3-021-387 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Testimonial to Brigadier-General Nelson from the Jamaica House of Assembly, 1868. 'Immediately after the suppression of the negro insurrection in the Morant Bay district of Jamaica, in 1865, the House of Assembly voted a grant of 200 guineas for a testimonial to be presented to Brigadier-General Abercromby Nelson, the commander of the troops, for his services in that unhappy affair. The pieces of plate - manufactured for this purpose by Messrs. E. and E. Emanuel, of Burlington-gardens - consist of a silver épergne and candelabrum. At each of the angles of the tripod base of the épergne is stationed a figure, in relief, of a crocodile, and between these figures the arms of Brigadier-General Nelson, the arms of Jamaica, and an inscription of an extract from the votes of the House of Assembly, are engraved on three shields. From the base rise several sugar-canes in blossom, and between these stand two figures representing the aborigines of the island, each supporting a shield. These figures, with the representations of the crocodile at the base, are illustrative of the Jamaica arms. Above the sugar-canes rise six branches for lights surmounted by a crocodile couched in the midst of palm-leaves, and supporting a bowl for flowers or fruit'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.