3-021-637 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Outbreak in Jamaica: Muirton House and Plantation, Morant Bay, 1865. 'Muirton Great House, Muirton works and plantation, are on the high road from Kingston (through Port Morant)...The estate was formerly the property of George William Gordon; it was sold by him to Mr. Mitchell, of Edinburgh, who has sold it to the Jamaica Cotton Company. The house is said to be one of the finest and the healthiest in the island. The estate was at one time valued at £80,000, with the house built for the residence of the proprietor. Two hogsheads of sugar have been produced on it, but it is now merely cultivated for cotton. The last crop was very small, owing to the heavy wind and rains which prevailed at the time of picking, but it sold at 2s. 4d. the pound on an average. Some of the former year's crop sold at 3s. 9d. and 4s. per lb. Plantains, cocoa-nuts, and bamboo, together with all the tropical fruits, grow on it to perfection. There is no want of labourers, at wages varying from 1s 3d. per day for adults to 6d. for children. Captain Hole and his troops have taken possession of this house during the insurrection, and say, in the despatch to the Colonial Office, that it affords them secure and abundant accommodation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.