Dated 9 April 1866, the Jamaica Royal Commission report criticized the repression following Morant Bay. It found that martial law lasted longer than necessary, executions were too frequent, floggings reckless, and the burning of homes wanton and cruel. The commissioners also stated that the evidence did not sufficiently prove George William Gordon’s complicity in the uprising or a general conspiracy. The report documented colonial abuses, while its official inquiry still filtered Jamaican grievances through a state process controlled by imperial authorities.
On 23 October 1865, George William Gordon was hanged after a rapid court-martial during martial law. The execution of an elected Jamaican politician who had not been present at the Morant Bay...
On 24 October 1865, Baptist deacon and community leader Paul Bogle was hanged at Morant Bay after capture and trial under martial law. Bogle had organized resistance to court injustice and led the...
On 13 November 1865, the thirty-day period of martial law in Surrey County ended. The uprising had been suppressed within days, yet emergency rule continued while Black Jamaicans faced military...
On 23 January 1866, the Jamaica Royal Commission began its inquiry into the Morant Bay uprising and the colonial government’s response. The commissioners interviewed witnesses and examined the actions...
On 23 March 1866, the British Parliament enacted the Jamaica Act, providing that constitutional acts passed by Jamaica’s legislature would take effect after the Queen’s assent was proclaimed in the...
👉 The Royal Commission reports excessive punishment and insufficient proof against Gordon
Current
9 April 1866
Dated 9 April 1866, the Jamaica Royal Commission report criticized the repression following Morant Bay. It found that martial law lasted longer than necessary, executions were too frequent,...
On 11 June 1866, an Order in Council established a new Crown Colony constitution for Jamaica, replacing the former representative arrangement with a Legislative Council under direct imperial...
On 18 June 1866, Colonial Secretary Edward Cardwell sent Governor Henry Knight Storks a dispatch accepting the Royal Commission’s criticism of the repression. The British Government condemned Gordon’s...
On 28 November 1867, Law 8 of 1867 came into force, creating a new police force for Jamaica. Jamaican institutional histories place this reorganization in the aftermath of Morant Bay and the shift...
On 19 May 1884, the final Order in Council restructured Jamaica’s Legislative Council and restored a limited elected element. Nine of the Council’s members were elected, while the Governor, ex-officio...
On 29 April 1938, a disturbance occurred during weekly wage payment at the West Indies Sugar Company’s Frome Estate in Westmoreland. Workers had been waiting for employment at the new factory, while...
