April  

2nd
1952 The People's National Party announces the formation of a trade union under it's sponsorship to be known as the National Workers' Union. The NWU will have temporary quarters at 129 Tower St, Kingston. A provisional committee has been appointed to set up the union. Noel Nethersole, President; AGS Coombs, Vice-President; Florizel Glasspole, General Secretary; Vernon Arnett, Treasurer; Norman Manley, Legal Advisor.

1966 Garnet Damion Smith (Garnet Silk) is born in Bromelia, Manchester.

4th
1945 The last seaplane, a Pan-Am S43, takes off from Harbour Head. They are to be replaced with DC3s which will use the new Palisados aerodrome.

1949 Franklin Delano Alexander (Junior) Braithwaite is born in Kingston.

5th
1933 Calabar student, Arthur Wint breaks the 220yd record twice at the Schoolboys Track & Field Championships. He runs the heat in 27.10 sec and the finals in 26.05 sec. As we know, Wint went on to be Jamaica's first Olympic Gold Medallist in 1948.

1937 Colin Luther Powell is born in Harlem, New York to Jamaicans Maud Arial (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell.

7th
1942 The Department of Agriculture completes a soil analysis of the Lydford property in St. Ann and announces that there is alumina present in commercial quantities.

10th
1825 Dr. Christopher Lipscombe is installed as the first Anglican Bishop of Jamaica.

1935 Percival James Patterson is born in St Andrew to Ina James and Henry Patterson.

1947 Neville O'Riley Livingston (Bunny Wailer) is born in Kingston.

11th
1957 Elsie McLeod, of Port Maria, is sworn in as the first Woman District Constable in Jamaica.

1967 Sir Donald Sangster, Jamaica's second Prime Minister, dies after being in a coma for 22 days. He had served only two months. Shortly after, Hugh Lawson Shearer is sworn in as our third Prime Minister. At 44, Shearer is the youngest Prime Minister in the Commonwealth.

12th
1939 Jamaica's first Dog Show is held at Unifruitco Park. HAJ Edgley's bulldog, Buddy, wins the HB Aguilar Silver Cup as "Best in Show."

1992 Former Prime Minister, Michael Manley, weds Glynne Ewart at the Manley home at Guava Ridge, St Andrew.

13th
1938 The modern and impressive Carib Cinema opens at Cross Roads.

1964 Lyndon Johnson, the US President, sends Air Force 1 to collect Prime Minister Bustamante and convey him to the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre where he will be under the care of top eye surgeons.

16th
1660 Hans Sloane is born in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland. In 1687 Sloane came to Jamaica and spent 15 months compiling about 800 native species of plants. He was introduced to chocolate here and came up with the idea of mixing it with milk rather than water.

1883 The foundation stone is laid for the Jamaica High School, later Jamaica College, at Hope in St Andrew by the Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave.

1925 Kingston College, at 114 East St in Kingston, is officially declared open by Anglican Bishop of Jamaica Decartaret.

1979 Hugh Shearer is appointed President of the Bustamante Trade Union which he has been leading since 1963 when Bustamante withdrew from active leadership due to illness.

20th
1741 A Land Patent is issued granting Nanny of the Maroons a parcel of land comprising 500 acres in the Parish of Portland.

1921 Norman Manley is called to the Bar in England after completing his studies with First Class Honours At Oxford University.

21st
1921 Louis Winkler & Son of King St. advertise for sale modern 10'' gramophone records.

1966 Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, is greeted by thousands of Rastafarians when he arrives in Jamaica for an official visit. Unbeknownst to the visiting Royal, Rastafarians regard him as their Messiah.

1981 Bob Marley is buried at a newly built mausoleum at Nine Miles in St Ann, where he was born 36 years ago.

22nd
1978 At the One Love Peace Concert held at the National Stadium, Bob Marley calls the leaders of oth political parties on stage and invite them to shake hands.

30th
1948 The names of 16 Jamaicans to have gained places at the new Pre-Medical School of the University College of the West Indies are published. They are ten men and six women: Keith McKenzie, Ludlow Burke, Ronald Forbes, Harold Francis, Gifford Gallimore, Joseph Hall, Owen Minott, Ainsleigh Powell-Jones, Barry Hamilton-Smith, Harindel Mendes, Dorritt Black, Yvonne Brown, Betty Clarke, Etta Ellis, Pamela Rogers and Muriel Lowe.

1942 J.A.G. Smith (senior), barrister and one of Jamaica's "Founding Fathers," dies.