Seaga
Reviewer: Edward Seaga
The following review was
presented at the launch of Wolmer's Schools' 275th anniversary on May 20, 2004.
FOR A great many Jamaicans, our history began in the 1930s. Needless to say, this is very far from true. Jamaica has at least 500 years of recorded history, and still more if the unrecorded past of the original Jamaican people is taken into consideration.
Wolmer's was founded in 1729, 275 years ago. Hence, there is a vast expanse between the founding period and our modern times. So what was happening with Wolmer's during the past two and three quarter centuries?
This is the question that Patrick Bryan has answered in his scholarly presentation of the history of Wolmer's, entitled: The legacy of a Goldsmith a
history of Wolmer's schools, 1729 -2003.
Patrick Bryan combines the perfect attributes for this mission. Professor of history, deputy dean of humanities, University of the West Indies, and author of many well-known historical works, the history of Wolmer's beckons him to the task especially because as a Wolmerian he would have particularly deep motivational insights.
THE DOOR OPENS
The door of the history of Wolmer's opened by professor Bryan begins with a brief insight of John Wolmer himself, about whom not much is known except that he was a goldsmith. Port Royal being the centre of commerce at the time when trade inescapably involved the booty of buccaneers in gold, and silver and jewellery, John Wolmer was well placed to become a man of some means. When he died in 1729, he instructed his executors by the terms of his will, as the author notes, that the "residue of all my estate both real and personal shall be put upon interest at the discretion of my executors for the foundation of a free school."
With a 'fairly substantial' bequest of 2,360 pounds, the free school was founded. It bore his name: Wolmer's. It was indeed a free school, as Professor Bryan notes, in that it had no conditions attached to discriminate against any ethnic group. Other bequests which followed specifically insisted that their beneficence be restricted to white children, not Jews.
The author takes us on a journey of 275 years. We find the theme of discrimination appearing and disappearing. As the Jamaica colony went through the metamorphosis of changing social and political realities, the issue of discrimination polarised along plantation and merchant lines.
'WHITES ONLY'
In the first half century of existence of Wolmer's, a resolution of September 15, 1777, by the trustees of Wolmer's, restricted admission to whites only. Curiously, in that same year, professor Bryan notes that the historian Edward Long observed that pupils of Wolmer's "were almost entirely Jews and free people of colour".
While the discrimination that dogged Wolmer's throughout most of this early period of its history did exist as policy, it was apparently less effective in reality, because Jewish and coloured students were admitted as fee-paying pupils or by the terms of special bequests.
These policies were reflections of the concerns of the trustees who were largely from the planter class which, although holding the reins of political and economic power, were fearfully conscious that they comprised a minority of the population. By 1776, it is noted, slaves had out-numbered whites 10 to one.
LETTERS AND SPELLING
Inconsistency of the trustees marked the early period of the foundation of the school. The same 'whites only' resolution of September 1777, attached a caveat that those admitted on the foundation "must first know their letters and spell". Recognising that this would exclude children of the poor and was contrary to the spirit of the bequest of John Wolmer, the trustees appointed, by resolution, two months later, in November 1777, a teacher to assist poor children with "their letters and spell" in order to make admission to Wolmer's possible.
Continuing the process of change in the early years, Wolmer's admitted girls in 1779. It was finding its feet as a grammar school.
The emphasis on a discriminatory system of admission, practised in policy more so than reality in the first hundred years of the history of Wolmer's, forms an essential social backdrop to future developments of the school.
TURNING POINT
Professor Bryan pinpoints 1815 as a watershed year in which policy reversals occurred opening admission to the school officially to the very ethnic categories previously rejected: children of Jews and coloured persons.
1815 coincided with the assumption of duties of Ebenezer Reid as headmaster. He served until 1843 and democratised the institution.
In 1814, there were 87 white students enrolled at Wolmer's. By 1824, the number of white children had increased slightly to 94 while coloured children were more than double, 196.
With racism now officially abandoned, Wolmer's over the next 50 years to 1867 became a school with a broad-based democratic mission. this culminated in Wolmer's converting from grammar school to elementary school in 1867, to better able teach subjects of an industrial and practical nature to a broad base of students including the children of emancipated slaves.
There was much debate in the post-emancipation period, Professor Bryan points out, as to the relative importance of a basic education compared to the classical teachings of the grammar school. Wolmer's helped to fill the void which existed for greater social need to educationally uplift the masses by offering free elementary education.
One of the most enlightened of English governors, Sir Peter Grant, in the aftermath of the Morant Bay Rebellion, began to establish free government elementary schools. This relieved Wolmer's of the social obligation the trustees had felt to fill the gap by offering free education at this level. The school then reverted to a secondary grammar school in the 1890s.
The type of education to be offered continued to be debated from different points of view: the English public school, to avoid the necessity of sending children to England, or a Jamaicanised version to better inform students about the realities of Jamaica.
Wolmer's was also deeply involved in the mission, professor Bryan observes, to promote a system of education that would help to create a black middle class.
It was quite clear that the original bequest of John Wolmer to establish a school at a time when there was no printery in Jamaica and books were few, was more than symbolic of an intent to express social consciousness about Jamaican society. This generous contribution in kind became a contribution in spirit by elevating social missions as part of the education agenda. This Wolmer's achieved over the centuries by responding to the needs of the greater society as well as it did to the needs of its students. Surely, the magnanimity of reverting the school from a grammar school secondary institution to elementary school was a most far-reaching step in the healing process of the post-Morant Bay Rebellion period. It helped to set a new tone and direction away from the injustices and neglect of the past that spurred the rebellion.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Professor Patrick Bryan has mapped the mission of a school that has played the role of an acknowledged leader in education for more than two and a half centuries. its educational record of distinctions is a proud one over the past 100 years:
- 20 Rhodes Scholars;
- 8 Jamaica Scholars.
Wolmer's girls school is today one of the most eminent high schools in Jamaica. Countless scholars and professionals are testimony to the scholarship and character moulding programmes of Wolmer's. Speaking here for myself, that is where my character was moulded under headmaster John Bunting.
John Wolmer obviously thought he was engaged only in moulding the precious metal, gold. Little did he know that his bequest would find other gold to shape: the human resources and character of countless Wolmerians who have helped to write the pages of our history in academics, athletics and public life.
It is to the credit of professor Bryan that he has created a record of the legend of Wolmer's and that he has done this so well that we can benefit greatly from the research of himself and others.
But why should we expect differently? The Wolmer's motto expresses well what it expects from its sons and daughters: age quod agis - whatever you do, do it with all your might.
The Most Hon. Edward Seaga is leader of the Opposition.
the spirit of the bequest of John Wolmer, the trustees appointed, by resolution, two months later, in November 1777, a teacher to assist poor children with "their letters and spelling" in order to make admission to Wolmer's possible.
Continuing the process of change in the early years, Wolmer's admitted girls in 1779. It was finding its feet as a grammar school.
The emphasis on a discriminatory system of admission, practised in policy more so than reality in the first 100 years of the history of Wolmer's, forms an essential social backdrop to future developments of the school.
TURNING POINT
Professor Bryan pinpoints 1815 as a watershed year in which policy reversals occurred, opening admission to the school officially to the very ethnic categories previously rejected: children of Jews and coloured persons.
The year 1815 coincided with the assumption of duties of Ebenezer Reid as headmaster. He served until 1843 and democratised the institution.
In 1814, there were 87 white students enrolled at Wolmer's. By 1824, the number of white children had increased slightly to 94 while coloured children were more than double at 196.
With racism now officially abandoned, Wolmer's, over the next 50 years to 1867, became a school with a broad-based democratic mission.
This culminated in Wolmer's converting from grammar school to elementary school in 1867, to be better able to teach subjects of an industrial and practical nature to a broad base of students including the children of emancipated slaves.
There was much debate in the post-emancipation period, Professor Bryan points out, as to the relative importance of a basic education compared to the classical teachings of the grammar school. Wolmer's helped to fill the void which existed for greater social need to educationally uplift the masses by offering free elementary education.
One of the most enlightened of English governors, Sir John Peter Grant, in the aftermath of the Morant Bay Rebellion, began the establishment of free Government elementary schools. This relieved Wolmer's of the social obligation the trustees had felt to fill the gap by offering free education at this level. The school then reverted to a secondary grammar school in the 1890s.
DEBATING EDUCATION TYPE
The type of education to be offered continued to be debated from different points of view: the English public school, to avoid the necessity of sending children to England, or a Jamaicanised version to better inform students about the realities of Jamaica.
Wolmer's was also deeply involved in the mission, professor Bryan observes, to promote a system of education that would help to create a black middle class.
It was quite clear that the original bequest of John Wolmer to establish a school at a time when there was no printery in Jamaica and books were few, was more than symbolic of an intent to express social consciousness about Jamaican society. This generous contribution in kind became a contribution in spirit by elevating social missions as part of the education agenda. This Wolmer's achieved over the centuries by responding to the needs of the greater society as well as it did to the needs of its students. Surely, the magnanimity of reverting the school from a grammar school secondary institution to elementary school was a most far-reaching step in the healing process of the post-Morant Bay Rebellion period. It helped to set a new tone and direction away from the injustices and neglect of the past that spurred the rebellion.
Professor Patrick Bryan has mapped the mission of a school that has played the role of an acknowledged leader in education for more than two and a half centuries. Its educational record of distinction is a proud one over the past 100 years:
* 20 Rhodes Scholars;
* 8 Jamaica Scholars.
Wolmer's girls school is today one of the most eminent high schools in Jamaica. Countless scholars and professionals are testimony to the scholarship and character moulding programmes of Wolmer's. Speaking here for myself, that is where my character was moulded under headmaster John Bunting.
SHAPING OTHER GOLD
John Wolmer obviously thought he was engaged only in moulding the precious metal, gold. Little did he know that his bequest would find other gold to shape: the human resources and character of countless Wolmerians who have helped to write the pages of our history in academics, athletics and public life.
It is to the credit of professor Bryan that he has created a record of the legend of Wolmer's and that he has done this so well that we can benefit greatly from the research of himself and others.
But why should we expect differently? The Wolmer's motto expresses well what it expects from its sons and daughters: age quod agis 'whatever you do, do it with all your might'.
* The Most Hon. Edward Seaga is leader of the Opposition.
