Hinton East and Spring Garden: Fabled Magnificence of a Lost Jamaican Paradise

Historical sources describe Hinton East (died Liguanea, Jamaica, winter 1792) as an Anglo Creole born to English parents. They do not preserve his birthdate or birthplace. They identify as ancestral homelands:

• England’s County Kent;
• Northern Ireland’s County Armagh during the kingship of James I (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625).

They indicate such motivations for the family’s migratory elder branch as:

• Establishment in 1608 of the city of Armagh’s Royal School for grammar-schooling the sons of local farmers and merchants during the Plantation of Ulster (Irish: Plandáil Uladh);
• Settlement by colonists from England and Scotland of six of Ulster Province’s nine counties.

The planned colonization is remembered as:

• Government-encouraged in Armagh;
• “Private-planted” in neighboring Antrim and Down.

Captain John East played critical roles in 1655 – 1660 during the seizure of Spanish-controlled Jamaica by Admiral William Penn (April 23, 1621 - September 16, 1670) and General Robert Venables (1612? – July 1687). In 1663, he received from King Charles II (May 29, 1630 - February 6, 1685) a grant in southeast Jamaica’s Blue Ridge Mountains at Liguanea in modern-day’s St. Andrew's Parish. Maryland Estate’s great house was called Raymond Hall. The Captain and Martha Doughty were married on February 25, 1676. They were the parents of six daughters. Their only son and daughter-in-law, Major Francis East (born 1678) and Sarah Hinton, who were wed on May 3, 1722, were the parents of:

• Three daughters;
• Three sons.

Hinton East catalogued all introduced and native plants at Spring Garden into a list which was published posthumously in the Hortus Eastensis of 1794. The inventory covered nearly 600 plants. It included the following categories of edible and ornamental plants:

• Fruits and vegetables (asparagus, barberry, beets, carrots, celery, eggplant, jackfruit, mango);
• Herbs and spices (cardamom, ginger, rosemary, senna leaf, turmeric);
• Ornamentals and wildflowers (amaranthus, amaryllis, bird-of-paradise, gardenia, hibiscus, jasmine, lilac, lily, mullein, primrose, wallflower);
• Shrubs and trees (baobab, holly, horse chestnut, oak, sassafras, tamarind, walnut, weeping willow, white mulberry).

But the list outlived the legacy since Spring Garden's demise -- after its temporary incarnation for public viewing as the Botanical Gardens of Liguanea -- followed its creator's death.

According to Hinton East’s will, Spring Garden was supposed to:

• Become the property of the House of Assembly;
• Continue as a garden to be enjoyed by the public.

Sir Edward Hyde East was the executor of his uncle’s estate. Because of his diligence, Spring Garden was transferred to governmental ownership. But despite his efforts, it was transferred back to private ownership in 1810. The reasons for realization and reversal of Hinton East’s will were twofold:

• Conflicting priorities;
• Disappointing showings.

Visitors were unable to appreciate Spring Garden, whose beauty was subverted by James Wiles (January 16, 1768 – October 9, 1857), government botanical gardens head botanist strong on distributing new plants (especially breadfruit) and weak on maintaining old collections.

Over two centuries later, Hinton East's holdings still belong to family descendants. Descendants of his fabled plants can be found in:

• Mangoes that he introduced through cargo seized by Captain Marshall of Lord Rodney’s HMS Flora from a Hispaniola-destined, Mauritius-originating French ship in 1782;
• The 200-acre (80.94-hectare) Royal Botanical Gardens, from Major Hope’s estate.

His Garden House changed in name to Wai-Rua. It was devastated by:

• Earthquake in 1907;
• Fire after World War II.

But Spring Garden will survive as long as the Hortus Eastensis can be accessed. The garden, once described as "perhaps the most magnificent establishment of its kind in the world" (Mordecai, p. 3), will remain forever in the imagination of inveterate garden lovers.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

View of Lough Neagh in Maghery County Park, County Armagh: Armagh hugs the southern shore of Lough Neagh, largest freshwater lake in the British Isles.
The elder branch of Hinton East's ancestors relocated from County Kent in South East England to County Armagh in northeast of island of Ireland (southeastern Northern Ireland).
southeastern Northern Ireland: Stephen McKay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maghery_Country_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_51880.jpg

Raymond Hall: great house on East property, known as Maryland Estate, in Jamaica's Blue Ridge Mountains
Raymond Hall, secluded from view on a bamboo-topped hill, yet offered to its owners a gorgeous panorama from its location 3000 feet above sea level in Liguanea range of Blue Mountains.
Frank Cundall, Historic Jamaica (1915), p. 219: No known copyright restrictions, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924020417527/page/n256/mode/1up?view=theater

Portrait of Edward East and Family: 1775 painting by English artist Philip Wickstead (? - c. 1786/1790), drawn as part of series of portraits of Jamaica's painter
Portrait may depict Edward East's second wife, Jamaica-born Mary Wilkins (born 1757), an acquaintance of English novelist Jane Austen (Dec. 16, 1775-July 18, 1817).
National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Surrey County, southeastern Jamaica
Hazel Mills, via Facebook Aug. 31, 2024, @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/296923455713211/posts/857342303004654/; via Facebook Aug. 31, 2024, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10229357940647107&set=pcb.857342303004654; via Facebook Aug. 31, 2024, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10229357940647107&set=pcb.857342303004654

In southward journey to Caribbean Sea, Hope River flowed alongside Hinton East's property.
Ruins of Hope River Aquaduct, in Mona, a former sugar plantation about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Kingston, Jamaica: built in 1758 by Thomas Hope Elletson (bap. October 11, 1725; buried January 26, 1760), owner of Mona Estate sugar plantation.
University of West Indies Mona campus, near University Chapel; southeastern Jamaica: The University of the West Indies, Mona, via Facebook Sep. 25, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/UWImona/posts/for-throwbackthursday-we-thought-we-would-fix-you-up-a-lesson-on-the-plantation-/10152744635518899/; via Facebook 25, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/UWImona/photos/for-throwbackthursday-we-thought-we-would-fix-you-up-a-lesson-on-the-plantation-/10152744635518899/; via Facebook Sep. 25, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10152744635518899&set=a.10151434880938899

First pineapple grown in England, presented to Charles II by royal gardener John Rose: native to Brazil and Paraguay, pineapples were introduced into Jamaica by Taíno tribes, ca. 650-900 C.E.
1675 painting by Hendrick Danckerts (c.1625-November 1680); October 1787 version, after Danckerts, by Thomas Stewart (1766-c.1801): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jamaica's House of Assembly until 1872, now St. Catherine Parish Council
Hinton East represented Kingston in the House of Assembly in 1784.
King's Square, Spanish Town, St. Catherine Parish, southeastern Jamaica: le zaps, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spannish_town_st_catherine_parish_consil.jpg

"The Wild Tamarind of Jamaica with Scarlet Pod and Barbet": 1872 painting by Marianne North (October 24, 1830 – August 30, 1890)
During her 1871-1872 visit to Jamaica, botanical painter Marianne North stayed on Hinton's plantation: "a house half hidden amongst the glorious foliage of the long-deserted botanical gardens" (Recollections of a Happy Life [1894], p. 81)
Hinton East's garden featured tamarind (Tamarindus indica) trees.: Public Domain, via WikiArt (WikiPaintings) @ https://www.wikiart.org/en/marianne-north/the-wild-tamarind-of-jamaica-with-scarlet-pod-and-barbet-1872

hibiscus in Holywell National Recreation Park ("park within a park"), Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, overlooking Kingston, southeastern Jamaica
Hibiscuses were cultivated in Hinton East's garden.: Robert Howell (I_Like_My_Life), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/28557396@N06/7704026946/

view of Blue Mountains, St Andrews Parish, from former Irish coffee plantation, Strawberry Hill, Irish Town, southeastern Jamaica
Irish Town founded by Irish immigrant coopers in 19th century.: Kristopha Hohn (seishin17), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/seishin17/2755353124/

"In the Blue Mountains, Jamaica": 1865 oil on paper board by Frederick Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 –April 7, 1900)
Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York City: Public Domain, via Athenaeum.org @ http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=49638

"Botanical Institutions of Jamaica." Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens, Kew), Vol. 1906, No. 3 (1906): 61-68

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