Abraham Alexander Lindo (1775 - 1849) was a Jamaican merchant and planter. After the

French Government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

defaulted on a £560,000 debt owed to Alexandre Lindo (d. 1812), Abraham Lindo was responsible for liquidating his father's assets in hopes of stabilizing the family's financial situation. Further losses came from the abolition of slavery, in which the family was heavily invested, and in sugar crop failures and hurricane damage to their real estate holdings. Nonetheless, Lindo was still considered one of the "remnants of old landed elite" of the island's ruling class. He followed his father into commerce and became the senior partner in Lindo and Co. when his father moved to England. In 1797, AA Lindo & Co. owned two vessels trading coffee, cotton and dry goods between

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and Jérémie. He headed the firm A. A. Lindo & Brothers, was a partner in Lindo, Lake & Co. and Lindo, Henriques & Lindo which operated two transatlantic vessels. His commercial interests included trade with England and the Spanish empire. Abraham lived at Greenwich Park (the first steam powered plantation in Jamaica) and owned Pleasant Hill, a large coffee plantation. In 1805 he subdivided Kingston Pen into small lots which then formed a mixed race working class township known as Lindo's Town. Lindo’s Town included the areas now known as

Trenchtown Trench Town (also Trenchtown) is a neighbourhood located in the parish of St. Andrew, part of which is in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. In the 1960s, Trench Town was known as the Hollywood of Jamaica. Today Trench Town is t ...

and Tivoli Gardens. The last of the lots was sold in 1824. Hurricane damage destroyed both the provision grounds and the coffee crop at Pleasant Hill in 1815. In 1818 he owned Greenwich Park,

Constant Spring Constant Spring is a residential neighbourhood in the north of Kingston, Jamaica. Constant Spring plantation Constant Spring plantation was one of the Regimental Plantations. It was developed by Lt.-Colonel Henry Archibold during the military o ...

, Temple Hall, Tranquility, King's Weston and Pleasant Hill but he had mortgaged Pleasant Hill to the

Hibbert Hibbert is a surname. Its origin can be traced back to the Old Germanic given name ''Hildeberht'', which is composed of German elements '' hilde'' (battle or strife) and ''berht'' (bright or famous). Today it might be translated to "bright battle". ...

family. In 1821 Greenwich Park was sold by auction and by 1825 he was included in a list of debtors made up under the Insolvent Debtors Act. By 1826 he moved to London where he was involved in a campaign to reform the laws that governed West India commerce. He published his correspondence with William Huskisson, the President of the Board of Trade: ''The Injurious Tendency of the modifying of our Navigation Laws''. In 1828 he helped

Morris Jacob Raphall Morris Jacob Raphall (October 3, 1798 – June 23, 1868) was a rabbi and author born in Stockholm, Sweden. From 1849 until his death he resided in the United States. He is most remembered for having declared, on the eve of the Civil War, that the ...

found the Hebrew Review. Lindo "delivered the Sephardi Address on the death of

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

in 1837". In 1839 he published the pamphlet "A Word in Season" which opposed the

Reform movement A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary mo ...

in Judaism. In 1841 he was granted a patent for improvements to be applied to railways and carriages. On 5 February 1812 he married Luna Henriques and "settled £21,000 on his new wife and children she might have - this fund was for her 'separate use and benefit without the control of Abraham Alexander Lindo." They had 14 children including Abraham Lindo and Frederick Lindo. Lindo was known for his involvement in religious matters. He founded a periodical known as the ''Hebrew Review'' in Jamaica. Lindo was also responsible for the establishment of synagogues in Jersey and Cincinnati, Ohio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindo, Abraham Alexander 1775 births 1849 deaths Jamaican Jews Jamaican slave owners Colony of Jamaica people