Thomas Burchell

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Thomas Burchell's Memorial erected in 1992 at Abney Park Cemetery by two of his great grandchildren

The Rev. Thomas Burchell (1799-1846) was a leading Baptist missionary and slavery abolitionist in Jamaica in the early nineteenth century. It is not uncommon for Jamaican parents name their children 'Burchell'; indeed it is almost as popular a christian name as Manley.

Thomas Burchell, along with James Phillippo (1798-1879, William Knibb and Samuel Oughton was one of the group of early Baptist missionaries sent from England to respond to requests from pioneer African Baptists who had become free from slavery, for support in establishing chapels and education in Jamaica. They were representatives of the Baptist Missionary Society of London and followed the pioneering preaching of the African George Lisle.

Burchell's time as a Baptist missionary in Jamaica spanned twenty-two years, 1822-46; the most notorious years in the history of slavery abolition in the colony, which included the persecution of Thomas Burchell and other Baptists after the Christmas Rebellion or Baptist War of 1831. Persecuted more seriously, was a deacon in the Montego Baptist Church pastored by Thomas Burchell: Samuel Sharpe. Born in 1801 in Montego Bay of African parentage, Sharpe died for the cause of slavery abolition at the hands of the 'Planters' and their governing militia. He was made a national hero of Jamaica in 1975.

Baptist chapels also suffered at the hands of the 'Planters'. The Burchell Memorial Church which was established in 1824 by Rev. Thomas Burchell, could however be rebuilt in 1834 after it was burnt down by an angry mob; unlike the loss of life. The Jamaican National Heritage Trust, founded in 1958, now looks after the building at number one King Street and the corner of Market Street, Montego Bay, in the district of St. James, which was formerly the Manse of the Burchell Baptist Church.

Sandy Bay was founded as a Baptist Free Village for emancipated slaves on the initiative of the Rev. Thomas Burchell, and today its playing field is named Burchell Field.

The Rev. Thomas Burchell and his wife Hester Crocker Lusty (d.1856, Mt.Carey, Jamaica) had one daughter, Esthrana Louisa Burchell (b. Falmouth, Jamaica 1827 d.1903 Kingston),second wife of Rev. Edward Hewett (b. 1819,Norfolk, England, d. 1883, Mt.Carey, Jamaica) and twelve grandchildren. Thomas Burchell is buried at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, London where a relatively modern memorial commemorates his life.

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