![[JAMAICA] EYRE, EDWARD (Governor). Autograph letter signed to R. Nunes. Kings House [Jamaica?] 28 December 1865.](/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/932/1557932.jpg?itok=BswE3pzx)
Lot Details
Lot 199
[JAMAICA] EYRE, EDWARD (Governor). Autograph letter signed to R. Nunes. Kings House [Jamaica?] 28 December 1865.
4 pp., regarding his poor health and imminent departure for London... "There has been so much misrepresentation with regard to recent events in Jamaica and a good deal of pressure has been brought to bear upon the ministry by the anti-slavery, Baptist and radical parties..."
R. Nunes, the recipient, was a prominent citizen of Sephardic descent. Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 - 30 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica. From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean island colonies. As Governor of the Colony of Jamaica, Eyre, fearful of an island-wide uprising, brutally suppressed the Morant Bay Rebellion of 11 October, 1865, resulting in a death toll of at least 400. This resulted in a furious debate in England (Thomas Carlyle, Dickens and Tennyson supported Eyre; Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin and T.H. Huxley bitterly opposed him). Legal actions against Eyre, both civil and criminal, followed, but were ultimately unsuccessful. The episode cast a much-needed light on the excesses of British Colonialism. Old mount at gutter margin, usual folds; Boxed with [ANONYMOUS]. Recollections and comments of a former resident of the island of Jamaica." Manuscript in verse, undated, 5 pp., including two sketches and an hand colored cartoon [affixed], signed in initials (PMCH). Extracted from a bound volume.
"Far in Jamaica's Isle a landscape lies,
Where Saint Ann Mountains tower to the skies." A somewhat ironic juxtaposition exists between these two pieces!
C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation
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