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'. . . men of the Robert Lindsay type, men whose service has sweetened and enriched life and made the world better.' Daily Gleaner, August 4, 1936 |
In my on-going research into Jamaican history I am continually struck by how many important people in that history have been overlooked, forgotten, even perhaps discarded. Some are remembered for a while, but then disappear from memory, often because they do not seem to mesh with current ways of thinking, often that of the academic community. It is important in studying the past to try to see it as whole as possible, given the available data; paying more attention to new areas of study ought not to mean that other areas are increasingly ignored. By ceasing, or failing, to consider the lives of those who created both their time and ours, we lose a needed dimension of ourselves. I spend much of my time trying to restore some of these lost Jamaicans to recollection; Robert Lindsay is an important member of this 'lost' community.
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Unfortunately, I have so far been unable to locate a copy of this 1902 issue of the Jamaica Journal of Education, nor have I been able to locate any other 'portrait' of Robert Lindsay; I hope they will turn up, - somewhere, some time! |
'Education in Jamaica was greatly assisted by the contribution of Robert Lindsay, a young native mason brought up in connection with the mission station of the London Missionary Society in the island. At the age of nineteen, he applied for permission to enter the Normal Institute, and was accepted. In spite of his father's opposition, he entered and studied there for three years. On finishing his course, he was made Principal of the Mission School, where he laboured for eighteen years. During that time, his school became the foremost in the island, on its merit. He was induced to leave there and take over Wesley School, where again he succeeded. Four years later, he was invited to be tutor in his old College. Many thought he would not be obeyed, but he commanded the respect and admiration of all who met him. During his forty-two years service as a scholar, teacher and tutor, he worked nobly and strenuously for the furtherance of education in Jamaica. He has left a name which is honoured by all and set a high moral standard for those coming after.'
p 31, "Education in Jamaica", H V Hart,The Empire Review, Volume 69, 1939,
edited by Clement Kinloch Cooke.
Robert Lindsay was a Black Jamaican born in Manchester, Jamaica, possibly in 1840, two years after 'Full Freedom' was proclaimed in 1838. So far the only information about his family is that his father was a mason, who may have been formerly a slave, but could also have been a Free Black artisan. Robert worked with his father when he was in his teens, though he must have benefited from schooling in a local school. It seems likely that the family lived in Ridgemont, with which Robert later had such an long connection as a teacher; the London Missionary Society, an important non-denominational missionary organisation, had one of its early stations there from the mid-1830s, and Lindsay's early contact with the L.M.S. is emphasised in some accounts of his life.
[There was, however, a Robert Lindsay baptised in the Church of England in the area on October 30, 1836, who could possibly be the same Robert Lindsay: date of birth and age were very uncertain 'facts' in those days, even more than today!]
In an article in the Gleaner (June 16, 1965) Inez Knibb Sibley outlined the early history of the Ridgemount station:
'In 1836 the Rev William Slatyer was instrumental in acquiring land in Mandeville where a tent was erected for the holding of meetings, and for teaching purposes. The London Missionary Society then appointed Mr and Mrs Brown to labour as educational agents in Jamaica and directed them to proceed to Mandeville and work under the superintendence of Mr Slatyer. The results were encouraging - a Congregational church was formed in 1837. Mr Slatyer and family then moved from Porus to Mandeville and directed the building at Ridgemount. This was opened in that same year as school and chapel, the downstairs being used for a school and the upstairs for public worship.
The Rev Mr Slatyer and his wife continued in the work at Ridgemount until 1850 when he was succeeded by the Rev George Hall. After two years of service for health reasons Mr Hall had to return to England. In 1854 the Rev Josiah Andrews went to Ridgemount from Morant Bay but because of the illness of his wife, they both returned to their homeland.
By the request of the L.M.S. the Rev. Mr Alloway stationed at Porus answered the call to Ridgemount.
........................
Mr Alloway's ministry lasted for 21 years and after a life of devoted service for Christ and the Church he died at Ridgemount on Januarv 19, 1877.'
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London Missionary Society
Chapel and school-room at Ridgemount 
from The Juvenile Missionary Magazine, April 1855
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Lindsay may have grown up in the community at Ridgemount, and he certainly returned to Ridgemount, after his three years of study to be a teacher at the Mico College in Kingston.
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1878 DIRECTORY
PARISH OF MANCHESTER MANDEVILLE Lindsay Robert, teacher, Independent School 
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Daily Gleaner, August 11, 1891
At the name of Ridgemount many youthful memories and associations are recalled; especially during the good old days of " Parson" Alloway and Mr. Robert Lindsay at that time teacher of the school. " Parson" Alloway was among the first missionaries to Jamaica when the Island was then looked upon as a heathen country. [1834] The reverend and respected old gentleman now sleeps in peace in the little burial ground at the foot of the hill and under the very shadow of the church. [died 1877] But Ridgemount boys will always remember him, for which of them can forget at least that honest and amusing delight of his in pelting the youngsters, from off his heavy laden orange trees, and the hearty "poke" he would give, them with the point of his umbrella as they slid in boyish excitement down the prickly stems? |
at Wesley school
at the Mico
In the mid-1880s Robert Lindsay went on to become a tutor at Mico, where he had studied as a young man. There he became known to the students as ‘Tute’ or ‘Old Tute’, and earned a great reputation as one of the finest instructors in the history of the College. He was especially known for his expertise in English grammar, but was also respected for the breadth of his knowledge. The impact of his teaching was spread throughout the island by those he had taught at every level from infant school to college.
'Robert Lindsay became the first black tutor at Mico
Teachers' College',
page 58, Jamaican society and high schooling, Errol Miller, 1990
'In respect of Lindsay, Cundall states "when appointed as tutor, some thought that his race was put on its trial, as they did not believe black men would obey a black man; but they were mistaken.'
page 27, Marginalization of the Black male: insights from the development of the teaching profession, Errol Miller, 1986
"The important post of normal school tutor was filled by Robert Lindsay. Of him H. H. Kilburn, secretary of the Board of Directors, wrote:
He is a black man, native of, and trained in Jamaica, one whose general character and efficiency and success as a teacher had commended themselves to several of the Directors, myself among the number. I am intimately acquainted with his career for the last twelve years. The fact that he is a black man and fully worthy in the estimation of the Directors to occupy the position named, will, it is believed, have a very beneficial effect on the Students most of whom are of the same colour."
pages 35-6, Jamaica: development of teacher training through the agency of the Lady Mico Charity from 1835 to 1914, Vincent D'Oyley, Dept. of Educational Research, Ontario College of Education, University of Toronto, 1964
'Time is too short to give an adequate account; but we dare not omit to mention men like Lindsay, the first old student of the Mico to become a member of the staff, who showed that the sons of Jamaica were worthy to assist in training the students. For twenty years "Tutor" served on the staff faithfully and efficiently, loved and respected by all.'
Daily Gleaner, August 10, 1936, A. J. Newman, Principal of Mico, in talk on its history
'Full and strenuous though the students found the college curriculum and routine, they and the public were often reminded that the glorious days had departed from the Mico. Those days constituted the years, roughly speaking, from the early 1890’s to 1900, when under the co-principalship of Dr. William Gillies and Colonel Gruchy and the training of Tutor Lindsay the college was able to produce men like Reverend W. H. Graham, M.A.; J. L. King, B.A.; A. A. Kennedy, B.A.; Dr. J. Robb, Dr. J. Watson, Reverend A. A. Barclay, J. B. Morrison, and C. D. Neilson, most of whom had benefited by a fourth year course given to the most promising student and tenable either at the Mico itself or, unusually, Jamaica College.
During the years mentioned the academic courses at the Mico included Latin and higher mathematics for the abler students.'
J.J.Mills writing of his own years at the Mico in the first decade of the 20th century, in J. J. Mills: His own account of his life and times. page 47
page 58, Jamaican society and high schooling, Errol Miller, 1990
'In respect of Lindsay, Cundall states "when appointed as tutor, some thought that his race was put on its trial, as they did not believe black men would obey a black man; but they were mistaken.'
page 27, Marginalization of the Black male: insights from the development of the teaching profession, Errol Miller, 1986
"The important post of normal school tutor was filled by Robert Lindsay. Of him H. H. Kilburn, secretary of the Board of Directors, wrote:
He is a black man, native of, and trained in Jamaica, one whose general character and efficiency and success as a teacher had commended themselves to several of the Directors, myself among the number. I am intimately acquainted with his career for the last twelve years. The fact that he is a black man and fully worthy in the estimation of the Directors to occupy the position named, will, it is believed, have a very beneficial effect on the Students most of whom are of the same colour."
pages 35-6, Jamaica: development of teacher training through the agency of the Lady Mico Charity from 1835 to 1914, Vincent D'Oyley, Dept. of Educational Research, Ontario College of Education, University of Toronto, 1964
'Time is too short to give an adequate account; but we dare not omit to mention men like Lindsay, the first old student of the Mico to become a member of the staff, who showed that the sons of Jamaica were worthy to assist in training the students. For twenty years "Tutor" served on the staff faithfully and efficiently, loved and respected by all.'
Daily Gleaner, August 10, 1936, A. J. Newman, Principal of Mico, in talk on its history
'Full and strenuous though the students found the college curriculum and routine, they and the public were often reminded that the glorious days had departed from the Mico. Those days constituted the years, roughly speaking, from the early 1890’s to 1900, when under the co-principalship of Dr. William Gillies and Colonel Gruchy and the training of Tutor Lindsay the college was able to produce men like Reverend W. H. Graham, M.A.; J. L. King, B.A.; A. A. Kennedy, B.A.; Dr. J. Robb, Dr. J. Watson, Reverend A. A. Barclay, J. B. Morrison, and C. D. Neilson, most of whom had benefited by a fourth year course given to the most promising student and tenable either at the Mico itself or, unusually, Jamaica College.
During the years mentioned the academic courses at the Mico included Latin and higher mathematics for the abler students.'
J.J.Mills writing of his own years at the Mico in the first decade of the 20th century, in J. J. Mills: His own account of his life and times. page 47
distinguished Miconians from Lindsay's days:
Rev W. H. Graham [Rev J. W. Graham?], M.A., J. L. King, B.A., A. A. Kennedy, B.A., Dr. J. Robb, Dr. J. Watson, Rev A. A. Barclay, J. B. Morrison, C. D. Neilson, F. A. Myers, S. M. Hart, A. S. Clarke, U. Theo McKay
Rev W. H. Graham [Rev J. W. Graham?], M.A., J. L. King, B.A., A. A. Kennedy, B.A., Dr. J. Robb, Dr. J. Watson, Rev A. A. Barclay, J. B. Morrison, C. D. Neilson, F. A. Myers, S. M. Hart, A. S. Clarke, U. Theo McKay
Samuel Mordecai Hart,
(Mico, 189?-?) headmaster of the Presbyterian Duketown School, in Calabar, Nigeria, 1904 to 1937 |
Albert S. Clarke
(Mico 1899-1901), founder of St John's College, KIngston. |
U. Theo McKay
(Mico 1891-95?) Teacher; "Planter, politician, social worker, lover of arts, bon vivant, Mr. McKay was well known throughout the island for the active part which he played in the development of the social, agricultural, and economic life of the community" Daily Gleaner, June 17, 1949 at his death |
teachers' organisations
Lindsay had a long association with the teachers’ organisations of his day. He was on the Executive Committee of the Kingston Teachers’ Association when it was established in 1883. He served as Librarian and later as vice-President, and contributed many valuable papers at the Association’s meetings. When the Jamaica Union of Teachers was founded in1894 he was made Treasurer of the Union, an office which he continued to hold until his death in 1904.
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Daily Gleaner, October 31, 1901
Jamaica Union of Teachers. MR. LINDSAY'S RE-ELECTION. For the eighth consecutive time, Mr. R. Lindsay, tutor of the Mico, has been re-elected treasurer of the J. U. T. As on several other occasions he has this time been returned unopposed. According to the nomination forms it is evident that the teachers do not desire to relieve Mr. Lindsay of the important position he has all these years filled with universal satisfaction. It shews that he has the confidence of the teachers and we congratulate him on his continuance in office. |
After his death the members of the JUT subscribed to put up a Memorial Plaque to Robert Lindsay’s memory in the Wesley Chapel.
Daily Gleaner, February 03, 1911.
In his address at the opening of the Wesley Hall on Wednesday evening Mr. George Hicks, the Senior Inspector of Schools, paid a high tribute to the late Mr. Robert Lindsay, a former teacher of the Wesley school. Mr. Hicks said: "I have pleasant memories of Wesley school after Mr. Robert Lindsay, whom I had learned to appreciate highly through his work in the parish of Manchester, became its teacher. But subsequently he was needed for other work, and after his successful career at Wesley, raising the school to first class, and trebling the attendance, he was called to join the staff of the Mico College and he became a teacher of teachers. While he was at the Mico, spending there the remainder of his useful life, I was in close touch with his work, both officially and as one of the Mico directors, and as the years went by, I appreciated his worth more and more. It is fitting that the memory of Wesley's most famous teacher is perpetuated in the memorial tablet which his fellow teachers and others have erected in Wesley chapel in honour of his worth. He was worthy of honour. Earnest, diligent, faithful, skillful, he had two other traits which mark the superior teacher - sympathy with childhood and infinite patience. May he have many worthy successors in the new Wesley Hall . . .
'. . . the name "Robert Lindsay", - a name which will shine forever in the educational history of Jamaica as brightly as a near galaxy of stars.'
(A. J. Smith, J.U.T. General Secretary, 1904.)
(A. J. Smith, J.U.T. General Secretary, 1904.)
