Short history of the Jamaican High Commission in London

by Pamela Beshoff

The Jamaican High Commission in London was established as one of the first diplomatic missions at the time of Jamaica’s emergence as an independent country, in August, 1962. Quite apart from the importance of London itself as a capital city, the ties between the United Kingdom and Jamaica reached back over 300 years, so London was an obvious choice. Nonetheless, the character of the mission always had a particular subtlety, with the new Jamaica striving to create its own identity as well as build on a historic relationship.

Diplomatic relations had also to be conducted against the background of the volume and complexity of demands made under what in traditional diplomacy would fall under the heading of consular relations. This was occasioned by the presence in Britain at the time of Independence of a relatively recent and substantial population of Jamaicans, the consequence of an emigration which had started with young Jamaicans who had fought in World War II, found no work on going back to Jamaica after the war, and decided to return to England to look for employment. Louise Bennett, the well-known Jamaican vernacular poet, labelled the growing exodus “Colonisation in reverse”.

“What a island! What a people! Man an woman, old an young Jusa pack dem bag an baggage An tun history upside dung!”

Although settled in Britain, these Jamaicans needed not only the usual consular services such as provision of passports, but also expected that difficulties with social service needs and rights, as well as racial prejudice, might be resolved by their diplomatic representatives. So a policy had to be worked out which would satisfy the demands of this large and vocal population of Jamaicans in Britain against the background of budgetary limitations on the one hand, while on the other helping to educate these citizens to exercise their rights within the society in which they had chosen to live.

These exacting demands had to be met without allowing them to overtake the even more onerous requirements of representation not only to United Kingdom institutions but also to international institutions with headquarters in London such as the International Maritime Organisation, the International Sugar Organisation, as well as organisations dealing with other traditional commodities in which Jamaica has an interest such as coffee and cocoa. Over the years the Jamaican High Commissioner in London has also been accredited to other countries - at the time of writing this accreditation extends to Spain, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Although non-resident, these multiple accreditations also demand attention and time. So although the requirements of “high” diplomacy have always been extremely demanding on a small staff, what has evolved over the past 40 years of Independence has been almost a new kind of diplomacy, which endeavours to balance the conduct of representation in the traditional fields of politics and trade, with courting the goodwill of nationals. The importance of remittances of funds to relatives and friends in Jamaica by Jamaicans overseas has come over the years to loom large in importance to the economy of Jamaica over many a conventional aid programme. Tourism and trade have also been of tremendous importance to the Jamaican economy and the allocation of responsibility for these two elements to representative units independent of the foreign service, and which to begin with reported to ministries other than external affairs, was an early challenge.

The marketing of Jamaican bananas in Britain was taken out of the conventional commercial stream in the diplomatic service and given added weight with the setting up in 1970 of the Jamaica Marketing Company (JAMCO), specifically charged with this task (eventually extending its remit to other commodities) and headed by a roving ambassador, John Pringle, who had transformed Jamaica’s tourist industry in the 1950s. The offices of the Jamaica Tourist Board were also during the 1970s encouraged to draw closer to diplomatic representatives and share premises with the high commission. Work involving other commercial responsibilitites was drawn together under a Political and Economic division, while increasingly aggressive initiatives in non-traditional areas of trade were pursued under the office of Trade Commissioner, who answered to a newly-established organisation, Jamaica Promotions (JAMPRO), also outside the remit of the foreign service, from the 1980s. All these threads were finally drawn together in one building in Kensington, which now houses not only the staff of the high commission proper, but also all the agencies of government, thus rationalising the demands of diplomacy, trade, commerce and tourism with budgetary constraints in a sophisticated and sensible way, while at the same time considerably simplifying communications between the various bodies.

Since Independence Jamaica has sent seven high commissioners to the Court of St. James: Laurence Lindo, Arthur Wint, Ernest Peart, Herbert Walker, Ellen Bogle, Derick Heaven and David Muirhead (the last-named still at post at the time of writing) and each have brought their particular experience to bear. Laurence Lindo, knighted while at post and on retirement given the GCMG by the British and the Order of Jamaica by his own country, was a civil servant who had risen from the ranks of inspector of schools to serve his country as Jamaica’s first high commissioner in London, who remained at post long enough to become the doyen of the diplomatic corps, bringing additional respect to the young country which he served in its first decade of Independence. He brought to Commonwealth consultations on the future of what was then called Rhodesia the experience of one whose country knew no boundaries of race and he tackled the thorny problems of relations between the police and the Jamaican community with all the skill diplomacy could muster.

In that first decade the consular functions of the high commission were split between the pressures of consular duties and those which fell under a general heading of “welfare”. Applications for Jamaican passports came in thick and fast, often from applicants who did not have the requisite papers and had great difficulty in getting birth certificates from the Island Registrar’s office in Spanish Town, Jamaica. The “welfare” section, meanwhile, dealt with a large volume of requests, usually by helping applicants to find their way through the maze of British welfare agencies. Jamaicans themselves, in these early days of settlement, were gradually coming to terms with life in Britain, building communications with each other through a network of small associations. These, too, had to be nurtured with visits and advice from the new-born High Commission. It was not, after all, too long since the 1959 riots in Notting Hill and Nottingham, when black people in Britain, many of them Jamaicans, had been subject not only to racial abuse but also physical attack. Over the years the “welfare” division of the high commission has evolved into a standard consular service, but the policy of working with the Jamaican community has been transformed in recent years with the appointment of a Community Relations Officer, particularly charged with this task. With the change of government in 1972 in Jamaica when the People’s National party came to power and a new leader in the person of Michael Manley became prime minister, the nature of Jamaica’s diplomacy changed dramatically. Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first prime minister in Independence had needed only five words to define Jamaica’s foreign policy:

“We are with the West”. Under Manley, from 1972-1980, Jamaica continued to be a member of the post-imperial Commonwealth but now also elected to try to play a leading role in forums of Third World diplomacy - the Group of 77 developing countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, and within the conference structure of the United Nations where the search was on for a “New International Economic Order”. Although Geneva and New York were the centres where such diplomatic thrusts were made, Jamaican diplomats in London, too, had to respond to these challenges. Laurence Lindo, who had won a Blue for running at Oxford, and had been known to take an early morning sprint around Berkeley Square, near where he lived, before facing the day’s demands, gave way to a runner who had achieved Olympic gold in that sport, and who was well known to the British public for his achievements in this sphere. This was Arthur Wint, who had studied medicine in England after leaving the Royal Air Force, and had been practising as a country doctor in Jamaica when Michael Manley asked him to take up the post of high commissioner in London. Popular with his own countrymen as well as among the British, he took the opportunity of honing his medical skills while in Britain and returned to Jamaica to resume a practice in medicine in a country hospital.

The appointment of Arthur Wint was followed by that of Ernest Peart, who had been a minister in the People’s National Party government, and who not only also knew Britain well as a result of his service in the RAF but had many links with Jamaicans who were also ex-servicemen. Ernest Peart was replaced in due course by a career diplomat, Herbert Walker. He had served with distinction in the complex negotiations for commodity trading among developed and developing countries while accredited to the United Nations Conference in Geneva.

The return to career diplomacy was carried forward following Herbert Walker’s transfer to New York, with Jamaica’s first appointment to London of a woman as high commissioner in the person of Ellen Bogle, who had experience in what was then called the Foreign Affairs ministry and also had previously served as high commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago. When Mrs. Bogle’s posting was completed, there followed a return to the custom of appointing a politician, rather than a career civil servant, to Jamaica’s high commission in London, with the arrival of Derick Heaven. A former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Heaven had later headed Jamaica’s consulate in New York, and served as Jamaica’s ambassador to Japan. He thus came to Britain with both diplomatic and consular experience as well as political skills. In addition, the expertise acquired in relating to the needs of ordinary people, acquired during his time both as politician and consul, was peculiarly well suited to dealing with the complex demands which are made upon Jamaica’s high commissioner in London. Following Mr. Heaven’s departure the Hon. David Muirhead, O.J., Q.C., was appointed high commissioner. A Queen’s Counsel who had obtained an LL.B. from London University and was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, he had also worked as a young man in the embryonic West Indian diplomatic and consular mission, the Commission for the West Indies, British Guiana and British Honduras. Mr. Muirhead has been awarded the Jamaican honours of Order of Jamaica as well as that of Commander of Distinction.

(Pamela Beshoff is a former Jamaican diplomat, journalist and academic)