The name Manley, is steeped in the development of this country we call Jamaica, with Norman Washington Manley, playing no small part in the arrival of independence and the formation of one of the political organisations that have lead our country’s democratic journey. But he was more than that. One of the main agitators for Independence and Universal Adult Suffrage before that, the country owes this remarkable man a debt of gratitude it cannot repay. Manley died on September 2, 52 years ago.  

Published Wednesday, September 3, 1969

NORMAN WASHINGTON MANLEY IS DEAD

Gleaner Political Reporter

The famed Jamaican leader, patriot, statesman, Queen's Counsel and politician, died at his 4 Washington Drive residence yesterday afternoon shortly before 1 o'clock and plunged the nation into mourning.

Although it was common knowledge that Mr. Manley had had a series of heart attacks since 1953 and had been forced into retirement by one of his more recent attacks, the end for this great Jamaican came suddenly. He took seriously ill on Monday evening, entered a coma at 7 o'clock and his physical condition deteriorated steadily until his death near 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. He was in his 77th year.

His cousin, and principal political contemporary and rival, the Rt. Hon. Sir Alexander Bustamante summed up for the Jamaican people yesterday afternoon when he said: "He has undoubtedly made a most valuable contribution to the nation's progress."

It was a typical Bustamante understatement. Mr. Manley has been at the forefront of Jamaica's political and national life for more than three decades. He was an architect of Jamaica's independence and of its modern national development. He created Jamaica's first modern political party, the People's National Party, in September 1938. He was Chief Minister of Jamaica 1955/1959: Premier 1959/1962; and from then until his retirement on February 9, this year, Leader of the Opposition to which position he was eventually succeeded by his younger son, Mr. Michael Manley. M.P.

RETIREMENT

He retired from active politics on February 28, this year, and as a consequence of this, a by-election was held yesterday to fill the seat made vacant for the constituency of East Central St. Andrew, which he had represented since 1967. It is a most amazing coincidence that Mr. Manley should be fatally stricken on the eve of the by-election which could have been held at any time since his retirement from the House but through a series of circumstances was postponed until yesterday and to have died on the very day of the election. At his bedside when he died yesterday were his wife, Mrs. Edna Manley, his son and political successor, Mr. Michael Manley, his sister. Dr. Muriel Manley, his granddaughter, Miss Rachel Manley (daughter of Mr. Michael Manley), his grandson, Mr. Norman Manley, Jnr. (son of Mr. Douglas Manley, the elder of Mr. Manley's two sons.)

Both Mrs. Manley and Miss Manley were put under sedation and to bed immediately after his death. With the other three members of the family present at Mr. Manley's death they had been observing a constant vigil at the bedside since Mon day night, with each passing moment confirming

ELEGY

(for Norman Manley)

Let sorrow shroud Jamaica's glowing face

And sadness shade the sun's effulgent light,

Let mountains mourn and weeping rivers pace

In slow, funereal journey through the night.

The land is dark, and gloomy shadows trace

 A filigree of mourning to the sight

For Death has come to leave a vacant place

Where once a giant ruled with splendid might

Pass on, great ane, pass on to higher state

Now that your noble labouring is done:

Jamaica mourns her true and mighty son

So soon removed by Death's untimely fate.

The eagle falls, the giant oak is down,

But his forever is the horo's crown

-CALVIN BOWEN

Jamaica mourns one of her great sons - Sir Clifford

The Governor General's tribute:

"Jamaica mourns the death of one of her great sons and the political arena is vacant in sadness for the passing of Mr. Norman Manley.

"He exemplified his ability as a distinguished scholar and became a lawyer of great fame for many years.

"As founder of the PNP and a statesman of distinction, he took active participation in all the political changes in Jamaica during the last quarter of this century ending in his death.

"Today, the second of September, 1969, we record that he served fearlessly and with dignity, setting an example to all who have come in contact with him as a man of great dedication.

"The pages of our history can never be complete without a special chapter on the life of Mr. Norman Manley and his service to the land of his birth.

"His dear wife, Mrs. Edna Manley, stood faithfully with him and helped to cheer him in building a career of distinction, and admiration.

"May his soul rest in peace and light perpetual shine on him.

The doctors' original prognosis that Mr. Manley's illness was terminal and that there was no hope of recovery.

"He just kept sinking," a member of the family said later.

Mr. Manley was attended in this last illness by the same team of doctors who had been attending him recently and who had seen him through some minor and two major heart attacks over the past few years. They were Dr. Roy Levy, Dr. Ludlow Moody, and three University Hospital Consultant-Specialists: Professor Eric Cruickshank, Professor Ken Stuart, and Dr. Pam Rogers-Christian.

But Mr. Manley did not die of a heart attack. He died from complications arising from the series of heart attacks he had suffered since 1953, and a long-standing condition of high blood pressure, Dr. Levy said that death was due to heart failure caused by a sudden upsurge of high blood pressure.

FORCED RETURN

Mr. Manley's closing hours from about 4 o'clock yesterday morning were described as peaceful.

Mr. Manley made his last public appearance in Jamaica on July 16, when he received at the Ward Theatre the Gold Medal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society for distinguished services to Jamaican Agriculture. Shortly before then he had celebrated his 76th birthday, on July 4, and had then gone up to his Mavis Bank hill residence to continue work on his book on the political history of Jamaica since 1938. He came down to the city from Mavis Bank to receive the award. He then returned to the hills which he loved so much and immediately became ill with a heavy bout of influenza, whether contracted by his journey into Kingston or not it will never be known.

The result of this illness, however, was a forced return to his Washington Drive residence, where the climate was more amenable for his heart condition. But while he rallied from time to time against the influenza attack, irreparable damage had been done and on Monday night he fell into a coma from which he never recovered. Mr. Manley's book on Jamaica's modern political history will now never be finished.

Soon after his death, Mr. Manley's body was removed from Washington Drive to the Sam Isaac's Funeral Parlour for burial preparations. It is planned to give him a State Funeral on Sunday and the whole island will go into official mourning from today until Sunday.

Mr. Manley's career is one of superlatives. Born in Roxburgh, Manchester, on July 4, 1893; his, parents, Thomas and Margaret Manley, gave him the name Washington because his birth coincided with the natal anniversary of the father of the American Nation, Later he was to be declared Father of the Jamaican Nation by the People's National Party. He had a superlative record at school in athletics and in scholastics -.at elementary schools and at Jamaica College. He was a Rhodes Scholar (1914). His university was Oxford and his Inn, Gray's Inn. He was called to the bar on April 20, 1921, and admitted to practise in Jamaica on August 30, 1922, and from then on his career at the bar was so filled with brilliance and with legal pyrotechnics that it became a legend before his retirement from the bar. There has been no lawyer to equal his brilliance yet practising in Jamaica.

Jamaica welfare

But he was not only active in the law, he was also active in the fields of community development (Jamaica Welfare, 1937) and in agriculture (he negotiated the Standard Shipping Company banana export agreement with the United Fruit Company and in 1837).

He entered politics wholly committed following the riots of May 1938, when first he formed the People's National Party and became its first leader, which post he held until he demitted office in February 9, this year.

Together with his cousin (same maternal grandfather Alexander Shearer of Lucea) Sir Alexander Bustamante, he dominated the Jamaican political scene, being concerned with every step of the island's steady progress towards nationhood. He tried to enter the House of Representatives in 1944 but was denied this. It was not until the 1949 elections that he won the seat for Eastern St. Andrew entering the House for the first time on January 12, 1950. He led the Opposition in the House until February 2, 1955, on which day he took office as Chief Minister. He became Jamaica's first Premier in 1959 and held this post until he lost to Sir Alexander Bustamante in 1962 when he reverted to being the Leader of the Opposition.

As a schoolboy, he was a first-rank athlete, the best of his times and he continued a lifelong interest in sports, particularly in boxing, until shortly before his death. As a young man, his studies at Oxford were broken by a stint in the British Army in France, during World War 1. For bravery in action, he received the Military Medal.

Mr. Manley was married in 1921 to another descendant of Alexander Shearer, Edna, daughter of the Rev. Henry Swithenbank and his wife Ellie Shearer. They had two sons, Douglas, a senior lecturer in Government at the University of the West Indies, and Michael, trade unionist, and now Leader of the People's National Party and of the Opposition. He is survived by his wife, his sons, a sister, Dr. Muriel Manley, and grandchildren.

Mr. Douglas Manley is at present in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of a United Nations' Mission, studying the problems of economic development in underdeveloped territories. Efforts to reach him yesterday by phone proved futile, but a cable has been sent to him seeking his return to Jamaica for the funeral on Sunday.

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