Hedley Powell Jacobs (15 March 1904 – 10 October 1985) was an English journalist, historian, writer, and socialist, who emigrated to Jamaica and was one of the founders of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

in 1938.

Early life and family

Hedley Powell Jacobs was born on 15 March 1904 in Halifax,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, to Creswell Thomas Jacobs and Annie Jacobs. His father was born in

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

and worked as the company secretary in a gas plant manufacturing company. He was christened in

Elland Elland is a market town in Calderdale, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is situated south of Halifax, by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation. Elland was recorded as ''Elant'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. It ha ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, in April 1904. He received his BA from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He married Lily Elizabeth Thomas, the daughter of the reverend Charles R. G. Thomas, in

Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica Saint Andrew is a parish, situated in the southeast of Jamaica in the county of Surrey. It lies north, west and east of Kingston, and stretches into the Blue Mountains. In the 2011 census, it had 573,369, the highest population of any of th ...

, in 1938.

Career

Jacobs emigrated to Jamaica in 1926. He taught at

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter J ...

. In 1936 he was admitted to The Linguistic Society of America with a specialism in Teutonic and Creole languages. He was the vice president of the National Reform Association (founded March 1938), a forerunner of the People's National Party, of which he was on the founding committee. In 1945, he was the first editor of ''The Jamaican Historical Review'', journal of the Jamaican Historical Society, an organisation of which he was also president, arguing in his article "The Untapped Sources of Jamaican History" for the inclusion of linguistic and folklore material in the study of the Jamaican working class during slavery in order to avoid their history becoming a history of the ruling class."Historiography of Jamaica" by Howard Johnson in He was a justice of the peace and the general secretary of the Jamaica Imperial Association, later the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs. In 1966 he was made a member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for public services to literature and history.

Death and legacy

Jacobs died on 10 October 1985 in Kingston, Jamaica, from the effects of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and a bleeding duodenal ulcer.Hedley Powell Jacobs Jamaica, Civil Registration, 1880-1999.
Family Search. Retrieved 7 July 2019.

Selected publications

Articles

* "The Untapped Sources of Jamaican History", ''The Jamaican Historical Review'', Vol. 1 (1945), pp. 92–98. * "Matters of Some Importance", '' West Indian Review'', Vol. 2, No. 29 (New Series) (18 November 1950) * "The Spanish Period of Jamaican History: An Assessment of the Present State of Knowledge", ''The Jamaican Historical Review'', Vol. 3, pp. 79–93. * "The Achievement of Frank Cundall", ''

Jamaica Journal The ''Jamaica Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Institute of Jamaica. It publishes scholarly articles on the history, natural history, art, literature, music, and culture of Jamaica. Its predecessor was the ''Journa ...

'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (March 1968), pp. 24–28. * "Old Bedward of Spring Garden", ''Jamaica Journal'', Vol. 6, No. 2 (1972), pp. 9–13.

Books

*''Case Study: Government and Politics in Jamaica''. 1955. * ''Contempt of Court; Counsel's opinion on the application of the sub judice principle in relation to freedom of discussion and enquiry''. Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs, 1970. * ''Sixty Years of Change, 1806-1866: Progress and reaction in Kingston and the countryside''. Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, 1973.

Children's

''A Short History of Kingston''
Ministry of Education, Kingston, 1976, * ''A Short History of Jamaica. Vol. 1, 1692-1871''. Ministry of Education, Kingston, 1976.

References

External links

*http://yardpolitics.tripod.com/pnp.shtml {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Hedley 1904 births English historians Jamaican justices of the peace Members of the Order of the British Empire British emigrants to the British West Indies Colony of Jamaica people Jamaican schoolteachers Alumni of the University of Oxford Linguists from England People from Halifax, West Yorkshire 1985 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Jamaica English journalists English people of Welsh descent Linguists from Jamaica English socialists