SPANISH TOWN

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 24, 30 January 1933, Page 8

SPANISH TOWN

THE KING'S HOUSE

PLANS FOR RESTORATION

HISTORY OF JAMAICA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) KINGSTON (Jamaica), 4th Jan. A committee of citizens, headed by Lady Sweetenham, has made plans for the restoration, by private subscription, of the King's; House, a monument to colonisation of the New World, which was destroyed by fire in October. 1925. ."■•,'■ The old plans, photographs, and drawings are available. The original furniture was long ago removed, and is safely preserved in the Government Buildings. The restoration will be done in fireproof material. The new building will house pictures, furniture, and other objects connected with the historical Spanish town, also a hostel for teaching home crafts and domestic science. The stately columns and wrought iron balustrades, together with the gilt chandeliers and wall lights, are all that survived the fire. The King's House was built soon after the English colonisation, under Cromwell, in 1615. Spanish Town had been laid out. in 1523 by Deigo Colum-bus,-whose father, Christopher Columbus, had discovered Jamaica on his second'voyage to the Western World in 1494. Later, in surveying the;coast, Christopher was obliged to lay up his ships for a year on the north coast of Jamaica, as they were too decayed and worm-eaten to proceed. The Spaniards laid out the streets in chessboard pattern, and thus the city remains 'today, 20 minutes' run from the capital. THE HOME OF GOVERNOES. / After Cromwell'scoup, the Spaniards were content to remain, although their garrison, numbering 76 soldiers, decamped ,at -Runaway Bay in 1657. Charles II granted town ' lots to his courtiers. ■ '.-'■■ All governors of Jamaica lived at Spanish Town. . Among them were Thomas, Lord Windsor; Sir Henry Morgan ("The Buccaneer"); Sir Nicholas Lawes; Christopher, Duke of Albemarle; the Duke, of Portland; the Earl of Inchiquin.. The last-named, a stormy character, _ fought as a boy at his father's side, was ' captured- and en-, slaved; by. the arch-pirate, the Bey of Algiers. __ater he was made" Governor of Tangier, Morocco, dowry of Charles II to Queen Catherine, of Braganza, after whom, was named the Plain, of St. Catherine, which is now a waving field of bananas between Kingston and Spanish Town. Inchiquin, died at Spanish Town, and was buried in the Cathedral. In, 1727 General Hunter, who had been Governor of New York, was appointed Governor of Jamaica, and settled in the King's House. The ' vice-regal mansion was remodelled in 1760 by Sir Henry Moore as a pure 'specimen of Georgian architecture, with magnificent Portland stone portico and marble steps. Ten years later a painting by Wickstead showed the Great Salon and : Couhcii Chamber. A figure standing near the door bears the silver mace," said to be the" bauble, Cromwell-ordered out of tbe'House of Commons. It is still preserved in the Kingston Institute. The Great Salon'held many historical figures, including Lord Nelson and" Lord Rodney. Here Lady . Nugent danced and curtseyed, wearing the embroidered dress and turban sent her: by Princess Borghese, sister of Napoleon, the most beautiful woman in Europe. From the portico of the King's House, Sir Lionel Smith, in IS3S, read the Act of Emancipation.