THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN HIS otherwise informative column on Sam Sharpe on Christmas Day, Arnold Bertram continues to make the false claim that Sam Sharpe was a Native Baptist. Sharpe was a deacon of what is now the Burchell Baptist Church, whose minister was the Rev. Thomas Burchell, a missionary sent out by the Baptist Missionary Society of London. He was among the early missionaries who came to Jamaica in response to a letter sent to the society by George Liele and Moses Baker who pioneered Baptist witness in the island. It is very likely that Sharpe first heard the gospel through the preaching of Moses Baker, who pioneered the work in western Jamaica.
It should be noted that the Native Baptists were confined to eastern Jamaica. In their first annual report of 1841, which include 42 churches, there was no mention of any church in western Jamaica. Their churches were all located in Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, St. Mary, Clarendon and Manchester.
The fact that Sharpe was elected a deacon in Burchell's church is not only clear evidence as to which group of Baptists he belonged, but that he was held in high esteem by the church and its pastor. Further evidence is that his remains were buried in the church.
I am, etc.,
CLEMENT GAYLE
Tanglewood, St. Ann's Bay
