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Eric Anthony Abrahams

Eric Anthony Abrahams was born on May 5, 1940 to Eric and Lucille Abrahams (deceased). He attended Jamaica College then proceeded to the University of the West Indies, Mona (UWI), where he studied Economics, History and English. In 1961 he graduated from UWI as a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford University. He has two children; Eric Jason and Tara Elizabeth.

During his studies at UWI, Eric presided as the Chairman of the Students' Union and President of the Debating Society. He also represented the University Students'  Conference in Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Abrahams, while at Oxford University participated in several social extracurricular activities and became the second West Indian to become President of the Oxford Union.

Eric has had a successful career. He was:

Eric Anthony Abrahams is a successful Jamaican who during his spare time enjoys squash, swimming and tennis.

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Carlton Alexander

Selwyn Carlton Alexander was born in Montego Bay on May 9, 1916 to Selwyn Augustus and Rosina Alexander. He was the first of nine children. He attended Orange Hill Preparatory School in Montego Bay, St. John's College in Kingston and Jamaica College. Other formal education included night classes at Kingston College where he learnt shorthand, typing and book-keeping. Selwyn Alexander, at age 16, started working with Grace Kennedy & Co.  in 1933 as a Stock Clerk and rose to the position of Chairman, of the company. Mr. Alexander over many years has played a leading role in the field of Commerce, Industry and Export. He was one of the mastermind behind the co-ordination of the various segments of the business sector in a way which enables that sector to make a more positive contribution to the national development. Dr. Hon. Carlton Alexander, was said to be among the few Jamaican whose work has been instrumental in achieving aspects of sustainable development.Selwyn Alexander was involved in many areas business sector. He was the:

• Board member of several companies and Chairman and Chief Executive of Grace Kennedy & Company Ltd.

• President & Life Member of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ)

• President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce.

• Chairman Jamaica National Export Corporation.

• Chairman Jamaica National Investment Promotion Ltd.

• Chairman Kingston Wharves Ltd.

• Chairman Kingston Terminal Operators Ltd.

• Chairman Diary Industries Jamaica Ltd.

• Director Bata Shoe Company.

• Director Coconut Control Authority.

  Director Jamaica Export Credit Insurance Company.

• Director Caribbean Atlantic Life Insurance Company Limited.

• Director of  Pilkington Glass Jamaica Ltd.

• Director of Domestic Sales Ltd.

• Chairman of the Jamaica College School Board etc.

He was the recipient of a Humanitarian Award at the American Friends of Jamaica's Seventh Annual Jamaica Charity Ball on November 23, 1988. The award was received by Hon. Keith Johnson as he was ill. He also received the Order of Jamaica and Commander of the Order of Distinction.

Selwyn Carlton Alexander died at age 73 on May 23, 1989. The Grace Kennedy Foundation was established in memory with $4.5 million fund to help education in Jamaica. The beneficiary of the fund are institutions with which Mr. Alexander was affiliated. He is acknowledged as a "rare patriot" to Jamaica.

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Amy Bailey

Amy Bailey was born in Walderston, Manchester on November 27, 1895 to William Fredrick and Anna Bailey. Her parents were outstanding school teachers and it is from them that Amy inherited the love for teaching. She grew up in a time when to be black was inferior and when being a woman without wealth was a social handicap.Miss Bailey attended the Mt. Olivet School after which she enrolled in Shortwood Teachers College. She started her teaching career at the Kingston Technical High School in 1919 until her retirement in 1958. While at Kingston Technical she challenged the then Governor General to open post in the Civil Service to Technical School students. She also campaigned for the right of every Jamaican, regardless of their colour, to be employed in stores and offices. She urged students to strive towards excellence as it was the way to overcome prejudice. 

Amy Bailey gave voluntary service to numerous underprivileged girls in the field of education and social service training.  With £100 she made a down payment for the property at 4 Rosedale Avenue in Kingston to start the Housecraft Training Centre. The Centre opened in January 1946 with a mission to train girls to bring out the best in themselves, to teach them respect for the self and the job. In essence her mission was to equip them with self sufficiency and self reliance. Here she mothered 6000 girls along with her adopted daughter.Amy  was co-founder and first Chairman of the Women's Liberal Club which fought to give women an acceptable place in the world both outside and inside the home. She fought relentlessly for the liberation of women and fervently believed that women should qualify themselves in order to achieve their aspirations and not be rewarded with inferior positions because of their sex. She along with Mae Farquharson, while in England raising funds for the Save-the-Children Fund, was advised that the real problem facing Jamaican women relates to the high birth rate. Having realized this, she quickly responded to the problem by teaching birth control on a small scale. Amy along with Dr. Hyacinth Lightbourne and others in 1938 organized the first birth control league.Amy Bailey is a strong Jamaican, inspired by Marcus Garvey, who believed in the dignity of people and the fight against racial discrimination and the marginalization of women.In 1938, she lectured at a Glasgow Peace Conference, Interlaken, Switzerland. She also visited the United States on tours to raise funds for the Housecraft Training Centre. She served on several organizations as:

 

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Cecil Baugh  

Cecil Baugh – the ‘Master Potter’ was born in Bangor Ridge, Portland in about 1909 and attended the Bangor Ridge Primary School.

During his adolescent years he was given the task to take food for his brother at Long Mountain Road (now Mountain View Avenue. It was here that he was first exposed to the ancient art of pottery. Young Cecil Baugh watched the women who made and fired the yabbah bowls which were produced by a technique which survived from the days of slavery itself, and was of African origin. His first efforts were limited to ‘dollyhouse’ items including little clay tables and chairs, which brought him earnings of three shillings a week on average. He soon ‘graduated’into making flower pots and yabbahs. He increased his earnings but more importantly, fuelled the fires of his ambition. After living for a while in Richmond, St. Ann with his brother who had by then become a tradesman and for a while in Montego Bay, Cecil Baugh returned to Long Mountain to make pots. His efforts in other parts of the island were not as successful as he would have liked. The right type of clay was important and that from the Liguanea Plains was ideal.

He was about 25 years old in 1933 when an incident occurred bringing a new dimension to his work and changing the face of ceramics in this country. One night while firing his day’s work he noticed fire escaping through the top of his rude kiln. Not wanting the temperature to drop he quickly grabbed the nearest thing he could find to cover it. It was a sheet of copper. As the copper became increasingly hot, he saw a flame coming from it. It was not orange-red as he was used to, but turquoise. As it licked at the night Cecil Baugh thought it was the prettiest colour he had ever seen, and he thought about capturing that colour in his work. Having no formal education in chemistry he quite often did not get the colours he tried for, but whatever came out was new to Jamaicans and he sold all he could make.

In 1941, in response to a newspaper advertisement Cecil Baugh enlisted in the Royal Engineers of the British Army. He kept in close touch with his art, but because of World War II, work in ceramics was at a minimum. He claimed that in 1942 his Division was sent to Cairo and it was there that he saw the Persian Blue, a colour quite similar to what he had got using copper oxide and glass in Jamaica. He was greatly encouraged.

Cecil wanted to know everything there was to know about ceramics to enhance his teaching skills upon returning to Jamaica. When he returned to Jamaica in 1946 he was not satisfied with the extent of his knowledge. He wanted to return to England to study under the most respected figure in ceramics in the Western world, Bernard Leach, however, no scholarships were available and when contacted, Leach said he had no time for beginners.

Cecil remained undaunted, went to England to study with another ceramist, and would not rest until he managed to secure a one-year term under the guidance of Bernard Leach. It was the beginning of a friendship, which lasted throughout the years. He returned to Jamaica in 1949 and in 1950 mounted his first one-man exhibition. Soon after with Albert Huie, Linden Leslie, Jerry Isaacs and Edna Manley formed the Jamaica School of Art. Cecil Baugh was the last to leave the institution when he retired in 1975.

Strength and simplicity – these two features above all epitomize the feel of Cecil Baugh’s pottery. And for him, this skill was not easily acquired as part of a planned art course, but was rather built throughout the years by ceaseless experimenting with materials available to him and by determinedly seeking to learn from those more skilled than himself in order to improve his work. He gave nearly half a century of his life to pottery – at first discovering and improving his own skills and later passing these skills on to others. Ceramics in Jamaica now have their own unique form, authentically Jamaican, evolved by Jamaicans for Jamaicans.

To have helped to achieve this status for this ancient craft is a life’s work to be proud of. And in more ways than one has Cecil Baugh been the Bernard Leach of Jamaican pottery, for he is also an artist acclaimed both here and abroad for the simplicity, beauty and craftsmanship essential in all of his excellent work.

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Edward Alston Cecil Baugh, C.D., B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Born in Port Antonio, Portland on January 10, 1936, Edward Baugh is the son of 
Edward Percival Baugh, Purchasing Agent and Ethel Maud Duhaney-Baugh. He was Professor Emeritus of English since 1978 (retired September 30, 2001) as well as Public Orator since 1985. Baugh is also a poet and an actor. 

Baugh was educated at Titchfield High School in Portland. After completing his secondary education, he won a Jamaican Government Exhibition to the University College of the West Indies and read English. He then won a R. S. McLaughlin Fellowship to do postgraduate studies at Queens University in Ontario, Canada and a Commonwealth Scholarship to the University of Manchester, England where he obtained a Ph.D in English in 1964. 

He taught at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies for three years (1965-1967) and at the Mona Campus for over thirty three years (1968-2001). He has also held visiting appointments at the University of California, Dalhousie University, University of Hull, University of Wollongong, Flinders University, Macquarie University, University of Miami and Howard University. 

Edward Baugh has a distinguished record of academic, administrative and public service, some of which include Head of Department of English, and Dean and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and General Studies (now Humanities and Education). He has also adjudicated regional and international literary competitions and prizes such as the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Guyana Prize for Literature. 

Baugh is a prolific writer and has a long list of publications to his credit. This include, "It was the Singing" (2000), "I was a Teacher too" (1991), "A Tale from the Rainforest" (1988), "Derek Walcott: Memory as Vision" (1978), "Critics on Caribbean Literature" (1978) and "West Indian Poetry 1900-1970: A Study in Cultural Decolonisation" (1971).

Baugh has had an exemplary career as a superb and inspiring teacher and intellectual mentor whose generosity and rigorous expectations shaped several generations of Caribbean literary scholars.  

Awards

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Isaac Mendez Belisario  

Born in the city of London between 1790-1800, Isaac Mendez Belisario was the son of a prosperous merchant and probably the grandson of a famous Rabbi of the same name. He was an etcher and painter.

"Koo, Koo or Actor Boy" 

An Italian Jew, Belisario is best known for the etching of the interior of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. This painting was exhibited at London's Royal Academy in 1815. It was later hung in the Bevis Marks Synagogue where it still can be seen, having survived the bombings of World War II, which devastated much of the surrounding areas. 

Perhaps one of the last works by Belisario was his painting of the famous actress Ellen Kean in 1832. Not long after its completion he left London, sailing for Kingston, Jamaica, where he had close relatives. Once he settled he made himself known as a very competent landscape painter, using mostly water-colours, but he also accepted commissions for portraits, which were said to be of a high quality bearing "striking likenesses" to the subjects. 

Two years later Belisario gained national attention with a set of twelve lithographs, which became known as "Sketches of Character in illustration of the Habits, Occupation and Costume of the Negro Population in the island of Jamaica."

"Queen or "Maam" of the Set-Girls"

Seven of the pictures were used for stamps (and two souvenir sheets) to mark Christmas 1975 and 1976. The series was immensely popular with Jamaicans. Reproductions of these are used extensively in publications on Jamaican culture and festivals. 

It is not known exactly when Isaac Belisario died nor where he was buried. 

 

A list of some of his works in his "Sketches of Character..." are:

• "Red Set-Girls, and Jack-in-the-Green"
• "Queen or "Maam" of the Set-Girls"
• "Koo Koo or Actor Boy"
• "Jaw Bone, or House John Canoe"
• "Milkwoman" 
• "Creole Negroes"
• "French Set-Girls"
• "Lovey"
• "Water-Jar Seller"
• "Band of the Jaw-Bone John Canoe"

 

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The Hon Louise Bennett-Coverley

Louise Bennett-Coverley is a poet and folklorist of international reputation, an every-green radio and television personality; an author of folk stories; a dominant personality of Jamaican theatre for four decades.  In short she is a living - and more often than laughing - a legend in her time.

"Miss Lou" was born on September 7, 1919.  She was educated at St. Simon's College and Excelsior School, both in Kingston, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

At an early age she began performing at church concerts, around campfires and for her school friends.  She started writing poetry as a schoolgirl after an experience on a tramcar while on her way to the cinema.  The first poem was called "Spred out yuself Lisa".

Her honours have ranged from the Member of the Order of the British Empire awarded by Queen Elizabeth II in 1961, the Musgrave Silver Medal, the Norman Manley Award of Excellence, and in 1974, the Order of Jamaica which entitled her to be addressed as 'the Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley'.

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The Rt. Hon. Sir Alexander Bustamante

Sir Alexander Bustamante was born on February 24, 1884 , the son of Robert Constantine Clarke, an Irish planter and Mary Clarke (nee Wilson) a Jamaican of mixed blood.  He was named William Alexander Clarke, but later changed his name in 1944 to William Alexander Bustamante.  He was the second of five children of the Clarke family.  He had three sisters, Louise, Iris and Maude and a younger brother, Herbert.  He also had two elder sisters, Ida and Daisy Clarke, by a previous marriage of his father.  His grandmother Elsie Clarke-Shearer was also the grandmother of Bustamante’s contemporary and fellow National Hero, Norman Washington Manley.

For thirty years, beginning in 1905, the restless Bustamante traveled extensively in the hemisphere particularly to Cuba, Panama , and the United States trying his hand at a variety of occupations including security work, dairy farming, transportation and pen keeping.  It is believed that Bustamante made a considerable amount of money speculating on the Wall Street stock market.  Back in Jamaica in the mid-thirties his money-lending business prospered, but while it gave him a livelihood it also opened his eyes to the appalling plight of the poor.

Bustamante began participating in trade union activities before 1938 and developed a public reputation as a spokesman of the downtrodden.  The violent labour disturbances during 1938 and his attempts to mediate and bring about a reduction in tension between the parties resulted in Bustamante being projected as the country’s “Labour Leader”.  The authorities viewed him as a troublemaker and this resulted in his detention in 1938 and again in 1940.

The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) was formed in 1939 and over the next few years Bustamante displayed charisma in his ability to gain significant benefits for the workers he represented.  In the latter part of 1943 Bustamante followed the example set by Manley and used the membership of the BITU to build a political party.  Bustamante’s success in negotiating substantial gains for large groups of workers fuelled further support for the Jamaica Labour Party and when the elections of December 1944 were held the party won with a land-slide victory.Later in 1962 when Jamaica became independent Bustamante was named the new nation’s first Prime Minister.  One month later he married his private secretary, Miss Gladys Longbridge.

HONOURS

Two years after taking office Bustamante, then 80 years old, became ill.  He never returned to active involvement in the affairs of state.  He officially retired in 1967 and died on August 6, 1977 at the age of 93 years.

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The Honourable Gladys Maud Bustamante O.J., J.P. (1912- )

 

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Samuel Carter

His Grace, the Most Revd. Samuel E. Cater was born on July 31, 1919 to Wilfred and Marie Carter. He attended the St. Aloysius Primary School in Kingston under the management of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. After successfully completing his secondary education he went to St. Simon's to teach Latin (1939-41). Immediately following St. Simons in 1941 he worked as a Clerk in the Treasury and Finance Department until 1944.

In August 1944 he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Shadowbrook, Massachusetts and pronounced his First Vows as a Jesuit in 1946. The following year he went to do a Bachelors of Arts Degree and in 1950 his Master's Degree in Philosophy at Weston College. Having taught Sociology  for one year at Holy Cross College, Worchester, Massachusetts he returned to Weston College in 1951 to pursue studies in Theology and achieved a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). Samuel Carter did not stop there, In 1954, after he was ordained, he went to St. Bueno's College, England, to study  Ascetical Theology and in 1958 he attended the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work and obtained the Master's Degree in Social Work (MSW).

Samuel Carter throughout his career served as:

 He has many first throughout his career. He was the first:

• Headmaster of Campion College,

• Jamaican Rector of St. George's College,

• Jamaican Roman Catholic Bishop,

• Jamaican Archbishop of Kingston,

• Chairman of the Conference of Churches - he was elected in 1973 at the Inaugural Meeting as the Chairman.

Samuel Carter earned several awards of Honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L.D.) from the:

He was also awarded the Bicentennial Award from Boston College School of Social Work  and a Honorary Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) from Bethany College, Bethany, U.S.A in 1996.

Archbishop Carter served on many Commissions and  Conferences either as Chairman or as a member. He was said to have developed a passion to serve mankind from an early age. He worked  relentlessly in the innercity communities to spread the Eucharist of Love.  He retired November 11,1994 and died September 3, 2002. 

Archbishop Emeritus Samuel Carter's motto was "That all may be one". He undertook many challenges and throughout his career he impacted positively on the development of the mind of many to whom he had come into contact with and those who knew or heard of him.

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Sir Howard Felix Hanlan Cooke ON, CD, GCMG, GCVO

Howard Felix Hanlan Cooke was born on October 15, 1915 in the "free village" of Goodwill, St. James. His parents were Mary Jane Minto, seamstress and butcher and David Brown Cooke, wheelwright and carpenter. 

Sir Howard started from humble beginnings. He remembered that at times the community could be very dry. When this happened he and others had to walk long distances to fetch water which they carried on animals, in drums and sometimes on their heads. In his youth Howard Cooke and all the boys went to school without shoes, only girls wore shoes.

Sir Howard was educated at elementary and private schools, Mico College and London University. It was in 1933 at the age of 18 that Howard Cooke was accepted among the top twenty of 120 candidates to enter Mico College. He had performed so well in the entrance examination that he was selected to teach the first lesson that year at Mico Practising School. This however didn't go very well as Cooke was told that his lesson on "Books" was the worst delivered at the college in a very long time. 

Despite his mortification Cooke strived as his instructor E. A. Moore who encouraged him to continue. He was told he had the ability to control the classroom and he also knew how to handle the children. With Mr. Moore's help he was able to better prepare his lessons. With this advice and several books on specialized teaching "Cooksie", as he was fondly called scored the highest mark in the college that year.

Howard Cooke was also a great cricketer, later he went on to play football. He played in the Evelyn Cup at Mico College and he also played house matches in football.

He graduated in 1935 and was awarded the Duff Memorial Prize. He returned to Mico one month later as Junior Master where he taught Sports, Agriculture and taught lessons at the Practising School until 1939. At age 21 he became the president of the St. Andrew Teachers Association. His teaching career spanned 23 years as after he left Mico College and Practising School, he later served as Headmaster at Belle Castle All Age School, Port Antonio Upper School and Montego Bay Boys School. He was also was a member and former President of the Jamaica Union of Teachers. 

In 1938 at the age of 23, Howard Cooke became one of the founding members of the People's National Party (PNP), thereby starting his political career. He was chosen along with another member from the Jamaica Union of Teachers to represent that group in the formation of that party. Mr. Cooke was one of those who drafted the the PNP constitution. He also became a member of the West Indies Federal Parliament from 1958 to 1962, a Senator from 1962 to 1967, a member of the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1980, Minister of Government 1972 to 1980, as well as President of the Senate from 1989 to1991. As minister he held at different times, the portfolios of Pension and Social Security, Education, Public Service and Labour. 

Sir Howard also had an illustrious career in the insurance industry where he started as Branch Manager of the Standard Life Assurance Company in Montego Bay from 1960 to1971. He later went on to the American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) where he was also Branch Manager from 1982 to1991. He left the Montego Bay Branch after he was appointed Governor General on August 1, 1991. His Excellency, The Most Honourable Sir Howard Cooke, became the third native Governor General since Jamaica gained independence in 1962. 

Sir Howard Cooke and his wife, Lady Sylvia Lucille Tai-Cooke have been married for over 65 years and are parents to three children, two sons and a daughter. 

Among the honours and awards accorded to Sir Howard are: 

• Knight (GCVO) 1994

• The Knighthood (GCMG) bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen 1991

• Mico College Gold Medal Award for outstanding service 1991

• Order of the Nation 1991

• Special Plaque awarded by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association 1980

• Commander of the Order of Distinction 1978  

Sir Howard Cooke demitted office February 16, 2006.

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Frank Cundall

Frank Cundall was born in London on the 17th of January 1858. Frank Cundall was married twice and had two children. His son was the Hon. Leslie Cundall, Q.C., Attorney General of Jamaica and his daughter, Mrs. Frances Wiehen who was married to Mr. Guy Weihen, a Master of Munro College, St. Elizabeth.

Mr. Cundall held the position of Assistant Secretary in 1883 to the International Fisheries Exhibition and from 1884-85 to the Health and Inventions Exhibition. In 1879, Sir Anthony Musgrave, the then Governor of Jamaica, founded the Institute of Jamaica. At a special meeting of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Jamaica held in 1890, Frank Cundall was appointed Secretary and Librarian. He arrived in Kingston on February 6, 1891.

Prior to his appointment Frank Cundall was an author. He was the author of The Landscape and Pastoral painters of Holland  and Reminiscences of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition.

During his tenure at the Institute of Jamaica his focus was on historical research and the development of the West India Reference Library. It was his past involvement in exhibitions that lead to the quick creation of  the Art Gallery at the Institute. Cundall used his connections overseas to acquire most of the Institute's collection. He saw to the collection and preservation of all types of materials on all the Caribbean Islands with the greater emphasis on Jamaica. Cundall, with minimal support from the government made significant contribution to the development of the West India Reference Library now the National Library of Jamaica.

Awards

In 1929, His Majesty King George V was pleased to confer on him the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).

His Involvement

• He was Chief Assistant Secretary to the Royal Commission of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886.

• For many years he was a Church warden of the St. Andrew Parish Church and Lay Representative of the Synod of the Church of England in Jamaica.

• He was a Fellow of the Society of the Antiquarians and of the Royal Historical Society

• He was an Honorary Corresponding Member of the Institute Historique et Heraldique de France, the American Antiquarian Society, the American Jewish Society, the Hispanic Society of America, the Ontario Historical Society and the Academic des Jeux Florimontains.

Some of his Publications

Mr. Cundall was a prolific writer and a bibliography of his works make for much reading. The items include:

• The Story of the life of Columbus and the Discovery of Jamaica