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 prevailing pay remained extremely low. A later parliamentary account said windows were broken and there were no casualties that day; a Jamaican historical account records that workers refused wages they considered inadequate. The date marks an early confrontation in a labor movement rooted in the unequal post-emancipation plantation economy, not an isolated outbreak of disorder.
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...
👉 Frome workers challenge wages during factory construction
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29 April 1938
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...
On 2 May 1938, a crowd of strikers gathered at the company’s office at Old Frome. Colonial authorities told Parliament that the crowd demolished the office and attacked staff and police, after which...
On 23 May 1938, labor disturbances in Kingston included strikes by wharf, transport and public-service workers amid island-wide demands for higher wages. In a statement to Parliament, the Colonial...
On 26 May 1938, serious disturbances occurred in Spanish Town during the wider labor uprising. The Colonial Secretary reported eight casualties among police and the crowd, none fatal, and said order...
On 18 September 1938, Norman Manley and fellow organizers launched the People’s National Party (PNP) at Kingston’s Ward Theatre, in the wake of the island-wide labor unrest. The party connected...
On 8 July 1943, Alexander Bustamante launched the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), closely linked to the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and the labor movement formed amid the 1938 upheavals. The party...
