Jamaica's history - always something new to find out!
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        • James H Blackwood >
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    • remarkable families >
      • family of C E Moody >
        • Harold Moody
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      • family of R M Nicholas
      • family of C A D Phang >
        • Rosalind
        • May
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      • family of H B Phillips
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    • in the churches >
      • George Fox and early Friends >
        • 1692 and beyond
      • Rev. S. J. Washington
      • Rev. W. Theo Bailey
      • Rev. E. E. Brown
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      • Rev. J. J. Fuller
      • Church of England >
        • Rev. Francis Humberstone
        • Rev. J. M. Trew
        • Edward Maunde Thompson
        • Rev. R. Gordon
        • Rev Dr Hugh Croskery
        • Rev. T. Banbury
        • Rev. R. O. Taylor
        • Rev. H. L. Phillips >
          • as an Episcopalian priest
        • Rev. C. C. Douce
        • Rev. A. Cole
        • A. L. "Teacher" Walcott
        • Rev. and Mrs W. A. Burris
        • Rev. W. L. Brown
      • the Moravians >
        • Rev. W. V. Moses
    • in education >
      • brief lives >
        • Thomas Terence Sherlock
      • Francis Williams
      • ~ Woodlawn 1896
      • Matthew Josephs
      • T. B. Stephenson
      • Robert Lindsay
      • W Thomas Linton
      • S. C. Thompson
      • W. H. Plant
      • Sigismund C. Walker
      • Thomas I. Brown
      • E. Luther Brookes
    • in legal professions >
      • Peter Moncrieffe
      • J. T. Palache
      • A. A. Fleming
      • H. R. Walters
      • H. A. Joseph
      • M. H. Spencer Joseph
      • J. L. King
    • in medical professions >
      • - doctors >
        • Sampson Altman
        • J. J. Edwards
        • A. J. Thomas
        • R. M. Stimpson
        • E. C. Kinkead
        • E. V. Smith
        • T. A. Dryden
        • Cicely Williams
        • Roderick Atkinson
        • - in the U.S.A. >
          • Simeon I. Battiste
          • David Newton Emanuel Campbell >
            • portable window fire-escape ladder
          • A. E. Forsyth
      • - dentists >
        • Pedro Pompey
        • A. T. Cooper
        • E. E. Clark
        • J. H. Nicholson
      • - dispensers >
        • Anthan F Berry
        • Charles E Moody
      • - nurses
      • - psychiatrists
    • in politics & public affairs >
      • early Black politicians [slideshow]
      • Edward Jordon
      • Jim Russell >
        • the 'Great War'
      • Colonel George Hicks
      • Samuel Page Smeeton
    • in business >
      • drogher/droguer women
      • Edward Vickars
      • Charles Phillip Lazarus >
        • Charles Philip Lazarus remembered
        • foundry >
          • - 'City of Kingston'
          • - Jamaica Cycle Company
        • building contracts
        • politics and public affairs >
          • 1909 Party of Progress
      • J. H. & J. O. Milke
      • beekeepers >
        • Hill/Darwin correspondence
      • Robert Mitchell Nicholas
      • Joseph Milward Gordon >
        • Gall's News Letter 1890
      • John Cassis
      • Jacob Hume Stewart
      • Christopher L Barnes
      • Ernest Clarke
      • Lance E. Drysdale
    • on the land >
      • John S. Levy
    • in sports >
      • athletics >
        • Alfred Reynolds Downer >
          • education
          • athletics career >
            • - amateur
            • - professional
          • . . . but after that
      • boxing
      • chess >
        • Arthur Ford Mackenzie >
          • tributes
      • cricket >
        • J. K. Holt, snr
        • S C Snow
        • O. C. 'Tommy' Scott
      • cycling >
        • Johnnie Weir
        • A. A. "Bill" Johnson
        • Washington 'Teacher' Battiste
      • football
      • horse racing
      • tennis
    • Maroons in Jamaica >
      • Gleaner references
      • 1796 Richard Brinsley Sheridan
      • 1802 Maria, Lady Nugent
      • 1836 Popular Encyclopedia
      • 1844 Edwin Tregellies
      • 1844 Philip Henry Gosse
      • 1859 Richard Hill
      • 1860 Atlantic Monthly
      • 1862 Edward Cust
      • 1865 Col. Fyfe
      • 1865 Once a Week
      • 1866 Charles Town Maroons
      • 1867 Trip to the Tropics
      • 1890 Historical Geography
      • 1898 New York Tribune
      • 1898 Edith, Lady Blake
      • my articles: >
        • 1996 'Trouble with the Maroons'
        • 2001 'A brave and loyal people'
    • . . . some more Jamaicans
    • and even more
  • places
    • Kingston & St Andrew >
      • various places >
        • Knutsford Pen
      • street corner cannons
      • the Old H-W-T Courthouse >
        • four 18th century houses >
          • Hibbert House >
            • Hibbert House - over time
          • Constantine House
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            • Peter Blaise Desnoes
            • North Street Villa
          • Harmony Hall
        • 19th century
      • Kingston Market
      • Kingston Race Course >
        • Pratter's/Prater's Pond
      • Retreat Pen >
        • Peter Alexander Espeut >
          • P A Espeut interview
      • Waireka >
        • a trip to 'Wareka' 1896
      • Park Lodge >
        • Susan and Mary Burton >
          • Mount Mansfield
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        • Blundell/Blundle Hall
        • Barkly/Clarendon Hall
      • the Parade >
        • - the Church
        • - Barracks
        • - Theatre
        • - Coke Chapel
        • - other buildings
        • Parade Gardens
      • Harbour Street >
        • The Treasury >
          • the Treasury clock
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        • Breezy Castle
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    • other parishes >
      • Old Harbour
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      • Wallen's Cold Spring
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        • Potsdam
        • York Castle
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      • tertiary institutions >
        • 'the Mico'
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        • University College
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    • culture >
      • Victoria Institute >
        • - 'Victoria Quarterly'
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        • Kingston Cricket Club
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      • Kingston's theatres >
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          • Joshua A M Sollas
          • the Sollas family in Jamaica
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        • Rudolph De Cordova
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          • H. G. Murray
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          • legacy
          • Dr R. O. Murray
        • Lionel Trim
      • magic >
        • Prof. W. A. Barclay
    • magic lantern & beyond
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    • music and dance >
      • the classical musicians >
        • - Eleanor Alberga
        • ~ Neville Atkinson
        • - Nerine Barrett
        • - Richard Beckford
        • - Harold St Nicholas Cartier
        • - Frederic H. Cowen
        • - Noel DaCosta
        • - Louis Drysdale
        • - Samuel Felsted
        • - Maxine Franklin
        • - George and Hilda Goode
        • - David Johns
        • - John Lyon
        • - Marie McMarrow
        • - Edmund Reid
        • - Orrett Rhoden
        • - Oswald Russell
        • - Paul Shaw
        • - Don Shirley
        • - Stephen Tucker
        • - George Walker
        • - Curtis Watson
        • - Willard White
      • Jamaica Choir
      • 'practice dances'
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        • Zithri J Atkinson >
          • Bruce Grit article
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  • events
    • & everything else >
      • - manumissions
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        • - tobacco
        • - opium
        • - cocaine
        • - cannabis >
          • 1913 legislation
    • public holidays >
      • crop-over
      • May 24th
      • June 7 >
        • Port Royal 1667
        • Great Earthquake 1692
      • August 1st >
        • 1888 - 50 years
      • Christmas >
        • 18th century
        • 19th century >
          • Christmas with Belisario
          • Christmas in Kingston >
            • - Creole Airs
            • Christmas at the Asylum
          • and across the island
          • Christmas Races
        • early 20th century
        • lotteries & raffles
      • other days >
        • Valentine's Day
        • Mother's Day
    • exhibitions >
      • 1891 >
        • the phonograph
        • merry-go-rounds
        • Amphitrite
      • 1932 >
        • the Exhibition starts >
          • a walk around the Exhibition
        • Exhibition extended
        • Exhibition sports
        • - D T Wint
        • - 'Exhibition' Beecher
        • - W A W Mitchell
        • - L. A. Thoywell-Henry
      • 1934
      • 1946 - Exhibition that wasn't
    • natural disasters >
      • earthquakes >
        • - 1692
        • - 1907 >
          • Kingston burning
          • reports >
            • map
            • - Capt. T. T. Lovelace
          • damage
          • who was Joseph E Thomas?
          • afterwards
        • - smaller 'quakes
      • hurricanes >
        • Jamaica's climate
        • Dampier and hurricanes
        • 18th century >
          • 1780s - hurricane decade
        • 19th century >
          • - 1815
          • 1830s & 1840s
          • 1870s & 1880s
        • 20th century
        • 21st century
      • fires >
        • 1843 >
          • 1843 Colonial Magazine
        • 1862
        • 1875
        • 1882
      • diseases >
        • cholera
        • 'Dandy fever'
        • "Spanish" 'flu
events  >
natural disasters >
fires

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   The city of Kingston had its origin in the aftermath of the 1692 earthquake which destroyed Port Royal, many of whose inhabitants moved to the newly established settlement across the harbour. Over three centuries Kingston itself has suffered many hardships caused by hurricanes, earthquakes, epidemics and fires. This page looks briefly at the major fires which devastated the city, at a time when virtually all its citizens, of all colours and classes, lived closely together below North Street.

1703  Jan 9 - partially rebuilt Port Royal burnt down

1728  great fire at Port Royal

1779  December - most of Savanna-la-Mar burnt down

1780  May 16 - great fire in Kingston

1795  June 6 - great fire in Montego Bay

1808 
June - fire in Montego Bay

1815  July 13 - fire at Port Royal

1843  August 26 - fire in Kingston; 'James the Founder's' or 'Matcham's'
Fire

1862  'Fisher's Fire' in Kingston;
the Fire of 1862 became known as 'Fisher’s Fire' having started in Fisher’s Bakery on Harbour Street.

1875  fire 'originated in the Store in Harbour Street and Water Lane occupied 
by John MacDonald, Esq., Saddler.'

1882  December 12 - fire in Kingston;  'Feurtado’s Fire' - the fire started at 
Feurtado's Lumber Yard on Port Royal Street

1907  January 14 - fire and earthquake in Kingston
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1780/2   Kingston
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* The Eagle was a ship recently arrived at Bristol from Jamaica

and then: '1782. Kingston (Jamaica) had 80 houses burned. Loss, £500,000.'
source: 1911, 11th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica


 
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1815   Port Royal
London Times, September 19, 1815
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Port Royal c1782
London Times, September 20, 1815
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1843   'James the Founder's' or 'Matcham's' Fire

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1843 'James the Founder's' or 'Matcham's' Fire
. . . when the people in the vicinity were at last aware of their awful danger, the entire Foundry premises was al­ready almost consumed, the shingled roof being one mass of flames, spreading in a few minutes to neighbouring wooden buildings housing a saw mill and steam bakery . . .
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1862 'Fisher's Fire'
- the Fire of 1862 was to become known as 'Fisher’s Fire' having started in Fisher’s Bakery on Harbour Street.
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1875
This fire 'originated in the Store in Harbour Street and Water Lane occupied by John MacDonald, Esq., Saddler.'
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1882 'Feurtado’s Fire'
- the fire started at Feurtado's Lumber Yard on Port Royal Street

Destruction caused by the fire of December 1882
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1907
Kingston
The fire of 1907 was a direct result of the Earthquake on January 14th.
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earthquakes
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