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.
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 18s. 4d. 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 decd | £15. | ||
| 1753 | ||||
| May 7th. | To cash paid the soldiers at Rock Fort for taking up Robt Can a white servt belongs to this estate | 6s. | 3d. | |
| Oct. 11th. | Box knives and forks sent p for the use of the overseer of this plantation | 3s. | 9d. | |
| 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 Robt Wilson one compleat set of coffin Furniture and one thousand of brass nails | £5 | 10 | 0 | |
| From Eliz. Able 12 pr. white gloves 37s. 6d., 2 pr. black Shammy do. 37s. 6d.—15s., 2 crape hat bands 12s. 6d.—25s., 2 oz. mace 7s. 6d., 2 doz. cloves 5s. | 4 | 10 | 0 | |
| 10 Black silk scarves 27s. 6d. £13 15s., 8 Black hat bands 12s. 6d. ea. £5, a box &c. to pack them in 2s. 6d. | 18 | 17 | 6 | |
| ——— | ——— | ——— | ||
| £28 | 17 | 6 | ||
| Sept. 30th. | To sundries sent to Mrs. Stoakes viz. | |||
| 2 pr. white and black callicoe £4 15s., 1 pr. silk shoes 10s. | 5 | 5 | 0 | |
| A black Fan 5s., 2 skains black silk 1s. 3d. 3 yds. narrow ribband 1s. 10½d. | 8 | 1½ | ||
| 1 pr. Buckles 2s. 6d., 1 pr. Buttons 1s. 3d., 2 laces 1s. 3d.—2s. 6d. | 6 | 3 | ||
| 4 yds. Broad Ribband for Knotts 1s. 3d. per yard | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1 pr. woven blk. callimanco shoes 12s. 6d., 2 prs. girls blk. leather shoes 11s. 3d. | 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 ye 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 ye Hon. Colonell John Cope / and Margaret unmaried. Shee departed this life August ye 3rd 1681 Ætatis Suao 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.”
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.