Chapter D: O. M (11)

In the history gallery of the Institute of Jamaica are photographic reproductions of paintings of five members and connections of the Scarlett family: Robert Scarlett of Duckett’s Spring, and Elizabeth Anglin his wife; Mary Anglin, mother of Elizabeth Anglin, and Philip Anglin Scarlett, the eldest son of Robert; and his fourth son, Sir William Anglin Scarlett, chief justice of Jamaica. The slave boy who holds the game bag in the portrait of Robert Scarlett was called Oliver, and was entailed very strictly on his master’s death.

ROSE HALL
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=Grove Hill= house is mentioned in “Tom Cringle’s Log.” =Rose Hall=, about 10 miles from Montego Bay, is one of the finest examples of Jamaica architecture of the old time. It was erected in 1760 at a cost of £30,000 by George Ash, the second husband of Rose Kelly (b. 1724). Her fourth husband was the Hon. John Palmer. It is said to have been the scene of a tragedy in the eighteenth century, when the owner, Annie Mary Paterson, wife of John Rose Palmer, grand-nephew of the Hon. John Palmer, was murdered by her slaves; but the occurrence more probably took place at Palmyra hard by. In 1831 the great house at Rose Hall was unoccupied and one wing had been removed, while a gable end is all that remains of the other. =Adelphi= (formerly called Stretch and Set) is said to have been the first spot on the north side at which religious instruction was given to the slaves. At =Running Gut= estate are monuments of the Lawrence family, _e.g._ Benjamin Lawrence (d. 1776). The Lawrences for many years owned property from Little River to Montego Bay. The last portion was sold in 1910. =Spring Mount= estate has monuments of the Heath family, and =Catherine Hall= estate has tombs of Stone, Barnett, Ross, and others. =Cinnamon Hill= is interesting as being the home of the Barretts and the Moultons, from whom descended the poetess wife of the poet Robert Browning. =Carlton= formerly belonged to an old Scottish family, the Gordons of Earlston, well known by readers of Crockett’s books, and part of the property is still called Earlston. At =California= and =Williamsfield= are Arawâk kitchen middens; at =Tryall= an Arawâk kitchen midden and cave, indicating the existence at one time of an important Indian settlement; and at =Kempshot=, the site of the observatory of the government meteorologist, there is an Arawâk rock-carving. =Brandon Hill= has a curious cave; this was the town house of the Hon. John Palmer, of Rose Hall. There is another cave at =Seven Rivers=, near Cambridge, with stalactites. =Miranda Hill= has Spanish remains. =Seaford Town=, in St. James, is named after Lord Seaford, who there established a settlement of German immigrants from Hanover. Some account of his family is given in the chapter on St. Mary.

XI
HANOVER

Kingston and Port Royal excepted, Hanover is the smallest parish in area in the island. When it was formed the Assembly wished to call it St. Sophia in honour of the mother of George I, but in this it was overridden by the Council, and the name was chosen with reference to the reigning family in England. In the “Jamaica Almanac” for 1751 it is called, German fashion, Hannover.

In the =Church of Lucea= is a monument to Sir Simon Clarke, 7th baronet (d. 1777) by Flaxman. The inscription runs: “In this church is deposited the mortal part of Sir Simon Clarke, Bart., who was born in this island A.D. 1727, and died on the 2nd of November, 1777, having that day completed his 50th year.” His father, the sixth baronet, represented St. John in the Assembly in 1731, and St. Mary in 1732 and 1736, and was called to the Council in 1739. Sir Simon, the seventh baronet, represented Hanover in the Assembly in 1760 and 1772. By his wife, Anne Haughton, eldest daughter and co-heir of Philip Haughton, he left two sons, Philip Haughton and Simon Haughton. Sir Simon Peter, the fifth baronet, was an officer in the royal navy in 1730, but was transported for highway robbery to Jamaica, where his uncle held the office of patent clerk of the Crown.

Martin Rusea, a French refugee, in grateful recollection of the hospitality manifested towards him on his arrival and settlement in the colony, left by his will, dated July 23, 1764, all his real and personal estate, which afterwards realised £4500 currency (£2700 sterling), for the establishment of a free school in the parish of Hanover.

The devise was disputed, but in 1777 an Act was passed (18 Geo. 3, chap. 18) settling the trust and establishing an undenominational school, which has been maintained since in Lucea. It is at present situated in the old barracks, and is known as =Rusea’s School=.

Trinity Chapel, Green Island, has the tomb of Hugh Munro (d. 1829); at Orange Bay estate is the tomb of Colonel James Campbell (d. 1744) and others of the family, including one to John Campbell, custos of the parish (d. 1808, aged 76) “erected by his dutiful and affectionate nephew, John Blagrove, Esq.,” the John Blagrove, alluded to in the account of Cardiff Hall, in St. Ann, to whom Campbell owned his indebtedness for much financial assistance in his will, and to whom he left his estates under certain conditions. He manumitted certain of his mulatto slaves and left them money to purchase negroes to assist them in carrying on their business. In a codicil he states:

It is my will and desire also that the place of my interment should be
about 20 feet in direct line from the front Bow windows of the
Hospital [for the completion of which he made provision] and that a
sun-dial be erected over my grave. The Sun Dial 18 inches in diameter
to be supported by both hands upon the head of a Leaden figure of a
Negro man with a bandage about his waist Kneeling upon the right knee,
placed upon a platform laid with Bristol Flags, six feet square and 18
inches higher than the ground round about, so that it requires three
steps of Bristol Flags six inches high and 18 inches wide to get up to
the platform, and this will effectually prevent the Cattle and Horses
while pasturing from rubbing against it, and putting it out of plumb.

At =Haughton Court Mountain= is the tomb of Christopher Crooks (d. 1762). The tomb of John Pearce is on the parochial road between Hopewell and Welcome; he was murdered by the slaves of the adjoining estate on December 30, 1831. =Salt Spring= estate burial-ground has a monument to John Campbell (d. 1782); =Haughton Court= burial-ground has tombs of Colonel Richard Haughton (d. 1740), Jonathan Haughton (d. 1767), and others of the family who came to Jamaica from Barbados; =Fat Hog Quarter Estate= burial-ground has tombs of Philip Haughton (d. 1765) and others of the family; and at =Point Estate= burial-ground are tombs of David Dehaney (d. 1701) and others of the family. =Haughton Hall=, =Rhodes Hill=, =New-found River= and =Kew= are all places with Arawâk kitchen-middens. At The Bluff, Round Hill, is a stone to James Reid (d. 1772). =Cousin’s Cove= is interesting as being the property which caused Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, its present owner, to visit Jamaica in 1914 on account of a lawsuit connected with it.

=Shettlewood=, originally belonging to an owner of that name, was for many years, with Montpellier, the property of the Ellis family. In the closing years of the nineteenth century extensive tobacco-growing experiments were carried out, but were ultimately abandoned. Both pens of recent years have had many head of imported Indian cattle placed on them.

XII
WESTMORELAND

Westmoreland, which became a parish in 1703, was probably so called because it is the westernmost parish in the colony.

The chief town was formerly called Queen’s Town (now Cross Path) and contained a church and many inhabitants, but in 1730 Savanna-la-Mar (“the plain by the sea”) rose into fame.

Its sad fate in the hurricane of 1744 can never be remembered without horror. “The sea bursting its ancient limits overwhelmed that unhappy town and swept it to instant destruction, leaving not a vestige of man, beast, or habitation behind. So sudden and comprehensive was the stroke,” says Bryan Edwards, “that I think the catastrophe of Savanna-la-Mar was even more terrible, in many respects, than that of Port Royal.”

The “Spanish road from Bluefields Bay to Martha Brae, by the head of the Great River,” as Long wrote, is said to be still in existence.

The old parish =Church of Savanna-la-Mar= was pulled down in 1904 in order that a new and more suitable building be erected in its place. The old building took the place of what must have been the first parish church erected there late in the seventeenth century or early in the eighteenth century.

The church stood somewhere along the sea beach. It was destroyed in the storm on October 3, 1780. For some years services were held in a temporary building, and in 1797 the foundation-stone of the second church was laid, but it would seem that it was really intended to be a temporary structure. It was opened for divine service in 1799, so considering that it was a wooden building it had done good service. While excavating, the old foundation-stone was discovered, and in it was inlaid a brass plate in a fine state of preservation, bearing the following inscription:

Deo Juvante
Hoc primum Saxum
Templi hujus
Parochiæ Westmoriæ
Jamaicensis
Ornatissimus Georgius Murray, Arm.
Custos Rotulorum
(Attendentibus
Multis Parochianis præclaris)
Collocavit
Die quarto Mensis Junii
Natatis Auspicatissimo
Annoque Regni tricesimo Septimo
Georgii Tertii
Salutis humanæ
1797.
Thoma Stewart, Rectore
Hugone Fraser, Architecto
D. G.
C. L. Robertson, Sculpt.

Which may be thus translated:

Thanks be to God, the Hon. George Murray, Esquire, Custos, in the
presence of many distinguished parishioners, laid the foundation-stone
of this Church of the Parish of Westmoreland, in Jamaica, on the
fourth day of June, on the hallowed birthday and in the thirty-seventh
year of the reign of George III, and (in the year) of man’s salvation,
1797. Thomas Stewart, Rector. Hugh Fraser, Architect. To the glory of
God.