Rt. Excellent George William Gordon
1820-1865

George William Gordon was a free colored land owner and an associate of Bogle. Born to a slave mother and a planter father who was attorney to several sugar estates in Jamaica, he was self-educated and became a landowner in St. Thomas.

Gordon entered politics to offset the government’s attempts to crush the spirit of the freed people of Jamaica and again reduce them to slavery. He faced severe odds as the people whose interests he sought to serve did not qualify to vote.

As a member of the House of Parliament, he used his position to highlight the sufferings of the people and to make a plea for changes.

He subdivided his own lands, selling farm lots to the people as cheaply as possible, and organized a marketing system through which they could sell their produce at fair prices.

Gordon urged the people to protest against and to resist the oppressive and unjust conditions under which they were forced to live.

Gordon was arrested and charged for complicity in what is now called the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865. He was illegally tried by court martial and, inspite of a lack of evidence, convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed on October 23,1865.

The Morant Bay Rebellion and the resultant deaths of Bogle and Gordon precipitated the beginning of a new era in Jamaica?s development. The British government became compelled to make changes including outstanding reforms in education, health, local government, banking and infrastructure.