KINGSTON, Jamaica — Central Clarendon Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Mike Henry, who in a past administration had responsibility for the information portfolio as a state minister, has described as a major historical loss, the destruction of the second-generational house of the late Fred and Cynthia Wilmot, noted journalists, filmmakers and writers who had pivotal roles in the country’s historical development.

The Wilmots’ five-bedroom house, where  their son, former Royal Palm Estate star, Billy ‘CC’ Wilmot, and his family resided in Bull Bay, St Andrew, was gutted by fire on Wednesday evening.

The family records and other historical documentation, including materials dating back to World War 11, were destroyed in the blaze, and Henry has cited the national loss within the family’s personal tragedy.

Noting that for decades he held counsel with the elder Wilmots on matters of historical relevance to the country, both in his governmental and private capacities, including as a publisher, Henry described the senior Wilmots as having been national treasures “whose vast reservoir of precious historical material has suddenly and sadly been destroyed”.

He pointed, for example, to his work with Fred Wilmot in relation to the national transition from black and white to colour television format, and said “Fred was a dynamo in the process of that transition which I led, in terms of his willingness, capacity and dexterity on the subject matter,” with the background to that kind of platform as a historian now suddenly gone up in smoke.

The minister, who presently has responsibility for the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), extended condolence to the Wilmot family, whose talent, he said, had further blossomed in the positive impact of Billy and other members of the family on various aspects of national life.

“Fred and Cynthia Wilmot, like their family overall, were really fine people who brought a real sense of purpose to the country, for which the nation has been proud, and it is with sadness that we learnt of the destruction of their home with its wealth of historical and cultural significance, but, thankfully, no life was lost,” said Henry.