S POWELL THOMPSON - journalist, lecturer, and teacher,
'My ancestors were Africans and Negroes. I, therefore, although born in British Guiana, am an African Negro.'
S. Powell Thompson, 1897.
introduction:
Samuel Powell Thompson was a Black man, from what was then British Guiana, who lived in Kingston, Jamaica, from perhaps 1870 until 1883 when he left for Colon, in Panama. During his little more than a decade in Jamaica he contributed in a variety of ways to the life of the island. I have never seen any references to Powell Thompson, so I think it may be of some value to report on the activities of this Black man from another part of the Caribbean in the later 19th century; he reminds me to some extent of the Black Bahamian, Robert Love, who made similar, but much more extensive, contributions to Jamaica, in the 1890s and 1900s.
(There is no consistency in the spelling of the surname - Thom[p]son.)
S. Powell Thompson, 1897.
introduction:
Samuel Powell Thompson was a Black man, from what was then British Guiana, who lived in Kingston, Jamaica, from perhaps 1870 until 1883 when he left for Colon, in Panama. During his little more than a decade in Jamaica he contributed in a variety of ways to the life of the island. I have never seen any references to Powell Thompson, so I think it may be of some value to report on the activities of this Black man from another part of the Caribbean in the later 19th century; he reminds me to some extent of the Black Bahamian, Robert Love, who made similar, but much more extensive, contributions to Jamaica, in the 1890s and 1900s.
(There is no consistency in the spelling of the surname - Thom[p]son.)
early life:
There are so far only a few indications of Powell Thompson's life before he came to Jamaica.
He apparently knew William Nicholas Lynch in Georgetown.
'I had the pleasure of meeting one of his sons as a barrister-at-law in another colony'
There are so far only a few indications of Powell Thompson's life before he came to Jamaica.
He apparently knew William Nicholas Lynch in Georgetown.
'I had the pleasure of meeting one of his sons as a barrister-at-law in another colony'
Powell Thompson also spent some time in both St. Vincent and Barbados -
'When I was in St. Vincent, it was my good fortune to meet the Hon. William Lynch, a merchant doing the most extensive business in the island as a fancy storekeeper, etc.
He was also a member of her majesty's privy council and an assistant judge of the supreme court of the country. I had the pleasure of meeting one of his sons as a barrister-at-law in another colony; another of them was in his father's counting-house; and a third was traveling through Europe, doubtless to expand his mind. Mr. Lynch has a history, he has been a slave. In this respect he and I, and the family with which I am connected, differ. He had been a slave, I say: and it must redound to his credit that within a comparatively short period of his emancipation he owned the largest store in the country where he had been enslaved, and employed to wait at his counter one of the sons of his former master.'
'When I was in St. Vincent, it was my good fortune to meet the Hon. William Lynch, a merchant doing the most extensive business in the island as a fancy storekeeper, etc.
He was also a member of her majesty's privy council and an assistant judge of the supreme court of the country. I had the pleasure of meeting one of his sons as a barrister-at-law in another colony; another of them was in his father's counting-house; and a third was traveling through Europe, doubtless to expand his mind. Mr. Lynch has a history, he has been a slave. In this respect he and I, and the family with which I am connected, differ. He had been a slave, I say: and it must redound to his credit that within a comparatively short period of his emancipation he owned the largest store in the country where he had been enslaved, and employed to wait at his counter one of the sons of his former master.'
'In Barbadoes I was delighted with the negro family Bourne, doing an immense business as merchants. The head of this family had been a slave also. One of his sons, Nathaniel, had not long returned from a visit to Paris when I was at Bridgetown, and was conducting the store in the capital, while his father managed the sugar estates in the country.'
He was editor of a newspaper in Grenada for some period:
Grenada Reporter, 1867-1885?
The start of this paper is noted in the 29 June 1867 Times (Barbados). The review of the paper by the Dominica Chronicle reported in the Times (Barbados) is unflattering.
There is an extract from a paper of this title in the
1 August 1885 Times (Barbados).
Editor: S. Powell Thompson
Grenada Reporter, 1867-1885?
The start of this paper is noted in the 29 June 1867 Times (Barbados). The review of the paper by the Dominica Chronicle reported in the Times (Barbados) is unflattering.
There is an extract from a paper of this title in the
1 August 1885 Times (Barbados).
Editor: S. Powell Thompson
He had also at some time been in one of the Danish islands, St. Thomas, St. John or St. Croix.
An item printed very early in his time in Jamaica, indicates that the island was St. Thomas -
'In Saint Thomas he succeeded, according to the Tidende, in attracting large audiences of the intelligent among the community.'
An item printed very early in his time in Jamaica, indicates that the island was St. Thomas -
'In Saint Thomas he succeeded, according to the Tidende, in attracting large audiences of the intelligent among the community.'