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General elections were held in Jamaica on 11 and 12 September 1884. [1] Four of the nine seats were uncontested; Clarendon, Manchester, St Mary & St Ann and Westmoreland & Hanover. [2] Of the winning candidates, all but one (who was mixed-race) were white. [3] Supporters of the sugar industry won in seven constituencies, only failing to win St Catherine and Kingston & St Andrews, where sugar was not the primary economic interest. [4] Winning candidates were not exclusively driven by support for the industry however, and often had significant political histories. Palache, a mixed-race Jewish solicitor who won in Manchester, was the only winning candidate from a non-agricultural or plantation background. [4]
In the St Thomas & Portland constituency George Henderson, a former member of the old House of Assembly, faced a strong contest from Richard Hill Jackson. Jackson was the only black candidate in the election, although race was not considered to have played a prominent role in either St Thomas & Portland or the wider election. [4]
Kingston & St Andrews saw the fiercest contest, and was compared by a local newspaper to electioneering in the United States. George Solomon, a prominent leader of the movement for constitutional change who had the support of most of Kingston's newspapers, was defeated by William Malabre, a prominent merchant. Supporters of Malabre had attacked Solomon's Jewish background, [5] although the main cause of his defeat was the decision by Samuel Burke, a Crown Solicitor particularly popular in St Andrews, to support Malabre after Solomon had declined to support Burke's own nomination due to Burke's status as a government official. [4]
Background
In 1866 the Jamaican House of Assembly had been abolished during disturbances on the island following the Morant Bay rebellion. [6] Since then, the legislative functions of the Assembly had been used by a Council appointed by the Governor. [6] In April 1884 a conference was at the Westminster Palace Hotel, which resulted in the re-establishment of an elected Assembly. [6] The new Assembly would consist of nine elected members and six appointed members. [6]
Under the new constitution, there were 9,176 voters out of a population of 600,000. This compared to 1,798 voters from a population of 450,000 in the last election in 1863. [4]
Results
| District | Candidate | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarendon | Robert Craig | Unopposed | |
| Kingston & St Andrews | William Malabre | 419 | |
| Charles Lauchlin Campbell | 335 | ||
| George Solomon | 272 | ||
| William Kelly Smith | 1 | ||
| Manchester | John Thomson Palache | Unopposed | |
| St Catherine | Emanuel George Levy | 547 | |
| Thomas Harvey | 267 | ||
| St Elizabeth | James Miller Farquharson | 532 | |
| Arthur Levy | 173 | ||
| St James & Trelawny | Edward Gooden Barrett | 437 | |
| William Kerr | 140 | ||
| St Mary & St Ann | Michael Solomon | Unopposed | |
| St Thomas & Portland | George Henderson | 303 | |
| Richard Hill Jackson | 232 | ||
| Henry Vendryes | 73 | ||
| Westmoreland & Hanover | Charles Salmon Farquharson | Unopposed | |
| Source: The Daily Gleaner [2] [7] [8] | |||
By-elections
Wellesley Bourke was elected in 1885 replacing Edward Gooden Barrett, who had resigned. [9]
William Bancroft Espeut was elected in 1886 replacing George Henderson, who had resigned. [9]
Thomas Lloyd Harvey was elected in October 1886 after Emanuel George Levy died. [9]
John Powell Clark was elected 1888 replacing John Thomson Palache, who had resigned. [9]
References
- ^ "The New Legislative Council". The Daily Gleaner. 19 September 1884. p. 2.
- ^ a b The Daily Gleaner. 9 September 1884. p. 2.
- ^ "History of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Jamaica. September 2014. p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e Burt, Arthur E. (1962). "The First Instalment of Representative Government In Jamaica, 1884" (PDF). Social and Economic Studies. 11 (3): 241–259. JSTOR 27853683. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ Sires, Ronald V. (1954). "The Jamaica constitution of 1884". Social and Economic Studies. 3 (1): 64–81. JSTOR 27850964. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d "New Legislative Council Of Jamaica". The Times. No. 31242. 18 September 1884. p. 6.
- ^ The Daily Gleaner. 16 September 1884. p. 2.
- ^ The Daily Gleaner. 13 September 1884. pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b c d "Members of the Legislative Council". Handbook of Jamaica 1891–92.
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