Scottish Jamaicans are
Jamaicans
Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora. The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, East Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed a ...
of
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
descent. Scottish Jamaicans include those of European and mixed African and Asian ancestry with Scottish ancestors and date back to the earliest period of post-Spanish, European colonisation.
An early influx of Scots came in 1656, when 1200
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
were deported by
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
.
There was also a later migration at the turn of the 18th century, after the failed
Darien colony in
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
.
[ In 1707, when the Act of Union took place, Scots gained access to England's preexisting colonies.
]
People of Scottish Jamaican descent
* Akala, British rapper and poet
* Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internat ...
* William Davidson, radical
*Paul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senate ...
(Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
Award-winning drummer and bandleader of Toots and The Maytals
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.
...
)
* Ms. Dynamite, British singer and rapper
* Stewart Faulkner
Stewart St. Ledger Faulkner (born 19 February 1969) is a male retired British athlete who competed in the men's long jump. At 1.93 metres tall, he weighed 86 kilograms.
Athletics career
He was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, to parents ...
, British retired athlete of Jamaican and Cuban parentage
* Salena Godden, poet and author of Jamaican Irish parentage, descendant of Scottish ancestor Lieutenant General James Robinson (1762–1845) who is buried at Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI i ...
.
* Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ.
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in t ...
, British disc jockey of Scottish and Jamaican parentage
* Harry J
Harry Zephaniah Johnson (6 July 1945 – 3 April 2013), known by the stage name Harry J, was a Jamaican reggae record producer.
Biography
Born in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, Johnson started to play music with the Virtues as a bass player be ...
, record producer
* Lewis Hutchinson, Scottish immigrant to Jamaica; owned a castle; one of the world's first known serial killers
* Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
, American general, of Scottish Jamaican parentage
* Mary Seacole
Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...
, father was a Scottish soldier
* Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
, late American soul and jazz poet
* Robert Wedderburn[. Retrieved on 17 August 2008.]
* Gilbert St. Elmo Heron (aka "Gillie Heron – The Black Arrow". Jamaican of Scottish/African Ancestry. First Jamaican professional footballer in Scottish Celtic Football Club (Scotland); and Detroit Wolverine Football Club (US). Father of Gil Scott-Heron, late American soul and jazz poet. "Gillie" Heron is the descendant of Jamaican-born Captain Alexander Woodburn Heron (1815–1901) of Wigton, Williamsfield (and 30 other plantations in Manchester, Jamaica), and the Barbican Estate in St. Andrew, Jamaica, and Scottish-born British Army Major Alexander Heron (1761–1825) of Scotland and Wigton, Manchester, Jamaica.
See also
* Scottish place names in Jamaica
* Scottish colonization of the Americas
Scottish colonisation of the Americas comprised a number of failed or abandoned Scottish settlements in North America; a colony at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama; and a number of wholly or largely Scottish settlements made after the Acts of U ...
* Tobacco Lords
*White Jamaicans
White Jamaicans also known as European-Jamaicans are Jamaican people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Great Britain and Ireland. There are also communities of people who are descendants of people who arrived from ...
References
Further reading
* Besson, Jean ''Martha Brae's two histories: European expansion and Caribbean culture-building in Jamaica'' (''The Scottish and Creole planters around Martha Brae''
Google books version
* Karras, Alan L. ''Sojourners in the Sun: Scottish Migrants in Jamaica and the Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to:
* Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian
* The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay
* Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula
Chesapeake may also refer to:
Populated p ...
, 1740-1800''
Google books version
External links
{{British diaspora
Ethnic groups in Jamaica
European Jamaican
European diaspora in North America
Scottish Caribbean
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 Hispan ...
*