From all reports, the announcement that former Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer’s birthplace in Martha Brae will be declared a heritage site has been welcomed by stakeholders in Trelawny. Jamaica’s third prime minister, Shearer died on July 5, 2004 at 81 years and, as things go in this country of ours, is at risk of not being remembered by the younger generation.

In 2002 I visited Martha Brae at the request of Shearer’s biographer to interview some of the older folks and family members who could speak with familiarity about his early years as a boy growing up in the tiny village on the outskirts of Falmouth. The house was empty, but neighbours like Geraldine Steele who grew up with the boy they called Son Lindo shared some fascinating recollections of the youngster who was raised by his mother and grandmother (the Lindos), loved cricket, loved fishing, teased and shared jokes with his numerous friends, and walked the three miles to the ‘Falmouth Government School’ and the William Knibb Baptist Church.

It’s good that we are adding another prime minister’s birthplace to our list of official heritage sites. We know of Sir Alexander Bustamante’s birthplace at Blenheim in Hanover and Norman Manley’s at Roxborough in Manchester. Much has been done to restore and reclaim these sites as historic attractions.

We have also paid some form of recognition to the heritage base of other national heroes — Paul Bogle at Stony Gut in St Thomas; Nanny’s headquarters at Nanny Town, Portland; Sam Sharpe revered at Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay; and Marcus Garvey’s birthplace at 32 Marcus Garvey Way in St Ann’s Bay. There is nothing to mark George William Gordon’s birthplace, which is said to have been on a plantation close to Mavis Bank in St Andrew — disputed by some to have been in Cherry Garden, also in St Andrew. Perhaps Jamaica National Heritage Trust could clarify this for us.

Trelawny residents expect that Shearer’s birthplace will become a tourist attraction. Prime ministers’ homes are always a point of interest, and I feel quite important and like a source of wisdom when I drive past Jamaica House and point it out to my “country bumpkin” cousins.

Former Prime Minister Donald Sangster’s birthplace is off the beaten track at Mountainside in St Elizabeth, but I felt an immense sense of history when I visited the family home in 2008 at the request of his biographer to research information on his early years.

The Shearer announcement will, of course, give rise to the question as to if and when the ancestral home of former Prime Minister P J Patterson will be officially listed as a heritage site, and also those of Portia Simpson Miller, Bruce Golding, and Andrew Holness.

No doubt, Shearer fully deserves this further honour that will be accorded to him. Under his watch as prime minister, 1967-72, Jamaica recorded the most favourable growth rates in the history of this country to date. Yet he was a most humble man; never forsaking his rooted origin in his little hometown Martha Brae, walking effortlessly with kings, yet never losing the common touch.

He was, after all, Bustamante’s right-hand man, and both men discovered a bond between them that shared personality characteristics of a sense of humour, outstanding generosity, capacity for forgiveness, unselfishness, and undying patriotism.

Shearer’s modesty was demonstrated by the instructions he repeatedly gave his close friends and staffers; he did not want any roads nor institutions named after him.

If Sangster was “the forgotten prime minister” — as his biography is titled — then Shearer was “the reluctant prime minister”.

Handsome, debonair, a powerhouse as Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) leader, and successor to Bustamante in his Clarendon seat. He was always Bustamante’s choice to succeed him as party leader and prime minister. But he never wanted the job, and he always gave Sangster his full support.

But consider this: The Office of Prime Minister was made vacant by the untimely death of Sangster on April 11, 1967. He had been in office for a mere seven weeks since the general election held on March 21. During his period of illness, and with the chances of his survival decreasing day by day, the Government and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had no choice but to name a successor to Sangster in case of his demise.

There were several aspirants seeking the position. A high drama was about to unfold.

Acting Prime Minister Clem Tavares laid out his claim as deputy party leader. Across the room Trade and Industry Minister Robert Lightbourne was also seeking the post, and had even sketched out the names of his Cabinet which he showed to Governor General Sir Clifford Campbell.

With doubt all round as to how to proceed, Attorney General Victor Grant advised Sir Clifford that, according to the constitution, he was obliged to choose an elected member of the House “best able to command the confidence of a majority of the House”. The governor general, mindful of the constitution, summoned the JLP parliamentarians to a meeting on April 5 to decide.

They decided to vote by secret ballot. Just before the voting began, House Speaker E C L Parkinson received a letter from Bustamante — who was still the party leader — recommending Shearer to the post and asking that the letter be read to the gathering. Parkinson called the three candidates together, Tavares, Lightbourne and Shearer, and read them the letter, but suggested that it should not be read to the others, as it had been earlier agreed that neither of the candidates should address the meeting. The letter could be construed as a speech on Shearer’s behalf. All three men, especially the reluctant candidate Hugh Shearer, agreed.

The first vote saw Tavares, 12; Shearer, 10; Lightbourne, 8; one spoilt, and guess what. It was always believed that the spoilt vote was Shearer’s. No clear majority, and a second vote was cast. This time Shearer, 16; Tavares, 15. Shearer’s vote was increased to 17 when a vote was taken at Elliston Wakeland’s sickbed.

Back at the hospital in Montreal, Sangster is knighted on April 7. He takes his last breath on April 11, 1967 and, four hours later in Kingston, Jamaica, in the finest tradition of parliamentary democracy, Shearer is sworn in as prime minister.

Fast-forward to the year 2020 and the news that his home has been declared as a heritage site: Residents are already looking forward to the possible tourism upswing for the town of Martha Brae. But in terms of tourism, he has already been there, and done that.

When he assumed the office of prime minister in 1967, the major resort areas on the north coast were concentrated in Port Antonio, Ocho Rios, Runaway Bay, and Montego Bay. Shearer asked Anthony Abrahams, then director of tourism, to establish a Special Projects Department inside the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to develop new attractions and new resort areas.

From his intimate knowledge of his home parish Trelawny, he was able to point them to the Martha Brae River as an alternative attraction for rafting, with the advantage over Port Antonio of being close to Montego Bay — and right in Son Lindo’s backyard. He was also influential in getting the the JTB to set up the Swamp Safari (crocodile exhibition) attraction just outside of Falmouth.

In the meantime, many Jamaicans and tourism interests were unaware of the vast stretch of white sand beaches that lay concealed along the north coast from Duncan’s to Falmouth. It was Shearer who let out the secret and conceptualised a grand New Falmouth Resort Plan that would include the beaches, and build multiple hotels — as happening now — villas, and an international village complex representing countries and cultures as diverse as Jamaica, Japan, England, France, Spain, the USA, India, and Africa.

He announced the project in 1968, it slowed as governments changed hands, and was restarted with the opening of the Trelawny Beach Hotel in 1974.

The plan is coming to pass, and has taken further shape with the development of the Falmouth cruise ship industry.

If we are to learn from history, and give credit where credit is due, we should not only be naming his home as a heritage site, but should be reserving a prominent place in the heart of the new Trelawny tourism landscape to be named in his honour. Indeed, we should seriously consider naming the cruise ship pier the Hugh Lawson Shearer Pier — even if he objects.

In the meantime, and only a few miles down the road, the residents of Martha Brae will understand the historical, cultural and economic significance of a Shearer heritage site.

“It would do a lot in enhancing the idea that good things can come out of Martha Brae. We have long been saying that the greatest resource is its people, and so there is no better demonstration of our resource being our people than the personalities that have come out of Martha Brae. When you look at it, Martha Brae has a man on the $5,000 bill,” boasts Edward Wallace, a Martha Brae resident.

Minister of Culture Olivia “Babsy” Grange is on the right track, but should look again at the huge tourism developments taking place in Trelawny and pay the ultimate tribute to the man who conceptualised the New Falmouth Resort Plan in 1968.

Lance Neita is a historian, public relations professional, and author of the book In Partnership With Jamaica, the story of Kaiser Aluminum’s 50-year partnership with Jamaica . Send comments to the Jamaica or to lanceneita@hotmail.com.