Augustus Constantine Sinclair (c. 1834 – 27 January 1891) was the head of the Government Printing Office in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

in the nineteenth century and the compiler with Laurence R. Fyfe of the annual ''Handbook of Jamaica'', first published in 1881. He is credited with the idea of the

Jamaica International Exhibition The Jamaica International Exhibition was held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 27 January 1891 to 2 May 1891. It was modelled on the London Great Exhibition of 1851 and was the idea of Augustus Constantine Sinclair who ran the Government Printing Off ...

of 1891 but died on its opening day.

Early life and family

Augustus Sinclair was born in Jamaica around 1834. He was christened at St. Catherine's, Middlesex, Jamaica, on 31 December 1834. He married Catherine Ann Rosetta Graham in 1886 and they had a daughter, Amy Louise Graham Sinclair, born 1888, and a son, Cyril Augustus Graham Sinclair, born in 1890.

Career

As head of the Government Printing Office, Sinclair was responsible for printing government publications, including the proceedings of the

Jamaican Parliament The Parliament of Jamaica is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. It consists of three elements: The Crown (represented by the Governor-General), the appointed Senate and the directly elected House of Representatives. The Se ...

. He was also the joint compiler with

Laurence R. Fyfe Lawrence Dalzelle Riky Fyfe (4 August 1845 – 9 May 1892) was a British civil servant in the Colonial Secretary's Office in Jamaica who, with Augustus Constantine Sinclair, compiled the annual ''Handbook of Jamaica'', first published in 1881. ...

of the Colonial Secretary's Office, of the first editions of the long-running ''

Handbook of Jamaica The ''Handbook of Jamaica'' was an official government handbook of Jamaica first published in 1881 and which continued until the 1950s. The first edition was produced by Laurence R. Fyfe of the Colonial Secretary's Office and Augustus Constantin ...

'', from 1881.Eves, C. Washington. (1886)
Jamaica at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886
'. London: Spottiswoode. pp. vi-vii. Also with Fyfe, he wrote ''Jamaica: Outlines of its Geography and History'' for schools (1883, at least five later editions)"Historiography of Jamaica" by Howard Johnson in and prepared a report of the Jamaican exhibits at the

Colonial and Indian Exhibition The Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 was held in South Kensington in London with the objective to (in the words of the then Prince of Wales) "stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of union now existing in every portion of her Majes ...

of 1886 for the governors of the

Jamaica Institute The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:C. Washington Eves Charles Washington Augero Eves, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, (13 September 1838 – 20 April 1899) was a British merchant prominent in the trade between London and the West Indies, and a promoter of the products of Jam ...

' own account of the exhibits. In 1889, Sinclair and Fyfe produced a history of Jamaica during the governorship of

Sir Henry Wylie Norman Field Marshal Sir Henry Wylie Norman, (2 December 1826 – 26 October 1904) was a senior Indian Army officer and colonial administrator. He served in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the campaign against the Kohat Pass Afridis, the suppression of the ...

(1883–89) which, typically of their historical works, concentrated on chronology and fact-based material rather than analysis.

Jamaica International Exhibition

Sinclair is credited with the idea of the

of 1891 which he based on the 1851

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

in London. For many years he was unable to drum up sufficient support for his project for a Jamaican equivalent, but in 1889

Sir Henry Blake Sir Henry Arthur Blake (; 8January 184023February 1918) was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903. Early life, family and career Blake was born in Limerick, Ir ...

arrived as the new governor of Jamaica and gave the idea his blessing. It opened less than two years later.

Death

Sinclair died, aged 58, at 106 King Street, Kingston, on 27 January 1891, on the day of the opening of the Jamaica International Exhibition. The cause of death was stated to be disease of the heart and liver.Augustus Constantine Sinclair.
FamilySearch. Retrieved 9 December 2016.

Selected publications

*''Jamaica: Outlines of its Geography and History''. Kingston, 1883. (With Laurence R. Fyfe) (4th, 1888, 5th 1890) *''The Jamaica Court at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition: Handbook compiled for the Governors of the Jamaica Institute.'' Jamaica, 1886. (With Laurence R. Fyfe) (Reprinted and bound into

C. Washington Eves Charles Washington Augero Eves, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, (13 September 1838 – 20 April 1899) was a British merchant prominent in the trade between London and the West Indies, and a promoter of the products of Jam ...

'
Jamaica at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886
', Spottiswoode, London, 1886.) *''A Chronological history of Jamaica during the government of His Excellency Sir Henry Wylie Norman''. Government Printing Establishment, Jamaica, 1889. (With Laurence R. Fyfe)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Augustus 1830s births 1891 deaths Jamaican civil servants Jamaican historians Historians of the Caribbean Jamaican non-fiction writers Year of birth uncertain Deaths from liver disease