The secret of Sabina Park, Jamaica
Sabina Park was a woman. More than that, she was a slave. More than that, she was an enslaved woman who took the life of her four-month-old son. At her trial in the Half-Way-Tree court, she admitted to the infanticide. The Crown witness relayed her complaint that “she had worked hard enough for ‘Backra Massa’ already and that she would not be plagued to raise the child... to work for white people”.
She was one of 17 slaves on Goat Island, owned by a Scottish planter, Joseph Gordon, who had 17 such properties across Jamaica. The suicide rate among slaves was high—a response to the viciously inhumane conditions—and it reduced the number of working hands for the plantations. Sabina Park became emblematic of an extreme and courageous reaction to the dreadness of slavery.She was found guilty of murder, hanged, and her remains buried on the Liguanea Plains, in the place that bore her name—Sabina Park Pen.
Her name was given to the only Test ground in Jamaica, and for all these cricket-loving years—since 1880 when the Kingston Cricket Club (KCC) started renting the ground from Catherine Fairweather Blakeley—millions of people have filled its stands, with barely a handful knowing the origin of its name.
On the phone, he rattled off ground names and their christeners. Like so: Bourda was named after a liberal Englishman who bequeathed his estate. He acted as governor and died in France. Albion was an English name. (The Sports Complex was the first in Guyana to host a One Day International: WI vs Pakistan, 1977.) St Vincent: Arnos Vale Ground was an arrowroot estate. Dominica’s Windsor Park directly linked to the British. Montserrat: Sturge Park no longer exists. The Queen’s Parks in Trinidad and Grenada were named after the British monarch. The Antigua Recreation Ground is owned by the government. Warner Park was named for Sir Thomas Warner. We didn’t get around to Kensington Oval, but its website said that Pickwick Cricket Club leased four acres of pasture land from Kensington Plantation in 1882.
She was one of 17 slaves on Goat Island, owned by a Scottish planter, Joseph Gordon, who had 17 such properties across Jamaica. The suicide rate among slaves was high—a response to the viciously inhumane conditions—and it reduced the number of working hands for the plantations. Sabina Park became emblematic of an extreme and courageous reaction to the dreadness of slavery.She was found guilty of murder, hanged, and her remains buried on the Liguanea Plains, in the place that bore her name—Sabina Park Pen.
Her name was given to the only Test ground in Jamaica, and for all these cricket-loving years—since 1880 when the Kingston Cricket Club (KCC) started renting the ground from Catherine Fairweather Blakeley—millions of people have filled its stands, with barely a handful knowing the origin of its name.
On the phone, he rattled off ground names and their christeners. Like so: Bourda was named after a liberal Englishman who bequeathed his estate. He acted as governor and died in France. Albion was an English name. (The Sports Complex was the first in Guyana to host a One Day International: WI vs Pakistan, 1977.) St Vincent: Arnos Vale Ground was an arrowroot estate. Dominica’s Windsor Park directly linked to the British. Montserrat: Sturge Park no longer exists. The Queen’s Parks in Trinidad and Grenada were named after the British monarch. The Antigua Recreation Ground is owned by the government. Warner Park was named for Sir Thomas Warner. We didn’t get around to Kensington Oval, but its website said that Pickwick Cricket Club leased four acres of pasture land from Kensington Plantation in 1882.
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