Remembering distinguished Jamaicans – George Goode

In the field of music in Jamaica, before there were Mapletoft Poulle, Lloyd Hall, Noel Dexter, Franklin Halliburton, and others, there was George Davis Goode (1882-1963), civil servant and musician.

George Davis Goode was born in Port Royal on July 23, 1882. Son of George Goode, a ship’s carpenter and grocery shopkeeper, and his wife, Henrietta Hall. George Davis was educated at the Port Royal Government Elementary School and by private tuition. By 1903, at age 15, he was apprenticed to the Government Laboratory at Hope Gardens. He was awarded a government agricultural scholarship in July 1903. He gave long and meritorious service as an agricultural scientist at the Department of Agriculture and at the Farm School. He was awarded the Imperial Service Order (ISO) on his retirement after 40 years of service.

George married Hilda Dawkins in 1909. They had three children, two daughters (Ruth and Helena), and a son, Coleridge, who become a well-known jazz musician in Britain where he lived.

But what George Davis Goode is most remembered for are his outstanding achievements in music, choral and orchestral. Wanting to ensure that his children had the best and most varied education, his father arranged for George and his sister, Florence, to also receive music lessons. His teachers were Charles Goldson and Herbert Dadd of St George’s Church. Today, Goode would be considered a child prodigy. He excelled in music and particularly on the organ.

ORGANIST

By age 15, he was the organist at St Peter’s Church in Port Royal. In 1906, he was appointed organist at Kingston Parish Church. He moved to St Michael’s Church, Victoria Avenue, in 1910 where he remained until 1961.

He was a cofounder of the Kingston Glee Club in 1909 with another organist, Samuel Kitchen. In 1913, he organised the high-quality Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Commemorative Music Festival. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a black, British composer and conductor.

Goode founded the Diocesan Festival Choir in 1925. He was involved in establishing the Jamaica Philharmonic Orchestra and remained its patron through his life. George Davis Goode was associated with almost every major musical festival or commemorative event in Jamaica into the late 1950s when ill-health forced him to slow down. He was also a vice-president of the Jamaica Musical Society. His wife, Hilda Dawkins Goode, was also a noted musician in her own right and supported her husband in all his endeavours.

Goode was awarded the Institute of Jamaica’s Musgrave Gold Medal for outstanding achievements in music in 1952.

He died on April 10, 1963. The Governor General, Sir Clifford Campbell, and Lady Campbell, attended a memorial service in his honour later that year. In tribute, it seems that Ethel Marson wrote a biography titled George Davis Goode: the Man and His Work, which was published in 1964. He is also remembered online through the work of historians such as Dr Joy Lumsden.

So Jamaican musicians today, especially those in choral and orchestral music, should hold George Davis Goode in high regard as a pioneer in the development of music in Jamaica.

– Marcia Thomas