Revisiting secretaries to the Cabinet

On September 25, the article in this series was about the Secretaries to the Cabinet or Cabinet Secretaries, this was as the appointment of a new Cabinet secretary was being reported in the media. We now know that Ambassador Douglas Saunders will remain in the post until a new Cabinet secretary is appointed.

With the September 25 article, it was revealed that some names were missing and one was incorrect. Thanks to a search conducted by the Cabinet Office and feedback from readers, the opportunity is being taken to make amends.

Omitted from the list were Beverley Croft Dodd (B.C. Dodd) and Randolph Elias Murray (R. E. Murray). It had proved difficult to find any biographical information for Rolston Chandler Williams because the name, as given in the article, was not accurate.

Beverley Croft Dodd was assistant Cabinet secretary from 1972 to 1975. He became acting Cabinet secretary in 1975 on the retirement of John Barker Avis McFarlane. He declined appointment to the post. He was born in Black River, St Elizabeth, on December 21, 1922, the son of police inspector Henry Jocelyn Dodd and his wife, Dorothy Isabel Hilda Croft. He attended Munro College and was first appointed to the civil service as a clerk in 1942. In the 1960s, he was among those assigned to the new Ministry of External Affairs. He died on October 22, 1985.

Randolph Elias Murray became acting secretary to the Cabinet in 1975-76 and was later appointed to the post. Murray demitted office in May 1978 and was succeeded by Douglas Collins. Randolph Elias Murray was born in Morant Bay, St Thomas, on August 8, 1923, the son of civil servant Herbert Livingstone Murray and his wife, Ruth Maud Bayley. He also was first appointed in the civil service as a clerk in 1942. He died in Florida, USA, in 2017.

Rolston Chandler Williams assumed the post of secretary to the Cabinet in 1984 on the retirement of Douglas Collins. His civil service career saw him working at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Security. He was awarded a national honour, Order of Distinction, Commander Class, for public service in 1991. He held the Cabinet secretary post until his retirement in June 1993. He may have been born in Pedro Plains, St Elizabeth, in 1927. It is estimated that he joined the civil service in the 1950s. He died on August 2, 2009, aged 82.

You may recall that the post of secretary to the Cabinet was upgraded in 1993, and Dr Carlton Davis was appointed. He was initially appointed head of the civil service as reported in The Gleaner in 1993, but from information received, this was later changed to head of the public service. The public service has a wider coverage than the civil service and includes the military, police, teachers, health workers, public transport, and parliamentarians. The civil service refers mainly to those who work in administration and policymaking in government ministries and departments.

It is actually quite difficult to find accurate biographical information about many people who have served Jamaica in the public sector through the years.

Contributed by Marcia Thomas