Morris Cargill CD (10 June 1914 – 8 April 2000, Kingston) was a Jamaican lawyer, businessman, planter, journalist and novelist. He was also a columnist for the

Jamaican 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 ' ...

Life

Educated at Munro College, a prestigious Jamaican secondary school, and the

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

in England, Cargill was articled as a solicitor in 1937. During World War II, he worked for the Crown Film Unit in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. After the war, he played a role in the development of the coffee liqueur

Tia Maria Tia Maria is a dark coffee liqueur made originally in Jamaica using Jamaican coffee beans, but now made in Italy. The main ingredients are coffee beans, Jamaican rum, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 20%. History The hi ...

. Returning to the Caribbean he worked as a newspaper editor in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, and, having acquired a banana plantation in Jamaica, began a career as a columnist for the ''

Gleaner A gleaner(Noun) is a person who engages in gleaning, utilizing crops and resources left behind in a harvest. Newspapers *''The Gleaner'', a newspaper of record in Kingston, Jamaica, published by: **The Gleaner Company, a newspaper publishing enter ...

'' newspapers in 1953 which was to last, with some interruptions, until his death. Until the late 1970s, his articles appeared under the pseudonym Thomas Wright. In 1958, he was elected to the parliament of the

Federation of the West Indies A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

, as a candidate of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

, and served as deputy leader of the opposition in that legislature for the next four years. In 1964 he persuaded his friend

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

to write the introductory article for a guidebook to Jamaica called ''Ian Fleming introduces Jamaica''. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he collaborated with novelist John Hearne, under the pseudonym 'John Morris', on a series of three thrillers – ''Fever Grass'', ''The Candywine Development'', and ''The Checkerboard Caper''—about an imaginary Jamaican secret service. Cargill makes an appearance, in the surprising guise of a high court judge, at the end of Fleming's novel '' The Man with the Golden Gun''. For two years in the late 1970s, he left Jamaica because of his opposition to the government of

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been d ...

, returning in 1980 to join the campaign against Manley. During this period he lived in the United States and worked for the publisher

Lyle Stuart Lyle Stuart (born Lionel Simon; August 11, 1922June 24, 2006) was an American author and independent publisher of controversial books. He worked as a newsman for years before launching his publishing firm, Lyle Stuart, Incorporated. A former pa ...

, editing a study of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in Germany called ''A Gallery of Nazis'', and writing a memoir called ''Jamaica Farewell'' (an expanded version of which was reissued in 1995).

Assassination attempt

On May 26, 1969, Keith Clarke shot Morris Cargill in the buttocks, although he survived the attack. Around the same time, Clarke successfully shot and killed industrial chemist Julius Walenta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cargill, Morris 20th-century Jamaican lawyers Jamaican male writers 1914 births 2000 deaths Jamaican people of European descent Jamaican planters Jamaican columnists Jamaican journalists People educated at Munro College Jamaica Labour Party politicians Members of the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Jamaican expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago