Portal:Jamaica

St. Jago de la Vega Cathedral

Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. The town is home to numerous memorials, the national archives, and one of the oldest Anglican churches outside England (the others are in Virginia, Maryland, and Bermuda). (Full article...)

• ... that an early Elton John song has been described as "only marginally less horrifying" than its title?
• ... that footballer Kameron Simmonds, who plays for Jamaica, only took up the sport after a gymnastics injury?
• ... that Swedish naval officer Axel Lagerbielke was imprisoned in Lima for over a year, held in Callao and eventually escaped from Panama on an English packet boat to Jamaica?
• ... that Gloria Cameron was the first native Jamaican in the UK to appear on the British television programme This Is Your Life?
• ... that Jamaican-Welsh noblewoman Justina Jeffreys was the inspiration for the character of Anthelia in the 1817 novel Melincourt?

Ena Collymore-Woodstock OD MBE (10 September 1917 – 2 December 2025) was a Jamaican barrister and magistrate who throughout her career broke many barriers for women. After being orphaned, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and trained as a radar operator, becoming the first black woman to do so, serving in Belgium and Britain in World War II. When the war ended, she earned a law degree and returned to Jamaica to become the first woman Court Clerk, Crown Solicitor, and Resident Magistrate. When the Juvenile Courts were established in the country, she served as its chair from 1964 to 1967 and then as a Senior Resident Magistrate until her retirement in 1977. Post-retirement, she served as magistrate for the Turks and Caicos and Anguilla. For her contributions to the development of Jamaica, she was honoured as a member of the Order of the British Empire and Jamaica's Order of Distinction. (Full article...)

Brian Williamson (4 September 1945 – 9 June 2004) was a Jamaican gay rights activist who co-founded the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG). He was known for being one of the earliest openly gay men in Jamaican society and one of its best known gay rights activists.

Born to an upper-middle-class family in Saint Ann Parish, Williamson initially considered a life in the Roman Catholic clergy before deciding to devote himself to the cause of gay rights in Jamaica. In the 1990s, he purchased an apartment building in the New Kingston area of Kingston, in which he established a gay nightclub, which remained open for two years despite opposition from police. In 1998, he co-founded J-FLAG with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists, soon becoming the public face of the organisation. As J-FLAG's representative, he argued in favour of LGBT rights during appearances on Jamaican television and radio programs. This attracted great hostility within Jamaica – a country with particularly high rates of anti-gay prejudice – with J-FLAG members receiving death threats and Williamson surviving a knife attack. For a time he left Jamaica, living in Canada and England for several years, before returning to Kingston in 2002. (Full article...)

Bulla cakes in Jamaica

Bulla cake, usually referred to as bulla, is a rich Jamaican cake made with molasses and brown sugar, and spiced with ginger and nutmeg. (Full article...)

• ... that Walter Feurtado compiled 58 volumes of notes while researching his guide to the Official and Other Personages of Jamaica, from 1655 to 1790?