Jamaica - A Short History Of the JDF Training Depot Newcastle

Nestled high in the hills of St. Andrew, historic Newcastle is more often than not seen for its beauty and unique features. But it is rarely seen for what it truly is, a monument to the integrity and courage of one man, who, by his great foresight, made it the means of saving literally hundreds of men from death by Yel­low Fever.

The idea of establishing a military barracks in the hills of St. Andrew was broached by Field Marshal, then General, Sir William Gomm, Commander of Her Majesty's Forces in Jamaica in a let­ter dated 7 April 1840 to Governor Metcalfe in which Gomm expresses great displeasure at the high mortality rate among European troops on the coastal plains due to Yellow Fever.

The death rate due to Yellow Fever in 1838 was one soldier every two and a half days. This was a good year with only 91 men dying of fever; in 1839, 110 men perished; and in 1840, 121 suc­cumbed to Yellow Fever. It was this fever epidemic that greeted Gomm when he arrived in Jamaica to take up his command early in January 1840.

The situation had worsened to the extent that during the earlier years when the Royal Scots were warned for duty in the West Indies, the captains drew lots as to who would go. It became gen­erally accepted that a posting to the West Indies was vir­tually a soldier's death sentence.

Gomm dispatched letter after letter to the British government seeking the author­ity and fi­nances to start construction of barracks in Newcastle. Initially, these pleas fell on deaf ears as the British government was worried about the expense of the venture, not realizing fully the dangerous reduction in manpower resulting from the frequent in­roads by fever.

Eventually, Gomm decided that he would take the matter into his own hands. Knowing that he had the approval of the governor, he acted without the British gov­ernment's consent and started construction early in 1841.

In December 1841 the Board of Ordnance authorized the erection of a permanent barracks at Newcastle to house a battalion. Gomm had won his battle. In a surprisingly chatty letter to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, dated 4 December 1841, Gomm exclaims: "We have carried the Hill".

Gomm knew perfectly well that fever would come sooner or later to Newcastle by carrier be­cause commerce between Newcastle and Kingston was in­evitable. In light of subsequent events, the wisdom of Gomm's devoted struggle was amply justi­fied. In 1842, very soon after Newcastle was established, only 24 of the 197 troops there died. Five years later, seven men died from a strength of 583, and in 1853, only two men per­ished out of 476.

General Gomm left Jamaica at the end of 1841 to assume command of the North­ern District of England. He died in 1875 at the age of 91. His obvious talents as a soldier and administrator were fully recognized, and his far-seeing humanity has a permanent memorial, Newcastle Hill Sta­tion.

From its founding until 1959, Newcastle was used by both British and Canadian regiments serving in Jamaica as a change-of-air camp. Some regiments moved to the hills completely while others would rotate companies during the year. Others still would merely send cadres for training at Newcastle.