1884 Jamaican general election

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
ClarendonRobert CraigUnopposed
Kingston & St AndrewsWilliam Malabre419
Charles Lauchlin Campbell335
George Solomon272
William Kelly Smith1
ManchesterJohn Thomson PalacheUnopposed
St CatherineEmanuel George Levy547
Thomas Harvey267
St ElizabethJames Miller Farquharson532
Arthur Levy173
St James & TrelawnyEdward Gooden Barrett437
William Kerr140
St Mary & St AnnMichael SolomonUnopposed
St Thomas & PortlandGeorge Henderson303
Richard Hill Jackson232
Henry Vendryes73
Westmoreland & HanoverCharles Salmon FarquharsonUnopposed
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

  1. ↑ "The New Legislative Council". The Daily Gleaner. 19 September 1884. p. 2.
  2. 1 2 The Daily Gleaner. 9 September 1884. p. 2.
  3. ↑ "History of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Jamaica. September 2014. p. 8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  5. ↑ Sires, Ronald V. (1954). "The Jamaica constitution of 1884". Social and Economic Studies. 3 (1): 64–81. JSTOR 27850964. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "New Legislative Council Of Jamaica". The Times. No. 31242. 18 September 1884. p. 6.
  7. ↑ The Daily Gleaner. 16 September 1884. p. 2.
  8. ↑ The Daily Gleaner. 13 September 1884. pp. 2–3.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Members of the Legislative Council". Handbook of Jamaica 1891–92.
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