Barry street reminds us of Colonel Samuel Barry, who was one of the
first Council named in 1661, and owned the land on which Kingston was
built. The land called Colonel Barry’s Hog Crawle was sold to Beeston,
who had it laid out in lots for the building of Kingston. Byndloss lane
bears the name of a family which in the seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries supplied seven members to the Assembly—the earliest being
Colonel Robert Byndloss, member for Cagua in 1663. Barnes gully recalls
Joseph Barnes, mayor, custos and representative in the Assembly of
Kingston, who died in 1829. Bowrey road reminds us of a recent island
chemist, from whose property the road was formed. Hibbert street also
recalls a family closely connected with Jamaica in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, one member of which built Headquarters House,
formerly known as Hibbert house. Marescaux road, north of Kingston,
reminds us of the late manager of the Colonial Bank. Orange and Hanover
streets refer to reigning houses of England.
It is probable that Pechon street was named after Major John Bonnet
Pechon, who was assistant engineer on the military staff in 1809, and
later island engineer. He died in 1815. Princess street is a corruption
of Prince’s street, as it was called in Beeston’s time. It is called
_Rue du Prince_ on a French translation of Lilly’s map. Sutton street
was probably named after Colonel Thomas Sutton, who was speaker of the
Assembly at the time of the earthquake of 1692. Temple lane in Kingston,
as well as Temple Hall in St. Andrew, was named after Susanna Temple,
the fourth wife of Sir Nicholas Lawes, sister of “la belle Temple” of de
Grammont, the wife of Sir Charles Lyttelton. Whence Tower street
obtained its name is not known. The following has been suggested as the
origin. In the very early days of Kingston the town had a rector but no
church. The rector lived in Tower street. It is thought that the
rector’s house may have been used as a church and had a tower and bell.
Wildman street is named after James Wildman, a member of the Council in
1786, and later fellow member of Parliament for Hindon with Monk Lewis,
another Jamaica proprietor.
Though they omitted for two centuries to dedicate their parish church to
a patron saint, the people of Kingston named five of their lanes after
the Apostles.
Dr. Samuel Knight, who practised medicine in the island “magna cum
laude” for thirty-four years, represented Kingston in the Assembly in
1698 and 1701; he lies buried in the church.
In 1694, when an Act was passed for raising money “to solicit in England
the affairs of this Their Majesties’ island,” the parish of St. Andrew
was taxed to the extent of £52 17_s._ 5_d._, St. Katherine £56 16_s._
3_d._, and others in less amounts; Kingston only being called upon to
contribute £19 5_s._: but soon after, on another tax being raised,
Kingston was regarded as being on a par with Port Royal and St. Jago de
la Vega.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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