HECTOR MITCHELL was elected mayor of Kingston in 1833 and held the
office till he died, aged eighty-four years, in 1853 at Kingston.
His body lay in state in the old court house, and his funeral was
attended by most of the prominent men of Jamaica. He was also custos
of Kingston. His portrait—a lithograph by A. Maurin, from a
daguerreotype by A. Duperly, printed for distribution when he
addressed the electors of Kingston in 1848—is in the Jamaica History
Gallery in the Institute.
EDWARD JORDAN, C.B., was born in 1800. He devoted himself to
journalism in early life, and for many years was connected with the
“Watchman” and the “Morning Journal.” While representing Kingston in
the House of Assembly he was in 1854 called to the Council, and on
that occasion received a testimonial from the inhabitants of the
island; but he resigned his seat to seek reelection in the Assembly
at the time of the introduction of the new constitution. He was
elected, and was furthermore made a member of the Governor’s
Executive Committee, which carried with it the leadership of the
Assembly. He also acted as Speaker. He represented Kingston till the
abolition of the House in 1866. He was appointed custos of Kingston
by Sir Charles Grey, and held the post till 1866. Governor Eyre
appointed him receiver-general, but he did not hold the post for
long; and he was appointed Governor’s Secretary, with which was
amalgamated on the death of the Hon. W. G. Stewart the Island
Secretaryship. He died in 1869 at his residence, Good Air, in St.
Andrew. On the Parade stands a monument of him erected by public
subscription. There is also a tablet to his memory in Halfway Tree
church. His portrait, an oil painting from life, is in the Jamaica
History Gallery in the Institute.
As in Lawrence-Archer many of the coats-of-arms are blazoned wrongly and
a few omitted, and as many of the arms on the slabs on the floor of the
church were in danger of being completely, as some of them were then
partly, effaced, it was thought desirable, some years before the
earthquake of 1907, to describe all the armorial bearings in the church;
and this was duly done in the “Jamaica Churchman” in 1902, and the
descriptions were reprinted in the “West India Committee Circular” for
March 26, 1912.
The floor of a church, where they are subjected to the tread of many
feet, is not a good position in which to place monuments with a view to
their preservation; but it is to be deplored that some other method of
rendering the seats stable was not adopted by the architect in charge
during the alterations of 1883–85 than fastening them to the pavement by
iron clamps, many of which have actually been driven through armorial
designs—that of Benbow not excepted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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