T Ellis Jackson

Jamaican History February 2004

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T Ellis Jackson

Practically nothing has so far come to hand about the personal life of Thomas Ellis Jackson; he was apparently born in Kingston and was a young man, probably about 21, when the first references to him appear after 1882; he was still alive in 1931 when Joseph Packer Ramsay made his concert tour in Jamaica. By his own account he established the Kingston Choral Union in 1882 to provide tuition to its members, so that they might study and practise the works of the great composers, and to improve choral singing in the island. It started with a membership of 30, and from the start did good work, singing successfully at its first public concert in 1883 Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” “Graceful Consort,” from Hayden’s “Creation,” and other difficult pieces from the sacred classics. As with many such groups, after the first year or two, the enthusiasm of the members of the choir fell off, and to revive it Mr Jackson offered to give free tuition to 500 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 16. He did not get the number he desired, but at that time several members of the choir of the Scots Kirk, where Jackson was choirmaster at some period, joined the union. In 1896 the Choral Union was in a highly successful and flourishing condition, and carried off the first prize in a competition open to all the choirs in the island of Jamaica.

In the early years of the new century the Kingston Choral Union, under Jackson’s leadership, retained its position as the island’s premier choral group. In 1906 Sir Alfred Jones, of the Elder Dempster Line, sponsored the group on a tour of Britain which started with its appearance at the Colonial Products Exhibition in Liverpool in February. The tour was arranged by the managers of the Exhibition, but Jackson led the group, planned the programmes and spoke for it on official occasions. The first tour was so successful that a further tour was undertaken in 1907-8; in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake of January 1907, the choir received an enthusiastic reception all over Britain. They returned to Jamaica to great acclaim, and appreciation of their promotion of Jamaica and the potential of its people. From this time the group was always referred to as ‘The Jamaica Choir’, and often as ‘The Famous Jamaica Choir’.

The stage at 1 Sutton Street

After the return from Britain Ellis Jackson made the remarkable and courageous decision to establish his own theatre to provide a venue for the Choir and for other performers at a time when the city of Kingston was still dithering about rebuilding the municipal theatre. His theatre, which he called Covent Garden, was situated at 1 Sutton Street, between James Street and Smith Lane and opened officially in July 1911. Here Jackson put on a variety of types of performance, into the early 1920s, including films, local and foreign vaudeville and music hall turns, children’s concerts and boxing, as well as more staid concerts of classical, popular and local music. He also took similar performances to other locations around the island.

As well as being the manager of the Choir and the theatre, Jackson was a competent performer as a singer and as a violinist. Although his career has been largely forgotten, he has a good claim to being Jamaica’s first Black impresario.

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