General Sir Lionel Smith, GCB, GCH, Governor of Jamaica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-Gordon_baronets

The Smith, later Smith-Gordon Baronetcy, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 July 1838 for General Lionel Smith, Governor of Jamaica from 1836 to 1839. The second Baronet assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Gordon in 1868 as his mother Isabella was the daughter of Eldred Curwen Pottinger and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Gordon.

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

General Sir Lionel Smith, 1st Baronet GCB GCH (9 October 1778 – 2 January 1842) was a British diplomat, colonial administrator, and soldier.

His mother was noted writer and feminist Charlotte Turner Smith.

Smith was Governor of Tobago in 1833 and then Governor of Barbados, Viceroy of the colony of Winward Islands and Grenada from 1833 to 1836.

He was awarded a Baronetcy on 19 July 1838 for his service as Governor of Jamaica from 1836 to 1839. During his governorship, The United Kingdom passed the Abolition Act that stated that slavery "shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful". On 1 August 1838, Governor Sir Lionel read the Proclamation of Freedom to a crowd of 8,000 at the Celebration of Emancipation in the Square of Spanish Town, the then capital of Jamaica. The day has since been a day of celebration on Jamaica and a public holiday since 1893.

He left Jamaica in 1839 having run into difficulties with the passing of the Prisons Act and dissolving Jamaica's Assembly.

Lionel Town, Clarendon, Jamaica is named after the Governor.

He was 5th Governor of Mauritius from 16 July 1840 to 2 January 1842.

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Sir Lionel Smith, 1st Baronet', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 February 2013, 23:14 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_Lionel_Smith,_1st_Bar...> [accessed 11 November 2013]