ST George’s Colonial College was founded in 1850 by 21 Spanish Jesuits who had been exiled from Colombia as part of a religious persecution. The Colombian Government had given them approximately nine hours to leave the country by any means necessary. After they failed to leave, due to the unavailability of transportation, the Government extended their time to 48 hours. Within the 48 hours, a lone ship was leaving for Jamaica, which they boarded.

At their head was Father Emmanuel Gil, a distinguished scholar and former court preacher to the King of Spain. Amidst a storm of protests against Roman Catholic priests opening Jamaica’s first secondary institution for classical and scientific education, St George’s College began its long and proud history.

The early years of the school’s life were uncertain, as it was closed several times in the first few decades of its existence, but the principal at that time bought the present property where the school stands to this day.

On September 2, 1850, in a rented house at 26 North Street, on the southeast corner of North and Orange Streets, the new college opened with 38 day students and 30 boarders. The first subjects taught at St George’s included Latin, Greek, French, English, Rhetoric, History, Mathematics, Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, Drawing and Calligraphy.

After only two years, the Spanish Jesuits, led by founder Father Gil, departed Jamaica to teach in Guatemala, turning St George’s over to the English Jesuits. They left primarily because of the difficulties in language, with English being a second language to them. The school moved to 5 Upper King Street and changed its name to the St George’s Presbytery Secondary School. There it remained until January 1866, when, for reasons which remain unclear, it was closed. A few months later, thanks to Father James Jones, the school reopened with twenty-five (25) students and moved back to its original site at 26 North Street, again under the name St George’s College.

Only three years later, succumbing to the opposition of the Jesuit Superior, the school was closed a second time, around Christmas of 1871. On this occasion, the strong petitions of ninety-two (92) influential Kingstonians convinced the Jesuits to reopen St George’s College; the school reopened in March 1873, but on a smaller scale, with only two Jesuit teachers. The school prospered until September 1877, when it was closed a third time; this closure, however, lasted only a few days. The return of Father James Jones, and the leadership of Father Thomas Porter, assured the continued life and irrepressible growth of St George’s College, which has endured to this day.

— Source: School’s website