Part 12

In April 1841, Elizabeth Mary, the twenty-year-old daughter of Charles Lennox Cumming Bruce, was married to Lord Bruce, the son of the earl of “Elgin Marbles” fame. He had the year before become heir to the earldom through the death of his elder half-brother; and in the July following he was elected member of Parliament for Southampton, and succeeded to the title in the November of the same year (1841), becoming a peer of Scotland without a seat in the House of Lords. In the April of the following year he was made governor of Jamaica at the early age of thirty-one years, and there served his apprenticeship to his greater work as governor-general of Canada and viceroy of India. He experienced a period of depression, owing to the effects of emancipation, and of storms and floods; but in spite of difficulties he endeavoured, not without success, to improve the social conditions and develop the industrial resources of the island. The Royal Agricultural Society of Jamaica (later merged into the Royal Society of Arts and Agriculture of Jamaica) and several parochial agricultural associations were established by him; the first batch of coolies arrived from India in 1845, and the railway was opened for traffic in the same year.

On the death of the countess within less than a twelvemonth of her landing, and after a little more than two years of married life, the House of Assembly voted three hundred guineas for a monument to be erected in the cathedral at Spanish Town. It was carved by Sir John Steell, and is inscribed on the back “Jn. Steell, Sculptor, Edinr., 1849.” He is best known for his statues in Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott and the Prince Consort, and for his colossal statue of Burns in New York. The first-named is said to have been the first marble statue commissioned in Scotland from a native artist; the second secured him his knighthood. Steell in early life patriotically declined Chantrey’s flattering offer to remove from Edinburgh to London, in order that he might devote himself to the improvement of the art of his native country.

His busts are said to be distinguished by great dignity and refinement. These characteristics are evident in his posthumous portrait of Lady Elgin.

The following is the inscription on the monument:

IN MEMORY OF

ELIZABETH MARY, COUNTESS OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, ONLY CHILD OF CHARLES LENNOX CUMMING BRUCE, ESQR., OF ROSEISLE AND KINNAIRD IN SCOTLAND, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN, AND OF MARY ELIZABETH BRUCE. GRANDDAUGHTER AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISTINGUISHED TRAVELLER IN ABYSSINIA. BORN ON THE 13TH APRIL, 1821, SHE WAS MARRIED ON THE 22ND APRIL, 1841, AND HAVING ACCOMPANIED HER HUSBAND, HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, TO JAMAICA, IN APRIL, 1842, SHE DIED AT CRAIGTON, IN THE PARISH OF ST. ANDREW’S, ON THE 7TH JUNE, 1843: RESTING WITH ASSURED FAITH ON THE LOVE OF HER REDEEMER, AMIDST THE UNSPEAKABLE SORROW OF HER RELATIVES AND FRIENDS, AND THE DEEP LAMENT OF THE COMMUNITY THAT HAD WITNESSED THE RICH PROMISE OF HER EARLY VIRTUES. THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE COLONY NOT AS A COLD TRIBUTE OF RESPECT DUE TO EXALTED RANK, BUT TO MARK THE PUBLIC REGRET, FOR DISTINGUISHED WORTH AND TALENT, SO EARLY LOST TO HER COUNTRY AND HER FAMILY.

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.”

Craigton, used as a mountain residence by the Earl of Elgin, is in the Blue Mountains, by the fourteenth milestone on the driving road to Newcastle.

The following passage from Professor Wrong’s “Earl of Elgin” tells in a few words the sad cause of Lady Elgin’s death:

In April 1842 Lord Elgin left England for Jamaica. On the way he experienced the dramatic and, for him, tragic consequences of shipwreck; the steamer struck on the coral reefs surrounding Turk’s Island, one of the Bahamas, and became a total wreck. No lives were lost, but Lady Elgin received a shock from which she never recovered. When, in the following summer, she died in Jamaica, Lord Elgin was so prostrated by grief that his recovery seemed doubtful. He was left with one infant daughter. From utter loneliness the society of his own kindred saved him; with him were his sister Charlotte, afterwards Lady Charlotte Locker, and his brother Robert, the latter as his Secretary. Though living chiefly at the country house, Craighton (sic), in the Blue Mountains, he did not neglect holding at Spanish Town, then the capital of Jamaica, the receptions and entertainments which must be a heavy burden upon the time and patience of those in high official position. The life was sufficiently monotonous, and after three years he longed for more active employment.

The immediate cause of Lady Elgin’s death was the birth of an infant daughter, who only lived a few hours. Her only surviving child, Elma, married Baron Thurlow.

With regard to the actual spot where the body is interred, we read in the “Morning Journal” of June 1843:

His Honour, the Chief Justice, the Custos, and several other officials, then proceeded to the selection of a proper place for the sepulture of her Ladyship. The spot they selected was immediately below the Communion Table, in the Cathedral, and in which the remains of the Earl and Countess of Effingham were interred in 1791. The excavation took place under the superintendence of His Honor the Custos, assisted by Mr. Churchwarden M’Anuff; and about five o’clock on Thursday morning the vaulting and arches were complete.

The funeral was attended by all the high officials, civil, naval and military, and by the members of the House of Assembly.

Though the present =House of Assembly= probably only dates from about the same period as King’s House (1762) or a little later, the Assembly always met (with a slight diversion, in favour of Kingston, under Admiral Knowles in 1755) in Spanish Town, and the old capital was thus associated with the story of the long series of struggles which took place between the people’s representatives and the Crown.

In 1702 the Assembly met at the Queen’s House and at the Court House. In his speech to the Assembly on September 5, 1706, Handasyd said, “That the public building, I mean the Assembly House, being ready to fall, I don’t doubt but you will give orders for the rebuilding of the same.”

In 1728 the Duchess of Portland, widow of the late Governor, gave a portrait of George I to the Assembly. It was hung over the speaker’s chair. One wonders where it now is.

One of the most dramatic incidents which ever happened during a session of the Assembly is that which caused the death of Peter Beckford, a former lieutenant-governor of the colony, the president of the Council, and the first custos of Kingston.

The incident is thus described by Bridges:

During a warm debate in the Assembly on June 8, 1711, on the right of adjournment for a longer period than _de die in diem_, Peter Beckford, the Speaker (son of the President), repeatedly called to order; and was at length compelled to enforce it by adjournment. But irritation had gone so far that, when he rose to quit the chair, the Members drew their swords and held him there, while the obnoxious questions in debate were put and carried. The doors were barred; the uproar was alarming; and the Speaker’s father heard the disturbance in the Council Chamber. He recognised the voice of his son crying aloud for help, and rushed into the Governor’s apartment. Sir Thomas Handasyde seized his sword, ordered the sentinels to follow him, forced the door of the Court House, and dissolved the Assembly in the Queen’s name. But the fray was fatal to the elder Beckford; in his agitation his foot slipped, and he was precipitated down the staircase, and the effects of terror were deadly to his aged frame.

From this account we incidentally learn that the Assembly then had no House of its own and met in the court house, which probably stood where the present court house stands, at the south side of the square; the House of Assembly being on the east side, the King’s House on the west, and Rodney’s memorial on the north. In 1679 the church was first used as a House of Assembly, and was so used occasionally, as well as the court house, till its destruction by hurricane in 1712.

In “A View of the Proceedings of the Assemblies of Jamaica for some years past,” published in London in 1716, occurs a letter dated from Kingston, December 4, 1715, which begins, “The Grand Court is Sitting, as also the Assembly (who as former Assemblies have done in Court time) Sit in the Great Church [at Spanish Town]....”

The speaker alluded to above, Peter Beckford, held that office no less than four times. He will ever be remembered, in Spanish Town at all events, as the founder of Beckford and Smith’s School.

Space will not permit of any detailed reference to the continual struggles which took place between the Assembly and the Governor in Council, or the Assembly and the Crown, for in some cases the Assembly found governors who from the larger knowledge gained by local experience were in sympathy with many of their claims for equitable treatment. But we may perhaps for a moment try to picture to ourselves the scene at the opening of an assembly a hundred years ago. There were then forty-three members representing twenty constituencies or parishes. Of these all but a few came from outside Spanish Town, and had perforce to find temporary homes for themselves, their servants, and their horses: and the old capital must have offered a gay appearance. If the member for noble St. James did not drive his own horses it must have cost him some £8 to £10 to post.

It is true that Feurtado mentions ten lodging-houses and six hotels or taverns as existing at the time of the removal of the Government from Spanish Town to Kingston in 1870; but it is somewhat curious that, though travellers and historians have recorded the names of some ten or twelve taverns throughout the colony in the eighteenth century, no mention is made of any such institution of importance in the old capital.

In 1812 the lieutenant-governor was Lieutenant-General Edward Morrison. His secretary was William Bullock, who later, under the Duke of Manchester, became a great pluralist and wielded much power. The speaker of the Assembly was James Lewis, who represented St. Catherine. John Jacques, the mayor, was one of Kingston’s three representatives. St. Andrew sent as one member a James Stewart, Trelawny sent another James Stewart, and Westmoreland a third—which suggests numerous pitfalls for the unwary student of genealogy—while a fourth Stewart, John by name, sat for St. Ann. John Shand, the custos of St. Catherine, represented St. John. One of Vere’s members was J. P. Edwards, while Robert Allwood came up from St. Elizabeth. Hanover was represented by a Scarlett. Portland sent two Minots. The wealthy and powerful Simon Taylor represented St. Thomas-in-the-East, where most of his property lay.

The officers of the Assembly were: _Clerk_, F. Smith; _Serjeant-at-arms and Librarian_, John Clement; _Chaplain_, Isaac Mann (rector of St. Catherine); _Printer_, A. Aikman; and _Doorkeeper_, J. Wintle.

[Illustration:

KING’S HOUSE ]

[Illustration:

COURT HOUSE ]

[Illustration:

RODNEY MEMORIAL ]

[Illustration:

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ]

THE SQUARE, SPANISH TOWN

The president of the Council, which was not infrequently recruited from the Assembly, was John Lewis, the chief justice, a relative of the well-known “Monk” Lewis; and other members (twelve in all) bore the well-known Jamaica names of Broadbelt, Ross, Pinnock, Cuthbert, Scarlett, Nembhardt and Jackson. Its chaplain was the Rev. John Campbell (rector of St. Andrew). Its librarian was Alexander Dallas, a relation of the author of the “History of the Maroons.” The Assembly opened daily with prayer.

Until 1842, when a new judicature law, which transferred to a vice-chancellor the authority of chancellor, came into force, the governor for the time being was _ex-officio_ chancellor of the island, and sat in a Chancellor’s Court which was held in the Egyptian hall of Ring’s House.

At its first session the House was wont to go over “in grand procession”—the speaker preceded by the macebearer with the mace—to King’s House at 4 P.M. to hear the governor read his speech. They then returned and deliberated on the speech, to which they sent a reply. They formally elected a speaker. He was wont to plead his unworthiness but allowed himself to be over-persuaded, and the governor gave his approval. After the passing of many compliments the pendulum not infrequently swung round to the point of contention and bickering, but many of the Assembly honestly did their best in legislating for the well-being of the colony. To do honour to Sir Henry Barkly the Assembly turned their hall into a ballroom, each member subscribing £10 toward the cost of the entertainment.

In 1853 the House committed to jail, where he was kept for upwards of twenty-four hours, one of the judges of the supreme court, William Stevenson (afterwards governor of Mauritius), for an alleged breach of privilege in writing a letter to the public press, in which he accused them of violating public faith and confiscating the property of public men.

An English merchant describing Jamaica in 1726 says, “Nor is the keeping of a coach and six any more credit than keeping a horse in England, it is so common in the lowlands where the roads will admit”; and, even within the memory of those living, members of the Council and Assembly were wont to drive into Spanish Town in style. The late Mr. Judah, in “Old St. Jago” (1894), says:

We come to so late as 1848–49 when Sir Charles Grey was Governor. He rode in a State Coach drawn by four horses, and had outriders as part of his equipage. Besides coachman and groom he had two footmen behind his coach holding, in their dignity, their straps in holders; all in splendid livery. When the Honourable James Gayleard was President of the Council, he rode too in State Coach and pair, with coachman and groom on the box and a footman behind standing with strap and holder, all too in livery. Sir Joshua Rowe, Chief Justice, in his stately barouche with liveried servants. The Honourable William Church Macdougall driving in uniform with high-booted postilion. The Honourable Alexandre Bravo, always arriving in town on the first day of the meeting of the Council, of which he was a member, with four in hand, his wife and then young family inside, himself on the driving box with his son Alexandre, afterwards Major and Acting Governor in one of Her Majesty’s Colonies in Africa, seated beside him; while Mr. Moses Bravo followed with his wife, driving a gay and attractive tandem. “Old Saint Jago” has its traditions, and is full of memories of the old past and the greater days of Jamaica. A hundred of these memories as it were pass before my eyes, and I feel a real pleasure in recalling some of them, associated as they are with the days of my boyhood and my early manhood. I well remember the first day of the inauguration of a new Governor, attended at old King’s House by all the heads of departments and highest officials of the colony. The Lieutenant-Governor, who was always then the Major-General commanding the Forces in this island, and his brilliant staff, the Admiral with his staff, the Commodore on the station—the whole in full dress uniform. The Bishop with his mitre on, and his black silk gown with ample lawn sleeves. The three Archdeacons in their full college dress and honours. The Chief Justice and Puisne Judges in their purple robes. The Registrar in Chancery and Clerk of Patents, gowned in black silk and bearing on a scarlet velvet cushion the insignia in gold of Equity and of his office. The Clerk of the Crown and Supreme Court with parchment scroll surmounted by the British Crown in gold. The Military and Navy in full dress uniform. The foreign Consuls also in uniform—those of Spain, France, Austria, and the Mosquito territory being most conspicuous for their splendour. The three members of “the mixed Commission” (for the adjudication of cases arising out of the slave trade treaties) in their peculiar dress of white kerseymeres trimmed in silver, and their silver-sheathed swords suspended in fine silver chains. The military band of music arriving from the barracks, at the head of the regiment, with standards flying and taking up their position in the present garden on the left hand opposite to the front of the King’s House. During the administration of the usual oaths to the new Governor the playing of the National Anthem, and this followed by a salvo of fourteen guns from two field pieces positioned in front of Rodney’s statue, then on its original site, under the dome of the colonnade, at the north side of the public square.

Then there was the opening day of the annual meeting of the Legislature, with almost the like pageantry and with the members of the Privy Council in Windsor uniform, and the members of the Legislative Council, attended by “Black Rod” in full Court dress with his _chapeau bras_. The entrance of the Governor into the Egyptian Hall of King’s House, in full military dress as Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief, attended by his Secretary in Windsor uniform, and his aide-de-camp in full military dress. The despatch of “Black Rod” by the Governor, summoning the Assembly to attend him in the Council Chamber. The arrival of “Black Rod” at the bar of the Assembly Hall, delivering the message, and his retiring backways, making his obeisance three times to the Chair while retiring. The attendance of the Speaker and the whole House, headed by the Serjeant-at-Arms carrying, with head covered by his _chapeau bras_, the large gilt mace of the House, and with his ivory-hilted sword at side, while the band plays the grand and stately “God Save the Queen.” These pageantries followed by a grand dinner at King’s House to the Lieutenant-Governor and staff, Admiral and staff, Chief Justice, Bishop, and the high officials of the day.

The mace mentioned above is now in the history gallery in the Institute of Jamaica.

Tradition has it that the old house known as =Eagle House=, behind the Public Hospital in King street, Spanish Town, was the residence of William O’Brien, second earl of Inchiquin, who was governor of Jamaica in 1690–91–2. Its local name, from the remaining eagle that surmounts one of the gate-posts, is John Crow House; John Crow being the popular designation of the vulture of Jamaica (_Cathartes aura_).

A discussion on the subject of this house took place in the “Gleaner” newspaper during August and September 1911, with the result that, though some light was thrown on the subject, nothing was settled for certain. Mr. G. F. Judah, whose antiquarian knowledge of Jamaica was unequalled, informed us that his father told him that when he first visited the house as a boy in 1808–9 both eagles were _in situ_; but that when he went to reside in Spanish Town in 1830–31 only one remained; and further that tradition said that it had once been the residence of Sir James de Castillo, the agent of the Assiento Company.

Mr. Judah seemed to think that “Eagle House” is identical with the “Fort House,” which he told us was granted first in 1662 to Sir Charles Lyttelton, deputy governor to Lord Windsor, being the first of the records of Patents in the island, and dating only seven years after the British occupation. Lyttelton sold it to Charles Brayne, who sold it to Sir Thomas Modyford. Modyford’s nephew succeeded to the baronetcy and his executors sold the “Fort House” in 1715 to John Stewart, president of the Council, who had the title to the house confirmed by a special act of the Legislature in 1733. From an act which was passed in 1736 it appears that the Fort House bounded north-east on a street between a storehouse belonging to John Stewart, Esquire, and the dwelling-house formerly belonging to Arnold Brown, Esquire, deceased, to the Parade; south-east on land belong to William Careless, Esquire, deceased; south-west on the town Savanna; and north-west on the land lately belonging to Ursula Hunt, widow, deceased, by indenture.

It was conveyed to Thomas Brayne, descended to his daughter, Mary Elizabeth, wife of Alexander Henderson. They conveyed it to Walter Thomas, and he and his wife conveyed it to John Stewart. Stewart sold it to Robert Delap (nephew of Francis Delap, provost marshal), and the place subsequently fell into the hands of Bogle & Co., of which firm Michael Scott, the well-known author of “Tom Cringle’s Log,” was a member. It then passed successively into the possession of Alexander Young, William Taylor and Robert Nichol. Mr. Oscar Plummer, quoting from manuscripts in his possession, of which however he gave no details, said that various personages—Robert Russell, Andrew Gregory Johnson, and Richard Hill—in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, gave credence to the legend that Eagle House was the residence of the Earl of Inchiquin, and that some of them alluded to Eagle House as the Moat House. In this case, although there is no proof, it is quite likely that the legend that Inchiquin inhabited it is true; but it is not likely that much of the old fabric remains, though the present house is of considerable antiquity. There is nothing in all this to aid in the identification of Eagle House with the residence of Lord Inchiquin; but as the rent for the house he occupied was paid to Samuel Bernard, the chief justice, it was probably not identical with Fort House, which, as we have seen, belonged to the Modyfords.

The early life of the Earl of Inchiquin was spent with his father in foreign military service, during which he lost an eye and suffered imprisonment in Algiers. In 1764 he was appointed captain-general of the King’s forces in Africa, and governor and vice-admiral of the royal citadel of Tangier, ceded by the Portuguese to Britain as part of the marriage portion of Catherine of Braganza. He held the post for six years.

Inchiquin welcomed the Prince of Orange in 1688, and in the following year he and his son were attainted by the Irish Parliament of James II, and their estates were sequestrated. He appealed to arms, but was defeated and fled to England.

After the Revolution he was appointed governor of Jamaica. On going to take up office he was allowed £500 in lieu of fifty tons of baggage, and also passage and victuals for seventy-five menial servants. It is interesting to note that on his journey he drew half-pay salary (_i.e._ at the rate of £1000 a year).

He, after escaping great dangers by sea and a malignant fever brought on board by the soldiers embarked at Plymouth, arrived at Jamaica, accompanied by Lady Inchiquin, on May 31, 1690, in H.M.S. _Swan_, “so bad a sailor that she is little better than nothing”—the same ship that was “forced over the tops of many houses” in the earthquake of two years later. Inchiquin was sworn in as governor on the same day.