297, 371

— River, 300

Peeke, John, xvi

Peel, Captain, R.N., 228

Peete, William, 142

Penn, Sir William, xx, 46, 82, 84, 200, 234, 237, 281, 288, 324, 397

Pennant, Edward, xviii, 32, 395, 383, 396

— Elizabeth, 395, 396

— Mary, 382

— Smart, 169

— Smart Mary 173

Penny, Edward, xix

— Robert, xix

Penrhyn, Lord, 382

Pepys, 359

Pereda, 6

Perexil Insula, 11

Perkins, R. F., 301

Perkman, James, 349

_Peter_, 238

Peter Martyr, 1, 2, 279, 280

Peter’s lane, 196

Petgrave, Susanna, 174

Petit Goave, 374

Peyton, Sir John Strutt, xxii

Philips, Colonel, 71

Phillimore, Augustus, xxii

Phillippo, Dr. J. C., xvi

Phillips, Captain Samuel, 169

Phipps, Martha, 319

Phyllis, 356

Pickering, Mr., 22, 236

Picton, Sir Thomas, 390

Pimento, 25

Pindar, Peter, 311, 390, 393

Pinder, Christopher, 349

Pine, Robert Edge, 73, 121, 311

Pinnock, George, xv

— Phillip, xvii

Pirates, 231

Plain of Liguanea, 216

Plan of Kingston, 159

Plantain Garden Valley, 241

Plantations, 24

Plate, 93

Plowman, Ann, 163

Plum-Tree Tavern, 227

Plundering, 50

Pocock, Sir George, xxi

Point Estate, 345

— Hill, 146

— Negril, 271

Pollen, Rev. Thomas, 347

Pool, Rev. John, 165, 207, 347

— Rev. Thomas, 396

Poorhouse, 211

Pope, Archdean E., 165

— Rev. Edmund, 348, 385

Popham, Rear-Admiral Sir Home Riggs, K.C.B., xxi, 211

Porteous, 218

Porteous’s Pen, 218

Porras, 12, 278

— Diego, 275

— Francisco, 275

Port Antonio, 20, 254

— Henderson, 85, 146

Portland, Henry Duke of, xiv, 116, 165

— Duchess of, 101

Portlock, Lieutenant, 27

Port Maria, 259, 267, 271

— Morant, 19, 239, 288, 375, 377

Port Royal, 11, 13, 20, 45, 111, 158, 197, 209, 213, 328, 360, 374, 381

— — earthquake, 13, 135, 136

— — fire, 13, 60, 151

— — hurricane, 13, 66

— — Mountains, 45

— — Plan of, 57

Porus, 12

Postage stamps, 303

Potenger, Miss, 295

Pottery, Indian, 3

Potsdam School, 370

Poussin, Gaspard, 363

Powell, Major J. W., 336

Poynings’s Law, 16

Prattent, F. M., xxiii

Pratter, Edward, 173

Pratter Pond, 173

Prenyard, Anne, 206

Presbyterian Academy, 36

Presbyterians, 161

President of Council, 359

Price, 33, 124, 175

Price, Charles, xvii, 126, 127, 248

— Colonel Charles, 264

— Sir Charles, xvii, 259, 264

— Charles, junr., xvii

— Francis, 127, 264

— George, 265

Prickly pear, 26

Princess street, 155, 196

Pring, Commodore, 205

— Daniel, xxii

Printing-press, 39

Priory, 302

Privy Council, 186

Prospect, 266

_Providence_, H.M.S., 26

Public Gardens, 24

Puerto Bueno, 271, 272

— de Esquivella, 6

— de las Vacas, 129

— Grande, 270

Purvis, John C., xxii

Pusey, Elizabeth, 390

— John, 131, 389, 392

— William, xvii, 382, 390

Pusey Hall, 390, 392

Quao, 327

Quasheba, 166

Quashie, 166

Queen’s College, 118

— Garden, 272

— House, 116

— Town, 346

Quarrell, Colonel W. D., 333

Rackham, 51

Radcliffe, Rev. John, 195

Rainfall, 249

Ramadge, James, 170

Ramires de Arellan, Juan, 289

Rampini, C., 379

Ramsay, Colonel, 75

Rats, 265

Raves, B. A., 162

Raymond, Colonel, 87

Raymond Hall, 171, 223

— Lodge, 222

Raymonds Estate, 390

Read, Captain, 166

— Ennis, 388

— Margaret, 388

— ... grett, 392

Reading, Rev. Edward, 395

— Francis, 395

_Rebecca_, 64

Rebellion in St. James, 181

— at Morant Bay, 18, 182, 244

Rebellious negroes, 174, 234

Records, Island, 144

Rectors of Kingston, 165

— St. Andrew, 207

— St. Catherine, 94

— St. Dorothy, 131

— St. James, 322

— Vere, 385

— Westmoreland, 347

Redding, 386

Redgrave, 364

Red Hills, 43

Red shingle wood, 334

Reduction of parishes, 191

Redwood, Philip, xvii, xix, 123

Rees, Rev. Thomas, 165, 166

Reid, Ebenezer, 170

— James, 345

— Captain Mayne, 338

— Rebecca, 318

— Colonel Thomas, 318

— William Livingston, 392

Reinolds, Mr., 144

Renton, Captain, 205

Retirement, 336

Retreat, 279

Revolt of slaves, 321

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 209, 367

Rhodes Hill, 345

_Richard and Sarah_, 54

Richards, George Cussans, 388

Rickard, Rev. Francis, 322

Ricketts, George Crawford, xix

Riddel, D. McN., xxiii

Rijues, Thomas, 237

Riley’s Tavern, 217

Rio Bonito, 9

— Bueno, 307, 317

— Cobra, 14, 85, 142

— de Camarones, 10, 11

— Grande, 258

— Hoe, 302

— Hoja, 302

— Matibereon, 306

— Minho, 376, 378, 397

— Nuevo, 8, 259, 267, 284, 288, 289

Ripley, Rev. R. J., 94, 165

Rippingham, John, 35

Rippon, Ralph, 387

_Rippon_, 66

Rives, Thomas, xvi

Roads, 8

Roaring River, 362, 364, 367

— — Bridge, 302

Rob, William, 11, 281

Robarts, Philip, 380

Robertson, C. L., 347

— George, 364, 367

— James, 43

— W., 347

— and Co., 196

Robertson’s Map, 43

Robinson, Rev. B., 385

— C. A., 164

— Captain-Lieutenant, 287

— Jane, 230

— Miss, 296

— Phil, 337

— William, 230

Robson, 36

Roby, John, 24, 126, 236, 254, 259, 291, 319

Rock, The, 147

Rock-carvings, Indian, 3

Rock Fort, 67, 212, 213, 374

Rocky Fort, 213

— Point, 50

Rodney, Sir George, xxi, 26, 46, 66, 67, 119, 181, 191, 207, 210, 213,
299

Rodney’s Look-out, 67, 146

Rollon, Admiral, 375

Rosa, Salvator, 363

Rosamond’s Pond, 113

Rose, 124

— Ffulk, 114

— Francis, xv, xvi

— Lieut.-Colonel, 264

— Rev. Urquhart Gillespie, 385

Rose Hall, 265, 323, 341

Roses, 25

Ross, 342

— Hercules, 72, 211

— Horatio, 72

— William, xix

Roslyn Castle, 318

Roubiliac, 168, 203

Round Hill, 43, 345

Rowe, Rev. George Wilkinson, 131

— Sir Joshua, xix, 107

— William, xvi

Rowley, Bartholomew Samuel, xxii, 170, 176

— Sir Charles, xxii

— Joshua, xxi, 46, 176, 210

Royal African Company, 213

— Gazette, 39, 309

Rue de Prince, 155

Runaway Bay, 290, 293

Running Gut, 342

— Water, 220, 228

Rusea, Martin, 343

Rusea’s School, 344

Rushworth, Edward, xv

Russell, Dr., 326

— Sir William, 182

Ruther’s Island, 256

Rutter, Abraham, 319

Sadler, Captain, 326

Sago palm, 25

St. Andrew, 197, 216, 375, 381

St. Ann, 19, 281, 289

St. Ann Vestry Records, 300

St. Ann’s Bay, 272, 299, 302

St. Catherine, 381

St. David, 217, 375

St. Dorothy, 128, 375, 385

St. Elizabeth, 19

St. Gabriel’s Church, 395

St. George, 191, 198, 216, 254, 289

St. Jago de la Vega, 6, 46, 214, 291, 305, 381, 385

St. Jago de la Vega Gazette, 39, 43, 170, 294

St. Jago Farm, 146

St. Jago Intelligencer, 39

St. James, 19

St. John, Parish of, 123, 381

— representatives of, 124

St. Lo, Rear-Admiral Edward, xxi

St. Mary, 20, 191, 198

St. Paul’s, 395

St. Peter’s, 391

St. Sophia, 343

St. Thomas-in-the-East, 375

St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, 223

St. Vincent, 48

Salcedo, Diego, 278

Salmon, John, xvi

Salt Hill, 234

— River, 389

— Spring, 344

Sanchez, Juan, 275, 278

Sancroft, 183

Sandy Gully, 198

Sanatorium, 334

Santa Cruz Mountains, 370

— Gloria, 270, 272, 275

— Maria, 334

_Santiago de Palos_, 272, 275

Sasi, 87, 146, 259, 281, 286, 289

Sasser, Don Christopher Arnaldo, 281

Savanna-la-Mar, 8, 346, 365, 367

Scambler, Thomas, 130

Scarlett, 33, 103, 234

— Benjamin, 234

— Francis, 234

— James, 339

— Nicholas, 234

— Philip Anglin, 339, 340

— Robert, 339, 340

— William, 235, 339

— Sir William Anglin, xix, 339, 372

— William Anglin, 340

Scarlett’s Hall, 339

Schalch, E. A. C., xx

Schleswig-Holstein, Princess M. L., 194

Scholarship, Jamaica, 37

Scholarships, 304

School, early, 125

Schooles, Sir Pipon, xx

Scotch Kirk, 161, 178

Scott, Allan, 221

— Janet, 171

— John, xv

— Rev. John, 94

— Michael, 221

Scott’s Hall, 259, 327

Seacole, Mary, 182

Seacole Cottage, 182

Seaford, Lord, 123, 266, 342

Seaford Town, 342

Seal of Jamaica, 182

Seaman’s Valley, 258

Seat of Government removed, 153

Secondary Education Law, 1892, 37

Sedgwick, General Robert, 47, 68, 237, 284, 325

See of Jamaica, 23

Selwyn, Major-General William, xiii, 359

Serrano, Augustin Pedro, 349

Seven Rivers, 342

Sevilla, 267, 272, 278, 291, 348

— d’Oro, 279, 291, 305

— Nueva, 8, 279, 280, 291

Sewell, I., 196

— Robert, xix, xxiii, 353

— Sir Thomas, 353

Seymour, Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh, xxii, 75, 211, 332

Shaddock, 26

Shand, 124

— John, 103

Sharpe, Alexander R., xxii

— John, xxiii

— Rev. F. H., 322

Shaw, Holy and Co., 196

Shaw Park, 289

Shakespeare, Ann, 295

Sheckle, John, 396

Sheckle’s Estate, 396

Sheemakers, 203

Sheldon, 166, 180

Shelton, 304

Shettlewood, 345

Shipley’s School, 364

Shirley, Sir Anthony, 46

— Henry, 318

Shore, Joseph, 323

Shortland, Captain, 205

Shrewsbury, Duke of, 352

Sibada, Captain, 288

Sibbit, Rev. Adam, 395

Sillers, Mrs. Elizabeth, 163

Silver Hill, 233

Simons, Wm., 238

Simpson, John, 318

Sinclair, Archibald, xv

Sink Hole in St. Ann, 301

_Sir Godfrey Webster_, 357

Skeate, Colonel, 335

Skeen, Nathaniel, 381

Skipp, Rev. —, 165

Slaney’s Map, 124

Slave cell, 302

— trade, 309

Slaves, 132, 228

Sleigh, Jervis, 142

Sligo, Peter Marquis of, xiv, 146

Sligoville, 146

Sloane, Sir Hans, 53, 113, 136, 278, 280, 289

Smart, Elizabeth, 235

Smith, 43, 329

— F., 103

— Rev. John, 385

— Sir Lionel, xiv

— Rev. Michael, 395

— Robt., 380

— Rev. —, 137, 171

— Commodore William, xxi

Smithfield Wharf, 366

Smith’s Village, 197

Smollett, T., 66

Smuggling, 64

Snow Hill, 217

Society of Arts, 30, 99

Soldier’s Tomb, 368

_Solebay_, 169

Solitaire, 334

Sombrio Rio, 11

Somerly, 367

Soutar, Mr., 220

Spanish buildings, 12

— quarters, 319

— remains, 342

— River, 258

— Town, 15, 20, 85, 191

— — Road, 141, 225

Speaker of Assembly, xvi, 204, 361, 382

Spence, John, 318

Spencer, Aubrey George, 91

— Tomb of Thomas J., 370

“Spinner, Alice,” 221

Spragge, Lieut.-Colonel, 71

Spring Garden, 220

— — Portland, 258

— Mount Estate, 342

— Path Burial-Ground, 195

— Valley, 259

Stackpole, 223

Stalactites, 303

Stanhope, Lovel, xxiii

Stanley, Deodatus, 149

Stanton, Edward, xvi

— Colonel, 247

— Rev. Robert, 97

Stapleton, Lieutenant, 48, 168

Star-apples, 271

Steel, Flora Annie, 345

Steell, Sir John, 99

Steevens, Major, Richard, 282

Stephenson, Alexander, xxiii

Stevenson, William, 106

— William James, 170

Stewart, 14

— Rear-Admiral, 64

— James, 103, 306

— John, xvii, 103

— Rev. Sam. Hy., 396

— Archdeacon T., 165

— Rev. Thos., 348

— Thomas, 347

— W. G., 177

Stewart Castle, 318

Stirling, Sir Charles, xxii

Stoakes, Ann, 243

— Jacob, 240, 242, 243

— John, 240

— Admiral John, 240

— Luke, 237, 240, 241

— Mary, 242, 243

Stokes, 239

Stokesfield, 240, 242

Stokes Hall, 240, 243

Stone, 342

Stoney, Rev. Joseph, 322

Stony Hill, 197, 198, 220

— — Barracks, 209

Storks, Sir Henry, xv, 246

Stranger’s Burial Ground, 195

Streets, 123, 154

Stuart, Rear-Admiral the Hon. Charles, xxi

“Study in Colour,” 221

Styles, John, 125

Success Estate, 339

_Suffolk_, 45

Sugar-cane, 25

Supreme Court, 182

Surinam quarters, 371

Surrey, Map of, 13

Survey of 1670, 290

Sutherland and Co., R., 196

Sutton, 382

— John, 392

— Thomas, xvi, 55

— Colonel Thomas, 376, 383, 392

Sutton street, 156

Suttons, 381

_Swallow_, 62

“Swallow Hole,” 301

_Swan_, 55, 110

Swettenham, Sir James Alexander, xv

Swift River, 43

_Swiftsure_, 45

Swimmer, Anthony, 48

Sydenham, 113

_Sydney_, H.M.A.S., 45

Symerons, 324

Sympson, Edward, 389

— Robert, 389

Tabor, Rev. Richard, 94, 385

Talbots, 159

Tamarind-tree Church, 130

Tarleton, 328

Tavern at Moneague, 302

Taverns, 38, 103, 370

Tax, 156

Taylor, Sir John, 250

— Joseph, 381

— Pringle, 181

— Simon, 72, 103, 206, 250

— Sir Simon Richard B., 251

Teale, Rev. Isaac, 308

Teasdale, Joseph, 196

_Téméraire_, 375

Temple, La Belle, 204

— Susanna, 156

Temple Hall, 156, 204, 235

— Lane, 156, 158, 196

Thermal Spring, 247

Thetford, 130

_Thomas_ Guineaman, 321

Thomas, Isaiah, 39

Thompson, 392

— Charlton, 61

— Joseph, 386

— Robert, 30

Thornton, Benjamin, 373

“Three Fingered Jack,” 233

Three-mile River Estate, 368

Three Rivers, 213

— Sandy Bay, 397

Thurloe, 284, 325

Tita, 356

Titchfield, 254

— School, 257

Tobacco, 345

“Tom Cringle’s Log,” 221, 258, 341

Tombs, 169, 233, 247, 294, 318, 335, 344, 358, 367, 370, 387, 395

Tombstones, 171

Toronto, Assistant Bishop of, 162

_Torrington_, 238

Tothill, 235

Totterdale, Hugh, xvii

Tower street, 156

Towers, John, 16, 55

Towns, Spanish, 9

Townsend, George Harrison, 387

Townshend, Hon. George, xxi

Towton, Rev. Henry V., 385

Trafalgar, 296

Trelawny, Ann, 386

— Edward, xiv, 205, 326

— Sir William, xiv, 92, 306, 311, 385

— Lady, 311, 386

Trelawny Town, 320, 327, 333

Trew, Rev. John McCammon, 385

Trifler, The, 340

Trinity Chapel, 344

Trollope, Anthony, 221, 222

Trower, Captain, 71

Trumpet tree, 25

Tryall, 342

Turnbull, Mr. George, 300

Turtola, 283

Tydenham, 302

Tyrrell, Usher, 142

Tyson, Colonel, 87, 289, 290

— Mary, 89

Underhill, Dr., 245

Underwood, Rev. Thomas, 385

United Service Club, 209

University College, 229

Up-Park Camp, 224

— Pen, 226

_Urgent_, 79

_Valentine_, 82

Vale Royal, 250

Valette, Peter, 248

_Valorous_, H.M.S., 58

Vashon, Vice-Admiral James, xxii

Vassall, 382

— Bathusa, 173

— Samuel, xvii

“Vathek,” 174, 267, 363, 367

Vaughan, John Lord, xiii, 15, 47, 52, 111

Vaughan’s Field, 327

Venables, General, 46, 82, 200, 233, 236, 237, 265, 281, 289, 324, 397

Venn, Rev. John, 94

Veragua, Lewis Duke of, 86

Vere, 19, 378, 382, 392

Vermigli, Pietro Martire, 280

Vernon, Admiral Edward, xx, xxi, 46, 65, 213

Victoria, Statue of Queen, 191, 193

— League, 194

“Victoria Quarterly,” 197

Villages, Spanish, 9

_Ville de Paris_, 73, 119, 122

Villettes, General William Anne, 205

Vintners’ Hall, 364

Virgo, 318

Vivares, Thomas, 363

Volcano, extinct, 258

Wag Water, 9, 218, 235

— — Estate, 235

Wager, Sir Charles, xx, 60

Wagstaffe, Peter, 171

Waite, Raines, 392

Wale, Dorothy, 81

Wales, 318

Walker, Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden, xx

— Captain-Lieutenant, 287

Wallace, Peter, 242

Wallen, M., 25

— Thomas, xv

Wallenford, 25

Walpole, General, 328, 331, 337

Walters, John, xviii, 142

Walton, 229, 303

Wanglo, 25

Ward, Colonel Philip, xviii

— William John, xxii

Warwick, Earl of, 46

Warren, Jno., 380

— Rev. Thomas, 97

Waterloo road, 198

Watling Island, 270

Watson, Sir Francis, xiii, xv

Watt, Captain John, 392

Weapons, Indian, 2

Webley, Edward, xviii

Wedderburn, John, 368

Welch, Richard, xviii

Welcome, 344

“Welcome Hall,” 338

Wellington, 181

Wellington street, 123

Welsh and Sons, I., 196

Wentworth, Brigadier, 65

Werge, Mr., 331

Wesleyan Church, 37

— High School, 303

— Methodist Cemetery, 195

Wesleyans, 161

West, Benjamin, 121

— Dr. Stewart, 28

— and Co., Henry, 196

— — John, 196

West Chester, 157

— street, 196

“West Tavern,” 38

West India Committee Circular, 178

— — Prisons Bill, 188

— — Regiment, 226

“West Indies and the Spanish Main,” 222

Westmacott, Henry, 323

— Sir Richard, 205, 323

Westmoreland, 19

Weston Favell, 318

_Weymouth_, 62

Wharfe, 196

Wharton, Rev. Thomas, 29

Wheler, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis, xx

Whetstone, Thomas, xvi, xx

— Sir William, xx

White, Edward, xxii

— Rev. James, 385

— John, xiii, xv, xviii, 48, 55

White Cross Church, 393

— River, 43

Whitfield, Colonel Charles, 242

— Rev. Hy. Wase, 396

Whitelocke, General, 353

Whyte, Rev. George, 322

Wickstead, Philip, 364, 367

Wilberforce, William, 232, 310

Wild horses, 124

Wildman street, 156

Wiles, James, 26

Wilford, General, 332

William III, 374

— IV, 75

William street, 123

Williams, Bartholomew Owen, 170

— Rev. Joseph, 94, 385

— Joseph, 340

— Mary, 294, 340

— Rev. Thomas P., 322, 396

— Thomas, 294

— Colonel William, 367

Williamsfield, 144, 342, 364, 366

Williamson, Sir Adam, xiv, 181, 353

— Rev. William, 144

— Rev. W. H., 322

Willis and Waterhouse, 196

Wilson, Canute, 389

— John, 199

— Nathaniel, 29

— Reginald, 48

— Robt., 243

Windsor, Thomas Lord, xiii, 183

Windsor Fort, 302

Windward road, 375

Wingfield, Harbottle, 48

Wintle, J., 103

Wiseman, Captain, 287

Withywood, 378, 380, 384

Witter, Norwood, 323

Wolcot, Rev. John, 311, 385, 390, 393

Wolmer, John, 168, 170, 173

Wolmer’s School House, 175

— Pen, 173, 226

Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 227

Wood, William, 61

Woodham, Rev. Robert Stanton, 94, 95

Woodside, 266

Words of West Indian origin, 2

Worthy Park, 265

Wortley, Canon Edward J., 94, 208

Wrenn, Commodore, xx

Wright, Rev. George, 207

— John, 339

Y. S. River, 44

Yallahs, 6, 11, 236, 375

— Bay, 19

— Church, 237

— Ponds, 216

Yalos, 11

Yam, Guinea, 26

Yama, 6

Yates, Mrs., 211

Yeamans, Edward, 149

York, James Duke of, xx, 319

York Castle, 37, 303, 305

— Estate, 383

— Hussars, 330

Young, Sir William, 313

— W. A., xv

Zeale, Anne, 199

Zellers, Rev. James, 22, 199, 203, 207

Zoffany, 364

Zouave uniform, 227

PRINTED AT
THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
LONDON & EDINBURGH

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.
5. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript
character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in
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*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Historic Jamaica" ***

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