Black politicians
in Jamaica
between
Emancipation
and
World War I
Who can you name?
How many Jamaicans can
you name who lived between
1865 and 1920?
Not counting National
Heroes!
Some other questions:
1. When did Black Jamaicans first get the
right to vote?
2. Who was the first Black member of the
House of Assembly, and when?
3. Who was the first Black member of the
Legislative Council, and when?
4. Who was the first woman member of a
Jamaican national Legislature, and
when?
Constitutional stages I
Old Representative System – 1664-1865
From 1831 the
franchise was
open to all free
adult males on
the same terms.
Early Black Politicians
in the Vestries
Many Blacks served on Parish Vestries
between 1834 and 1865:
David Lee, one of 2 Blacks elected
to Kingston Common Council 1835
Samuel Clarke, member of the
St David’s Vestry (10 members, 9
Black); executed at Morant Bay1865
Early Black Politicians
in the Assembly
Edward Vickars died 1867; first Black
member of the Assembly, for St.
Catherine, 1847-60; Alderman of
Kingston; JP. Slogan: ‘Vote for Vickars
the Black Man’
Charles Price died 1865; member of the
Assembly 1849-63
Sources:
Dr Swithin Wilmot, UWI
‘Baptist Missionaries and Jamaican Politics’ ACH Conference
1980
‘Growth of Black Political Activity’, Garvey: His Work and
Impact, 1988
‘The Old Order Changeth’, Before and after 1865, 1998
‘Politics at the “grassroots” in free Jamaica’, Working
Slavery, Pricing Freedom, 2002
‘From Bondage to Political Office’, Jamaica in Slavery and
Freedom, 2002
Prof. Gad Heuman, Warwick University
Between Black and White, 1981
Constitutional stages II
Crown Colony Government – 1866-1944
1884: new
constitutional
arrangement set up
a partially elected
Legislative Council
William Kelly Smith
Born c 1820
Died 1901 in Kingston
Journalist; teacher; political activist
in 1865; imprisoned at Morant Bay
in 1865; spokesman for Blacks in
Kingston; devout Anglican; many
unsuccessful attempts to obtain
election to Kingston Council and
Legislative Council.
Thomas Harry
Born 1821
Died 1903 in Kingston
Black shoemaker; member of Port
Royal vestry; speaker at Kingston
meeting May 1865; imprisoned at
Morant Bay October 1865; on
Kingston City Council 1885-91.
Dr Archippus Harry, son of
Thomas Harry
Matthew Joseph
Born a slave in St Andrew in 1831
Died 1901, St Andrew
Teacher; poet; member St Andrew
Parochial Board 1888-1901; witness
before Royal Commissions in 1866
and 1897.
Many other teachers were on
Parochial Boards.
Joseph Milward Gordon
Born 1853 in St Catherine
Died 1893
Pen-keeper; engineer; Freemason;
elected top of the poll to St. Catherine Parochial Board 1885 (1st
election under modified Crown
Colony Government); 1891 Chairman of St Catherine P B.
Hailed as ‘the outstanding representative of the Black population, and
the most significant Black politician of his generation.’
Alexander Dixon
Born 1852 in Kingston
Died 1917 in Kingston
1899 - First Black member of the
Leg. Co.; member of Kingston City
Council 1912-17; a founder of the
National Club,
1909.
MLC St Elizabeth
1899-1904
Josiah Smicle
Born in Clarendon (date not
known)
Died 1900 in St Thomas
Anglican catechist and schoolteacher; member of Parochial
Boards of St Andrew and St
Thomas from early 1890s;
Chairman of St Thomas
P B; 2nd Black member of the
Legislative Council.
Josiah Smicle or maybe
one of his sons
MLC St Thomas
1900
Joseph Robert Love
Born 1835/8 in Nassau, Bahamas
Died 1914 in Kingston
Ordained in Episcopalian Church
in 1877; qualified as Doctor,
Buffalo, 1880; in Haiti 1881-90;
founded Jamaica Advocate - ran
1894-1905; People’s Convention
1898-1903; member of St Andrew
MLC for St Andrew P B until his death.
1906-11
Charles Phillip Lazarus
Born 1836 in Kingston
Died 1917 in Kingston
Left school at 12; became
leading iron foundry operator
in Kingston; member of the
City Council (1899-?); JP 1916;
supporter of Robert Love’s
campaigns; contractor who
built Devon House for George
Stiebel.
H Percival ‘Pap(p)a’ Jones
Born c 1871 in St Mary
Died 1922 in Pt Maria
Owner of Hotel Manning;
cricketer – captain of the
Middlesex Cricket Club ;
member of the St Mary
Parochial Board (1909-?);
famous for his resemblance
to King Edward VII
Jacob Wareham*
Born (date unknown)
Died 1912 in Kingston
Horse dealer and race horse owner
from 1880s;
J J and J B Edwards
Born 1865, Ulster Spring, Trelawny
Died 1944 in Westmoreland
Qualified as doctor Toronto,
Edinburgh and Glasgow by
1891; member of St
Catherine P B, as was
Dr James Josiah his brother, J B Edwards;
Edwards
both supported Dr Robert
Love in his political campaigns.
David Aurelius Corinaldi
Born 1834 in Montego Bay
Died 1920 in St James
Trained as a jeweller; started a
newspaper the ‘19th Century’ in
Montego Bay in the late 1880s,
later renamed the ‘New Century’;
MLC for ‘Noble’ St James
1890-1920
known as the ‘Father of the House’
Alfred Augustus Fleming
Born 1862 in St Catherine
Died 1927 in St Catherine
1888 solicitor in Spanish Town;
MLC for St Catherine 1911-20;
prominent citizen of Spanish
Town, involved in all kinds of
local activities.
Other Black Members of the
Legislative Council
William Buchanan, MLC
Hanover, 1910-11
Fred R Evans, MLC
Westmoreland 1911-1930
‘JAGS’ MLC
Clarendon
1917 - 1942
Daniel L Briscoe
Born 1879 probably in Stewart
Town, Trelawny
Died (not known)
Secretary of Artisans’ and
Labourers’ Union in Pt Limon,
Costa Rica; highly regarded in the
Jamaican community. Possibly
returned to Kingston and active in
Friendly Societies in 1920s and ’30s.
R M Stimpson
Born 1868 in Manchester
Died 1936 in Kingston
1898 Qualified as a doctor in
Canada; served in Cuba with US
Army – 1st Black doctor to serve
with a White regiment; completed
training in Scotland in 1902;
worked in Jamaica until his death;
on Manchester P.B. 1909-12; in
1934 he was considering standing for Leg. Co.
David Jonathan Phillips
Born 1869 in St Ann’s Bay
Died 1935 in Kingston
Qualified as a doctor in Montreal,
Canada, and London, England
(1902); won the seat on the
Kingston City Council which
became vacant on the death of
Alexander Dixon in 1917, and held it until
1924; President of the Lucas Cricket Club;
Vice-chairman of the Kingston School Board
1926
until his death
Amos Shackleford
Born 1887, Charlestown, Portland (Maroon town)
Died 1954, Accra, Ghana
Went to West Africa in 1913, and
became a very prosperous
business man in Nigeria and the
Gold Coast; involved with
founding the Nigerian National
Democratic Party – Pres. 1946-54; member of
Lagos Town Council 1929-36.
E. Ethelred Brown
Born 1885, Falmouth, Trelawny
Died 1956, New York
Unitarian minister; founding
member and long-time secretary
Jamaica Progressive League;
major supporter and fund-raiser
for PNP.
Catherine Hart McKenzie
Died 1903, burned to death during the hurricane in
August.
Studied at Shortwood; married
James McKenzie, had sons who
later attended Tuskegee; active in
Robert Love’s People’s Convention;
gave talk on ‘Woman’s Rights’ at
1901 Convention; secretary of the
Pan-African Association in Kingston James McKenzie,
Catherine’s husband;
in 1901.
He died Dec 31, 1912
POSTSCRIPT:
First women elected
Mary Morris-Knibb
1944 1st woman elected to the national
Legislature – House of Representatives for a
seat in St James
1939 1st woman elected to a local
government council, Kingston
Iris Collins
Black politicians
in Jamaica
The End
Researched by Dr Joy Lumsden
© 2006
the worthy frog
What can you do?
1. Read books, and look for web sites.
2. Talk to your parents and grandparents about
things members of your family have done.
3. Find out what people from your church, school
and community did a hundred years ago.
4. Go and have a look at the old newspapers at the
NLJ, and UWI library; find out how to access
the Gleaner archives online.