Some members of the Barrett family played an important role in the

history of Jamaica The Caribbean Island of Jamaica was initially inhabited in approximately 600 AD or 650 AD by the Redware people, often associated with redware pottery. By roughly 800 AD, a second wave of inhabitance occurred by the Arawak tribes, including the ...

. Hercie Barrett and family members migrated from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, landing on the island of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in 1655. In the years that followed, several family members acquired substantial wealth and influence. They controlled much of the island's mining and agriculture, becoming one of the most prominent

plantation owner A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s of Jamaica.

First Barrett families in Jamaica

The first recorded land patent in the Barrett name was recorded in 1663 in Spanish Town, granted by King Charles II to Hercie Barrett for services to the king. Hercie Barrett was an officer under Admiral

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

and General

Robert Venables Robert Venables (ca. 1613–1687), was an English soldier from Cheshire, who fought for Parliament in the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and captured Jamaica in 1655. When the Anglo-Spanish War began in 1654, he was made joint comm ...

who led the failed invasion of Hispaniola. They then turned their sights on Jamaica, which was much less fortified, and successfully wrested it from Spanish control for the King of England. The first Barretts became an extremely wealthy and influential English family in Jamaica, owning more than 84,000 acres of land and 2,000 slaves in the parishes of Trelawny and St James. The original family home was Cinnamon Hill Great House in St James. The construction was started by Samuel Barrett, who died before its completion. It was completed by his son Edward, and it is Edward's generation of Barretts and their children that became among Jamaica's wealthiest and most influential planters and politicians. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the daughter of Edward Moulton Barrett. The Greenwood Great House was also a Barrett family home, built by Richard Barrett, the Speaker of the Assembly. It was one of several

great house A great house is a large house or mansion with luxurious appointments and great retinues of indoor and outdoor staff. The term is used mainly historically, especially of properties at the turn of the 20th century, i.e., the late Victorian or ...

s owned by the Barrett family, including Cinnamon Hill located nearby and Barrett Hall, which no longer exists. Cinnamon Hill was bought by Johnny Cash, the country-and-western singer, whose home it was until his death. The Greenwood Great House still stands today. It was spared from torching during the slave rebellions, primarily because of the way Richard Barrett treated his slaves. Richard was chosen to represent the Jamaica legislature before parliament on the issues of emancipation. Anne Chambers in her biography of his opponent, the Governor, The Second Marquess of Sligo states that he was completely opposed to the abolition of slavery. Richard Barrett Speaker

However, in the 1850s, Richard Barrett published a poem ''The Negro Appeal to her White Sisters'', in an attempt to establish sisterhood between white women and Afro-Jamaican women to work together to end slavery. It is therefore probable that Richard Barrett supported the abolition of slavery.Library of Virginia: The Negro Woman's Appeal to her White Sisters: https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/oc/stc/entries/the-negro-woman%27s-appeal-to-her-white-sisters-ca.-1850

References

Jamaican families {{Jamaica-stub

First Barrett families in Jamaica

See also

Further reading

References