Jamaica Papers No. 1. Facts and Documents Relating to the Alleged Rebellion in Jamaica and the Measures…
Jamaica Papers No. 1. Facts and Documents Relating to the Alleged Rebellion in Jamaica and the Measures of Repression; including Notes of the Trial of Mr Gordon.

London: The Jamaica Committee, 1866.

Slim octavo, 98 pp; very good in recent halfcalf with gilt lettering, original titling wrappers bound in.

Eyre faces the aftermath.

Collection of documents and testimonies relating to the Jamaica insurrection of 1865.

Collection of documents and testimonies relating to the Jamaica insurrection of 1865.

These documents werepublished to reveal the conduct of the Governor of Jamaica, John Edward Eyre, during the uprising. His prosecution of George William Gordon (a member of the Jamaican legislature of African descent) and subsequent implementation of martial law was widely unpopular, reflecting changing attitudes to race and colonial management in middle-class Britain.

Eyre is also remembered as an intrepid explorer of the Australian interior, revealing vast grazing lands in New South Wales and overlanding parched country in the new colony of South Australia. Eyre departed Australia in 1844, and after a period as Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand he accepted the position of Governor of Jamaica in 1861. He joined the island during a period of significant unrest. The 1838 emancipation decree had had the unwanted effect of causing widespread social displacement and acute poverty amongst the former slave population of Jamaica, and in October 1865 there was a serious riot at Morant Bay. Eyre interpreted the events as a precursor to outright rebellion and declared martial law. Brutal reprisals against the former slave population followed - with floggings, wholesale destruction of dwellings and over 600 executions.

Ref: #4106122