History slavery Jamaica
📅 21 September 1837
📍 Jamaica
At the commission hearing in Brown’s Town on 21 September 1837, apprentice Edward Lawrence described Henry James’s severe flogging at Penshurst and what he witnessed afterward. Lawrence said James was old and weak, had been tied to a cart wheel for punishment, and later went to the hospital; Lawrence described seeing his body after he collapsed. The testimony forms part of the evidence gathered into James Williams’s allegations about apprenticeship. It is one witness’s account preserved in an official inquiry, not a full record of James’s life or the experiences of all apprentices.
Sam Sharpe was executed in Montego Bay after the rebellion was suppressed. He had organized a strike intended to press for freedom and paid work, and became one of Jamaica's central symbols of...
On 22 June 1832, the House of Commons ordered a copy of a Jamaica House of Assembly committee report investigating the causes of the recent rebellion and the damage it caused, together with sworn...
The Slavery Abolition Act received royal assent, setting a legal timetable for emancipation across most British colonies. The act did not bring immediate full freedom for most Jamaican adults: it...
The Act took effect in Jamaica. Children under six and people born after the appointed date were free, but most adults were reclassified as apprentices and required to keep working under former...
On 20 September 1837, commissioners George Gordon and John Daughtrey opened public proceedings at Brown’s Town, St Ann. Governor Lionel Smith had commissioned an inquiry into the administration of the...
👉 Apprentices testify about punishment at Penshurst
Current
21 September 1837
At the commission hearing in Brown’s Town on 21 September 1837, apprentice Edward Lawrence described Henry James’s severe flogging at Penshurst and what he witnessed afterward. Lawrence said James was...
On 5 October 1837, the Gordon and Daughtrey inquiry moved its proceedings to St Ann’s Bay and inspected the parish House of Correction. The commissioners examined the institution and its records as...
On 21 October 1837, commissioners George Gordon and John Daughtrey sent Governor Lionel Smith the proceedings of their inquiry. They reported that James Williams’s allegations received “few and...
On 28 November 1837, Marianne Bell, a domestic at Penshurst, swore an affidavit concerning the imprisonment of James Williams and Adam Brown. She stated that food was sent to the prisoners and...
On 29 March 1838, the House of Commons debated immediate abolition of apprenticeship across the British colonies. Speakers cited evidence from Jamaica, including James Williams’s account and reports...
On 6 April 1838, James Stewart moved a clause during debate on the Slavery Abolition Act Amendment Bill that would end apprenticeship in Jamaica on 1 August 1838. He argued that the Jamaican...
