Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library
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THE idea of making Jamaica an English colony seems to have been started about that period when, from our increasing settlements on the American Continent, the want of convenient harbours among the West India Islands began to be felt. (Cal. S. P., Col. S. 1613.)
The project was revived at intervals, but as is well known, the immediate cause of our obtaining possession of the Island of Springs, was the failure of the expedition against Hispaniola.
On the capture of the former island (May 10th, 1655), by Penn and Venables, about fourteen hundred of the inhabitants took refuge in the almost inaccessible fastnesses of its mountains, while a few of the Negro and Portuguese population submitted to the conquerors.
Although the commanders were subjected to censure for their conduct in other particulars, the capture of Jamaica was a source of pride to the Lord Protector, who addressed himself with energy to its colonization, for which purpose immigrants were invited from all the other English settlements, while the officers and soldiers of the force which had taken possession of the island received, shortly afterwards, allotments of land on a species of military tenure, a practice observable in many patents even so late as the year 1743.*
While Barbados had from the first been so exclusively British that at one time the Island legislature even passed a law adverse to Irishmen, the English in Jamaica seem at once to have fraternized with the races already there, and to have sedulously invited the influx of strangers from all parts. The mother country provided administrative talent, and the energy, aroused amongst their cadets by the decay of good houses during those troubled times at home. The Jewish settlers brought their proverbial talents into its commercial interests ; and to the Spaniard was perhaps due much of the social style of the people. There was another element of prosperity in the frequent visits of Buccaneers, who called to dispose of their plunder on the wharfs of Port Royal, and whose personal gallantry and quasi-crusade against Spain were no mean recommendations. Moreover, many of them were gentlemen by birth, and in every way fitted to mingle with the higher class of residents.
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* A useful and economical system of defence might be organized in this and the other islands, by granting temporarily small allotments of waste land (strategically distributed) to pensioned soldiers and their white offspring, renewable periodically, and under conditions which would develop the resources of these colonies, cheek continental propagandism, and relieve the mother country of a serious burden in time of war.
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Hither came likewise many of the unfortunate victims of the Darien intrigue, and introduced a strong and useful Scotch element.
Still the island felt the want of skilful agriculturists, and although it had received at the outset every encouragement, it required the steady diligence of the acclimatized Barbadian to bring its great estates into that working order which resulted in such colossal fortunes in the following century.
Sir Charles Lyttleton convened the first Legislative Assembly of thirty representatives ; who formed, so to speak, the nucleus of the local aristocracy (1664-75).
Of the French invasions of 1691 and 1702 there is little to be said ; while the history of the Maroon war, which lasted thirty-seven years, can only be brought within the scope of these introductory remarks as the field where the warlike reputation of the militia leaders was tried, and, notwithstanding their frequent reverses, well sustained.
Earthquakes, servile revolts, and terrible epidemics followed each other at comparatively short intervals, and are sometimes briefly noticed on the tombstones of the early settlers. Many of these inscriptions are quaint, but the majority are in objectionable taste a fault rather of the period than of the place, and introduced from England, where, during the eighteenth century, a bombastic style of epitaph was usual. There are, however, many magnificent marble sepulchral monuments in Jamaica, from the chisels of the first sculptors of Europe, and which, in discussing the whole collectively, are sufficient to redeem the faults of some others. A few remarks on the parishes of Jamaica may here be necessary.
In the time of Sir Thomas Modyford (1664) there were seven parishes, namely, St. Catherine, St. John, Port Royal, Clarendon, St. David, St. Andrew, and St. Thomas, but there was only one church, the present Cathedral of Spanish Town. It is true that about the time when Colonel Edward D'Oyley received his commission as Governor, from Charles 1I. in 1661, or soon afterwards, the island was divided into twelve districts, which, according to Long, included the subsequent parishes, in addition to those already mentioned, of St. George, St. Mary, St. Anne, St. James, and St. Elizabeth; and this number has been further increased by the addition of Vere, Portland, St. Thomas ye Vale, Metcalf, Kingston, Manchester, Westmoreland, Hanover, St. Dorothy, and Trelawney.
St. Thomas in the Vale and St. Dorothy were constituted parishes in 1675 ; the former was originally a part of St. Catherine. St. Dorothy separated from Clarendon, in 1675.
Westmoreland was separated from St. Elizabeth, in 1703, and Hanover, from the former, in 1723.
Trelawney separated from St. James in 1770; Portland was taken from St. George, and St. Thomas in the East, in 1723.
Manchester was formed out of portions of St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, and Vere, in 1814.
Metcalfe was severed from St. George and St. Mary, in 1841.
Vere was separated from Clarendon, in 1673.
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The Parishes were thus constitute:
Between 1661-4, St. Catherine, St. John, Port Royal, Clarendon, St. David, St. Andrew, St. Thomas in the East.
1665, St. George, St. Mary, St. Arm, St. James, St. Elizabeth.
1673, Vere.
1675, St. Thomas ye Vale, St. Dorothy.
When the division of St. James's was first contemplated, in 1733, it was proposed to name the new subdivision Brunswick, but on the third reading, the bill was lost, and it was called Trelawney, after Sir W. Trelawney, the governor from 1767 to 1772.
The Duke of Portland was appointed Governor of Jamaica, 9th September, 1721 arrived 22nd December, 1722 , and died in Spanish Town, 4th July, 1726-hence the name of the parish.
Metcalfe was so named after the eminent and liberal-minded governor of that name.
Manchester received the name of the ducal governor.
In allusion to the patron saint of its discoverer Columbus, in 1494, the emblem* of St. James, from whom Jamaica takes its name (although by a curious phonetic coincidence it was previously known by its Indian name Xaymaca, Isle of Springs) has, along with the arms of Jamaica,** been adopted in the Parochial Seals of the island.
By an act passed in 1789, burying in Churches was prohibited, and a penalty of £500 imposed on any Rector permitting it; but two local bills dispensing with that act, were specially passed in the case of the Earl and Countess of Effingham, who were the last so interred, in Jamaica; hence, at the present day, the few additions to the monuments within the Church, and, as it were, an abstract of inscription on the gravestone without.
Besides the cemeteries of the Church of England, there are, of course, many others, which go on increasing with the progress of dissent and sectarianism, but these are comparatively modern, and therefore scarcely come within the scope of the present undertaking; at the same time, a few such collections have been preserved, and will, at any rate, afford a curious contrast in nomenclature, inasmuch as they contain chiefly the epitaphs of the blacks, who, since the era of Emancipation, have not been backward in seeking to flatter "the dull cold ear of death!"
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* The Emblem of St. James are a pilgrim's staff and a gourd bottle-hence the seal of the Churchwardens of Jamaica bears according to the Local Act, 7 Vic. cap. 39" Argenta palmer's staff erect, depending from its rest, by a leathern thong, a gourd bottle, ppr. On a border gules five Pine Apples Or. Sigill. : Aedelium Sancti Jacobi in Jamaica. (Roby.)
The double gourd bottles of the Chinese and Japanese, so frequently represented in their works of art, are called by them, also, pilgrim bottles, and may be observed attached to the girdles of the Fusiyama excursionists.
*The inscription on the Great Seal of Jamaica bearing these Arms is
ECCE ALIUM RAMOS PORREXIT IN ORBEM NEC STERILIS EST CRUX."
Bridges says, " This Seal was designed by the Archbishop of Canterbury." At that time (1662) the Metropolitan See was filled by William Juxon, who, when Bishop of London, attended Charles I. on the scaffold.
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In giving a short account of the various religious denominations, I cannot do better than quote the words of a gentleman, whose acquaintance with the subject entitles him to be considered an authority.
"It is now (1865) two hundred and ten years ago, since the island of Jamaica passed into the hands of the English nation. One hundred and sixtyfour years before this, it was possessed by the Spaniards. At three hundred and seventytwo years from this present year, it was the home of the aboriginal Indians. The latter are exterminated,* and we do not recognize any of their descendants occupying the homes of their fathers."
'I The Spaniards were the first Europeans who possessed these islands. They failed to Christianize them; and destroyed the people. Scarce more than two hundred years back, the English took Jamaica, and drove out the Spaniards. Now, in addition to the Spaniards, there were Portuguese settlers here, but they were Jews, and not Christians. When the Spanish Inquisition drove the Jews, as well as the Moors out of Spain, the Jews found an asylum in Portugal. The family of Columbus, the discoverer of America, had received this island as a sovereign possession."
" His son, Diego, was created Marquis of St. Jago de la Vega. On the granddaughter of Columbus marrying into the house of Braganza (the family that now occupies the throne of Portugal), the Jews from Portugal came to Jamaica in numbers. Though the English drove out the Spaniards from the colony on its capture, they suffered the Portugals, as they were called, to remain. These were the Jewish settlers, whose families are perpetuated to this day, in their descendants-the Dasilvas and Soarezes, the Cordozos, the Belisarios, and Belinfantes, the Nunezes, the Fonsecas, the Guttereces, the Da Cordovas, and a hundred such names. They became the first traders and merchants of the English Colony, and owe to their precedence, as a people holding to a revealed faith, the preponderance of social and political influence they possess at this day, as Magistrates, as Members of the Legislature, and as members of learned professions."
"The first introduction of the Jews into Jamaica, is thus recorded by Sir Wm. Beeston. 'On the 31st March, 1663, H. M. Ship the "Great Guest," Captain Bernard, Commander, arrived from London, and brought six Jews (with a rich cargo), who
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A cursory glance over public documents supplies us with a number of Swiss and French Huguenots James Zellar, Rector of St. Andrew's ; Hausyer, Rector of St. Catherine's ; Calvin Galpine, Rector of St. John's; Mignot, Rector of a midland Parish. Joseph Delaunay, Peter Valette, and Leopold de Stapelton, Justices and Vestrymen of Port Royal in 1725. The Honourable Gabriel Marquis Duquesne, Commander of the Fort of Port Royal,-Woolmer, Merchant of Kingston, who endowed the Grammar School of that City, There was a Huguenot Merchant, who bequeathed an annuity for a School in St. Andrew's ; and the Bernards, of St. James'; the Le Contes and the Grignons, allied families of Lord Abinger, were all French Protestant settlers.
In a MS, in the House of Assembly Library, entitled " The State of the Church in his Majesty's Island of Jamaica," dated May, 1675, twenty years after the capture, it is there stated, after enumerating the then Stipended Ministers of Religion, 1 'All the other Parishes on the North side, and St. Elizabeth's on the South, are great and ill-settled, without Churches, they being most 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. He likewise, observing how prejudicial and dishonourable it was for the Ministers to be at the will of the vestrys, prevailed with the Assembly to make a Law that every Parish should pay their Parson £100 per annum at least."
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pretended they came to discover a gold mine, known to them in the Spaniard's Government, but concealed for fear it might bring grievances on a place so weakly manned, as Jamaica was, in the Spaniard's time; but this was basely a pretence, for their design was only to insinuate themselves into the country, for the sake of trade, and was managed by Sir John Davidson, who sent them with Mr. Watson, a German, who managed all."'
The Jews, for a long time, were not taxed like other residents, but were obliged to pay an annual tribute, which the government of Sir T. Lynch assessed at ; £750 per annum, besides five per cent on their rents.
The oldest inscribed Jewish monument is that of Leah Gedaleah:-
he earliest missionary teachers here, under the English, were the Independents that came with the army of Venables, in 1655. They were the first stipended ministers, and when they were unstipended, by the operation of the Act of Uniformity, they became the first Christian teachers, supported by voluntary contributions. Their numbers were augmented by the imported Nonconformists, who were not emigrants to Jamaica, but shipped off to be sold for slaves to the planters."
After these came hither the Huguenots-French Protestants, who were driven out of France, on account of their Protestant faith, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Many of them were accepted as stipended ministers, and became the early rectors of parishes.*
The Moravians, under the auspices of the families of Barham and Foster, followed, about the year 1765.
These were followed by the Baptists, and other sects.
Besides the public cemeteries, there were other places of sepulture; but, " when we consider that many monuments have doubtless been destroyed by earthquake and hurricane, particularly at the times when Port Royal and SavannalaMar were submerged-that some tombs have been thrown down by wanton violence, and others mutilated, or lost in the fires, alterations, or desecrations of the buildings that contained them-we ought not to be surprised at the comparative rarity of monuments of the seventeenth century. No doubt, many of these exist, in the depths of impenetrable 'bush,' or jungle, never again to meet the eye; but there are also others on private estates, which are, I am told, well known, although 1 have not been able to obtain any accurate description of them."
On the estate called " Greenwich," for instance, and likewise at Spitzbergen, and Dublin Castle (the latter in the Port Royal mountains), are some old tombs. Such names are often apt to put the genealogist on a wrong scent, but they are at times correct guides; and by even so faint a light, we are sometimes enabled to trace a family back to the registers of some remote parish church at home.
"Parnassus," " Bellevue," " Golden Grove," " Running Gut " (probably a corruption, by some seafaring man, of Harangutta, a branch of the Ganges), " Romsey," Arcadia," Lacovia, and Luana are amongst the names of old estates; while it is not
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A lecture by R. Hill, Esq.
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altogether unworthy of note, in connection with one of the old stories of the island, that the celebrated buccaneer Governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan, lived on an estate near Spanish Town, which was called Laurencefield.*
Most of the handsome old mausoleums at Port Royal, secluded as they are from the town, and partially concealed by cashaws, gigantic cacti, and mangrovetrees, have been broken into and plundered, the lead of the coffins stolen, and the empty
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*In a letter from Sir S. Watson to the Committee of Plantations, 27 Oct., 1689, speaking of the depredations of freebooters on the coasts of Jamaica, the writer says :" Major Lawrence, with a ship and pirago, and about 200 men, the last month, touched at Mantega (Montego) Bay, on the north side of this island, did no harm then, but gave out that he would sail up to Petit Goave, a French settlement upon Hispaniola, and procure a commission from the governor, wherewith he will return with greater force, and plunder all the north side, killing man, woman, and child, which has so affrighted the inhabitants of these parts, they have sent away their wives and children to Port Royal'
Lawrence and Towneley were two buccaneer captains, commanding in the fleet of Sir H. Morgan.
The Earl of Inchiquin, in a letter to the same committee, 6 July, 1690, says of the Calapatch, and some small vessels, which had been sent to the Camanas for turtle, " They were there found by Lawrence, the great pirate of Petit Goave, who bore down upon the Calapatch, and engaged him. That Lawrence has taken her, is the conclusion.
For further notices of the name Lawrence in these parts, vide Appendix.
When, and where, the piratical brotherhood first settled as planters in Jamaica, cannot with accuracy be determined, prior to the proclamation of George I, dated 5th September, 1717,, when he promised and declared, that each and all of the pirates who should submit before the 5th September, 1718, should have the royal pardon for piracies committed.
The adventurers who entered the fraternity of freebooters in the time of Lawrence,* were influenced by reasons for their lawlessness different from those which existed amongst the earlier buccaniers. **
Their act was hostility to the Spaniard, because the government of Spain, having made all trading within their declared lines of empire, unlawful, _put it down as piracy; but, after the restoration of Charles IL, and the disputed succession to the British throne on the abdication of James, enabled Louis XIV. to resort to his avowed and decided warfare, as a partizan of James against William and Mary, it gave an abiding salvo to the consciences of English desperadoes (similar to those under the belligerent Federals and Confederates, in the quasi piratical Alabamas, Georgias, and Floridas which swept the high seas), and gentlemen like Lawrence did not hesitate to become adventurers. Such men yielded in acquiescence, when the king's proclamation, on the succession of the Hanoverian line, assured a settlement of all differences, by the suppression of the Scotch rebellion of 1715. Those that held out, on the chances of continued disorder in England, were such runagates as Blackbeard (Teach of Spanish Town), Rackham, and the petty rascals distinguished as Piccaroons.
The later history of the freebooters assumes a different aspect from that of the legitimate (so to speak) Buccaniers, and belongs rather to the HOME than the FOREIGN department.
At the present day, an islet and reef on the coast of Jamaica bear the name of Rackham; and on the former may be noticed the site of the gibbet where perished the last of the Piccaroons.
There was in the possession of a late President of the Executive Committee, a deed of his maternal ancestor, Claver Tayler, a member of "the fraternity," dated in 1655, at Cabo Bonito, in Westmoreland (parish), the year of the capture of the island by Penn and Venables. Claver Tayler was a grandson of Tayler, one of the pilgrim fathers of the "Mayflower," and perhaps a settler from among the crew. His location was Rhode Island. The Taylers (probably through their previous common adventures) formed family alliances with the Lawrences.
There exists a MS. account of European families in Jamaica, compiled by a member of the Hinds' family. My informant had not seen it himself, but had no doubt of its existence.
The Honourable Alexander Bravo (Auditor General's office), of a Portuguese family, is said to possess much valuable information as to the rise of the older Jewish families in Jamaica, which, it may be observed, have developed no small amount of ability amongst their members.*** Amongst the earliest of the converts from Judaism were the Vidals, of Spanish Town, and the Israels, of St. Dorothy.
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*He was twice married, first in 1729.
**Properly so spelt.
Amongst desultory works on the buccaneers of the West Indies, is one more immediately connected with the present subject,
An Account of the Rise and Growth of the West India Colonies, by Dalby Thomas, London, 1690." Harleian Misy., vol. ix., p. 422. , "Memoranda of West Indian History," divided into " One Hundred and Fifty Years Ago" and " Supplement" to the same, ending with the disastrous war with Spain, in 1702.
***Mr. Bernal Usborne, for example, is the son of Bernal, an extensive proprietor of the Vega. (St. Cath. Par.)
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vault left for the lugubrious picnics of the "dangerous classes," whose broken bottles, mixed up with human bones, bear witness to the revelries by which these solemn scenes have been desecrated.
No doubt the social vagabond of these parts sees little to reverence in such monuments. His own remains may be hastily consigned to the deep, or disposed of by the local authorities.
"And in the next generation let his name be clean put out." "Root out the memorial of them from off the earth."
These, and many similar expressions in Scripture, show the estimation in which records of the dead were held ; and that it was no derogation from spiritual hopes, or any evidence of pride and vanity in the living, to be solicitous of such mementos.
I have endeavoured to curtail as much as possible the conventional eulogies of these epitaphs, most of which contrast unfavourably with the pathetic simplicity of one, which recalls those of the early Christians at Rome.
LYTTLETON, D.D., SUAE IN VICINIA SEPULTAE, FILIOLUS OB. 1662."
A suspicion also rests, in many instances, on the heraldry of some of the more recent monuments ; but this is a question apart from the collection.
There are two inscriptions which perhaps require special notice in these remarks, the one published by Sir Hans Sloane* is thus described as then still existing, at Sevilla D'Oro, a few miles from St. Ann's Bay (Jamaica), and where, it is said, many Spanish mortuary memorials still remain concealed by the encroaching turf:
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Sir Hans Sloane mentions in his work on Jamaica (published in 1725, but written from notes made in 1688, while he was physician to the Governor, the Duke of Albemarle), a number of little incidents and names of persons residing in that island, which are, in connection with the present work, not altogether uninteresting.
He alludes to his own account of the destruction of Port Royal, published in " Philosophical Transactions," No. 209, p. 77.
His description of the asthmatic Sir Francis Watson and his plethoric "lady" is graphic. "The Lady Watson, aged 50, and very fat." Sir Francis Watson, aged 55, " wheezing and asthma." Sir Henry Morgan is depicted in 1688, when he was about 45 years of age, as "lean, sallow coloured," his eyes a little yellowish, and belly a little setting out or prominent, -Mrs. Banett, aged 45, as of a spare body, -Dr. Cooper, aged 45, of a yellowish swarthy complexion."
"Major Thomas Ballard is aged 35," is said to be " much given to extravant drinking," that he is "plethoric and of sanguine complexion. Mrs. Aylmer, a lean woman of 35."
Amongst other names of residents, he mentions D..., an English physician who lived at Guatemala, and who had been taken prisoner by the Spaniards ; Captain Hemmings, living near Seville; Captain Harrison, a planter in Liguanea; Colonel Ballard; Mr. Barnes, a carpenter living at Guanaboa; Mr. Rowe, in Spanish Town ; one Captain Gough ; Colonel Crew, Captain Groves, Captain Powell, Mr. Rhadish, Mr. Lane, a child of Colonel Fuller, Mr, Anthony Gamble, a cook; Colonel Walker, Mr. Rayney, Colonel Needham, Mrs. Pain, Colonel Ryves, Mr. Halstead, Mrs. Cope, Mr. Molines, John Parker, a lusty fellow ; Roger Flower, a baker; Rev. Mr. Lenning, Mr. Wm. Kay, Dr. Rose, Stephen Legs, a wheelwright; Rob. Nichols, Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Duke, Geo. Thrieve, a bricklayer; Harris, a joiner, &c.
On his way from St. Ann's to Orange River, Sir Hans Sloane returned from the North side of the island, by a road on the ridge of hills called Archer's Ridge, near the Orange River, probably alluding to a place so called after a certain John Archer, who received various grants of land in the time of Charles II, and who, one is strongly disposed to believe, is the person mentioned by Sir John Archer, judge of the Common Pleas, in his unpublished Diary, as his son by his first wife.
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"There were two coats of arms lay by not set up ; a ducal one, and that of a Count, I suppose belonging to Columbus, his family proprietors of the Island." (D. of Varaguas.)
"Over the door " (of the old Spanish church at Sevilla) 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 stuck 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 " (in Roman capitals)
"' PETRUS. MARTIR. AB. ANGLERIA. ITALUS. CIVIS. MEDIOLANEN. PROTHON. APOS. HUIVS. INSULE. ABBAS. SENATUS. INDICI CONSILIARIUS. LIGNEAM. PRIUS. AEDEM. HANC. BIS. IGNE. CONSUMPTAM. LATERICIO. ET. QUADRATO. LAPIDE. PRIMUS. A. FUNDAMENTIS EXTRUXIT.'
"The words are entire except Mediolanensis, which I supplied because this Peter Martir, a famous man, wrote himself of Milan."
The other is the spurious epitaph, written by the historian, Edwards, and inscribed on a piece of ordnance set up as a monument near Martha Brae.* As it has been the source of much local error, it is here given--
" STRANGER! ERE THOU PASS, CONTEMPLATE THIS CANON! NOR REGARDLESS BE TOLD THAT NEAR ITS BASE LIES DEPOSITED THE DUST OF JOHN BRADSHAW WHO, NOBLY SUPERIOR TO ALL SELFISH REGARDS DESPISING ALIKE THE PAGEANTRY OF COURTLY SPLENDOUR THE BLAST OF CALUMNY OR THE TERROR OF ROYAL VENGEANCE PRESIDED IN THAT ILLUSTRIOUS BAND OF HEROIC PATRIOTS WHO FAIRLY AND OPENLY ADJUDGED CHARLES STUART TYRANT OF ENGLAND TO A PUBLIC AND EXEMPLARY DEATH THEREBY REPRESENTING TO THE AMAZED WORLD THE MOST GLORIOUS EXAMPLE OF UNSHAKEN VIRTUE AND LOVE OF FREEDOM AND IMPARTIAL JUSTICE EVER EXHIBITED ON THE BLOOD-STAINED THEATRE OF HUMAN ACTION S0, READER! PASS NOT, TILL THOU HAST BLESSED HIS MEMORY AND NEVER NEVER FORGET THAT REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD"
Many of the monumental inscriptions recorded in the following pages have ceased to exist, even since the compiler noted them nine years ago. Others, such as slabs, which once occupied an honourable place, within the walls of the church, have from time to time been cast forth into the churchyard, and could no longer be recognized. In my task of restoration, I have been assisted by the "Spanish Town Church Notes, &c.," of the late Mr. Roby, whose work, however, I was not aware of when first I made my collection. To it, also, many of the purely local annotations are due.
In the parish of St. Andrew's are some of the oldest cemeteries in Jamaica; but it so happens, that not always the oldest consecrated ground, contains the oldest existing
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*Trelawney, Jamaica.
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mortuary remains. So rapidly does nature in that warm climate, and rich soil, mask the evidence of mortality, that even now tombs not dating a hundred years back, are comparatively rare, concealed as they are in many instances under the turf, as at Half-Way-Tree,* or enveloped in an impenetrable network of interlacing and often prickly plants.
Again, although Kingston only rose on the fall of Port Royal, yet so effectually have the sands of the Palisades swept over the tombs on that long and mournful, though beautiful, spit of land which enclosed the harbour, that while the former is comparatively rich in these remains, few are to be met with at the latter, and these few have for the most part been despoiled of their tablets for the sake of the value of the marble.
The compiler trusts that his labours as a pioneer in a comparatively new field may be taken up by some one with better opportunities, who, from this starting-point, might undertake to show the connection between these remote abodes, and the parent homes in England -and, entering into the domestic life of those early emigrants, unfold their schemes, trace their steps to local power and affluence, and, gradually commencing with individuals, proceed to communities, and then, overtaking those writers who have already ably written the political history of the West Indies, move onwards with them, in showing the course of declining and reviving prosperity in the present century.**
Retracing his steps homewards, such an author would find in the records of the State Paper Office, Diocesan Registries, and archives of the great Guilds of London, &c, many of those lost links which are still wanting in several instances to connect the colonial families, with those of the political exiles of the most troublous period of our modern national history.
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* It is said that the foundations of an old Spanish chapel still exist in Half-Way-Tree Churchyard, and that underneath the present turf there are many Spanish monumental slabs.
**See "Private Diary of Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, K. G." (London, 1862), under Feb. 28, 1828.
Date. Events and Governors
1494.... Jamaica discovered by Columbus.
................Columbus on his discovery of Jamaica in 1494, May 1 landed at the present OraCabessa.
.................In June, 1503, during his fourth voyage, was shipwrecked on the spot now known as St. Ann's Bay.
1504......Governed by Indian Chiefs.
1509........Spanish Colony commenced.
...............Governors: D'Ojeda and Nicuessa.
1526........Towns of Sevilla d'Ora, Melilla, and Oristan built. ,
............... Indians nearly exterminated. 700,000, in 13 years, perished.
................Governors: Don Juan de Esquimel and others.
1538........St. Jago de la Vega (or Spanish Town) built; gave the title of Marquis to the heir of Diego Columbus.
1605........Island plundered by Sir A. Shirley.
1645........Island plundered by Col. Jackson.
................Governors: Don Pedro de Esquimel, and others.
1655........The Flibustiers and Bucaneers. Oristan destroyed, and Sevilla d'Ora and Melilla abandoned.
................Governor: Don Sasi.
1655........Penn and Venables conquer it; when it became a British colony.
................Governors: Serle and Winslow, and Butler.
1656........Council of State in England ordered 1000 young men and 1000 girls to be sent from Ireland to people the island.
................Governors: Sedgwicke and D'Oyley.
25 June 1656, Commander-in-Chief Sedgwicke died, and the command devolved on Colonel D'Oyley,
............... who executed Major Throgmorton for mutiny.
Dec., 1656. Spaniards flee to Cuba, leaving their slaves, who regained freedom, and became the Maroons.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. [PAGE 11]
Date. Events and Governors.
Dec., 1656.......General Stokes with 1600 men from Nevis, arrived and settled near Port Morant.
Sept., 1657......Settlers arrive from Nevis and Barbados.
......................Governor: Lt.General Brayne.
Aug., 1660......Conspiracy of the Parliament men defeated; D'Oyley at the head of the Royalists.
1661................Island divided into 12 parishes: St. David, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. John, St. Thomas, St. George, St. Mary, St. Anne, St. James, St. Elizabeth, Port Royal, and Clarendon.
1662........................200 Settlers arrived from the Windward Islands and elsewhere.
Aug., 1662...........Spaniards return under Don Sasi, are defeated by D'Oyley; Rise of Port Royal, Rendezvous of Bucaneers; Revolt of the planters, and execution of 2 officers, Raymond and Tyson.
.........................Governor: D'Oyley
Aug. 11, 1662. Thomas Windsor Hickman. Lord Windsor, afterwards Earl of Plymouth, arrived as Governor.
Aug. 11, 1662. Several extensive grants of land. The whole of Liguanea (Kingston) divided between Col. Archbould, Major Hope, and Sir W. Beeston.
.........................Governor: Lord Windsor
Oct., 1662........ Expedition to Cuba.
1663.................First General Assembly: viz., Robt. Freeman, Edw. Waldron, Richd. Lloyd, Edw. Mullens, Jno. Colbeck, Humph. Freeman, Lewis Ashton, W. Beeston, Samuel Long, Robert Byndloss, Anth. Collier, William Clee, Thomas Freeman, Richard Bryan, William Ivy, Southwell Adkins, and Abraham Rutter.
.........................Governor: Sir Charles Lyttleton.
1664.................Speaker of Assembly: Rob. Freeman.
1671.................First Members of Council: Maj.-Gen. Jas. Bannister, Col. Sir James Modyford, John Cope, Thomas Freeman, Thomas Ballard, William Ivy, Robert Byndloss, Charles Whitfield, Thomas Fuller, Anth. Collier, and Capt. Helder Molesworth.
12 JAMAICA.
Date. Events and Governors.
1675...............Privateering suppressed. Census taken: 7768 Whites, 9504 Negroes.
......................Governors: Col. Lynch; Sir Hen. Morgan.
July, 1678......Forts Carlisle and Charles burnt.
......................Governor: Lord Vaughan.
......................Rupture in Assembly.
......................Governor: Lord Carlisle.
1684..............Privateering recommenced. Sir H. Morgan died in a Spanish prison.
......................Governors: Sir Thomas Lynch.
Apl., 1688.....First great Insurrection among the slaves.
......................Governor: Sir H. Molesworth.
Oct., 1688.....Attempt to revive Roman Catholicism.
.....................Governor: Duke of Albemarle.
Jan., 1691.....Another Insurrection; Attack of French on North Coast.
....................Governor: Sir F. Watson.
June 7, 1692. Port Royal destroyed by Earthquake. 3000 perished .
....................Governor: Earl of Inchiquin. President of Council, John White.
....................President White died of injuries thereat, and was succeeded by John Bourden.
March, 169. Island in distress from late Earthquake.
...................Governor: John Bourden.
July, 1694....French Invasion. Commencement of Maroon war under Cudjoe, which lasted 37 years.
....................Governor: Sir Wm. Beeston.
1700............Usher Tyrrell, who had been expelled the Assembly by Governor Beeston, re elected for St. James.
1702............Brig.-Gen. Selwyn, Colonel of 22nd Foot, and Governor, died.
....................Adm. Benbow encountered and defeated M. Du Casse; mortally wounded; buried in Kingston church.
Jan. 9, 1703. Rise of Kingston. Col. Thos. Handasyd, 22nd Foot, appointed Lt-Governor.
....................Governor: Major-Gen. Selwyn. Col. Beckford. Earl of Peterborough.
Feb., 1703. ..Port Royal again destroyed by Fire.
1711............Great dissensions. Governor: Genl. Handasyd.
1711............Admiral Lord Archbd. Hamilton, son of William Douglas, 3d Duke of H., and Anne, Duchess in her own right, arrived as Governor.
1716...........Great dissensions.
Aug. 1718...Insurrections; Hordes of Pirates.
...................Governor: Peter Heywood
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 13
Date. Events and Governors.
1721............The parish of St. Anne suffered severely from fire.
Aug. 22, 1722. Hurricane. Governor: Sir Nich. Lawes.
1724............Attorney-General Monk expelled the Assembly for "infringing the liberties of the people."
1734............ Coffee introduced from St. Domingo, by Sir N. Lawes.
....................Governor: Gen. Hunter.
1738............White soldiers defeated by Rebel Negroes, 150 killed. .
....................Governors: John Ayscough. John Gregory, H. Cunningham.
1738............Governor Edwd. Trelawney (was afterwards Colonel of 40th Foot.)
................... Col. Grant of Jamaica, killed at the storming of Fort de St. Lazan, Carthagina.
1739............Maroon war terminated by negotiations.
1744............Hurricane and Earthquake, Oct. 20.
................... Guinea grass introduced by Ellis.
1756........... Henry Moore, Governor, and afterwards a Baronet.
1758............108 families of Immigrants arrive, most of whom soon die.
....................Governor: Admiral Knowles. Lt.-Governor Moore
1759-1762...Rebellion; loss of 90 whites and 400 negroes
...................King's House, S. T., completed.
...................Governors: Haldane. Moore.
1762...........Thos. Raffles introduced that pest, the formica omnivora.
1764...........Thos. Wilson, a Marshal's deputy, levied on the carriage of John Oliphant, Esq., a Member of Assembly; it was resisted.
1766...........Vast treasures brought from Havana, which had been plundered by the British.
...................Magazine of Fort Augusta struck by lightning; 300 persons killed.
1767...........Sir Wm. Trelawney, Captain in Royal Navy, Governor; Col. John Dalling, afterwards Baronet, Lt.-Governor. Sir Basil Keith, Capt. R. N.
....................Governor: William Lyttleton
1768............ Census: Whites, 7,000. Blacks, 167,000.
...................Lt.-.Governor: Elletson.
1772........................Negro Conspiracy discovered. Governor: Sir Wm. Trelawney.
14 JAMAICA.
Date. Events and Governors.
to 1777.Peaceful and prosperous. Hutchinson's terrible murders.
.....................Conspiracy of negroes in Hanover and Westmoreland discovered, and 30 executed.
.....................Governor: Sir Basil Keith.
....................Lt.-Gov. Dalling.
1780-1......... Savanna La Mar destroyed by fire; Earthquakes and hurricanes nearly ruin the island.
.....................Lt.Gov. Dalling.
............The notorious Three-Fingered Jack lived
....................Lord Rodney's victory over the French.
....................Governor: Maj.-Gen. Campbell.
1784.............Dreadful earthquake and hurricane, July 10.
............Governor: Genl. Clarke.
............Governor: Earl of Effingharn.
1795.............Breadfruit, Mango, China orange, Cocoanuts, Plums, &c., brought from East Indies.
....................Governor: Maj.Gen. Williamson
...........Montego Bay burnt.
1801............Second Maroon war terminated by bloodhounds. Slave insurrection.
...................Governor: Earl of Balcarres.
1806........... Slave trade abolished by Great Britain. Kingston made a city.
...................Governor: Lt.Gov. Nugent
Mar., 1808. Conspiracy amongst Coromantee negroes ; their chief executed.
...................Governor: Sir Eyre Coote.
....................Mutiny in West India Regiments, March 27, at Fort Augusta, 15 killed.
..................Conspiracy amongst negroes.
..................Governor:
1812...........Hurricane, Oct. 12, followed in a few hours by Earthquake.
1808-1815. Governor: Duke of Manchester. Gen. Morison. Maj.-Gen. Conran, acting for Duke of Manchester
..........Port Royal destroyed by fire, July 13.
1815.................Hurricane, Oct. 1819.
..........................Conspiracy in Portland, St. George's, and St. Mary's.
1829...........Colony declines. Governor: Sir John Keane.
1831.......... Rebellion in Cornwall. Slaves executed. Caused by Missionaries.
...................Governor: Earl of Belmore.
1831..............Sir W. Anglin Scarlett, Kt., Ch. just., died Oct. 6, at Cedar Grove, Manchester.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 15
Date. Events and Governors.
.........................Hon. G. Cuthbert, provisional governor.
1833-4. ......Abolition of SlaveryApprenticeship.
...................Governor: Earl of Mulgrave.
Aug., 1836. Compensation for slaves, £20,000,000.
...................Governor: Lord Sligo.
Sept., 1839. Complete Emancipation.
...................Governor: Sir Lionel Smith.
to May, 1842 Governor: Sir C. Metcalfe.
Nov., 1845. Coolies introduced. Governor: Earl of Elgin.
1846.......... Coolie Immigration. Governor: Gen. Berkeley.
1850...........Ravages of the Cholera. Governor: Sir C. Grey.
1852...........Epidemic of the Yellow Fever.
...................The Hon. R. Hill, a patron of local literature, and himself an author.
...................Governors: Sir H. Barkly. C. H. Darling.
1859...........Soulouque, ex-Emperor of Hayti, seeks an asylum in Jamaica; Riots.
...................Governor: E. J. Eyre.
1864...........A 5th W. I. Regiment raised; Its disorganisation and ultimate disbandment.*
Oct. 11, 1865. Insurrection at Morant Bay; Gallantry of the Volunteers, Captain Hitchins, and the brothers William, Norman, and Richard Harrison, &c. Murder of the Baron von Kettleholdt, &c. Maj.-Genl. O'Connor, Commanding the Forces. Captain De Horsey, R.N.
Oct. 17. 1865. Bogle's rebellious proclamation.
Oct. 23, 1865. G. W. Gordon, an instigator of the Insurrection, executed under unsatisfactory circumstances.
Nov. 1, 1865. The Insurrection " stamped out."**
_________________________________
*The particulars of these transactions, alike discreditable to the Government and its agents, have not yet been published, although references to them will be found in the " Examiner," Aug. 2, 1873 ; the " Broad Arrow," 28 Dec., 1871, Jan. 7 and 27, 1872, April 19, 1873, &C. ; the " New Monthly Magazine," Oct., 1873, &c. It is a singular fact that the public has never required the production of the balancesheet of this corps, on its final extinction, as such a document would throw a valuable light on a system by which the public funds are not the less squandered, because the accounts are formally balanced.
** See an article on the subject, by the author, in " Fraser's Magazine," Feb., 1866, &c.
16 JAMAICA.
Date. Events and Governors.
Nov. 1, 1865. A Commission appointed to inquire into its causes and results.
......................Governor: Sir H. Storks (ad interim.)
Jan., 1866.....The Legislative Assembly abolished by its own act.
1866..............Governor: Sir J. P. Grant.
1869-1870. Disendowment of the Established Church; A new system of judicature introduced. Supreme authority practically vested in the Governor, assisted by a Privy Council of six, and a Legislative Council of twelve.
1870.......................[Revenue, £434,564. Expenditure, 430,154. Public Debt, 619,353.]
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 17
1655 to 1658 Searle, Winslow , Butler, Sedgwick and D'Oyley, Brayne. Administered the Government.
Governors./ Lieut. Governors and Presidents.
Colonel D'Oyley 1660 /Sir C. Lyttleton, Kt. 1662
Lord Windsor 1662 (p) /Colonel T. Lynch 1664
Sir T. Modyford 1664 /Sir T. Lynch, Kt. 1671
Lord Vaughan 1675 /Sir H. Morgan, Kt. 1675
Earl of Carlisle 1678 /Sir H. Morgan, Kt 1678
Sir Thos. Lynch 1682 /Sir H. Morgan, Kt. 1680
Duke of Albernarle 1687 /Colonel H. Molesworth 1684
Earl of Inchiquin 1690 /(p) Sir F. Watson 1688
William Selwyn, Esq . 1702 /(p) John White, Esq 1690
Lord A. Hamilton 1711 /(P) John Bourden 1692
Peter Heywood, Esq . 1716 /Sir W. Beeston, Kt . 1693
Sir N. Lawes, Knt . 1718 /P. Beckford, Esq . 1702
Duke of Portland 1722 /T. Handaysd, Esq . 1702
MajorGenl. Hunter* 1728 /(p) John Ayscough, Esq . 1722
Edwd. Trelawney, Esq 1738 /(p) John Gregory, Esq 1735
Charles Knowles, Esq . 1752 /Henry Moore, Esq . 1756
Geo. Haldane, Esq . 1758 /Henry Moore, Esq 1759
W. H. Littleton, Esq . 1762 /R. H. Elletson, Esq . 1766
Sir W. Trelawney 1767 /Lt.-Col. Dalling 1771
Sir Basil Keith 1773 /Br-Genl. Alured Clarke 1784
Major-Genl. Dalling 1777 /Maj.-Genl. A. Williamson 1791
Major-Genl. A. Campbell 1782 /Earl of Belcarres 1795
Earl of Effingham 1790 /Lt.-Genl. Nugent 1801
Duke of Manchester 1808 /Sir Eyre Coote 1806
Duke of Manchester 1813 /Lt.-Genl. Morrison 1811
Duke of Manchester 1822 /Maj.-Genl. Couran 1821
Earl of Belmore 1829 /Sir John Keane 1827
Earl of Mulgrave 1832
_______________________________
Henry Cunningham appointed governor in 1735, but not regularly inducted.
JAMAICA. 18
Governors. /LieutGovernors and Presidents.
Marquis of Sligo 1834 /(P) George Cuthbert 1830
Lt.Gen. Sir Lionel Smith 1836 . . /George Cuthbert 1834
Sir C. T. Metcalfe, Bart . 1839 /Sir A. Norcott 1834
Earl of Elgin and Kincardine 1842 /Sir W. M. Gomm 1839
Sir C. E. Grey, Kt. 1846 /Maj.-Genl. Berkeley 1846
Sir H. Barkly, Kt 1853 /Maj.- Genl. Bell 1856
C. H. Darling 1857 /Edwd. J. Eyre 1862
E. J. Eyre 1864
Sir H. Storks 1866
Sir J. P. Grant 1868 to 1873
____________________________
SPEAKERS OF "THE ASSEMBLY."
DATES OF ELECTION.
Robert Freeman 1664
Sir Thomas Whitestones 1664
Samuel Long 1671
Thomas Colbeck 1671
William Beeston 1677
Samuel Bernard 1680
George Nedham 1686
R. Elletson 1688
T. Sutton 1691
A. Langley 1693
James Bradshaw 1694
Thomas Sutton 1698
Andrew Langley 1701
Francis Rose 1702
A. Langley 1703
Edward Stanton .1704
M. Gregory 1705
Hugh Totterdell 1706
Peter Beckford 1709
William Brodrick 1711
Peter Beckford1713
Hugh Totterdell 1714
John Blair 1715
Peter Beckford 1716
William Nedham 1718
Edmund Kelly 1719
George Modd 1721
Fr. Melling 1727
Thomas Beckford 1727
John Stewart 1731
Wm. Nedham 1733
Chas. Price 1746
Edwd. Manning 1755
Charles Price 1756
C. Price, junr. 1765
W. Nedham 1766
Edward Long 1768
Nicholas Bourke 1770
Charles Price 1770
Phillip Pinnock 1775
S. M. Houghton 1781
William Blake 1793
THE ASSEMBLY. 19
D. Campbell 1797
Keane Osborne 1799
Ph. Redwood 1802
James Lewis 1809
D. Finlayson 1821
Richard Barrett 1830
R. Allwood 1832
Edwd. Panton 1839
S. J. Dallas 1842
C. M. Morales 1849
Robert Freeman, Edward Waldron, Richard Lloyd, Edward Mullins, John Colbeck, Humphrey Freeman, Lewis Ashton, William Beesten [Beeston?], Samuel Long, Robert Byndloss, Anthony Collyer, Wm. Clee, Thomas Freeman, Richard Bryan, William Ivy, Southwell Adkins, Abraham Rutter.* Speaker- Robt. Freeman.
1671. FIRST PRIVY COUNCIL:
Major-General James Bannister, Colonel Sir James Modyford, John Cope, Thomas Freeman, Thomas Ballard, William Ivy, Robert Byndloss, Charles Whitfield, Thomas Fuller, Anthony Collier, Captain Sir Helder Molesworth.
PARISHES, 22.
2 Bishops of Jamaica, and Kingston (1 Coadjutor) ; 2 Archdeacons ; 2 Commissaries ; 6 Chaplains to the Bishop ; 1 Secretary, 1 Registrar and 1 Assistant ; 1 Clerk; 1 Apparitor; 22 Rectors of Parishes ; 70 " Island ".and other Curates and Chaplains.
Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Moravians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, American Mission, Independents, Wesleyan Association, United Methodist Free Church, English and German Synagogue, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Spanish Town Synagogue, Montego Bay Synagogue.**
_________________________________________
* There was but one representative for the whole of the north side of the island, viz., Abraham Rutter, Gent. In the next Assembly Mr. Samuel Jenks was added.
** The island is 150 miles long by 50 at the broadest part, and had a population, according to the census of 1861, of Whites, 13,816; Blacks, 346,374; Coloured, 81,074. Total, 441,264, showing an average of 31,519 to each denomination,
20
Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief.
Lieut.-Governor.
Secretary, 1 Private Secretary, and A. D. C.
Privy Council: 1 President and 15 Members (styled " Honorable")
Executive Committee3 Members (styled Honbles.), and 1 Secretary and Clerks.
Legislative Council 1 President and 16 Members (styled Honbles.), Secretary, &C.
Honble. House of Assembly- Speaker and 42 Members ; Clerk, Sergt.at Arms, Chaplain, Clerks, &c.
Public Offices 1 Governor's ; 2. Island Secretary's; 3. Receiver-General's, Board of Audit, &c., &c.
______________
Court of Chancery Court of Ordinary Court of Vice Admiralty Vice Admiralty Session Court of Judicature the Circuit Courts and Courts of Petty Sessions.
Commander of the Forces. 1 Military Secretary ; 1A. D. C. ; 1 Assist. Adjutant-General; 1 Assist. Quartermaster General ; Fort Adjutant; Engineers ; Artillery , 1 Regiment of the Line; 1 West India Regiment; Militia ; Volunteers; Clerks.
____________________________
*As constituted prior to 1866 (see Chronological Table).This note refers also to the Church Establishment.
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