Sister Mary Ignatius Davies (18 November 1921 – 9 February 2003) was a

Sister of Mercy A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

and inspirational music teacher known for her work at the

Alpha Boys School Alpha Cottage School (often referred to as Alpha Boys School, Convent of Mercy "Alpha" Academy and now called Alpha Institute) was the name of the vocational residential school on South Camp Road in Kingston, Jamaica, still run by Roman Catholic ...

Career

Born Mary Davies in Innswood,

Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica Saint Catherine (capital Spanish Town) is a parish in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parishes because of its many resources. It includes the f ...

, Davies was baptised at the St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in

Spanish Town Spanish Town ( jam, label=Jamaican Creole, Panish Tong) is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. Th ...

, and went to the St. Catherine Elementary School.Alpha's Sister Mary Ignatius passes on
", ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'', 11 February 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2014 After her family moved to Kingston, she attended Mico Elementary School and later the Alpha Academy, the girls' high school attached to the

.Pierre Perrone
Sister Mary Ignatius Davies: Headmistress behind ska and reggae (obituary)
''The Independent on Sunday'', 3 March 2003, archived fro

/ref>Katz, David (2003)
Sister Mary Ignatius Davies: Unlikely mentor of Jamaican ska greats and international jazz musicians
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 15 February 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2014 She joined the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

on 1 February 1939, aged 17, taking the name Ignatius, and lived at the school for the remainder of her life.Green, Thomas H. (2006)
Nun who nurtured reggae
, ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 12 January 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2014 She inspired many musicians from the Alpha school to become professional musicians, including future

Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...

Tommy McCook Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One S ...

Don Drummond Don Drummond (12 March 1932Cane-Honeysett, L: ''Don Drummond Memorial Album'', liner notes. Trojan 2009. – 6 May 1969) was a Jamaican ska trombonist and composer. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many o ...

, and Johnny "Dizzy" Moore, as well as trombonist Rico Rodriguez and Leslie Thompson, who went on to become the first black conductor of the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. She contributed to '' Island Rock'', a documentary series broadcast in 2002 on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

to mark the 40th anniversary of Jamaican independence.

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

Mary Ignatius had a large record collection that was the envy of many pupils at the Academy, and was a huge fan of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

.Sister Ignatius' Musical Legacy Lives On
, ''

'', 7 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014 For many years she operated a sound system on Saturday afternoons at the school, which attracted people from surrounding areas. While best known for the musicians she taught, she was also involved in teaching

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, and

dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

at the school.Charles, Jonathan (2007)
The nun who nurtured reggae
,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, 26 December 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2014 In 1996 she was awarded the Badge of Honour for services to Jamaica. She died at the

University Hospital of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the ...

, Jamaica, on 9 February 2003, aged 81, after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

the day before.

References

External links

Alpha Old Boys Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Sister Mary Ignatius 1921 births 2003 deaths Jamaican educators Jamaican Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Sisters of Mercy People from Kingston, Jamaica Music educators 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns Women music educators