Hamilton Brown (1776 – 18 September 1843) was an Irish-born planter and politician who resided in

Saint Ann Parish Saint Ann () is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called "the Garden Parish of Jamaica" on ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, which he represented in the

House of Assembly of Jamaica The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. Cundall, Frank. (1915''Historic Jamaica''.London: Institute of Jamaica. p. 15. As a result of the Morant B ...

for 22 years. Brown founded the settlement of Hamilton Town in Saint Ann Parish, which was named after him.

Early life

Hamilton Brown was born in 1776 to a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Ulster-Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people * Ulster Scots dialect {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

family in Bracough, a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

north of

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Career

Brown began his career as an estate bookkeeper but acquired significant land holdings and agricultural interests in the British

colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...

. He was a pen-keeper (cattle breeder) and was responsible for a large cattle fair held on Pedro Plains in

Saint Elizabeth Parish Saint Elizabeth(), one of Jamaica's largest parishes, is located in the southwest of the island, in the county of Cornwall. Its capital, Black River, is located at the mouth of the Black River, the widest on the island. History Saint Elizab ...

in 1829. He also grew sugar and owned the Antrim, Colliston, Grier Park, and Minard plantations, all in St Ann, as well as having interests in numerous others. He gave his name to

Brown's Town Brown's Town is one of the principal towns in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica.Brown's Tow ...

, originally known as Hamilton Town, in St Ann, which he founded,''Place Names in St. Ann''.
The National Library of Jamaica, 2015. and in 1805 he paid for the construction of the original St Mark's Anglican Church in Brown's Town. He was a member of the

in 1820 and represented Saint Ann Parish in that assembly for 22 years. In 1832, he met Henry Whiteley on his trip to Jamaica to whom he argued that Jamaican slaves were better off than the English poor and therefore the British government should not interfere with the way the Jamaican planters managed their slaves; Whiteley went on to witness harsh and arbitrary whipping of slaves at the plantations that he visited during his stay. According to the '' Legacies of British Slave-Ownership'' at the

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, Brown was awarded a payment under the

Slave Compensation Act 1837 The Slave Compensation Act 1837 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 3) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, signed into law on 23 December 1837. Together with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73), it authorized the Commissione ...

as a former slave owner in the aftermath of the

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...

. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £ in ) with interest from

Nathan Mayer Rothschild Nathan Mayer Rothschild (16 September 1777 – 28 July 1836), also known as Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild, was a British-German banker, businessman and finance, financier. Born in Free City of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, he was the third of ...

and

Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Sheriffs of the City of London, Sheriff of London. Born to an History ...

which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Brown was a prolific slave owner in the context of Jamaican society and was associated with a large number of claims, twenty-five in total, he owned 1,120 slaves most of them on

sugar plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobac ...

and received a £24,144 (equivalent to £ in ) payment at the time. Brown was active in trying to recruit Ulster Protestant people to work in Jamaica. In December 1835, 121 people from

, Co. Antrim, set off from Belfast for Jamaica on the ''James Ray'', a

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

owned by Brown. They settled in St Ann. In 1836 he brought a further 185 ulster protestant people to Saint Ann. An effort by planters in 1840 to encourage large-scale protestant migration to Jamaica to settle lands that might otherwise be occupied by newly freed slaves, failed after the project was criticised in Ireland as potentially transforming the migrants into slaves.

Death and legacy

Brown died on 18 September 1843 and is buried in the Protestant graveyard of St Mark's Anglican Church in Brown's Town, Jamaica.Hamilton Brown Profile & Legacies Summary.
Legacies of British Slave-ownership. University College London. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
Robert Lalah, ''

The Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...

'', 10 July 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2019. In 2018,

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

' father, economist Donald J. Harris, wrote in his work ''Reflections of a Jamaican Father'' that his paternal grandmother was Christiana Brown, a descendant of "plantation and slave owner Hamilton Brown." In 2019,

fact-checker Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

Snopes ''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...

rated Donald's claim as being unproven pending further research, while noting that Brown did have mixed-race offspring. In 2021, document research by historian Stephen McCracken determined that Brown was born in Bracough, a townland north of

. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' reported that many in Ballymoney are proud of their possible connection with Harris while disavowing any such connections with Brown. McCracken's research revealed that Brown was Kamala Harris’s four-times-paternal-great-grandfather.

References

External links

Fact check: Kamala Harris is “a cop whose family owned slaves in Jamaica” claim is missing context
Reuters
Snopes report on claim that U.S Senator Kamala Harris is a descendant of Hamilton Brown

Kamala Harris Family History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Hamilton 1776 births 1843 deaths Members of the House of Assembly of Jamaica Jamaican landowners Harris family Irish slave owners 19th-century Irish businesspeople 19th-century Jamaican politicians Irish emigrants to Jamaica Politicians from County Antrim Bookkeepers Ulster Scots people Recipients of payments from the Slavery Abolition Act 1833

Early life

Career

Death and legacy

References

Further reading

External links