Sir Alexander Bustamant, Prime Minister of Jamaica

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): DO 200/186

Title: Sir Alexander Bustamant, Prime Minister of Jamaica

Date(s): 1964 - 1967

Level of description: File

Extent and medium of the unit of description:

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Alexander Bustamante (1884-1977), campaigner against colonial rule in Jamaica and founder of the Jamaica Labour Party. Became the first Premier of Jamaica (1944-1954) and Prime Minister at Independence in 1962.

Bustamante first impressed his name on the society by a series of letters to Jamaica's newspaper, The Gleaner and occasionally to British newspapers calling attention to social and economic problems in Jamaica.

On September 8, 1940, Bustamante was detained at Up Park Camp for alleged violation of the Defense of the Realm Act. He was released seventeen months later. On his release, he formed the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 1943. The first general election under Universal Adult Suffrage came in 1944 and the JLP won 22 of the 32 seats.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: DO 200/186 consists of records relating to Sir Alexander Bustamante, Prime Minister of Jamaica.

Other records concerning Alexander Bustamante can be found in PRO Online Catalogue (PROCAT) within the following collections: CO 137 and FCO 23/281.

CO 137/825/12 includes letters and newspaper articles in the British and Jamaican press.

CO 137/826/9 includes reports of labour riots and disturbances in various parts of Jamaica as well as information on the arrest of Mr Alexander Bustamante 1938-1939.

CO 137/835/2 includes copies of letters relating to unemployment and labour problems from Mr F A Norman, Labour Adviser, Mr Norman Manley and Mr Alexander Bustamante, and an article from The Daily Gleaner of 12 June 1939 reporting on Mr Norman's first public speech..

CO 137/840/5 concerns the detention of Mr Alexander Bustamante under the Defence Regulations.

CO 137/842/17 contains newspaper articles and letters protesting about the proposed sale of the Constant Spring Hotel to the Franciscan Sisterhood, including a copy of a letter from Mr Alexander Bustamante.

CO 137/846/15 contains a Memorial from the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union on wages and general conditions in the sugar industry and a covering letter to the memorial signed by Mr Alexander Bustamante.

CO 137/852/1 comprises Memorials from the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union requesting the release from detention of Mr Alexander Bustamante, and two memorials signed by Mr Norman Manley among others.

CO 137/852/2 Labour conditions. Includes copies of a number of letters from Mr Alexander Bustamante. Also includes an article on social and economic conditions in Jamaica, published in The New Statesman and Nation by Mr Anthony Birac, dated 26 September 1942.

DO 200/186 Sir Alexander Bustamante, Prime Minister 1964-1967

FCO 23/281 concerns Sir Alexander Bustamante, 1967-1968.

CO 1031/1048 Interrogation by Puerto Rican immigration officers of the Prime Minister of Jamaica Bustamante, head of a Caribbean Commission delegation to a conference 1952

CO 968/68/7 Jamaica: A Bustamante 1943

FCO 23/281 Sir Alexander Bustamante 1967-1968

CO 137/185 Slave Rebellion Trials. Enclosures to despatch of 14 Dec. 1832

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access:

Conditions governing reproduction:

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: January 2002

Interest: Caribbean

Specific group:

Subjects

Slavery

Civil and political rights

Interethnic relations

Protest movements

Foreign policy

Decolonization

Economic and social development

Colonial countries

Colonialism

Personal/Corporate names

Bustamante, Sir Alexander

Places

Jamaica