SUNDAY, March 25, 2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the 1958 Federal Election, which not only played its part in shaping Jamaica’s hectic political history but also revealed some rather interesting facts, trends, strengths and weaknesses of our two major parties at a time when we were still within the embryonic stage of our political development, and barely a decade beyond our new constitution which came with adult suffrage in 1944.

Chronologically, it was really our fourth general election, or a kind of special extraordinary election which took on the mood and partisan nature of a regular general election. It was called just over a year before the end of Jamaica’s third parliamentary term, when the People’s National Party (PNP) attained power for the first time. But it was interesting to note that this particular election was quite unique, in that it became the only one in our modern era that harkened back to shades of the old system (before 1944) when electors voted for candidates or members who represented an entire parish (or county).

However, the 1958 Federal Election was held solely for the purpose of electing 17 members to represent Jamaica in the House of Representatives of the West Indies Federation, located in Port of Spain, Trinidad. To avoid confusion with our own existing 32 constituencies (at the time), Jamaica decided to use her 14 parishes and three counties for the 17 single-member electoral areas, so that for the first time on election day voters were asked to vote once for two candidates — their choice for the parish and their choice for the county. The two main political parties of the federation — the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and the West Indies Federal Labour Party (WIFLP) were locally designated to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the PNP, respectively.

Ironically, both the 1958 Federal Election (and later the 1961 referendum) provided landslide victories for the JLP at a time when the PNP ruled supreme in the late 50s, which seemed to indicate the people’s preference for Sir Alexander Bustamante’s more cautious leadership and approach to Federation, rather than Norman Manley’s idealistic plunge into the federal quagmire, especially after the PNP’s very slim four-seat margin in the 1955 General Election.

But by the late 1950s, the subject of a West Indian Federation was not exactly new. From as far back as 1947, Great Britain had convened an initial meeting of British West Indian leaders (which included Bustamante and Manley) in an effort to get them interested in the idea of setting up some form of political and economic union, at a time when it was felt that Britain clearly wanted to lessen the colonial burden of the empire, especially in the wake of Britain’s costly participation in World War II.

Both Bustamante and Manley had given the federal idea their full support, but even then Bustamante exhibited doubts about Britain’s real intentions, as did those who were Manley’s close allies in the eastern Caribbean such as Trinidad & Tobago’s Dr Eric Williams and Sir Grantley Adams of Barbados.

During the 1947 conference he had warned against “a federation of paupers, foisted by Britain to escape her ancient responsibilities”. And at another conference in London in 1956 to strategise plans for the federation, he sent a cable to the JLP spokesman advising him “not to agree to one penny increase in taxation of any kind. We have our own distress here. It cannot be federation at the expense of a greater poverty”. In fact, by 1956 it had become quite clear that despite Manley’s enthusiasm, the British Colonial Office was in no haste to expedite the federation to dominion status as was widely circulated by the federalists throughout the Caribbean, and which now loomed as a total drawback to the original federal idea.

Anyway, in spite of the obvious obstacles, Jamaica became a member of the West Indies Federation when it was formally inaugurated in April 1958, along with the other nine members which included Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, and Montserrat.

Prior to the federal election the JLP had ruled for two terms (1944-1955), the PNP won its first national victory in 1955, independents went from five seats in ’44 to two in ’49 then no more, and no third party was ever elected to anything. Independents took the first parish council election under adult suffrage in 1947, but their numbers declined dramatically afterwards, which led to PNP victories in 1951 and 1956, but no JLP parish council success until 1966.

However, after winning the first by-election in 1946, the JLP retained seats in four by-elections, lost two to the PNP and one to an independent, while the PNP won six by-elections, retaining three seats, taking two from the JLP and one from an independent. The by-elections up to that point were mostly due to unseatings of various forms and the untimely passing of the first five members of the House which included Dr the Rev Felix Gordon Veitch (JLP), Matthew M Thelwell (JLP), Sir Harold E Allan (Ind), Isaac WA Barrant (JLP), and Noel N Nethersole (PNP).

The first constitutional changes had come in 1953 when the Executive Council, which provided for five “ministers” in embryo and a majority party leader (Bustamante), was upgraded to ‘chief minister’ status with an increase of ministers from five to eight.

With his first electoral victory in 1955 Manley became Jamaica’s second chief minister with his eight ministers, but the next constitutional changes actually occurred on November 11, 1957 when a new constitution was proclaimed, heralding the beginning of internal self-government, and the Executive Council over which the governor presided met for the last time. With that constitution the office of chief minister was changed to “premier”, who presided over a “Cabinet” of 10 members and two ministers without portfolio replacing the Executive Council, and the title and power of the colonial secretary reduced. The new Cabinet and executive body no longer consisted of nominated members and took on the responsibilities of all Government activities, except foreign trade and defence.

So, fast-forward to March 25, 1958 — Manley having been elevated to premier four months earlier, now had an increased Cabinet, increased power, and a new constitution that reduced the Executive Council, the British governor, the colonial secretary and no doubt a few other foreign ‘hi-ups’ in the civil service in one fell swoop. With all of that power and influence, it was inconceivable that Manley and the PNP could have lost the 1958 Federal Election, except it revealed that for a moment in time the party still lacked serious organisation at the grass roots level when the larger picture of entire parishes (and counties) were used as electoral areas. Interestingly, now relegated to Opposition leader, it was Bustamante whom The Queen had knighted shortly after his defeat in 1955.

But while polls were non-existent in those days, the political climate in the parishes and counties mirrored their present status to some extent, but also established some rather interesting and unusual results. Of the 14 parishes, Kingston, St Andrew, St Ann, Manchester, and Westmoreland were regarded as strong PNP parishes, while St Thomas, St Catherine, Clarendon, Trelawny, and Hanover were staunch JLP parishes. The others were considered marginal, but Portland and St Mary had established political strength for both parties, while St Elizabeth and St James, though still marginal, were trending more resplendently to the PNP.

However, in spite of the PNP’s improved electoral gains since 1949, it took a real battering in the federal election when the JLP swept 12 (70.6 per cent) of the 17 parish and county electoral areas to their five (29.4 per cent), and lost all but the parishes of Kingston, St Ann, Manchester, Trelawny and St James.

With an electorate of 807,411 in 1958 (an increase of 46,713 new voters above the 1955 voters’ list) the total voter-turnout was 432,772 (53.61 per cent) in the parish electoral areas and 432,568 (53.60 per cent) in the county electoral areas. The JLP polled 228,332 votes (52.8 per cent) in the parishes and 222,901 votes (51.5 per cent) in the counties, while the PNP polled 190,611 votes (44.0 per cent) in the parishes and 191,914 votes (44.4 per cent) in the counties. The JLP won nine of the 14 parish areas (64.3 per cent) and all three county areas (100 per cent), leaving only the other five seats (35.7 per cent) in the parish areas which the PNP won.

Only one independent candidate, LA Fountain, contested the election in the parish of Clarendon and polled 945 votes (2.3 per cent) in that contest. Similarly, only one third party candidate, Lascelles Murray with his People’s Freedom Movement, contested the election in Hanover and garnered 826 votes (7.3 per cent). Overall, rejected ballots totalled 14,906 (3.4 pr cent) of the average of 432,670 ballots polled, which demonstrated that Jamaican voters had matured considerably since the grand total of 39,932 (10.3 per cent) rejected ballots in 1944.

The Kingston parish electoral area became a battle of the KSAC councillors and was won by the PNP’s Ralph Brown, who defeated the JLP’s George P McFarlane by 2,042 votes (5.1 per cent). Brown, a newcomer to KSAC politics in 1956 and the only PNP winner in the county of Surrey, served the municipality for over 16 years (including as mayor of Kingston) and for over 11 years as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston Central. McFarlane also served as mayor of Kingston and as councillor for the Port Royal Division (1947-60) in East Kingston & Port Royal.

The St Andrew parish area was a shocker, where both PNP President Manley and Vice-President Noel Nethersole held two of the three parliamentary seats. The parish was captured by the JLP’s Melbourne A Hector. A merchant tailor but relatively unknown to politics, he crushed the popular and well-known PNP’s Leacroft H U Robinson by 3,177 votes (4.1 per cent). Hector was also the brother-in-law of JLP’s MHR Edwin Allen.

The JLP’s Robert Charles Lightbourne took the St Thomas parish area in his first political contest, defeating the PNP’s AG McQueen by 7,023 votes (28.9 per cent), then later became the first member to resign from the federation in 1959 when he successfully contested the St Thomas Western seat for the JLP in Jamaica’s House of Representatives, serving as a senior Cabinet minister, as well as a deputy leader of the JLP. McQueen served only one term as the PNP Councillor for the White Horses Division, 1956-60.

The Portland Electoral Area became another battle of councillors when the JLP’s Clement T Afflick defeated the PNP’s Kenneth G Wright by 2,183 votes (10.0 per cent). As the JLP councillor for the Hope Bay Division since 1947, Afflick is perhaps best remembered as the candidate who retained the Portland Eastern seat for the party following the death of Cabinet Minister Kenneth AN Jones in the 1964 by-election return rivalry with Ken Wright. As the PNP councillor for the Fairy Hill Division since 1956, Wright later defeated Afflick in 1967 and served as Portland Eastern MP until 1976.

The St Mary area was captured by the JLP’s Morris Cargill, lawyer, author, and journalist, who defeated the PNP’s Ivanhoe Cameron by 3,088 votes (9.0 per cent), planter and councillor for the Carron Hall Division since 1947. Cargill also became one of those who withdrew early from the federation, but not before some rather disparaging remarks about the structure and function of the federation.

Another battle of councillors was fought in the St Ann area and saw the PNP’s Franklin B Ricketts defeat the JLP’s Sidney A Lambie by 4,011 votes (15.6 per cent). Ricketts, who had served as PNP councillor for the Salem Division since 1947, returned there after the federation as an elected independent councillor in 1966, then switched as JLP candidate against the PNP’s Elon Wilson in St Ann North Western, 1967, before another stint as Salem councillor, 1969-74. Lambie later served as JLP councillor for the Bamboo Division, 1960-66.

The Trelawny electoral area turned out to be the closest of the parish areas as, surprisingly, the PNP’s Albert U Belinfanti scraped home by 242 votes (1.5 per cent) against the JLP’s Elliston H Wakeland, in spite of no PNP representation in the parish since 1944. An educator and a native of New Green, Manchester, whose career spanned over 30 years in various schools across the island, Belinfanti became principal of Falmouth Government School, 1952-58, and later MP for Trelawny Southern, 1967-80. Wakeland also served as JLP MP for Trelawny Northern from 1959 until his passing in 1967, but not before defeating his federal rival in the 1962 General Election.

The St James area was also won by another educator, the PNP’s Howard FH Cooke who defeated the JLP’s Dr Herbert W Eldemire by 1,811 votes (9.1 per cent) — an expected result, with the PNP capturing both St James seats in the 1955 General Election. Eldemire would later avenge his defeat against Cooke in their 1962 encounter in St James North Western and served as a Cabinet minister and a St James MP until 1980. Cooke served as PNP MP for St James North Western, 1967-80, and as Jamaica’s third native governor general, 1991-2006.

The Hanover area went to the JLP’s Sydney B Stone, councillor for the Lucea Division since 1956 who defeated the PNP’s EW McHayle by 2,015 votes (17.8 per cent), with Lascelles Murray and his PFM polling 826 votes (7.3 per cent). Interestingly, Stone and McHayle became the only pair of federal opponents who sought no further political glory, but Lascelles Murray disbanded the PFM and ended JLP domination in West Hanover for the PNP in 1959, but was later trounced twice by the JLP’s Cleveland Stanhope in 1962 and 1967.

The Westmoreland area turned out to be another shock when the JLP’s little-known Constantine Winston Swaby conquered the PNP’s legal eagle Dudley J Thompson by 875 votes (3.8 per cent), the second-smallest margin of the parish electoral areas. Again, this was at a time when the PNP controlled both Westmoreland seats in the Parliament. Swaby came to prominence in the 1955 election as an independent who polled 12.6 per cent of the votes in Westmoreland Eastern, then emerged as the second JLP MP for Westmoreland Western, 1962-67. Dudley Thompson served as PNP senator but had to wait 20 years for his next electoral victory in St Andrew Western in 1978, following his double whammy from Edward Seaga in Kingston Western in 1962 and 1967.

It was another upset victory in the St Elizabeth area when the JLP’s Lionel Upton Densham defeated the PNP’s Dr AR Russell by 1,828 votes (8.0 per cent), especially after the PNP had also swept both St Elizabeth seats in the 1955 election. Densham, an Englishman who had made his home at Gilnock in the parish, was a popular engineer, aviator, planter and sportsman, as well as a member of the St Elizabeth Parochial Board and actually Sydney Pagon’s JLP opponent in the 1962 General Elections in St Elizabeth North Eastern. On the other hand, Dr Russell had family ties to PNP stalwarts William Seivright and Ripton MacPherson.

As expected, the Manchester area went to popular PNP lawyer Louis Patrick (“Pat”) Delapenha, who defeated JLP educator Victor A Bailey by 1,507 votes (5.5 per cent). After the federation, Delapenha was elected PNP councillor for the Mandeville Central Division, 1966-69, while Bailey (who was Amy Bailey’s brother) lost four electoral contests — twice as a PNP candidate in St Mary Eastern in 1944 and 1949, and twice as a JLP candidate against Delapenha in 1958 and against the PNP’s Ernest Peart in Manchester Western in the 1959 General Election.

As anticipated, the Clarendon area went overwhelmingly to the JLP’s Dr Frederick R Duhaney who defeated the PNP’s DES Webb by 15,074 votes (36.1 per cent), the highest margin of the parish electoral areas, with independent LA Fountain polling 945 votes (2.3 per cent). A dental practitioner, Dr Duhaney would later retain the Clarendon North Central seat for the JLP following the death of Prime Minister Sir Donald Sangster, but had to withdraw from the 1972 contest due to injuries in a motor vehicle accident, which propelled Dr Percy Broderick (another dentist) into parliamentary politics as MP for the seat.

The St Catherine electoral area was captured by the JLP’s Winston B Williams, who defeated the PNP’s Dr Linden C Leslie by the impressive margin of 11,971 votes (27.5 per cent). An East Westmorelander and a veteran of independent and third party politics, Williams was an AIP candidate in 1949 and the JLP candidate who polled only 7.5 per cent of the votes in 1955. He then switched to the PNP after federation as their candidate for St Catherine South Eastern and lost by over 5,000 votes to Oswald Douglas.

Bustamante’s disdain for Williams, an avid federalist, spilled over on the campaign trail in 1962, but his brother, A Lloyd Williams, was a JLP candidate in 1976 and his sister, Hazel Monteith, was an independent senator in the 1980s. Dr Leslie, who earlier served as a PNP vice-president, was also the PNP councillor for the Linstead Division, 1956-60.

The three county electoral areas resulted in a complete whitewash for the JLP across the island.

In the four parishes of the Surrey electoral area, the ‘impossible’ occurred when popular PNP foundation member Kenneth George Hill ended up on the JLP platform! After his unceremonious ejection (with the other three H’s) from the PNP in 1952, Hill formed his own National Labour Party under which he campaigned for his Kingston Western seat in 1955. But he only became PNP “spoiler” and afforded the entry of Hugh Shearer into representational politics, and by 1958 he was in the JLP camp. In the Surrey area, Hill trampled the PNP’s KSAC veteran and former Kingston Mayor Balfour Barnswell (a relative of Clarendon’s Scean Barnswell) by 10,380 votes (5.3 per cent), polling 83,929 votes to Barnswell’s 73,549. But Hill, another ardent federalist, was never pleased with Bustamante’s withdrawal from the federation, and when he eventually returned from Trinidad he rejoined the PNP and spent the next 12 years of his life as the PNP councillor for the Pembroke Hall Division in the KSAC, 1969-1981.

However it was the five parishes of Middlesex that produced the most remarkable victory for the JLP when Archdeacon the Venerable Lackland Augustus Lennon demolished the PNP’s Edith Dalton-James by 20,566 votes (12.9 per cent), polling 92,547 votes to her 71,981. A native of Mocho, Clarendon, and an educator and Anglican pastor, Lennon taught and functioned as an Anglican missionary throughout various areas of Nigeria for nearly 30 years before returning to Jamaica to serve as the last MLC for Clarendon, 1943-44. An outstanding educator and one of the few foundation women of the PNP, Dalton-James also lost heavily in the 1944 and 1949 general elections and was never elected to political office.

But it was the five parishes of the Cornwall electoral area that produced the most competitive contest of all, when the JLP’s Ernest W Wakeland surprised the eminent PNP lawyer, Vivian O Blake by the tiniest margin of only 41 votes (0.03 per cent) — perhaps the biggest shock of the election. A relative of the Wakeland family of Trelawny and a veteran of East Westmoreland politics, Wakeland was the JLP candidate in 1949, an independent candidate in the 1952 by-election, a Farmers’ Party candidate in 1955, and the JLP candidate against Max Carey in 1967. Blake had to wait nine years before his first electoral victory in a St Elizabeth South Eastern by-election in 1967, followed by another by-election in St Ann North Eastern in 1974.

The federal election had the lowest voter-turnout (53.6 per cent) in a Jamaican national election until the 2011 General Election which produced a 53.2 per cent voter turnout, and which in 2016 plunged to 48.4 per cent. In the 1958 election St Mary had the highest turnout of 67.5 per cent, the lowest was Hanover’s 40.3 per cent, while Surrey had the highest (59.6 per cent) in the county electoral areas.

In the aftermath of the federal election, Jamaica officially became a member of the West Indies Federation. By mid-1959, the constitution measure was further advanced and extended to full external self-government within the framework of the West Indies Federation.

The Jamaica Constitution Order in Council, 1959 was actually timed to coincide with Manley’s 66th birthday on July 4, 1959, and on July 28 he seized the opportunity to capitalise on his constitutional gains and other achievements and called Jamaica’s first early general elections.

With the increase of constituencies from 32 to 45 the PNP scored a decisive victory, taking 29 of the 45 seats to the JLP’s 16, and securing 305,642 votes (54.2 per cent) to the JLP’s 247,149 (43.8 per cent) in a 66.1 per cent voter turnout. This consolidation of power by the PNP helped to cushion its defeat in the federal election, but the ’59 general election was marred by political violence, intimidation and accusations of political gerrymandering (with the JLP winning only four of the 13 new seats), as well as charges of bogus voting. Indeed, it was estimated that the electoral register had about 12 per cent more voters than the number of eligible voters estimated by the census figures.

In any case, the views of some members of the two major parties were not always in sync with the party line as it related to the West Indies Federation. For instance, there were members in the PNP who were anti-federalists as much as there were members in the JLP who embraced federation. Initially, the pro-federal Labourites included people like Donald Sangster, Edwin Allen and Rose Leon, who, understandably, would have been an exporter of her beauty products to the eastern Caribbean; and later that list included Ken Hill and Winston B Williams. The anti-federalists in the JLP were definitely Bustamante, Seaga, Clem Tavares, Lightbourne and Cargill. Other than Manley’s fervent enthusiasm with federation, other PNP views tended to be more reserved, except for AGS “Father” Coombs and Wills O Isaacs. In a 1961 statement, Coombs harshly criticised Manley’s federal policy and the woes it had brought on the party, while Isaacs, in conversation with a Caribbean leader, was reported to have remarked in disdain that his farm was much bigger than his island!

Manley’s federal problem and his anxiety to call the 1959 General Election clearly started with Lightbourne’s resignation from the federation and his candidacy in the St Thomas Western contest. But it was Bustamante’s stiff refusal to contest the by-election even after the selection of Edwin Allen and Balfour Barnswell by the two major parties, respectively, which clearly gave Manley the confidence to call a referendum in light of his recent electoral conquests.

So the die was cast and, in spite of his victories in 1959 and 1960, the people of Jamaica on September 19, 1961 decided that they had had enough, and voted overwhelmingly not to continue in the federation. The JLP won the referendum by 38,942 votes and by 31 seats to the PNP’s 14, and Jamaica was on her way to Independence.

— Troy Caine is a political historian and analyst.