Morant Bay rebellion
Encyclopedia
The Morant Bay rebellion began on October 11, 1865, when Paul Bogle
led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay
, parish of St. Thomas in the East
, Jamaica
. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political debate in Britain
. Today, the rebellion remains controversial, and is frequently mentioned by specialists in black and colonial studies.
ended in Jamaica on August 1, 1834, with the passing of the British Emancipation Act, which led to emancipation on 1 August 1838 – the date on which former slaves became free to choose their employment and employer. On paper, former slaves gained the right to vote; however, most blacks remained desperately poor, and a high poll tax
effectively excluded them from the franchise. During the elections of 1864, fewer than 2,000 black Jamaicans were eligible to vote out of a total population of over 436,000, despite outnumbering whites by a ratio of 32:1. A two-year drought
preceding 1865 made economic conditions still worse for the population of former slaves and their descendants, and rumours began circulating that white planters intended to restore slavery.
In 1865, Dr. Edward Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society
of Great Britain, wrote a letter to the Colonial Office
in order to express Jamaica's current poor state of affairs. This letter was later shown to Jamaica's Governor Edward Eyre, who immediately tried to deny the truth of its statements, and Jamaica's poor blacks began organizing in "Underhill Meetings." In fact, peasants in St. Ann parish
sent a petition to Queen Victoria asking for Crown lands to cultivate as they could not find land for themselves, but it passed by Eyre first and he enclosed a letter with his own comments.
The Queen's reply left no doubt in the minds of the poor that Eyre had influenced her opinion – she encouraged the poor to work harder, rather than offering any help. George William Gordon
, a wealthy mulatto politician, began encouraging the people to find ways to make their grievances known. One of his followers was a church deacon named Paul Bogle
.
Following the massacres of Europeans during the Indian Rebellion of 1857
, the British population on Jamaica, as in many other British colonies, was fearful of a black uprising.
, creating anger among black Jamaicans. When one member of a group of black protesters from the village of Stony Gut was arrested, the protesters became unruly and broke the accused man from prison. When he returned to his home, Bogle learned that he and 27 of his men had warrants issued for their arrest for rioting, resisting arrest, and assaulting the police.
A few days later on October 11, Bogle marched with a group of protesters to Morant Bay. When the group arrived at the court house they were met by a small volunteer militia who panicked and opened fire on the group, killing seven black protesters before retreating. The black protesters then rioted, killing 18 people (including white officials and militia) and taking control of the town. In the days that followed some 2,000 black rebels roamed the countryside, killing two white planters and forcing others to flee for their lives.
Governor John Eyre
sent government troops, under Brigadier-General Alexander Nelson
, to hunt down the poorly armed rebels and bring Paul Bogle back to Morant Bay for trial. The troops were met with no organized resistance but killed blacks indiscriminately, many of whom had not been involved in the riot or rebellion: according to one soldier, "we slaughtered all before us… man or woman or child". In the end, 439 black Jamaicans were killed directly by soldiers, and 354 more (including Paul Bogle) were arrested and later executed, some without proper trials. Paul Bogle was executed "either the same evening he was tried or the next morning." Other punishments included flogging for over 600 men and women (including some pregnant women), and long prison sentences.
Gordon, who had little – if anything – to do with the rebellion was also arrested. Though he was arrested in Kingston, he was transferred by Eyre to Morant Bay, where he could be tried under martial law
. The speedy trial saw Gordon hanged on October 23, two days after his trial. He and William Bogle, Paul's brother, "were both tried together, and executed at the same time."
, which called for Eyre to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the "insurrection." More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects under the rule of law. The Committee included English
liberals, such as John Bright
, Charles Darwin
, John Stuart Mill
, Thomas Huxley
, Thomas Hughes
and Herbert Spencer
. An opposing committee, which included such Tories and Tory socialists as Thomas Carlyle
, Rev. Charles Kingsley
, Charles Dickens
, and John Ruskin
, sprang up in Eyre's defence. Twice Eyre was charged with murder, but the cases never proceeded.
While some historians have argued that the Morant Bay uprising was no more than a local riot, in its wake the Jamaica Assembly renounced its charter and Jamaica became a Crown Colony
.
, best known for his Rastafarian novel Brother Man, wrote the play George William Gordon. Named for one of the community leaders who was executed following the Rebellion, the play was first staged in 1938. Lastly, Vic Reid (Victor Stafford Reid
) devoted a novel to commemorating the Rebellion, publishing New Day in 1949.
The second album of reggae artists Third World
featured the title track 1865 (96° In The Shade), a song that described the events of the Morant Bay rebellion from the point of view of Paul Bogle and George William Gordon:
The Morant Bay Rebellion is a setting in the novel James Miranda Barry by Patricia Duncker, and is featured in a chapter of the novel Caribbean by James Michener.
Paul Bogle
Paul Bogle was a Jamaican Baptist deacon and is a National Hero of Jamaica. He was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay Protests, which agitated for justice and fair treatment for all in Jamaica. Leading the Morant Bay rebellion, he was captured and hanged on October 24,1865 in the Morant Bay Court...
led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay
Morant Bay
Morant Bay is a town in southeastern Jamaica. It is the capital of the parish of St. Thomas. In 1867 it was the starting point of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the only major peasant revolt , in Jamaican history...
, parish of St. Thomas in the East
Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica
Saint Thomas is a suburban parish that is situated at the south eastern end of Jamaica, in the county of Surrey. It is the birth place of The right Honorable Paul Bogle, one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political debate in Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. Today, the rebellion remains controversial, and is frequently mentioned by specialists in black and colonial studies.
Background
SlaverySlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
ended in Jamaica on August 1, 1834, with the passing of the British Emancipation Act, which led to emancipation on 1 August 1838 – the date on which former slaves became free to choose their employment and employer. On paper, former slaves gained the right to vote; however, most blacks remained desperately poor, and a high poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
effectively excluded them from the franchise. During the elections of 1864, fewer than 2,000 black Jamaicans were eligible to vote out of a total population of over 436,000, despite outnumbering whites by a ratio of 32:1. A two-year drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
preceding 1865 made economic conditions still worse for the population of former slaves and their descendants, and rumours began circulating that white planters intended to restore slavery.
In 1865, Dr. Edward Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society
Baptist Missionary Society
rightBMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society...
of Great Britain, wrote a letter to the Colonial Office
Colonial Office
Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...
in order to express Jamaica's current poor state of affairs. This letter was later shown to Jamaica's Governor Edward Eyre, who immediately tried to deny the truth of its statements, and Jamaica's poor blacks began organizing in "Underhill Meetings." In fact, peasants in St. Ann parish
Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica
Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called 'the Garden Parish of Jamaica' on account of its natural beauty...
sent a petition to Queen Victoria asking for Crown lands to cultivate as they could not find land for themselves, but it passed by Eyre first and he enclosed a letter with his own comments.
The Queen's reply left no doubt in the minds of the poor that Eyre had influenced her opinion – she encouraged the poor to work harder, rather than offering any help. George William Gordon
George William Gordon
George William Gordon, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican businessman and politician. On the centenary of his death, he was proclaimed a National Hero of Jamaica. Gordon was the 2nd of 7 children born to a white planter, Joseph Gordon and a mulatto slave, Ann Rattray in April 1815 although...
, a wealthy mulatto politician, began encouraging the people to find ways to make their grievances known. One of his followers was a church deacon named Paul Bogle
Paul Bogle
Paul Bogle was a Jamaican Baptist deacon and is a National Hero of Jamaica. He was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay Protests, which agitated for justice and fair treatment for all in Jamaica. Leading the Morant Bay rebellion, he was captured and hanged on October 24,1865 in the Morant Bay Court...
.
Following the massacres of Europeans during the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
, the British population on Jamaica, as in many other British colonies, was fearful of a black uprising.
Rebellion and response
On October 7, 1865, a black man was put on trial and imprisoned for trespassing on a long-abandoned plantationPlantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
, creating anger among black Jamaicans. When one member of a group of black protesters from the village of Stony Gut was arrested, the protesters became unruly and broke the accused man from prison. When he returned to his home, Bogle learned that he and 27 of his men had warrants issued for their arrest for rioting, resisting arrest, and assaulting the police.
A few days later on October 11, Bogle marched with a group of protesters to Morant Bay. When the group arrived at the court house they were met by a small volunteer militia who panicked and opened fire on the group, killing seven black protesters before retreating. The black protesters then rioted, killing 18 people (including white officials and militia) and taking control of the town. In the days that followed some 2,000 black rebels roamed the countryside, killing two white planters and forcing others to flee for their lives.
Governor John Eyre
Edward John Eyre
Edward John Eyre was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica....
sent government troops, under Brigadier-General Alexander Nelson
Alexander Nelson (British Army officer)
Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Abercromby Nelson KCB JP was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.-Military career:...
, to hunt down the poorly armed rebels and bring Paul Bogle back to Morant Bay for trial. The troops were met with no organized resistance but killed blacks indiscriminately, many of whom had not been involved in the riot or rebellion: according to one soldier, "we slaughtered all before us… man or woman or child". In the end, 439 black Jamaicans were killed directly by soldiers, and 354 more (including Paul Bogle) were arrested and later executed, some without proper trials. Paul Bogle was executed "either the same evening he was tried or the next morning." Other punishments included flogging for over 600 men and women (including some pregnant women), and long prison sentences.
Gordon, who had little – if anything – to do with the rebellion was also arrested. Though he was arrested in Kingston, he was transferred by Eyre to Morant Bay, where he could be tried under martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
. The speedy trial saw Gordon hanged on October 23, two days after his trial. He and William Bogle, Paul's brother, "were both tried together, and executed at the same time."
Consequences in Britain
When news of the response to the rebellion broke in Britain it generated fierce debate, with public figures of different political affiliations lining up to support or oppose Governor Eyre's actions. When Eyre returned to Britain in August 1866, his supporters held a banquet in his honour, while opponents at a protest meeting the same evening condemned him as a murderer. Opponents went on to establish the Jamaica CommitteeJamaica Committee
The Jamaica Committee was a group set up in 1866, which called for Edward Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects , under the rule of law...
, which called for Eyre to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the "insurrection." More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects under the rule of law. The Committee included English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
liberals, such as John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
. An opposing committee, which included such Tories and Tory socialists as Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
, Rev. Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, and John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, sprang up in Eyre's defence. Twice Eyre was charged with murder, but the cases never proceeded.
While some historians have argued that the Morant Bay uprising was no more than a local riot, in its wake the Jamaica Assembly renounced its charter and Jamaica became a Crown Colony
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
.
The Morant Bay Rebellion in Popular Culture
At least four Jamaican authors have created works in which the Rebellion figures prominently. Creole H. G. de Lisser, longtime editor of the newspaper, The Gleaner, wrote a novel entitled Revenge, which was published in 1918 by the press of the newspaper. This tale is not in print today. Roger MaisRoger Mais
Roger Mais was a Jamaican journalist, novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born to a middle-class family in Kingston, Jamaica. By 1951, Mais had won ten first prizes in West Indian literary competitions...
, best known for his Rastafarian novel Brother Man, wrote the play George William Gordon. Named for one of the community leaders who was executed following the Rebellion, the play was first staged in 1938. Lastly, Vic Reid (Victor Stafford Reid
Victor Stafford Reid
Victor Stafford Reid was a Jamaican writer born in Kingston, Jamaica who wrote with an intent of influencing the younger generations. He was awarded the silver and gold Musgrave medals , the Order of Jamaica and the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in Literature in 1981...
) devoted a novel to commemorating the Rebellion, publishing New Day in 1949.
The second album of reggae artists Third World
Third World (band)
Third World is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1973. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco.-History:Third World started when keyboard player Michael "Ibo" Cooper and guitarist Stephen "Cat" Coore, who had originally played in The Alley Cats then Inner Circle, subsequently left to form...
featured the title track 1865 (96° In The Shade), a song that described the events of the Morant Bay rebellion from the point of view of Paul Bogle and George William Gordon:
"You caught me on the loose, fighting to be free, now you show me a noose on a cotton tree, entertainment for you, martyrdom for me...Some may suffer and some may burn, but I know that one day my people will learn, as sure as the sun shines, way up in the sky, today I stand here a victim--the truth is I'll never die."
The Morant Bay Rebellion is a setting in the novel James Miranda Barry by Patricia Duncker, and is featured in a chapter of the novel Caribbean by James Michener.
Further reading
- Black, Clinton V. 1958. History of Jamaica. Collins Educational. London. ISBN 0-00-329345-9 (Esp. Chapter 17 "Morant Bay Rebellion")
- Semmel, Bernard. 1962. The Governor Eyre Controversy. (Also published as Jamaican Blood and Victorian Conscience, and as Democracy versus Empire.)
- Holt, Thomas C. 1992. "The Problem of Freedom; Race, Labor and Politics in Jamaica and Britain, 1832-1938" see chapters 7-8 for full description.
- Heuman, Gad. 1994. "The Killing Time": The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tenn.
- Brathwaite, Edward, and Phillips, Anthony. The People who came book 3. Longman Caribbean. Jamaica. 1988
- Honychurch, Lennox. The Caribbean people: third edition. Nelson Thornes. 2006
- Fergusson, James. The Story of the Caribbean People. Ian Randle Publishers. Kingston.1999
- Robotham, Don. The Notorious Riot': The Socio-Economic and Political Bases of Paul Bogle's Revolt. Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, Jamaica. 1981.
External links
- Jamaica History – The Jamaica National Heritage Trust