Edward Trelawny (1699 – 16 January 1754) was a British colonial administrator and military officer who served as the

governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jamai ...

from April 1738 to September 1752. He is best known for his role in signing a treaty with ended the

First Maroon War The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities in ...

between the British colonial government in Jamaica and the

Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensla ...

Early life

Edward Trelawny was born in 1699 in Trelawne,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. Of an ancient and well-known Cornish family, he was a younger son of Bishop Sir Jonathan TrelawnyEncyclopædia Britannica
Consultado el 26 de abril de 2013, a las 0:30 pm. and brother of Sir John Trelawny.The history of Parliamentto: TRELAWNY, Edward (1699-1754)
/ref> In 1734, Trelawny incorporated himself to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

to participate in the

war of the Polish Succession The War of the Polish Succession ( pl, Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II of Poland, which the other regional power, European powers widened in p ...

, which faced the Polish troops and allied against French troops. After this, Trelawny joined to both East Looe and

West Looe West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. So, he returned to Parliament in this year (1734), but both elections were declared void, as he was then a commissioner of customs in Scotland and ineligible to sit in Parliament.

Governor of Jamaica

He was appointed

in April 1738, at a time when the colonial authorities on the island were in the midst of waging a conflict against the

. Quickly realizing that the colonial authorities could not win a conflict against a group of runaway slaves who were waging a successful guerrilla campaign, in March of the following year, Trelawny offered the Maroons of

Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) Cudjoe's Town was located in the mountains in the southern extremities of the parish of St James, close to the border of Westmoreland, Jamaica. In 1690, a large number of Akan freedom fighters from Sutton's Estate in south-western Jamaica, and th ...

a peace agreement. Once

Cudjoe Cudjoe, Codjoe or Captain Cudjoe (c. 1660s – 1764),Michael Sivapragasam''After the Treaties: A Social, Economic and Demographic History of Maroon Society in Jamaica, 1739–1842'' PhD Dissertation, African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica library ...

signed this treaty, Trelawny offered a similar treaty to the Windward Maroons in 1740. This overture was supported by the British colonists in the island, and the treaty officially recognized and accepted the freedom of the Maroons, and allocated them land. This treaty ended the

, which had encompassed the 1730s, and saw the colonial militia fighting on two fronts, against the Leeward Maroons in western Jamaica, and the Windward Maroons in the eastern end of the island. Trelawny left office in September 1752. Cudjoe's Town was renamed Trelawny Town in his honour. He also fought in the

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear, or , was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is con ...

(the American phase of the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's W ...

, 1740–1748), which pitted

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Later life and death

In 1747, Trelawny wrote and published a pamphlet titled ''An Essay concerning Slavery'', in which he expounded his

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

sentiments, arguing that slavery in Jamaica should be abolished. The pamphlet immediately proved controversial among the Jamaican

slavocracy A slavocracy, also known as a plantocracy, is a ruling class, political order or government composed of (or dominated by) slave owners and plantation owners. A number of early European colonies in the New World were largely plantocracies, usually ...

, whom Trelawny felt owned too many slaves. However, Trelawny was aware that the Jamaican economy was founded almost entirely upon a slave-based system, which operated the numerous and lucrative

sugar plantations 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 ...

located on the island. Thus, Trelawny stipulated in the pamphlet that he was ultimately content with the slave trade to the island being abolished, which would in his view lead to the eventual abolition of slavery in Jamaica.Girlhood: A Global History
Edited by Jennifer Helgren and Colleen A. Vasconcellos. Page 325. While serving as governor, Trelawny married a wealthy widow who had inherited between £30,000 and £40,000 "in Jamaican money". However, shortly after marrying her, Trelawny requested that he be replaced due to having contracted a

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

. On November 1752, Trelawny returned to England, receiving praise from the Jamaican House of Assembly for conducting a "just administration" and the "many important services" he had made during his tenure as governor. Trelawny died on 16 January 1754 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at the age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trelawny, Edward 1699 births 1754 deaths 49th Regiment of Foot officers British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 Governors of Jamaica Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Younger sons of baronets