Thomas Phillip Lecky, known as T.P. Lecky (1904-1994), was a Jamaican scientist who developed several new breeds of
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
. Lecky is known as one of
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 ...
's earliest environmentalists, and a strong advocate for conservation of hillsides.
His research in cattle breeding led to the development of three breeds suited the tropical climate:
Jamaica Hope, Jamaica Red, and Jamaica Black. Jamaica Hope was the first breed of cattle indigenous to Jamaica. He is remembered as the Father of the Jamaican Dairy Industry.
Early life and education
Lecky was born on 31 December 1904, the twelfth of 13 children, and raised on a small farm in
Swift River, in the
Blue Mountains region in
Portland Parish
Portland, with its capital town Port Antonio, is a parish located on Jamaica's northeast coast. It is situated to the north of St Thomas and to the east of St Mary in Surrey County. It is one of the rural areas of Jamaica, containing part ...
in the island of
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 ...
.
["Thomas Phillip Lecky", ''National Library of Jamaica'' https://nlj.gov.jm/project/thomas-phillip-lecky-ph-d-o-b-e-o-m-1904-1994/ Retrieved 25 October 2020.] Lecky received a scholarship to attend the Jamaica School of Agriculture at Hope Farm in
Saint Andrew Parish. As a child, Lecky saw his father lose his banana crop as a result of hurricanes three years in a row. This inspired Lecky to research solutions to provide and improve the diet of his community and neighbors by developing the local breed of cattle for milk and beef.
At the Jamaica School of Agriculture the director of the government stock farm
H.H. Cousins involved Lecky in testing European cattle breeds for their suitability to the Jamaican environment. Lecky went on to study agriculture and animal husbandry at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
and
Ontario Agricultural College
The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto. Since 1964, it has become affili ...
in Canada. At university, he focused on researching acclimatizing European breeds to Jamaica's environment. He concluded that the answer was not an acclimatized European breed but a new breed, a completely adapted tropical breed.
Career and research
On returning to Jamaica in 1935 Lecky started to research his ideas by using lines of cattle and began to select bulls for breeding from the best producing cows in Jamaica.
In 1949, Lecky gathered his documentation and travelled to the
University of Edinburgh
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 15 ...
where he used this research as the basis for his doctorate. His dissertation, entitled "Genetic Improvement in Dairy Cattle in the Tropics" presented his ideas for developing a tropical dairy breed and catapulted him to international acclaim.
Lecky wrote in his autobiography, ''Cattle and I'', that as someone with black blood, he struggled to gain acceptance in scientific circles in the
Colony of Jamaica
The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was prima ...
, where key positions were given to white people, such as Cousins. It was only when the
British West Indian labour unrest of 1934-1939 took place, and the subsequent nationalist movement took hold in the 1940s, that he was finally appointed to a position of authority, that of breeding cattle at Hope Farm.
[''TP Lecky, Great Jamaican Scientist'' https://www.real-jamaica-vacations.com/jamaican-scientist.html Retrieved 25 October 2020.]
Cattle breeds
In 1925, after graduating, Lecky worked for the government at Hope, where he assessed the new breeds of cattle being introduced to Jamaica and tested their reaction to local conditions. Lecky learned that the cattle in Jamaica at that time were not well suited to life on hillsides where many small farmers had holdings. He believed that all small farmers should have cattle because besides producing milk, every year a young animal could be sold to help pay for school fees.
Lecky decided that what Jamaica needed was an animal that would produce enough milk for farmers as well as be light enough that they would move up and down steep hillsides. Cousins had advocated the use of cross-breeding, but when Lecky was appointed head of Hope Farm in 1942, he instead employed the practice of line breeding. He bred the
Jamaica Hope, Red, and Black cattle breeds, adapted for the local climate.
The Jamaica Hope was a combination of the British Jersey cow with the Holstein and the Indian Sahiwal breed, and could produce up to an average of 12 litres of milk a day, three times that produced by other cattle on the island. Lecky's work revolutionized the Jamaican dairy industry, and scientists flocked to Jamaica to see his work. In 1952, Lecky had the Jamaica Hope registered and recognised. Lecky's work impacted on the development of cattle in many tropical countries.
Awards and honours
1959 -
Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for meritorious and devoted service to agriculture.
1970 -
Norman Manley
Norman Washington Manley (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969) was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate ...
Award for Excellence, first-ever recipient of the award. he was the best
1978 -
Order of Merit, for service to the dairy and cattle industries of Jamaica.
References
Further reading
*Lecky, T.P. 1962. "The development of the Jamaica Hope as a tropical adopted dairy breed". ''U.N. Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the benefit of the less developed areas''. Agenda Item C. 5.2, 18 p.
*Lecky, T.P. 1996. ''Cattle and I: an autobiography'' (Kingston: Ian Randle).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lecky, Thomas
Jamaican academics
Agronomists
1904 births
1994 deaths
20th-century agronomists