The Not So Epic Story of Lady Musgrave Road

In Jamaica, there is the famous Devon House. A historical landmark, it is popular for its patties, the Devon House ice-cream and on any given weekend when the weather is suitable, it also serves as a public park for families. However, there’s a popular story that involves Devon House that most Jamaicans grow up hearing. Basically, the story goes that Lady Musgrave, the then governor of Jamaica’s wife, was so angry at seeing Devon House, this grand mansion owned by a black man, that she authorise the building of another road, to avoid driving passed it. And it’s for this reason why the road is known today as Lady Musgrave’s Road. However, as much as the story is popular and accepted by Jamaicans, it’s not true. Entirely debunked by historical facts, on this episode, we outline why the story of Lady Musgrave and George Stiebel, Devon House’s owner, is just a myth. And while we are here, the story of Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall, was all based on a novel. That story, too isn’t true.

Additional Knowledge

BOOKS

  • Brand Jamaica: Reimagining a National Image and Identity edited by Hume Johnson and Kamille Gentles-Peart

  • Devon House Families by Enid Shields

  • Jamaica in Independence: Essays on the Early Years by Rex Nettleford

  • Jamaica Place Names by B. W. Higman and B. J. Hudson

  • Nationalism and the Formation of Caribbean Literature by Lean Rosenburg

FICTIONAL BOOKS

  • Morgan’s Daughter by H. G. de Lisser

  • Revenge by H. G. de Lisser

  • The Awarak Girl by H. G. de Lisser

  • The Cup and the Lip by H. G. de Lisser

  • The White Maroon by H. G. de Lisser

  • The White Witch of Rose Hall by H. G. de Lisser

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

  • "An Act of Unruly Savagery: Re-Writing Black Rebellion in the Language of the Colonizer H.G. de Lisser’s The White Witch of Rose Hall” by Kwame S.N.Dawes

  • Herbert’s Career: H. G. de Lisser and the Business of National Literature by Leah Reade Rosenberg

  • Off White: The Horror of Abject Whiteness in H. G. de Lisser’s White Witch of Rosehall by Suzanne Lynch

  • The White Witch of Rosehall and the Legitimacy of Female Power in the Caribbean Plantation by Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert

  • The Ghost of Annie Palmer: Giving Voice to Jamaica’s White Witch of Rose Hall by Jennifer Donahue

ARTICLES

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The Hosay Masssacre of 1884