By Anthony Johnson, ContributorON MONDAY NOVEMBER 15, 1802 the Parish Vestry of Kingston met for the last time. The main order of business was election of officers to fill the new positions created by the granting of City status to Kingston. Colonel John Jaques was elected Mayor for a term of three years and the new officers started putting in the apparatus of a municipality.
In the 200 years since, Kingston has changed greatly. At the time it was the commercial capital of Jamaica, but Spanish Town was the political and administrative capital hosting the residence of the Governor and the meeting place of the Island Assembly. It was not until 1872 that Sir John Peter Grant, by fiat, would remove the capital of Jamaica to Kingston.
The reason for the granting of city status was the rising tempo of fear among the citizens. The new law was establishing not just a municipal council, but a court presided over by a Mayor which had the power to fine up to £100 and imprison for six months. The reason for the fear were:
(a) The influx of refugees from the Haitian Revolution which included thousands of blacks, many of whom were suspected of being tainted with concepts of "freedom, equality and brotherhood," the theme of the French Revolution (1789).
(b) The increasing incidence of insurrection among the captive African population. Kingston was an overwhelmingly black town since about 1740, and the majority of these were free people. However, many were escapees from the plantations, and were thought to be the cause of a crime wave.
(c) The popularity of Jack Mansong, the powerful African who escaped from a plantation and plundered the plantations of St. Andrew for many years. While he operated solo, he was clearly a symbol of freedom to all and he had become the hero of plays and songs in London, where the abolition movement was in full swing.
(d) The doctrines of the non-conformist preachers who were recruiting non-whites by the thousands, were teaching them to read and write, and learning the gospel of "freedom within Christ."
Despite constant harassment of the Moravians, Baptists and Methodists, there was fear that this would lead to an overthrow of the system. (This occurred in December, 1831 when Deacon Sam Sharpe led the Baptist Uprising). What was Kingston like at the time?
It was just slightly larger than the 530 acres of William Beeston's property which had been bought by the Island Council in 1692 and cut out of the parish of St. Andrew. The property stretched from the eastern border of the Tinson Pen swamps in the west to about Elletson Road in the east and from the Harbour to above North Street. The initial 200 acres, bought for £2,000, was bounded by West Street, North Street and East Street and the Harbour. By mid-1700s, the entire property was in the city.
In 1802 the main landmarks were:
1. King Street, 66 feet wide, unpaved, but the main shopping area (Harbour Street and Port Royal Street were the administrative and trading streets)
2. Kingston Parish Church, on lands donated by the City's founder, Sir William Beeston, Governor , land developer, and businessman.
3. The Theatre Royal near, or at, the current location of the Ward Theatre at North Parade and Upper King Street. 4. The Kingston Parade, the square which is now St. William Grant Park. This was the headquarters of the militia in the town, while the Commander of the Forces lived at Admiral's Pen, a property later used for the City Poor House.
Kingston at the time was a free port - no taxes, or restrictions on the import or export of any goods. This caused a significant entrepot trade and attracted a mixed multitude of persons from Latin America. The town's businessmen imported manufactures from Europe which were banned in Spanish America - textiles, iron machinery, tools, jewellery and every necessity of life. From the ports of what is now Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil, importers poured into Kingston to buy these 'scarce' goods for their domestic market.
As a result, while Jamaica was British, the common currency in use was Spanish reales - good silver from the mainland which eventually poured into Britain and helped her fight her many wars. It must also be said that one of the main items was the purchase of captive Africans, who were sold in the markets of Kingston and transferred to Cuba, the USA, and Latin America.
Strangely, this trade was greatly opposed by the local planters, not because they had any stricture of conscience, but because they felt it pushed up the price of the Africans.
It has been a long 200 years for the City. Floods, fires , earthquakes and hurricanes have destroyed it time and again. But it has constantly fought back.
By the end of the 19th century, black men were being elected to the City Council and men of African ancestry such as Samuel Constantine Bourke were Mayors. With Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944, the old merchant/professional oligarchy which had ruled the City would lose control as the masses would dictate their leadership.
In 1947 the first fully democratic elections were held and labour leader Alexander Bustamante became the first Mayor with Lynden Newland as Deputy. Newland would become the second Mayor under the democratic regime.
Anthony Johnson, economist, lectures in the Department of Management Studies at the UWI, Mona.
