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 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 Ki ...
.
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 Cos ...
.
[ 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 interna ...
* William Davidson William or Bill Davidson may refer to:
Businessmen
* Bill Davidson (businessman) (1922–2009), Michigan businessman and sports team owner
** William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, named in honor of Bill Davidson
* 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 Senat ...
(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 pre ...
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
Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born 26 April 1981), better known as Ms. Dynamite, is a British singer and rapper. She is the recipient of the Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards.
Early years
She was born Niomi Arleen Mc ...
, British singer and rapper
* Stewart Faulkner, British retired athlete of Jamaican and Cuban parentage
*Salena Godden
Salena Godden is an English poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist.
Born in the UK, Salena Godden is of Jamaican-Irish heritage and based in London. Widely anthologised, she has published several books. She has also writt ...
, 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 in 1582 ...
.
* 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 th ...
, 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 bef ...
, record producer
* Lewis Hutchinson
Lewis Hutchinson (1733–1773), a Scottish immigrant to Jamaica, was the first recorded serial killer in Jamaica's history and one of its most prolific. Early life
Hutchinson, better known as the Mad Master and Mad Doctor of Edinburgh Castle, ...
, 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 o ...
* Tobacco Lords
The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants and slave traders who in the 18th century made enormous fortunes by trading in tobacco. Many became so wealthy that they adopted the lifestyle of aristocrats, lavishing vast sums on great hous ...
*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 plac ...
, 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 His ...
*