Handbook of Jamaica, 1886-7
pages 139-40
I have found it hard to find information on the very first telegraph line set up in Jamaica. The quotation above from a letter written in 1859 by Samuel Ringgold Ward, the Black American Abolitionist who lived in Jamaica from 1855 until his death in 1866, seems to confirm that a telegraph link had been established between Kingston and Spanish Town early in 1859, or possibly in the previous year. However, the extract from the Handbook for 1886-7 indicates that Governor Charles Darling had proposed an island-wide telegraph system in 1859, but had quickly withdrawn the proposal because of the expense placed on Government by its take-over of the postal system in that same year.
The telegraph line set up in 1858-9 was, it seems, in connection with the operation of the railway line from Spanish Town to Kingston, though it was also used for other types of messages, from time to time. So far I have not been able to find any references to the creation of this telegraph line, though such lines in connection with the railways were quite usual in other countries.
The telegraph line set up in 1858-9 was, it seems, in connection with the operation of the railway line from Spanish Town to Kingston, though it was also used for other types of messages, from time to time. So far I have not been able to find any references to the creation of this telegraph line, though such lines in connection with the railways were quite usual in other countries.
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On June 2, 1859, London newspapers mentioned the setting up of the telegraph line by the manager of the Jamaica Railway, which was considered 'a great event in the history of the progress of the island', according to the Morning Chronicle.
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An extract from a story published in 1864 about two men on a visit to Jamaica shows one of the possible uses of the telegraph connection between Kingston and the capital:
'A trip by the railway between Kingston and Spanish town, was in itself a source of pleasure, expatriated as they had long been from travelling on land by steam. The iron road passes through fields of the rolling prairie grass sprinkled with groves of cashaw, cocoa-nut, and logwood trees. Lagoons also lay in the plain - a wide tract bordered by the blue mountains, which rise abruptly from it, and lose their summits in viewless ether. Fields of the prolific guinea-grass came into view on nearing Kingston.
Shortly after their arrival our heroes fell in with an old friend, who invited them to a ball, which was to come off that evening. "It's all very nice," said Seymour to Fordbrad, when they were alone, "but we've nothing to go in, and it will hardly do to find ourselves in the position of the gentleman, who found his own trousers missing, and a seedy pair belonging to a gentleman of different stature left in their stead." After some inquiry, they ascertained that a telegraph existed between Spanish town and Kingston; their clothes appeared, and to the ball they went, with their opinions enlarged in favour of Jamaica locomotion.' from LOVE'S STRIFE WITH THE CONVENT OR THE HEIRESS OF STRANGE HALL BY EDWARD MASSEY, 1864 |
It would seem certain that the telegraph link between Spanish Town and Kingston was utilised during the events of the later months of 1865; this inaccurate report of the capture of Paul Bogle was sent on the telegraph wire along the railway line, presumably:-
. . . just another reminder - 'don't believe everything you read in the newspapers!'
And an account of the Morant Bay 'Rebellion' written by a young woman who lived through it, also bears witness to the existence of the link:
THE EVIDENCE OF A JAMAICA WITNESS [of the Morant Bay 'Rebellion']
'We have not in Jamaica the regular daily postman, with his welcome rap-tap, to bring us news from absent friends; nor the morning paper, the chronicler of hourly events; no fast-flying trains, which make distance a matter of no moment; no time-and-space annihilating telegraph; one short line of rail and telegraph between Kingston and Spanish Town being the only representatives of these marks of progressive civilisation.'
Chambers Journal 1868
THE EVIDENCE OF A JAMAICA WITNESS [of the Morant Bay 'Rebellion']
'We have not in Jamaica the regular daily postman, with his welcome rap-tap, to bring us news from absent friends; nor the morning paper, the chronicler of hourly events; no fast-flying trains, which make distance a matter of no moment; no time-and-space annihilating telegraph; one short line of rail and telegraph between Kingston and Spanish Town being the only representatives of these marks of progressive civilisation.'
Chambers Journal 1868
There are other references which show clearly the impact of the telegraph inside the island before 1870, chiefly, it must be said, in the operation of the railway:
In the year before Jamaica was to be connected to the world by telegraphic cable, the small beginnings of telegraph in the island were extended and consolidated. Unfortunately, confusion caused in part by those repairs led to an accident which could have been far more serious than it in fact was. The account of the event shows how much the telegraph had been incorporated into the running of the railway.
Daily Gleaner, October 11, 1869 |
. . . and sadly in October 1873 the telegraph wires along the railway line were the apparent cause of the death of a railway company employee:
- Falmouth Post,
- Friday, October 3, 1873
- Intelligence from Spanish Town
- Death from Lightning:
- On Monday September 22, there was, during a heavy fall of Rain, frequent and severe flashes of Lightning. A Gateman named John Brown, employed by the Jamaica Railway Company to attend the Gate by Jones’s Dam on the road to Port Henderson, and who was close to the wires of the Electric Telegraph, was struck by the electric fluid and died instantaneously.
- An inquest was held by Mr. McAnuff, the Acting Coroner.