Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere! - Who Do You Think You Are

Episode Summary

John Barnes still lives in Liverpool where he used to play football. He has been married twice and has seven children. His father Ken Barnes was a Colonel in the Jamaican army, who trained at Sandhurst and rose to become second in command in the Jamaican Defence Force. He was posted to England as a military attache when John was a child. Ken also played football, captaining the Jamaican team and becoming the President of the Jamaican Football Federation.

John has two sisters Tracy and Gillian. He went to Jamaica to see his mother Jeanne who gave him some information about her father Frank Hill.

Frank was a journalist and radio broadcaster, and became the chairman of the National Heritage Trust. His father Stephen Hill was also a journalist. Frank's wife, Jeanne's mother, was called Monica.

John visited King's House, the Governor's Residence, to find out about why Frank and his brother Ken Hill were imprisoned in an internment camp in 1942. He was shown colonial documents which stated that Frank and Ken were detained on the 3rd Nov 1942 with two others (collectively known as the 4 H's) under emergency wartime legislation because their political activism was thought by the Governor to be a danger to the state. They were among the leaders of the People's National Party (PNP) which campaigned for Jamaican independence, and Frank was also said to be the owner of a printing works which printed anti-British literature. The British Government wrote letters to the Governor asking for the 4 H's to be released, and they were released on the 18th Mar 1943.

John's mother's cousin Robert Hill, who is a professor at UCLA, sent John some information about Frank's father Stephen Hill, who worked his way up to associate news editor at the Jamaican newspaper The Daily Gleaner.

John visited the University of the West Indies to find out more. In 1928, the Daily Gleaner had printed stories (supposed to have been written by Stephen Hill) which accused Marcus Garvey of plotting to attack and intimidate prominent Jamaican citizens, including Stephen Hill, ahead of the general election. Marcus Garvey denied the story and held a public meeting to protest against the Daily Gleaner.

Stephen Hill died in 1937, aged 54. John visited the Jamaica Archives to meet a researcher who showed him an article describing how a splash was heard and Stephen's body was found in the water. He also read tributes that were published to Stephen, which mentioned that he was a racehorse owner.

John then visited the Ward Theatre to find out more about Frank. He was shown a pro-independence newspaper called the Public Opinion which Frank produced in 1937, and a newspaper interview from the 1970's in which Frank looked back at his career. His play "Upheaval" about strikes and riots which took place in 1938, was performed at the Ward Theatre in 1939 and received very good reviews. As well as writing the play, Frank also appeared in it.

The People's National Party was also launched at the Ward Theatre. In 1952, the 4 H's, including Frank and Ken Hill, were found by a party tribunal to be secret communists and were asked to leave the party. John went to visit Rachel Manley, the granddaughter of Norman Manley who was the leader of the PNP at that time. Rachel said that Frank and Norman remained friends even though Frank had had to leave the party. Ken rejoined the PNP in 1968. Frank went back to journalism. He died on the 8th Jun 1980, age 69.