Viceregal Profile: Sir Howard Cooke

Jamaica recently saw the passing of one of its most prominent national leaders in the person of former Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke. He was born Howard Felix Hanlan Cooke on November 13, 1915 to David Brown Cooke and Mary Jane Minto in Goodwill, St. James. After a normal private school education he attended Mico College and London University. He distinguished himself as a student and decided to focus on a career in education. Concern for the proper formation of young people was an interest of his throughout his life. For twenty-three years he worked as a teacher, starting in his alma mater of Mico College and Practising School, later being given the position of headmaster at Belle Castle All-Age School, Port Antonio Upper School and finally Montego Bay Boys’ School. He was a member and served a term as president of the Jamaica Union of Teachers. To supplement this, Cooke also worked in the insurance business, gaining the positions of Senior Inspector and Branch Manager at Standard Life Insurance Company; Unit Manager at Jamaica Mutual Life and Branch Manager of the American Life Insurance Company. Finally, however, he felt the call to enter the public sphere and become active in politics.

The political career of Howard Cooke would no doubt seem strange to some as it did not fit with his later reputation as a staunch royalist but in Jamaica it was not seen as so unusual. He got into politics in 1938 and co-founded the People’s National Party, the oldest party in the English-speaking Caribbean. A social democrat party, part of the Socialist International, it has remained one of the two most prominent parties in Jamaican politics which is dominated by the left. The main rival of the PNP has long been the Jamaica Labour Party and it is generally viewed as being the more leftist of the two. However, after a particularly an electoral defeat at the hands of Labour, and a subsequent downturn in the economy, the PNP came back to power with a noticeable shift toward the center and away from the extreme left to the point that some have come to describe it as a “third position” party, neither right nor left though any mention of “third position” or “third way” will doubtless unnerve some people. Cooke served as chairman of the party and consistently held high leadership positions.

One year after entering the political arena, Cooke married Ivy Sylvia Lucille Tai on July 22, 1939, starting a long and successful marriage that produced two sons and one daughter. A measure of political success finally arrived for Cooke in 1958 when he was elected to the West Indies Federal Parliament, representing his native St. James. In 1962 he entered the Jamaican Parliament as a Senator, serving until 1967 when he moved to the House of Representatives until 1980. During that time, he served in the government of Michael Manley as Minister of Pension and Social Security, Minister of Education and Minister of Labour and Public Service. From 1989 to 1991 Cooke served as President of the Senate and he was the Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. In 1991 he was appointed Governor-General of Jamaica by HM Queen Elizabeth II, serving until 2006, receiving numerous awards and more than one order of knighthood. Outside of the realm of politics and policy, he displayed a greater inclination toward the traditional, emphasizing the monarchy and the place of the Crown in Jamaican life as well as working to preserve and promote Jamaican culture.

Sir Howard Cooke was a longtime member of the Freemasons and a lay pastor of the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. One of his special concerns, as mentioned earlier, was the youth and he was always most proud of the title of “teacher”. He was a longtime supporter of the St. Andrew Boys’ Scout Association, enjoyed cricket and football and build numerous community centers in his hometown to improve the welfare of children, to keep them from taking self-destructive paths in life. He was a key figure in the political development of Jamaica, extremely influential in the educational sphere and proved to be such a respected and adept Governor-General that he was actually entrusted with additional duties and responsibilities that most others in viceregal positions would never have because he was held in such high regard by all parties.

Of course, coming from a political background, it cannot escape mention that the sort of politics he favored has had some negative effects, probably unintended by someone like Sir Howard Cooke. Most significantly for our purposes is that the People’s National Party, which he co-founded, was the party which produced the Prime Ministers Percival Patterson and Portia Simpson-Miller who are the only Jamaican heads of government to officially endorse republicanism and call for abolishing the monarchy, replacing the Queen with an elected head-of-state. So far, that campaign has not been successful and hopefully it never will. Sir Howard Cooke did no such thing of course, but policies and ideologies have an effect on the public mentality and the ideology of democratic socialism contains an inherent seed of republicanism. The effect has been that, even while the party has moved away from its more stridently socialist position, which it had in the days of Cooke, it has brought forward political leaders who espouse republicanism, who have rolled back the former staunch opposition to the homosexual agenda and who still have no problem serving in the Socialist International of which Simpson-Miller was elected Vice President in 2013.

Sir Howard Cooke could be thankful these changes came after he had left the political scene and, it should be pointed out, once he did so, firmly embraced the idea of political impartiality in his role as Governor-General. His ability to stand apart from politics, to be totally impartial and bi-partisan no doubt contributed to his status as such a widely respected figure across the Jamaican political spectrum. Sir Howard Cooke died on July 11, 2014 at the age of 98 in Kingston.

Mad Rant: Racism and Monarchy

Recently I got a particularly long comment (which I did not post due to excessive foul language) regarding my post on Jamaica and the monarchy of last November (obviously not the most timely commentator) and although I shrugged it off at the time as yet another incoherent bit of hatred from someone who is obviously not a regular reader but a troll looking trouble. However, the accusation is one which I see frequently made on news articles dealing with the monarchy in Jamaica and even in articles dealing with the monarchy in places such as Canada, Australia and elsewhere. That accusation is “racism”. It is old, it is tired, it has been overused to the point of being an epithet devoid of meaning and is a sure sign that one is winning an argument with a leftist. However, the ugliness and injustice of it never fails to infuriate me. It is such a grossly dishonest and despicable accusation to make that my temper threatens to get the better of me. Nothing could be further from the truth in saying that the monarchy is racist and it burns me to the core that the Queen is not given her due credit for being one of the most adamant (and effective) crusaders against racism in modern times nor is the fact often recognized that the Queen has, as it turned out, sacrificed vast domains because of her refusal to abide racism.

Wherever one sides on the divisive racial issues of the era that encompassed the period of the dissolution of the British Empire, the fact remains, though it is seldom spoken, that in numerous countries across Africa, especially the major regional powers of Rhodesia and South Africa, republicanism was embraced because the Queen refused to abide the continued rule of White minorities over Black majorities. The monarchy refused to allow that state of affairs to continue, the White governments in power saw the monarchy as taking the side of the Black majority and so they broke away from the monarchy and became republics. This was no surprise, plenty of people at the time could see that this was going to happen and yet the monarchy basically looked at the people who were in charge in these countries, considered them racist and effectively said, ‘if you’re going on that way, we don’t want you anyway’. If the monarchy was such a racist institution they certainly would have taken the side of the local governments and so kept the reign of the Crown over those countries for decades into the future. But, that did not happen, the monarchy firmly stood against racism and lost more than one Commonwealth realm because of it. Yet, today, where is the appreciation for this?

In 1999, when the divisiveness of Australian government recognition of the aboriginal population was still a very hot-button issue, Queen Elizabeth II invited a delegation of aborigine leaders to a meeting at Buckingham Palace to come to a better understanding of their situation and their goals. It undoubtedly upset some people and a great many people said it would never happen, that the Queen would never receive such a delegation and yet she did, not only receiving them but taking the initiative of inviting them in the first place. And the important thing to realize is that this is nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary and is simply the continuation of a long history of respect for native peoples on the part of the British monarchy. When Pocahontas came to England she was invited to Whitehall where she was given the full royal treatment with King James I treating her with such warmth and informality she had to be told after the fact that the man she had been talking to was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Mohawk chief Joseph Brant was very cordially received by King George III in 1775.

This was the same King George III who boycotted sugar in all his royal residences when he was told about the conditions of the slaves on the sugar plantations and it was this same King George III who granted freedom to all slaves who managed to flee their masters in the American colonies and enlist in the service of the Crown. He was also the King who signed into law the final abolition of the slave trade in 1807. Slavery was abolished completely in the British Empire under Queen Victoria and the Queen left no doubt as to her own opinions on the subject. She met with escaped slaves, anti-slavery activists and expressed her support for abolition. There was, at the time, absolutely no doubt about this even though they were many powerful people in the country who strongly supported the institution. That did not matter to the very high-minded Queen Victoria who viewed slavery as a wicked and uncivilized practice and was extremely pleased to put her name to the law banning it forever. When slavery was becoming an ever more controversial issue in the United States, Queen Victoria made it clear that it would not be tolerated on British soil and that any escaped slave who reached Canada would never have to fear being returned south. Many anti-slavery activists were effusive in their praise of the Queen for the great support she showed their cause.

There is simply no justification for any sort of accusations that the monarchy is racist. It is outrageous that so many people are allowed to get away with making that a casual accusation without ever being stopped and challenged about it. There is absolutely nothing racist about monarchy in general, certainly nothing racist about the British monarchy and I will state unequivocally that no member of the British Royal Family has a racist bone in their body. Yes, that includes Prince Philip and I am sick and tired of people taking one or two remarks, always told in a friendly and joking manner, and stretching them out of all recognition to construe something racist on his part. It is slanderous, it is outrageous and it is absolutely dishonest. The monarchy has been a champion against racism for hundreds of years and far from being ridiculed and attacked they should be recognized and thanked for that long tradition. Any time anyone hears the monarchy, the Queen or any royal being accused of racism they should not let the comment go unchallenged. It is a vicious lie and must be exposed as such immediately at every opportunity. I am not so much surprised or even angered by those who most often make the accusation but I am positively enraged by the media people that let them get away with it without even challenging them to back up such a baseless claim. I am sick of it, I am tired of it and I am … The Mad Monarchist.

Jamaica and the Monarchy

Monarchy first came to the island of Jamaica with the beginning of Spanish rule in 1509 during the reign of Queen Juana of Castile (our dear “Juana the Mad”). Spanish rule was further consolidated by her successor Emperor Charles V. Spanish ruled ended in 1655 with King Philip IV being the last Hapsburg to reign over the island. For a time it was the end of monarchy period as this was the period of the interregnum in Great Britain but royal rule returned with the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. However, it took still more time for government to take hold as Jamaica and much of the Caribbean had become a haven for pirates and/or privateers in the various wars between England, Holland, France and Spain. For a very long time Jamaica was one of the ‘crown jewels’ of the burgeoning British Empire. The most lucrative industry was the many sugarcane plantations on the island which produced great wealth for all involved from the plantation owners to the trade and shipping companies. The only people who did not benefit, of course, were the slaves who were imported, mostly from West Africa, to work the plantations.

Slavery was taken as a simple fact of life during the Stuart and early Hanoverian periods but after numerous slave revolts and the growing advocacy of Christian abolitionist groups, thinking began to change and the monarchy was at the forefront. HM King George III was to be a crucial figure in the history of the British West Indies and the cause of monarchy in the Caribbean. He showed his solidarity with his subjects in the Caribbean in both his private life and in his public duties. It is not often remembered that King George III was so offended by the slave trade and the treatment of slaves on the sugar plantations (all of which was legal at the time) that he boycotted sugar to show his opposition to slavery. He was also adamant that the American Revolution had to be stridently opposed. It is easy to forget that the American Revolutionaries did not intend for their new republic to include the 13 colonies that later made up the United States alone. They expected their new republic to include all British territories in North America including the Canadas and the British West Indies. Even though the revolutionaries eventually secured the independence of the 13 colonies, by his zeal in supporting the war effort, King George III ensured that the loss was limited to those 13 colonies and their territorial claims while places like Canada and the West Indies remained under the Crown. It was also under King George III that the Slave Trade Act was passed in 1807 which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.

It was during the reign of HM King William IV that slavery was finally abolished in Jamaica (and across the British Empire) in 1834 (decades before the United States did the same and that was after a civil war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives). With each new royal dynasty the island of Jamaica had achieved progress. British rule came with the Stuarts, the abolition of the slave trade and slavery came with the House of Hanover and independence was to come with the House of Windsor. It was under HM King George VI that Jamaica became a self-governing dominion within the British Empire in 1944. Jamaicans gave admirable service in both World Wars. In World War I, for example, troops from the British West Indies were sent to serve in the epic campaigns in Africa. The local Africans were very impressed with the discipline and professionalism of the Caribbean troops (known as the West India Regiment) having previously seen only White troops from Europe display such expertise. Because this was their experience they often referred to the Caribbean troops as “Black Europeans” because they carried themselves with the same pride and professionalism they were used to seeing only in European troops.

On August 6, 1962 Jamaica became a completely independent Commonwealth Realm under HM Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen has visited Jamaica six times during her reign and has toured almost every corner of the island, first in 1953, twice in 1966, in 1983, 1994 and 2002. Throughout the centuries under the British Crown and as an independent Commonwealth Realm, the island nation of Jamaica has known stability and consistent progress. The monarchy and the web of support it brings with it have allowed Jamaica to avoid the upheavals, hardship and foreign interventions experienced by many of her island neighbors. Today the monarchy remains popular with the Jamaican people but, as usual, there are those openly and deceptively pushing the republican agenda. One must wonder what such people are thinking. Would they prefer Jamaica to be more like the impoverished republic of Haiti or perhaps the Communist dictatorship of Cuba? With the Crown and the Jamaican monarchy the island has had security, independence, freedom and a proven system of government to respond to the needs of society. Thankfully, the loyal monarchists of Jamaica are organized and now taking advantage of social media to encourage the royalist cause and defend the Jamaican monarchy. For an example, see the Caribbean Monarchist League on Facebook.