Jamaica-The People Who Shaped Our History

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=134 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="0c3085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Jamaica  ~ Noamie's Negril.Com </B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jamaica Noamies Negril.Com "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jamaica Noamies Negril.Com "><U><B>Jamaica  ~ Noamie's Negril.Com </B></U></A></div> <div> <B>West Cliffe  - My Biography  - The Road That Got Us Here</B></div> <div> <B> Noamie's - Jamaican Tea Room...An Innovative Walk into Traveling & Reality </B></div> <div> <I><B>Negril: The Place I'll Rather Be</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF66FF" FACE="Arial Narrow" ><I><B>...</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF66FF" FACE="Desdemona" ><B>Jamaica ~ Negril </B></FONT></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="0c4d2e83.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF99FF" FACE="Eurostile" >Jamaica- Our Hero called-</FONT> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jamaica Our Hero Nanny"><U>Nanny</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JAMAICA"><U>Jamaica:</U></A> Beautiful Jamaica Filled With Cultures of People</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Paracme's <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paracme"><U>Memories</U></A></div> <div> Stories of Old Negril: <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stories of Old Negril"><U>The Maverick</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 1 A Star is Born ... The Road T"><U>West Cliffe- My Story </U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=346 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>The People Who Came ....</B><B>. </B><B>The English</B> </div> <div> <B>- Sir William Alexander Bustamante </B></div> <div> <B>- Our National Fruit</B> </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="2fe58010.gif" border=0 width="600" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Out Of Many Cultures: One </B><B>People </B><B>The Arrival Of The Irish </B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="26c42b20.png" border=0 width="322" height="178" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Sir William Alexander Bustamante </div> <bR> <div> William Alexander Clarke was born in Blenheim, Hanover, in 1884 to an Irish planter, Robert Constantine Clarke and his coloured Jamaican wife, Mary Clarke. At the age of fifteen he was adopted by a Spanish seaman and spent several years abroad in Cuba, Panama and the USA. Having changed his name by deed poll, he became William Alexander Bustamante.</div> <bR> <div> On his return to Jamaica in the mid-1930s, Bustamante set up a loan company. During this period, recognizing the plight of the working class, Bustamante began writing letters to the media both locally and in the UK, expressing dissatisfaction at local working conditions. Frustrated by the level of representation accorded to workers, he founded and led the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union in 1938.</div> <bR> <div> During a period of unrest in the 1930s Bustamante worked closely with his cousin, Norman Manley, St William Grant, Noel Nethersole and others, to change the social and political status quo. He was a member of the People's National Party (PNP) founded in September 1938 by Manley. In 1943 disputes between himself and Manley led Bustamante to form the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Both parties contested Jamaica's first general election under universal adult suffrage in December 1944. The JLP won, a victory they repeated in 1949, but not in the 1955 elections. In 1955, the Queen honoured Bustamante, then leader of the Opposition, with a knighthood.</div> <bR> <div> Sir Alexander Bustamante was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that drafted the Jamaican Constitution. His signature appears on the independence agreement concluded in London. When in April 1962 the JLP won the elections, Bustamante was appointed Premier. On August 6, 1962, he became the first Prime Minister of an independent Jamaica. But just two years after taking office, Bustamante became gravely ill and retired from active politics in 1967. He died on August 6, 1977 at the age of 93. </div> <bR> <div> Sir Alexander Bustamante has been designated a National Hero. A monument erected in his honour stands at National Heroes Park. His statue also stands at South Parade and his image appears on the Jamaican one-dollar coin. A port in the Newport East area of Kingston, a highway in the parish of Clarendon and the Kingston’s children's hospital, which Sir Alexander converted from an old army hospital, are also dedicated to his memory. Even a hard, local confectionery made from coconut and molasses bears his name, in testimony, it seems, to the great man’s legendary toughness and spirit. Sir Alexander is survived by his widow, Lady Bustamante. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Out Of Many Cultures: </div> <div> The People Who Came</div> <div> <B>THE ENGLISH</B> </div> <div> On the morning of May 10, 1655, two Spanish fishermen likely out searching for turtles off of Port Morant, looked up to see a most surprising sight  a fleet of 38 ships with large cannons moving towards them (Sherlock and Bennett, 1998, p.77). The British had arrived, led by Admiral Penn and General Venables, who were seeking to win favour with English Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. Turtles forgotten, the fishermen spread the word and messengers set off for the capital Villa de la Vega (present-day Spanish Town) to warn the settlers. Close to 9,000 men were said to have disembarked from those 38 ships  some 3,000 more than the actual population of the island at the time. Villa de la Vega fell within days. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="26d9e1f0.jpg" border=0 width="158" height="287" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="162" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="158"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="158" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 23 ><NOBR><div> <B>Oliver Cromwell</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Those events marked the beginning of over 300 years of English (not British) control of Jamaica. British control began some 50 years later in 1707, when England and Scotland were formally united with one Parliament, known as the nation of Britain. With the English came a new language, a new political system, a new economic base, new recreational, musical and artistic pursuits, as well as new culinary influences and four other cultural groups  the Irish, Scots, Welsh and Africans. In the early days of slavery, the Irish (many of whom were political prisoners of the English under Cromwell) were not much better off than the African slaves. The Scots, many of the earliest of whom were also political prisoners of the English under Cromwell, were accountants/bookkeepers, while the Welsh were mainly sailors and artisans, and the Africans, slaves. </div> <bR> <div> The English were long seen as the dominant player in the political partnership between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, loosely begun under James I and increasingly solidified during the 17th century. Not surprisingly, they firmly established themselves as Jamaica's colonial power with the creation of a civil government in 1663. English settlers were recruited from England and from neighbouring islands such as Surinam, Barbados, and Nevis  many died from disease. They tended to be small farmers, men given plots of land by Cromwell and later by his successor, Charles II. They were promised the rights and privileges of free-born citizens of England. Eventually, these small landholders gave way to plantation owners with the consolidation into large landholdings  better suited to the advent of massive sugar cultivation ushered in during the late 18th century. The English have the dubious honour of presiding over both the large scale growth of the slave trade in the 18th century as well as its abolition in 1804. </div> <bR> <div> By1775, 30 per cent of the island's landholdings were held by absentee English owners  persons who resided in England and managed their plantations through Jamaican-based (often Irish and/or Scottish) overseers. At the time of emancipation in the 1830s, that number had risen to 80 per cent (Sherlock and Bennett, 1998, p. 159). Yet, despite their lack of presence in numbers, the English influence, (which formally ended with Jamaican independence in 1962) their legacy, is strong. </div> <bR> <div> Reminders of English colonisation are everywhere in Jamaica. They encompass all aspects of our daily lives, from the side of the road we drive on and the language we speak, to our government and judicial systems, the structure of our civil service, military, police and education systems, religious institutions (protestant churches), numerous place names i.e., Kingston and Queen Street  and even some of our traditional food and drink Easter bun, Christmas pudding and coffee, to name a few. Up until the 20th century, our literature, art, music and development of sport (cricket and football) were greatly influenced by the English, and the Jamaican versions that exist today, like our language, are considered to have evolved out of resistance to our colonization (Senior, 2003, pp.72-75). </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="26eb7fe0.jpg" border=0 width="183" height="254" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="231" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="227"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="227" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 23 ><NOBR><div> <B>Captain Henry Morgan</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>THE WELSH</B> </div> <div> Once in a while when driving through the parishes of St.Ann and Trelawny you come across low stone walls, where the stones look as if they fit almost seamlessly together  testament to Welsh artisanry. Other examples of Welsh craftsmanship include many of the slate roofs that covered Jamaican 18th & 19th century sugar works. (The slates used in schools were also most likely Welsh). There are Welsh placenames  Bangor Ridge (Portland), Cardiff Hall (St. Ann), Llandilo (Westmoreland), Llandovery (St. Ann), Pencarne (in St. Mary) once owned by the famous and infamous Welsh pirate/privateer-turned-Governor, Capt. Henry Morgan). Then there are the places named after him  Morgan's Bridge, Morgan's Pass, and Morgan's Valley in Clarendon. </div> <bR> <div> Also in the 17th century, Jamaica had a parish named St. David (part of present-day St. Thomas)  perhaps after the patron saint of Wales, whose day is celebrated with daffodils and leeks every March 1 in Wales. Jamaican surnames of Welsh background include: Bryan, Davis, Davies, Jones, Meredith, Morgan, Owens, Rhys/Reece, Williams and Vaughan. At one point in the 1950s some suburban house names in Kingston included Abergavenny, Pontypridd and Llandudno  all names of Welsh towns. </div> <div> The Welsh influence is also felt annually in Jamaica's National Festival Movement, likely patterned after the Eisteddfod, the Welsh annual summertime celebration of arts, culture and music (Senior, 2003, p.511).</div> <div> <IMG SRC="26f880b0.jpg" border=0 width="136" height="267" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="147" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="143"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="143" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 44 WIDTH="143"><div> <B>Col. John Campbell</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>THE SCOTTISH </B></div> <div> The Scots arrived in two main waves  the first in 1655 when as prisoners of war they were sold as bond (indentured) servants to the English, and in 1745-46 after the failure of the Jacobite Rebellion. (Jacobites were supporters of James II's claim to the English throne). Others came in between  those seeking religious freedom, those from lower-socio-economic levels such as gypsies, criminals and idlers, who were rounded up and shipped off, as well as doctors and lawyers and others from the middle class who were simply in search of a quick fortune. </div> <bR> <div> One of the most significant Scottish settlements occurred in1700 in St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, a year after the failure of an expedition to Darien, Panama. Colonel John Campbell, the first in a long line of Campbells (said to be one of Jamaica's most popular surnames) was a captain at Darien before settling in Jamaica, marrying well and becoming one of the island's gentry. By 1750 the Scots accounted for one-third of Jamaica's white population. Place names such as Culloden (the site of a famous Jacobite battle), Craigie and Aberdeen, reflect strong Scottish ties. </div> <bR> <div> Scots, like the Germans and the Irish, were also encouraged to come to Jamaica in the 19th century following emancipation when the government attempted to establish rural villages/European townships and grow the white population. The Scots in particular were thought to be well-suited to life in the mountainous regions of Portland, but after a few years, many died as a result of illness. Those who survived melded in with Maroon life in Moore Town and Mill Bank. </div> <bR> <div> Perhaps the most famous or infamous Scottish immigrant is Lewis Hutchison, better known as the Mad Master of Edinburgh Castle. Born in Scotland in 1733 where he is believed to have studied medicine for a while, he came to Jamaica in the 1760s to run an estate which was crowned by a house known as Edinburgh Castle. Not too long after Hutchison's arrival, cases of travellers disappearing without a trace began to mount in number and suspicions ran rampant but no one could ever have suspected the level of torture they experienced. Travellers would occasionally stop to rest at Edinburgh Castle, the only inhabited spot for miles on the way from St. Ann's Bay south, not knowing that they would become the target of Hutchison's unerring aim. Hutchison killed for sport, not money, as travellers of all shapes, sizes and income levels were equal game. Eventually apprehended, Hutchison insolently entered a plea of not guilty and was defended by one of the island's most esteemed lawyers. He was tried, found guilty and condemned to death by hanging in Spanish Town Square. The records of his trial stand in the National Archives. </div> <bR> <div> Other, more positive, forms of Scottish influence can be found in Jamaican dance  the scotch reel  in Kingston's Scots Kirk Church, as well as in our language  as Scottish dialects mingled with English, African languages, German, Irish and Welsh among other influences, to produce Jamaican English (Senior, 2003, pp. 434-5). </div> <div> <I><B>SOURCES:</B></I><I> Senior, O.(2003). The Encyclopedia of the Jamaican Heritage. Kingston  Twin Guinep Publishers, Sherlock, P.and Bennett, H. (1998). The Story of the Jamaican people. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.</I> </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Out Of Many Cultures: One People </div> <div> The Arrival Of The <B>Irish</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="270f95b0.png" border=0 width="249" height="347" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="250" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="246"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="246" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 44 WIDTH="246"><div> NATIONAL HERO, ALEXANDER BUSTAMANTE </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Sir Alexander Bustamante, National Hero and first Prime Minister of Jamaica, used to boast that he was 50 per cent Irish, 50 per cent Jamaican and 10 per cent Arawak. Well known for hishumorous nature, charm and charisma, 'Busta' as he is affectionately known, was clearly touched by Ireland's blarney stone  he had the gift of gab, so to speak. </div> <bR> <div> Busta is not the only prominent Jamaican to claim Irish heritage. There's poet Claude McKay, Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, one of Jamaica's foremost historians and former UWI Vice Chancellor, Sir Philip Sherlock, writer John Hearne, and successful horse trainer, Phillip Feanny, whose mother is from County Cork, Ireland. In addition, surnames such as Burke, Collins, Mackey, Murphy and Madden, to name just a few, are common enough. Irish influence is also found in the names of places. There's St. Andrew's Irish Town, St. Mary's Kildare and Clonmel and St. Thomas' Belfast and Middleton among others. </div> <bR> <div> <B>ARRIVAL  1600S</B> </div> <div> The Irish arrived in Jamaica over 350 years ago in the mid-1600s at the time of British Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell's capture of Jamaica. When British Admirals Penn and Venables failed in their expedition to take Santo Domingo from the Spanish, they turned their attention to Jamaica, not wanting to return to Cromwell empty-handed. With reinforcements from British-held Barbados (many of whom were Irish) they made quick work of dispatching the weak Spanish defence and soon realized that they needed workers to support their new prize. They looked eastward to islands already under British control, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Montserrat, and imported young, mainly male, bonded servants, many of whom were Irish. </div> <div> In 1641 Ireland's population stood close to 1.5 million. Following a 1648 battle in Ireland known as the "Siege of Drogheda" in which Irish rebels were brutally subdued, Oliver's son, Henry, was named Major General in command of English forces in Ireland. Under his jurisdiction, thousands of Irish men and women were shipped to the West Indies to provide a source of indentured labour. Between 1648 and 1655, over 12,000 political prisoners alone were sent to Barbados. This was the first set to come involuntarily as prior to that the Irish had willingly chosen to subject themselves to terms of indenture for the chance to start a new life in the New World upon completion of their contracts. </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="254" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 193 WIDTH="250"><div> <IMG SRC="27181b90.png" border=0 width="129" height="185" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 44 WIDTH="250"><div> <B>POET LAUREATE, CLAUDE MCKAY</B> </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> By 1652, Ireland's population had dwindled to a little over half a million  famine, rebellion and forced deportation, all factors.Throughout the early years of the 1650s there was a push to send young men and women to the colonies in what the English believed was a "measure beneficial to the people removed, who might thus be made English and Christians; and a great benefit to the West India sugar planters, who desired the men and boys for their bondsmen, and the women and Irish girls in a country where they had only Maroon women and Negresses to solace them" (Williams, 1932, pp. 10-11). The 13-year war from 1641-1654 had left behind large numbers of widows and deserted wives. In addition, many Irish men, their properties confiscated by Cromwell had no means of making a living. By 1655 some 6,400 Irish had been shipped off when in March all orders to capture "all wanderers, men and women and other such Irish in their possession" were revoked (Williams, pp. 12-13). </div> <bR> <div> <B>FIRST STOP</B> </div> <div> The first stop for many of the Irish, Catholic and non-Catholic, was Barbados where they worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a two-hour lunch break, under the command of an overseer. Shirt and drawers were their only clothes and their homes, cabins made of sticks and plantain leaves (Williams, 1932, p. 42). </div> <div> Following the 1655 British conquest of Jamaica, Irish labourers were largely sent from Barbados as well as Ireland to get the island up and running under British control. Within a decade, when many Irish had served their terms or indenture, their names begin to appear among the lists of Jamaican planters and settlers (Williams, p. 53). </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="205" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 233 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="272a0e10.png" border=0 width="160" height="225" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 88 WIDTH="201"><div> <I><B>Book written by Joseph J. Williams in 1932, exploring the origin of the Irish in Jamaica. </B></I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>LAST SHIPMENTS  1800S</B> </div> <div> It is estimated that somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000 Irish were shipped from Ireland. One of the last shipments was made in 1841 from Limerick aboard the <I>Robert Kerr</I>. <B>The Gleaner </B>noted of these arrivals: "They landed in Kingston wearing their best clothes and temperance medals," meaning they did not drink alcohol (as quoted in Mullally, 2003, part 2, pg. 1). <B>The Gleaner </B>also noted of another set of arrivals in 1842: "The Irish are repeatedly intoxicated, drink excessively, are seen emerging from grog shops very dissolute and abandoned and are of very intemperate habits" (as quoted in Mullally, 2003, part 3, p. 2). So the Irish gained a reputation for being something of a mixed blessing  saints and sinners. </div> <bR> <div> However, other European immigrants did not seem to fare as well as the Irish in the tropical climate. In the mid-1830s, for example, when the government was particularly concerned about replacement labour for the newly-freed slaves on the sugar and coffee plantations, the over 1,000 Germans and close to 200 Portugese from Madeira, the Azores and Portugal notched a high mortality rate. The idea was to eventually create townships for the European immigrants in the island's highlands where the temperature was cooler and they would work as small farmers, labourers and artisans on coffee estates and cattle pens. However, this would take time and in order to maintain pre-abolition levels of production, labour was needed in Jamaica's low-lands where the best land for sugar cultivation was located. Hence the implementation of bounties for European immigrants and the institution of ships like the <I>Robert Kerr</I>, known as "man-traps" and sub-agents who wandered into quiet Irish towns and attracted people with the promise for free passage, high wages and the hope of bettering their lives. The immigration of Europeans never filled the abolition labour gap and so by 1840 the government began to look to the Maltese, the free Negroes in the United States and the Asians. In 1842 laws to break up what had been completed of the townships were passed and the idea of highland colonization was abandoned. </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="254" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 244 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="273faec0.png" border=0 width="250" height="236" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 23 ><NOBR><div> <I><B>SIR PHILIP SHERLOCK</B></I><I><B> </B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>THE IRISH IN CONTEMPORARY JAMAICA </B></div> <div> The Jamaican Constabulary is patterned after the Royal Irish Constabulary complete with the red stripe on the pant legs. Various Irish Regiments, the Royal Leinsters, the Earl of Ulsters and the Royal Irish Rifles were at Newcastle. Guinness PC, which originated in Dublin, now owns Red Stripe/D&G, the largest Caribbean brewery. Then there's Digicell, the cellular phone company, the island's newest Irish import. Yet, the Irish connection in Jamaica goes beyond the names of people, places and companies. It is found in a shared history of colonial domination and the achievement of independence in the same century. It is found in the experience of mass emigration. It is found in some dance styles: Katherine Dunham, the acknowledged matriarch of Black American dance, once noted the similarity between Maroon dance formations in Accompong and Irish reels. It is found in the field of education  many priests and nuns of Irish ancestry have taught generations of Jamaicans. It is found in something as basic as the melodious lilt of Jamaican accents. Yet, perhaps it is most strongly found in Jamaicans' love of laughter, horse racing, spirits, women and song. </div> <div> <B>Thanks to Rob Mulally for his help with this piece.</B> </div> <div> <I><B>Sources: Williams, J.J. (1932). Whence the "Black Irish" of Jamaica. NY: The Dial Press. Mullally, R. (2003). "One Love'  The Black Irish of Jamaica. on-line. Available at www.thewildgeese.com, Senior, C. Robert Kerr emigrants of 1840  Irish 'slaves' for Jamaica. </B></I></div> <bR> <div> Eternal Father bless our land </div> <div> Guard us with thy mighty hand </div> <div> Keep us free from evil powers </div> <div> Be our light through countless hours </div> <div> To our leaders, great defenders </div> <div> Grant true wisdom from above </div> <div> Justice, truth be ours forever </div> <div> Jamaica land we love Jamaica, </div> <div> Jamaica Jamaica land we love </div> <div> <B>-----</B> </div> <div> Teach us true respect for all </div> <div> Stir response to duties call </div> <div> Strengthen us the weak to cherish </div> <div> Give us vision less we perish </div> <div> Knowledge send us Heavenly Father </div> <div> Grant true wisdom from above </div> <div> Justice, Truth be ours forever </div> <div> Jamaica land we love Jamaica, </div> <div> Jamaica Jamaica land we love </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Percival James (P.J.) Patterson </div> <div> Prime Minister of Jamaica 1992 -2004/5.  PJ Patterson was born in Dias, Hanover on April 10, 1935. Educated at Calabar High School and the University of the West Indies, he later went on to the London School of Economics where he won the Leverhume Scholarship and the Sir Hughes Parry Prize for excellence. </div> <bR> <div> <B>The Past Jamaica </B></div> <div> Monument to the Rt. Honourable Sir Donald Sangster </div> <div> (October 26, 1911 to April 11, 1967)</div> <div> Michael Manley became Jamaica's fourth prime minister in 1972. He passed away on March 6, 1997.</div> <bR> <div> Donald Sangster -- Jamaica's second prime minister -- died on April 11, 1967. He was appointed to act as prime minister and minister of external affair and defence in January 1965 as a result of the illness of then prime minister, Alexander Bustamante. He served for three months.</div> <bR> <div> According to Bindley Sangster, the award meant a lot to his family. </div> <div> "The family is appreciative of the award. We are honoured and humbled. The nation needs role models like those persons honoured today. It is service like this that has really built our country and given us some of the privileges we enjoy today."</div> <div> "Was not Donald Sangster one of the foremost leaders in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and did he not save the 1966 Commonwealth Heads of Government in crisis?  Shearer was sworn in as prime minister in April 1967 and remained in office until March 1972. He retired from politics in 1993 after serving as a parliamentarian for 38 years.</div> <div> ===============================</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="624" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#008000 HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="620"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="620" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 109 WIDTH="620"><div> With Independence in 1962, the Union Jack was replaced by the Jamaican flag. The colours of black, green and gold symbolise a country willing to prosper in spite of trying circumstances: Hardships there are but the land is green and the sun shineth. </div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 65 WIDTH="620"><bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 579 WIDTH="620"><div> The Lignum Vitae is indigenous to Jamaica and was found here by Christopher Columbus. It is believed that the name 'word of life' was then adopted because of its medicinal values. </div> <div> In addition to producing an attractive blue flower, the plant itself is extremely ornamental. </div> <div> The wood is used for propeller shaft bearings in nearly all the ships sailing the Seven Seas. As a result, the Lignum Vitae and Jamaica are closely associated with shipbuilding. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="274f6bb0.png" border=0 width="246" height="187" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Lignum Vitae (Guiacum Officinale)</I> </div> <div> It is thought that the name "Wood of Life" </div> <div> was adopted for it's medicinal qualities. </div> <div> The tree grows best in the dry woodlands </div> <div> along the North and South Coasts of the island. </div> <div> In addition to shedding an attractive blue flower, </div> <div> the plant itself is extremely ornamental. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF HEIGHT= 325 WIDTH="620"><bR> <div> <I>The Ackee (Blighia Sapida)</I> </div> <div> The Ackee though not indigenous to Jamaica, has remarkable historic associations. It was originally imported from West Africa and probably brought here on a slave ship. </div> <div> Jamaica is the only place where the Fruit is recognised as an edible crop although the plant has been introduced into most of the other Caribbean Islands, Central America and even Florida. </div> <div> The Ackee though not indigenous to Jamaica, has remarkable historic associations. It was originally imported from West Africa and probably brought here on a slave ship. </div> <div> Jamaica is the only place where the Fruit is recognised as an edible crop although the plant has been introduced into most of the other Caribbean Islands, Central America and even Florida. </div> <div> <I>The Ackee (Blighia Sapida)</I> </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> The Blue Mahoe (Hibiscus Elatus) </div> <div> The Blue Mahoe is one of Jamaica's primary economic timbers. It is used mainly for making furniture.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3166a620.jpg" border=0 width="106" height="98" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#6666CC" FACE="Eurostile" ><IMG SRC="315be590.png" border=0 width="446" height="89" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </FONT><IMG SRC="317625b0.jpg" border=0 width="98" height="91" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>