Quamina †Jack Gladstone (POW) John Murray The Demerara rebellion of 1823 was an uprising involving between 9,000 and 12,000 slaves that took place in the British colony of Demerara-Essequibo in what is now Guyana.

Instigated chiefly by Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man from the "Success" plantation, the rebellion also involved his father, Quamina, and other senior members of their church group.

[6] Other plantation owners, who felt that teaching slaves anything other than their duties to their masters would lead to "anarchy, chaos and discontent" and precipitate the destruction of the colony.

[13][9] The first pastor, Reverend John Wray, arrived in February 1808 and spent five years there; his wife operated a girls' school for white children.

Drunkards and fighters have changed into sober and peaceable people, and endeavour to please those who are set over them.Post sought to have more missionaries appointed to other places in the colony.

When Governor Henri Guillaume Bentinck declared all meetings after dark illegal, Wray obtained the support of some plantation owners and managers.

Many managers/owners (McTurk, Spencer) would insist that slaves work on Sundays, and deny passes to attend church; Pollard, manager of "Non Pareil" and "Bachelor's Adventure", was notoriously violent.

[21] Quamina complained of frequently being deprived of his legal day off and missing church; unable to take care of his sickly wife, he found her dead one night after coming home.

[22][23] Jack Gladstone, a slave on "Success",[6][24] who did not work under a driver and enjoyed considerable freedom,[24] learned of the debate about slavery in Britain, and had heard rumours of emancipation papers arriving from London.

[25] Sir John would continue to acquire Demeraran plantations, often at fire sale prices after the rebellion and well into the decade, and his agents would be able to optimise his assets across the different properties.

Sir John Gladstone, believing that the slaves on his estates were properly treated, wrote a letter to the Missionary Society on 24 December 1824 to clear his name.

[29] In one passage, for instance, he describes some near-naked women washing their clothes in a ditch and says that ‘They resemble the “Ourang-Outang”.’ At another point he writes, ‘I believe there are but few of the Negroes who think it much of a sin to rob a white man.'

Gladstone, who had never set foot on his plantation, had been deluded by his attorney in Demerara, Frederick Cort, into believing that it was seldom necessary to punish the slaves.

Sir Benjamin d'Urban, who took up his office of Lieutenant Governor of Essequibo and Demerara in 1824, wrote to Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on 30 September 1824, criticising "..the injudicious managers under whom too many of the slaves are placed; half educated men of little discretion, or command over their own caprices; good planters perhaps – but quite unfit to have the charge of bodies of men, although they might take very proper care of cattle".

[32] Slaves with the highest status such as coopers, and some other who were members of Smith's congregation, were implicated in leading the rebellion[6] against the harsh conditions and maltreatment, demanding what they believed to be their right.

[10] In fact, the subject of these rumours were Orders in Council (to colonial administrations) drawn up by George Canning under pressure from abolitionists to ameliorate the conditions of slaves following a Commons debate.

[6] Whilst the Governor or Berbice immediately made a proclamation upon receiving his orders from London, and instructed local parson John Wray to explain the provisions to his congregation,[6] John Murray, his counterpart in Demerara, had received the Order from London on 7 July 1823, and these measures proved controversial as they were discussed in the Court of Policy on 21 July and again on 6 August.

Close conspirators who were church 'teachers' included Seaton (at "Success"), William (at "Chateau Margo"), David (at "Bonne Intention"), Jack (at "Dochfour"), Luke (at "Friendship"), Joseph (at "Bachelor's Adventure"), Sandy (at "Non Pareil").

[41] Joe of "Le Reduit" had informed his master at approximately 6 am that morning of a coordinated uprising planned the night before at Bethel chapel which would take place that same day.

[45] Over the next few days, the British militia mounted an 'odious and painful and sickening' counter-insurgency operation as described by the militiaman John Cheveley in his memoirs.

On our side, we only had one rifleman slightly wounded.After the massacre at "Bachelor's Adventure", Jack and Quamina took refuge in the bush along with eighteen women and men from local estates, including Cudjo, Quabino, Sammy, and Primo.

[49] The Governor also proclaimed a "FULL and FREE PARDON to all slaves who surrendered within 48 hours, provided that they shall not have been ringleaders (or guilty of Aggravated Excesses)".

[53] Despite the initial revolt passing largely peacefully with slave masters locked in their homes,[33] those who were considered ringleaders were tried at set up at different estates along the coast and executed by shooting; their heads were cut off and nailed to posts.

[54] The bodies of those executed were hung up in chains by the side of a public road in front of their respective plantations and left to rot for months afterwards.

[58] Instead, he may have been deported as a military labourer to St Lucia, as reported in a letter from Robert Wilmot-Horton (under-secretary of state for war and the colonies) to John Gladstone dated 16 March 1825.

"[60] The officers on the court martial judging Smith included a young Captain Colin Campbell, later to become Field Marshal Lord Clyde.

Pending an appeal, Smith was transferred from Colony House to prison, where he died of "consumption"[33] in the early hours of 6 February 1824;[62] To minimise the risk of stirring up slave sentiment, the colonists interred him at 4 am.

[63] Smith's death and the uprising by more than 9,000 enslaved men and women in Demerara provided major impetus to the campaign to abolish slavery in Britain.

Demerara's Court of Policy passed an ordinance giving financial assistance to a church that was selected by plantation owners in each district.

Amendments and new ordinances continued to flow from London, each progressively establishing more civil rights for the slaves, but they were strongly resisted by the colonial legislature.