Russ Campbell’s Blog

Captain Percy Vere Binns,  B.Sc., MC
My Remembrance Day project this year is one of my maternal first cousins twice removed Captain Percy Vere Binns,  B.Sc., MC., who died in action in World War I. Percy was born on 9 Feb 1893 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. His father, Ellis Panton Binns, was...

Rose Hall Great House | Montego Bay, Jamaica
This is the last in my series of essays about Jamaica’s plantocracy. This episode covers some of the customs and practices that perpetuated the system that supported it and some of its worst excesses.
Whites were always a minority in Jamaica, but White settlers, and especially White planters, ruled a society organized around slave labour. This ensured Jamaican colonists would develop a distinctively Creole worldview characterized by the defence of...

Spring Garden Estate, St. George’s | James Hakewill
When they arrived on their first Jamaican sugar estate, slaves received “seasoning,” whereby they accustomed themselves to Jamaican diseases, plantation routine and learned how to use the necessary tools. During this time, they moved into the estate...

In the following paragraphs, we’ll look at the overall environment of the plantocracy. Later, we’ll take a closer look at the day-to-day activities of slave life on the estates and plantations. I have tried to strike a balance between giving an accurate...