From Francella to Hugh Nash: A Manchester family’s contribution to Jamaica’s cultural development

A family from Manchester named Nash has made a great contribution to promoting and developing Jamaica’s cultural heritage both at the national and international levels over 170 years.

The story is that, in the late 1830s, three brothers, George, James and Charles Nash, came to Jamaica from Rainham in Kent, England. They established themselves as merchants/planters in Manchester. Nashville in Mandeville was the original site of their home. It seems that they all married Jamaican coloured women and had children. Members of the family would branch out to Chapelton and Spalding in Clarendon and Black River in St Elizabeth, plying their trades as merchants and farmers.

Hugh Everard Nash, 1931-2021

Many will remember Hugh Everard Nash, who was born on January 23, 1931 near Coley Mountain in Manchester and died on July 24, 2021 in Kingston. He was the son of Elsaida Blake (Aunt Christie), 1901-1976, of Coley Mountain and Mile Gully in Manchester and D’arcy Everard Nash, 1904-1982, born in Manchester, who was a merchant in Chapelton, Clarendon, and, it appears, a descendant of the English brothers through George William Nash.

Hugh Nash attended Coley Mountain and Mile Gully Primary schools and the Jamaica School of Agriculture, as well as pursued post-graduate studies at Cornel and Wisconsin universities in the United States. He should have pursued a career in agriculture, but, in the 1960s, his path veered into cultural promotion and development. He was appointed island organising secretary of the Jamaica Festival. Hugh Nash became known as ‘Mr Festival’. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). He was the executive director and chairman of the JCDC and former director of Things Jamaican and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. In 2009, in Jamaica’s national honours and awards, Hugh Nash’s 1983 appointment was upgraded to the Order of Distinction in the rank of commander for his contribution to cultural and community development. Hugh Nash remained a Manchester native committed to contributing to his parish’s development. He retained his home in Mile Gully.

Hugh Nash’s venture into Jamaica’s cultural heritage was not accidental as several members of his father’s family had laid the foundation.

Francella Nash, 1822-1915

James Nash, 1812-1876, a planter, and brother of George and Charles Nash, married Francella Swaby of Manchester. They had four children; daughters, Francilla Elizabeth and J. C. (Ciciley?), and sons, George Alfred and James. Francella Nash was known for her interests in education and the arts, and for her social work. For many years, she operated a school in Mandeville and later in Kingston. She was skilled in the floral arts and crafts.

Francella Nash came to attention when, in 1851, she was Jamaica’s sole exhibitor at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations organised by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, at Crystal Palace in London. John Cross, in his talk on Jamaican antique furniture in Kingston in January this year, was curious about Jamaica submitting only one exhibit, a bouquet of dried flowers from Francella Nash, at this groundbreaking industrial expo. The 1916 Jamaica Who’s Who records that Mrs Nash had submitted a collection of native made articles.

Francella Nash went on to represent Jamaica at the 1862 International Exhibition in London and was awarded a medal for “manufacture of flowers from the dagger plant”. She was also among Jamaica’s exhibitors at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, US, and a pamphlet was published from her lecture on Jamaica’s history and resources. It is reported that a specimen of her work was sent to the Melbourne Exhibition in October 1880 in Australia. There is no evidence found that Jamaica participated in this Exhibition, although Britain participated.

At the 1885 World’s Fair in Antwerp in Belgium, among Jamaica’s exhibits, Francella Nash and Miss Ellen Nash exhibited lady’s hats made from fibre of the dagger plant trimmed with lace bark, and from banana bark with lace bark and parrot feathers. They exhibited other exquisite pattern pieces. Jamaica’s ‘lace bark” attracted much attention for its exquisite gauze like texture.

Francella Nash died in September 1915, aged 94.

Nora and Stella Shaw, artists (1878-1972)

Nora Isabel Shaw, born possibly in 1878, and her sister, Stella Augusta Shaw, born in 1888, and their other siblings, were from Manchester. Their parents were Samuel Augustus Shaw, JP, Wharfinger, and Isabella Catherine Nash, eldest daughter of George William Nash, merchant of Mandeville, Manchester, and one of the three Nash brothers from Kent, England. The Shaw family home was at ‘Canovia’ in Williamsfield, Manchester.

In the early 1890s, in recognition of her talent, Nora was awarded a three-year scholarship to study art at the South Kensington Art Training School (now the Royal College of Art), London. She also had a teacher’s diploma. Both sisters entered their artworks in the Jamaica Agricultural Society’s Exhibitions in Manchester and in the early Arts and Crafts Exhibitions of the Institute of Jamaica. They received high commendation for the quality of their work. It appears from a Gleaner report that Nora migrated to the US to find better opportunities as an artist. Her work can still be seen on the altar of the St John Anglican Church in Black River.

Stella Shaw remained in Jamaica. She was a well-known artist of her day as Gleaner reports indicate. She continued to participate in local art exhibitions including working with Edna Manley. From about 1912-1914, she was selected to design Jamaica’s booth at the Toronto Exhibition (the Canadian National Exhibition) in Canada. She continued to be involved in Jamaica’s participation in this exhibition for many years. In the 1920s, she designed the logo for Pick-a-Peppa Sauce, which was created and produced by her cousin, Arran Norman Nash, in Manchester. The logo is still in use by the company today.

In the 1930s, with Jamaica designing its own postage stamps, Stella volunteered and submitted paintings of Jamaican scenes. Her scenes were accepted and used. In the 1940s, she designed costumes for the national pantomime, Busha Blue Beard. In the 1950s, she designed the cover of one of the first books, Anancy Stories and Dialect Verses, published by the Gleaner’s Pioneer Press and which included works by Louise Bennett. Stella Shaw died in Manchester in 1972.

Regrettably, both Nora and Stella Shaw are not remembered in Jamaica today. Their works are not in local collections. Photographs of the sisters could not be found.

So, Hugh Nash descended from a Manchester family of creators, who had an interest in promoting and developing Jamaica’s cultural heritage.

Marcia Thomas is a member of the Jamaica Historical Society and Built Heritage Jamaica (formerly the Georgian Society of Jamaica).