George William Gordon
George William Gordon (c. 1820 – 23 October 1865)[1] was a Jamaican businessman, magistrate and politician, one of two representatives to the Assembly from St. Thomas-in-the-East parish.
Eyre's rapid execution of Gordon on flimsy charges during the crisis, and the death toll and violence of his suppression of the revolt, resulted in a huge controversy in Britain.
Joseph Gordon had migrated to Jamaica to serve as an attorney for a number of absentee-owned sugar estates, and he later bought several properties himself.
His father gave him his freedom and at the age of ten, he was allowed to live with his godfather, James Daly of Black River, Jamaica.
Richard Hill, a mixed-race lawyer and leader of the free coloured community, met him in that year and said of him, "He impressed me then, though young-looking, with the air of a man of ready business habits.
[8] Another states he married a white widow named Mary Jane Perkins, whose mother had established a school for girls in Kingston.
The Colonial Office took the curious stance of backing Eyre while praising Gordon for calling for prison conditions to be improved.
[12] In 1863, Gordon defeated his rival, a white planter, for a seat on the Assembly for St Thomas-in-the-East with the support of the small settler vote, galvanised by Bogle.
However, the colonial elite who ran the parish vestry objected to the presence of Gordon, because he represented the concerns of the black peasantry.
A father and son team of the same name, Stephen Cooke, conspired to have Gordon expelled from the parish vestry, a move that angered the black peasantry.
[13] In May 1865 Gordon allegedly attempted to purchase an ex-Confederate schooner with a view to ferrying arms and ammunition to Jamaica from the United States of America, although this was unknown at the time.
[14] In 1865 the mass of Jamaicans were ex-slaves and their descendants; they struggled with poverty and crop failure in the mostly rural economy, and the aftermath of crippling epidemics of cholera and smallpox.
"[15] There were several causes for the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, and one of them was outrage among the black peasantry of St Thomas-in-the-East over the colonial government's actions in expelling Gordon and Bogle from the local vestry.
Within two days Gordon was tried for high treason by court-martial, without due process of law, sentenced to death, and executed on 23 October.
"Silver Tongue Show" by Groundation, "Give Thanks and Praise" by Roy Rayon, "Prediction" and "Born Fe Rebel" by Steel Pulse, "Our Jamaican National Heroes" by Horace Andy, and "Selasie Memorial" by Charlie Morrison.
