On December 13, 2014, Manchester will celebrate its 200th birthday as Jamaica’s youngest parish. Here, historian Donald I Blair traces aspects of its development.   

Two centuries ago, what would become the parish of Manchester were the hilly districts of Mile Gully, May Day, and Carpenters Mountain in the parishes of St Elizabeth, Vere, and Clarendon.

The distance between the districts and their commercial, administrative, and ecclesiastical centres was vast and so, on November 29, 1814, the white citizens petitioned the Assembly for a parish of their own. On December 13, 1814, the petition was accepted and the Assembly passed Act 55 George.c.23 creating a new parish from the eastern portion of St Elizabeth and the western portions of Vere and Clarendon. The new political entity was named Manchester, in honour of General William Montague, Duke of Manchester, and Governor of Jamaica (1807-27). Manchester became the youngest and sixth largest of Jamaica’s 14 parishes.

The new parish now shared a common western border with St Elizabeth, a northern border with Trelawny, an eastern border with Clarendon, and a southern border with the Caribbean Sea. It occupies an area of 320 miles2 (830 km2) with a varied climate, scenery, and vegetation due to three mountain ranges — May Day Mountain, Carpenters Mountain, and Don Figuero Mountain. The highest point in Manchester is located at Huntley in the Carpenters Mountain at an elevation of 2,770 feet (840 metres) above sea level.

The awesome forces of nature that have lifted parts of the parish to great heights have also carved, sculpted, and enriched it. Over 80 per cent of Manchester’s surface is covered with limestone and so weathering and erosion have combined to create an abundance of sinkholes and caves. The Gourie Cave, on the outskirts of Christiana, is the longest of its kind in Jamaica at 2.2 miles (3.5 km) and the Smokey Hole Cave in Cross Keys, which stakes its claim to be the deepest cave on the island at a depth of 643.5 feet (195 m). The Oxford Cave near Auchtembeddie was once a roosting site for the possibly extinct bat specie P. aphyla. Of no less importance is the cave at New Hall and those of Newport, most of which bear the damaging effect of bauxite mining operations. In her carving and sculpting activities Mother Nature did not forget to create a few rivers in the parish: among them are Alligator Hole River, Alligator Pond River, Gut River, Hector’s River, Two Rivers, and Swift River. Nature has also enriched the parish with an abundance of bauxite which was discovered in 1942. Since then foreign corporations have exploited the mining of this mineral, mainly to their benefit.

Although Manchester’s mountainous terrain made it unsuitable for the cultivation of sugar cane which requires large tracts of flat land, the colonists found other ways to benefit from the land. One way was to introduce less labour-intensive agricultural practices such as cattle rearing and the production of crops such as coffee, citrus, banana, and pimento. Another way was to take advantage of the cool, inviting climate and the natural beauty of the jutting green hills, the blue mountains in the distance, and the gently rolling plains which reminded them of “good ole England”. Manchester soon became a haven for them and other wealthy colonials, thus setting the stage for the parish to be given the title of “Jamaica’s English Village” and in more recent times the “Republic on the hill.” Consequently, Manchester developed a different type of economy and society from those of the other parishes. In the 21st century, Manchester is still the destination of choice for retirees returning from England.

Over the two centuries since it was founded, Manchester has grown and prospered, yet those who have called it home refuse to sit on their laurels. In 1836, the Government took the first step in providing an education for Jamaicans. Almost immediately, the Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Moravians took the lead in procuring the funds necessary for the establishment of schools. So with the ground floor of the Mandeville Court House serving as the first temporary school, others were constructed on church grounds or lands donated by some proprietors.

As Manchester nears its 200th birthday, education continues to be a prime focus as the academic standards of the primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions continue to rise. The closing of the bauxite plants at Kirkvine and Nain, along with globalisation, points to a dire need for diversification of the labour force, a need that only the educational institutions can fill.

From its earliest days Manchester made its mark as a pioneer for new business enterprises. The Mandeville Hotel, one of the oldest in the Caribbean, began operations in 1875. Forty-six years later, Norman Nash founded the Pickapeppa Company at Shooters Hill. The Irish potato was introduced into Jamaica at Bethany in 1902; since then its success has given birth to the Christiana Potato Growers Association. In 1920, Charles Johnson crossed the orange with the tangerine to create a unique citrus fruit which he named ortanique. Four hundred years after the Spanish introduced coffee to Manchester, the Jamaica Standard Products Company started its operations in Williamsfield. The company’s brands include Wallenford Premium Blend, Baronhall Estate Coffee, and High Mountain Coffee. Four years after Jamaica gained its independence, the Pioneer Chocolate Company opened its doors for business at Williamsfield.

In 1987, Diana McIntyre-Pike and Desmond Henry created the first non-governmental organisation for community tourism – the Central and South Tourism Organisation (CESTO). Since then, a company called Countrystyle has emerged to market and develop sustainable tourism throughout the Caribbean.

However, none of the previously mentioned enterprises has impacted Manchester more than the bauxite industry. On the one hand, it has provided stable incomes for both skilled and unskilled labour with its relatively high wages. It has propelled the parish to become ne of Jamaica’s highest per capita incomes. On the other hand, the bauxite industry has raped and pillaged the physical environment for over 50 years.

As the land is productive and resilient, so are its people. Standing tall among them is Jamaica’s National Hero, Norman Washington Manley.

Manley was a Rhodes Scholar, a WWI veteran, an advocate of adult universal suffrage, the founder and leader of the People’s National Party, Jamaica’s first and only premier, and one of the two “Founding Fathers” of Jamaica’s Independence. One of his greatest achievements may be his role in the development of high schools which were open to the majority of Jamaicans.

Molly Rhone, a daughter of Manchester, is the Jamaican Queen of Netball. After her tenure as a player, she served as president of the Jamaica Netball Association and vice-president of the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). In 2003, Rhone stepped into the role of president of the IFNA, becoming the first and only Jamaican female to head an international sporting body.

Mile Gully’s native son, the Right Reverend Bishop Alfred Charles Reid, was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church in 1961. Bishop Reid’s faithful and exemplary service to God and man has propelled him to the position of the 13th Episcopal Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Nothing in the world of entertainment says Jamaica more than its music. The creative geniuses of Ernest Ranglin (b 1932) and Byron Lee (1935-2008) have contributed significantly to that recognition. During the 1950s both men placed their indelible marks on Jamaican music as Ranglin became a proficient jazz guitarist and Lee formed the musical group Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. Both were very instrumental in the creation of ska and made significant contributions to later genres such as rocksteady and reggae.

In sport, the achievements of Arthur Wint rank second to none among the natives of Manchester. After serving in the Royal Air Force during WWII, Wint, who was already an accomplished athlete, left the military and went on to medical school. Here the scholar/athlete balanced his studies with his training resulting in gold and silver medals at the 1948 Olympic Games. He was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medallist.  Wint later served as Jamaica’s high commissioner to Great Britain.