James Finlayson: Trailblazer

 

Penshurst Estate, four miles from Brown's Town in the civil parish of St Ann, was one of the places where enslavers exploited the labour of Africans during the 19th century. Available records show that, between 1809 and 1832, the enslaved population at Penshurst numbered between 23 and 50. One of these enslaved persons was James Williams, whose contribution to the process leading to the end of apprenticeship in Jamaica deserves to be celebrated by all freedom-loving people.

Thanks to the vision and kindness of Joseph Sturge, the English Quaker abolitionist, Williams travelled to England when he was only 18 years old and there, he shared a firsthand account of what life was like on slavery plantations in Jamaica before and during the period of apprenticeship. Williams had endured harsh and unjust treatment at Penshurst and his account of the experience of enslaved people in Jamaica was spread widely for the benefit of the British public. Williams’ autobiography, “A Narrative of Events since the First of August, 1834,” offers a gripping account that can stir the hearts of people with any semblance of humanity.

Another significant person who was exploited at Penshurst was James Finlayson. This man was born into slavery at the estate and, although he was a so-called “domestic slave,” he, like the others who worked on the coffee plantation at Penshurst, had to face the hardships suffered by all who were regarded as part of the property belonging to Mr. Gilbert Senior and his sister, Sarah Jane.

According to common practice at Penshurst and on some other plantations in Jamaica, enslavers made small plots of land available to the enslaved where they could cultivate crops for their personal use and, where they reaped a surplus, they were allowed to sell it on Saturdays or Sundays with the planters’ permission. 

During the period of apprenticeship, Finlayson, through his own industry, would gather enough honey either from hives of bees that he kept or by collecting wild honey available in the caves at Penshurst. He would then make his way on foot to Falmouth, 25 miles away to find market for his honey.

On a Sunday in 1828, he set out on the long walk to Falmouth to sell his honey. On entering the town, he sought market at the Wesleyan Church in the town. There, the minister reprimanded Finlayson for breaking the Sabbath and sent him away. This left the vendor quite embarrassed. Moving on, he saw a group of persons who looked like him going into a building and learned that someone had come to the place to tell the people the Word of God. Finlayson stood at the door and listened to a sermon based on Psalm 4:2, “Oh ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?” The preacher was James Mann, whom the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) of London (now BMS World) had commissioned as one of their missionaries to Jamaica. Mann arrived in 1826 and went to serve in Falmouth.

Mann explained that human beings were made in the image of God and that by living in disobedience to God, people had turned God’s glory into shame. This was the first time Finlayson was entering a church; it was the first sermon he ever listened to. Yet, he felt convicted by the message and, leaving his precious honey behind, he returned to Penshurst to tell his peers that he had heard the Word of God.

The group braved persecution in order to have regular meetings to discuss the message of the Gospel.

Finlayson and the enslaved Africans who heard his message yearned for more knowledge of the things of God. Because no one was able to give them further explanation of the Gospel, he travelled to a mission station in Ocho Rios to confer with Samuel Bromley, a missionary sent to Jamaica by the General Baptist Missionary Society (GBMS) in England.  Bromley was soon to leave the country on account of the decision of the GBMS to end its work in Jamaica, turning it over to the BMS.  The work in Ocho Rios would be joined with that in St Ann’s Bay, where Samuel Nichols was the BMS missionary.

Eventually, Finlayson received spiritual help from Nichols, by whom he was baptized in 1829 and became a member of the Baptist Church in St Ann’s Bay. Finlayson faithfully covered the fifteen-mile journey from Penshurst to St Ann’s Bay every Sunday and he grew in his faith. It appears that Nichols arranged for Finlayson to learn to read and write.

Acknowledging the obligation Christians have to share their faith, Finlayson continued to  bear witness to his co-workers at Penshurst. Soon, he extended his work to the people working on the neighbouring properties at Knapdale and Hilton Hill. From time to time, they met in a cave near Brown’s Town to keep their services secret. This cave is known as Finlayson’s Cave.

Finlayson preached the Gospel and after persons made a profession of faith, he took them to St Ann’s Bay and enrolled them in Enquirers’ Class. In time, they were baptized and Nichols entrusted these believers to the care of Finlayson who was the leader of the “class” in Penshurst.

In January 1832, martial law was declared and religious persecution was renewed in Jamaica. Falmouth was a place where enslaved persons were punished for the slightest of infractions. Finlayson placed his Bible and his books in a box and hid them in a cave at Penshurst. He went there to read his Bible and for devotions. Three weeks later after he started doing this, he was sent to Falmouth for trial. Before he left Penshurst, all the “children of the Class” (i.e. his church members) went to see him to say their farewells since they never expected to see him again. Finlayson sang for them the hymn, “I’m not ashamed to own my God or to defend his cause”— number 590 from Wilcox Collection, which was used in the church at St Ann’s Bay. In Falmouth, his life was spared and he returned to Penshurst and called a meeting where he shared this thought with his people: “This is a trial of our faith. What will we do? Shall we draw back? God forbid!”

Finlayson and his people continued to meet, holding communion every three months. Soon, the estate managers discovered Finlayson’s secret midnight meetings in a cave and Finlayson’s master summoned him, had him arrested, placed in stocks and sent to the House of Correction in St Ann’s Bay. He was sentenced to two months in the “workhouse” (prison), where he was flogged. This had no adverse effect on Finlayson’s faith.

Persuaded by Finlayson, Samuel Nichols, the pastor of the St Ann’s Bay Baptist Church, paid a visit to the group of believers gathered by Finlayson at Penshurst in 1830. His first visit was on December 12, 1830. Nichols also travelled to Brown’s Town and there he decided that this could become the centre of a new Baptist witness. A year later, Nichols prepared papers to allow for the transfer the 24 members of the Finlayson group from membership in the St Ann’s Bay Church to form part of a fledgling Brown’s Town Baptist Church. One person was transferred from the Baptist Church in Falmouth together with nineteen who were baptized on June 5, 1831, the day the Brown’s Town Baptist Church was constituted officially with forty-four members. Finlayson and those gathered around him formed the nucleus of what was to become the Brown’s Town Baptist Church, with Finlayson becoming the first deacon there.

During the period of apprenticeship, James Finlayson, after he had saved up enough for the purpose, purchased his freedom. On a Sunday in 1865, Finlayson was in church, as was his custom. During the service, he fell ill and after about an hour, he “exchanged the abode of this earth for the palaces of heaven.” Gone, but not forgotten.