Clarendon Historical Society seeks to preserve parish’s past

Through ageing photographs, archival records, and residents’ memories, a new initiative is seeking to piece together fragments of Clarendon’s history, reconnect communities with their heritage, and preserve stories at risk of being lost.
The Clarendon Historical Society of Jamaica (CHSJ), spearheaded by Liz Millman of the Jamaica Wales Alliance, aims to bring together community knowledge, oral histories, and historical research to create a more complete record of the parish’s past.
The society hopes to encourage research, support heritage projects, involve schools and young people, and improve access to historical records held locally and overseas.
Millman said the initiative grew from years of community research and collaboration between residents in Clarendon and people abroad, which revealed the urgent need to preserve stories, photographs, and memories that shape the parish’s identity.
“As we visited communities across the parish, we realised that many valuable stories, photographs, and memories were disappearing as older generations passed away,” Millman told The Gleaner.
She said that while Clarendon has played an important role in Jamaica’s history, much of its story remains scattered and inaccessible.
The society is seeking to bridge that gap by connecting historians, educators, students, genealogists, and residents to document the experiences that have shaped the parish. Several educators across Clarendon are already members.
Millman said the work must include the stories of ordinary Jamaicans, including enslaved Africans, farmers, labourers, teachers, community leaders, and women whose contributions have often been overlooked in traditional historical accounts.
VALUABLE INSIGHTS
A key focus will be improving access to internationally significant records, including the Penrhyn Papers housed at Bangor University in Wales. The collection contains maps, letters, estate records, slave registers, wills, and correspondence spanning almost three centuries, providing valuable insight into Clarendon’s social and economic history.
“These records are part of Jamaica’s history as much as Britain’s,” Millman said. “The aim of the Clarendon Historical Society of Jamaica is to make them more accessible to allow Jamaican communities to reconnect with their own past.”
The CHSJ’s research is already uncovering stories in communities such as Pennants in northern Clarendon, where archival records and residents’ memories are being combined to explore the district’s history, including the struggle for land rights led by Robert Rumble and the Poor Man’s Improvement Land Settlement and Labour Association.
Rumble, reportedly a labour activist and union leader, established a movement historically known as the Poorman’s Settlement Association, which emerged as a grass-roots effort advocating for the rights and economic survival of poor rural farmers and labourers facing severe hardship in the 1930s.
Millman said one of the most important lessons from the research has been the value of local knowledge.
“Communities themselves are remarkable historians,” she said, noting that residents have helped identify people in photographs, locate forgotten buildings, and provide context for historical documents.
Beyond preservation, organisers believe that the society can support community development by strengthening cultural identity, enhancing education, and encouraging greater appreciation for Clarendon’s heritage.
“Everyone has something to contribute,” Millman said. “Young people can interview older relatives, record family stories, photograph historic buildings, help digitise documents, and take part in local research projects.”
ENTHUSIASTIC RESPONSE
The society’s inaugural meeting at the Clarendon Parish Library drew an enthusiastic response from residents. 
President Pauline Henry-Blake said this reflected a growing desire to learn more about the parish’s rich history and believed that the organisation would become an important educational resource, particularly for younger generations unfamiliar with landmarks such as the May Pen Clock Tower and other heritage sites.
Also attending the launch was 90-year-old Oscar Reader, who shared memories of growing up in Rose Hall in southeast Clarendon, providing what members hope will become the foundation of a wider oral history archive.
For Millman, the goal is to ensure that future generations inherit a deeper understanding of Clarendon’s journey and recognise that history is not only something to study but something they are actively creating.
“History helps us understand who we are, where we have come from, and how we arrived here,” she said. “Preserving our history is not about living in the past. It is about building a stronger future.”
olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com