Did You Know?

-
Did you know that Jamaica at one time had twenty (22) parishes? 
Jamaica now has 14 parishes; but at one point we had as many as 22 parishes. In 1664, nine years after the English formally took control of Jamaica, there were 7 parishes: Clarendon, Port Royal, St Andrew, St David, St John, St Catherine and St Thomas. This increased to:
  • 12 in 1670 with the addition of five parishes: St Ann, St Elizabeth, St George, St James and St Mary;
  • 13 in 1673 with the addition of Vere;
  • 15 in 1675 with the addition of St Dorothy and St Thomas-in-the-Vale;
  • 16 in 1693 with the addition of Kingston;
  • 17 in 1703 with the addition of Westmoreland;
  • 19 in 1723 with the addition of Hanover and Portland;
  • 20 in 1770 with the addition of Trelawny;
  • 21 in 1814 with the addition of Manchester; and
  • 22 in 1844 with the final addition: Metcalfe.
On April 23, 1867, “as part of the reformation scheme of Sir John Peter Grant” the law was passed for the reduction of the number of parishes from 22 to 14: Kingston was increased by absorbing a part of the parishes of St. Andrew and Port Royal, and the whole town of Port Royal. St. Andrew took the remaining part of the parish of Port Royal. St. David was merged into St. Thomas-in-the-East. St. George merged with Portland. Metcalfe was merged into St. Mary. St Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. John and St. Dorothy were all merged into St. Catherine. Vere merged with Clarendon.
In 1872 Kingston became the capital of Jamaica. It acquired this position due to its function as a major centre for commerce and communication.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Insecticides, Air Travel And Safety

-
Image
We are not insects, we are human beings. To travel by air is a privilege. Air travel is a costly adventure as well.   Those of us who have been fortunate to travel oftentimes experience some amount of excitement leading up to that moment. This heightened sense of emotion happens to almost all of us irrespective of whether we are a frequent flyer or a first timer. This buzz never goes away regardless of whether you travel economy or first class. However, for some folks there is a sense of nervousness during travel. There are numerous lessons we can learn whenever we travel. For example, our outlook on life is often altered due to the interaction with other peoples and cultures. Once the airplane takes off and you begin to ascend into the clouds, sometimes of altitude unbelievable to those without this experience, one can feel like someone who is imprisoned until your flight lands and you disembark. It is usually at those altitudes that the airline crew informs you that they are goin...
Read more

Vessels of Honour: Celestial Treasures

-
Image
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”- Psalm 51:10. Many of us have a skewed understanding of God our creator. In many instances we believe or are led to believe that in order to be used by God we must be pure and sinless. This tainted view undoubtedly also impacts our relationships we have with God. Having such a distorted view of God and what God demands from us oftentimes lead us into disobedience. The same is true concerning the weight of condemnation. It is for this reason why it is critical for us to spend time in the Word of God which is the Bible. We all need to know God for ourselves. We often make excuses to study the Bible, yet, we will spend hours on social media or hours gossiping people’s business. Nowhere is gossiping more pronounced than in the church. The church as we know it is not a place of honesty. Why do I say this? Oftentimes we turn to the church in our moments of weakness and vulnerability yet, the solace and compassion that ...
Read more

Interrogating Black Fatherhood

-
Image
“What I've realized is that life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children all of our children a better world. Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”- Barack Obama. Fatherhood, especially black fatherhood oftentimes is not as celebrated as it should. As a result we continue to hear of the arguments surrounding my mother who fathered me. There are specific roles concerning the sexes and frankly speaking mothers cannot father children, likewise fathers cannot mother children. Indeed as a society we need to move the discussion away from these examples of oxymoron. This flawed premise has been around so long and unfortunately has become normalized in many societies. However, the time has come for us to have a serious and honest discussion as this argument must be interrogated and replaced with a sense of responsibility. In fact, there is one m...
Read more