Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter James Drax.
It provides traditional classroom education to its students in a variety of subject areas and caters to students aged 10 to 19 years. First established as a boarding school for boys, it has remained a single-sex school with the boarding facilities removed, but later re-opened in 2016.
During the 18th century when Jamaica prospered as a sugar colony of the British Empire, several large donations were made by wealthy slave owners for the funding of schools. The objective of these bequests was usually to provide free education for the poor of the parish to which the benefactor belonged. Jamaica College is a product of such a bequest. The school is widely known for both its academic and sports achievements, and has produced many influential members of Jamaican society.
History
Drax Free School
Jamaica College was founded in 1789, making it the sixth oldest continually running high school in the country, after Wolmer's Boys', one of the Wolmer's Schools (1729), Manning's School (1738), St. Jago High School (1744), Rusea's High School (1777) and Titchfield High School (1786). It was first known as the Drax Free School in the parish of St. Ann, and was founded by Charles Drax, a planter of that parish, who was originally from Twickenham, England. Drax came to Jamaica from Barbados, and as a white slave-owning planter, he was elected the representative of St Ann in 1702, the now-defunct parish of St David in 1707, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica in 1708, the now-defunct parish of St George in 1710, and the parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica in 1719. He died in 1721, and his estate was valued at nearly £9,000, including 307 slaves, of which 167 were male and 140 female.
Drax left money in his will to establish a charity school in St. Ann. The school was intended for the education of eight boys and four girls, most of whom were white and poor. The will stipulated that two female black slaves on the Drax Hall estate would be used to keep the school "clean and neat". The will stipulated that the children were to be taught "reading, writing and arithmetick".
There was some delay and legal proceedings before the money was handed over to the St. Ann vestry. With no one to probate the Drax will, and with the theft of some of the money, Jamaica College in its original form did not start until 1795. Then it was decided that Jamaica College would be a high school and an outpost of the University of London. It was in 1802 that the sum of £5,200 (JA$10,400 at the time), was applied by an Act of the Legislature to the endowment of the school.
Jamaica Free School
The Jamaica Free School was established at Walton, near Moneague, in the parish of St. Ann. The property at Walton Pen was bought for the site of the school, purchased in 1806. A year later, another Act of Legislature gave the school the name, Jamaica Free School. Both the names Drax Free School and Jamaica Free School had nothing to do with the concept of free tuition for attendees, but meant that the school was for the children of free people, both white and free black and mixed race. The Free School was not intended for black slaves, though his will did make an exception for his "slave Robinson", who was to be admitted and "placed out as one of them". The Free School was typical of a number of institutions set up during that era.
Jamaica High School
The school had its name changed 73 years later. In 1879, during the governorship of Sir Anthony Musgrave, a provision was made by law for the Jamaica Free School to come under the jurisdiction of the Jamaica School Commission. The institution was now to be known under a new name, Jamaica High School. All classes at the time were free so there was no longer a need to call the school Jamaica Free School, but the purpose of the school remained the same until 1903. This law also authorized the removal of the school from Walton Pen in St. Ann in 1883, and classes were conducted at Barbican Great House until mid-1885. The school then had a new headmaster, Reverend (later Archdeacon) William Simms.