Paul Bogle

For the Dean of Clonmacnoise in the Church of Ireland, see Paul Bogle (priest).

Paul Bogle
ONH
"Artistic Impression of Paul Bogle" in Morant Bay, Jamaica[1]
Born1822 (1822)
Died24 October 1865(1865-10-24) (aged 42–43)
Cause of deathHanged
NationalityJamaican
Known forLeader of the protesters in the Morant Bay rebellion
Websitehttps://paulboglefoundation.org/

Paul Bogle (1822 – 24 October 1865)[2] was a Jamaican Baptist deacon and activist. He is a National Hero of Jamaica. He was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay protesters, who marched for justice and fair treatment for all the people in Jamaica. After leading the Morant Bay rebellion, Bogle was captured, tried and convicted by the colonial government (who had declared martial law), and hanged on 24 October 1865 in the Morant Bay court house.[3]

Bogle had become a friend of a wealthy landowner and fellow Baptist George William Gordon, a bi-racial man who served in the Assembly as one of two representatives from St. Thomas-in-the-East parish. Gordon was instrumental in Bogle being appointed deacon of Stony Gut Baptist Church in 1864. Conditions were hard for black peasants, due to social discrimination, flooding and crop failure, and epidemics. The required payment of poll taxes prevented most of them from voting. In August 1865, Gordon criticised the governor of Jamaica, Edward John Eyre, for sanctioning "everything done by the higher class to the oppression of the negroes".[4]

Bogle concentrated on improving the conditions of the poor.[5] As awareness of social injustices and people's grievances grew, Bogle led a group of small farmers 45 miles to the capital, Spanish Town, hoping to meet with Governor Eyre to discuss their issues, but they were denied an audience.[6] The people of Stony Gut lost confidence and trust in the Government, and Bogle's supporters grew in number in the parish.

  1. ^ ". Brown, I.
  2. ^ Dugdale-Pointon, T., "Paul Bogle, 1822–1865". Military History Encyclopedia good on the Web, 22 September 2008.
  3. ^ Gad Heuman, The Killing Time: The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994).
  4. ^ Kevin O'Brien Chang, "Paul Bogle - Defender Of The People", The Gleaner, 25 July 2012.
  5. ^ E. L. Bute and H. J. P. Harmer, The Black Handbook: The People, History and Politics of Africa and the African Diaspora, London & Washington: Cassell, 1997; p. 10.
  6. ^ Clinton Hutton, "Review: The Killing Time: The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica " by GAD Heuman, Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1 (March 1995), pp. 191–205, via JSTOR; accessed 13 July 2016.