From a Morant Bay tragedy comes a valuable Whitehall donation

Prologue – Baron Maximillian Von Ketelholdt

Germanic aristocrat, Baron Maximillian August Von Ketelholdt (1804-1865), was a young, brilliant, multilingual lawyer employed in the Prussian Civil Service in Aachen. During the August 1830 labour riots in Aachen in which he was injured, Baron Maximillian had a fateful encounter. He met and fell in love with a visiting English widow, Sophia Louisa Colleton Graves Radcliffe (1789-1868?). Sophia, on her maternal side, was from the Colleton family which had slave-worked plantations in South Carolina, Barbados and Jamaica. Sophia’s husband, Tristam Radcliffe, owned a property called Exeter in the then Vere parish in Jamaica. Radcliffe died from yellow fever in 1826.

Baron Von Ketelholdt and Sophia Colleton Graves were married, during a trip to London, on December 15, 1830. Their daughter, Carolina Julia Marianne, was born in Trier-Saarburg in the Rhineland in 1831. She was baptised in the Lutheran Church in Aachen, Prussia, on March 19, 1832. Baron Von Ketelholdt, his wife and child, and possibly her nurse, travelled to Jamaica in August 1832 to organise the affairs of his wife’s property, which was now under his control. What should have been a short visit to Jamaica turned into a long-term stay. As slavery ended with economic uncertainty and social instability, it turned out that Exeter estate was heavily indebted and the compensation claimed went to the mortgagee/purchaser. With properties being sold at bargain prices, Baron Von Ketelholdt acquired Chancery Hall and Swallowfield estates in St Andrew, and possibly also Dovecot Pen and Poinciana Cottage. Possibly, in the early 1850s, his daughter married a German cousin, Alfred Louis Johann Friedrich Von Ketelholdt (1830-?). Baron Maximillian became involved in Jamaican politics and governance. He was a member of the Legislative Council, a magistrate, and, in 1865, he was appointed to the prestigious post of custos of St Thomas-in-the-East. In October 1865, he found himself facing another labour uprising in which he was not just a bystander, but was actively involved in his official capacity. He was killed on October 11, 1865 in the ensuing melee. He was 61 years old.

Aquinas Chapel at Whitehall

Aquinas Chapel at Whitehall district on the road to Chancery Hall was built in 1882 as a missionary outpost by Father Joseph Dupont SJ (1809-1887). Father Dupont was a beloved, Jesuit missionary, born in France, who came to Jamaica in 1847. Father Francis Delany SJ records in his book A History of the Catholic Church in Jamaica, BWI, 1494-1929, published in 1930, that Baroness Caroline Von Ketelholdt (actually Von Berg), who had converted to Catholism in January 1881, had given the land and materials for the construction of this church at Whitehall. The church was dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas in 1882.

Caroline Von Ketelholdt

Not much is known about the life of Caroline Julia Von Ketelholdt from her birth to 1870s. Her first husband, Alfred Von Ketelholdt, was with her father in Morant Bay during the Rebellion. Alfred, it is reported, testified at the commission of inquiry into the Morant Bay Rebellion. He, apparently, returned to Germany where, it is assumed, he died. Caroline possibly lost her mother, Baroness Sophia, in 1868.

Caroline Julia, made her home at the family property, Chancery Hall in St Andrew. In 1878, she married her second husband, Count Julius Henry Arthur Von Berg (1832-1883), who had owned Mount Salus Estate in St Andrew. He was also of German descent. Count Von Berg moved into Chancery Hall with his wife. Their marriage was short. He died in 1883, aged 47.

Whitehall donation

Father Delany records, in his History of the Catholic Church in Jamaica that in about 1880, Lady Caroline’s old nurse, who was Belgian and Catholic, and whose name was likely, Jeanette, broke her leg. Father Dupont was called to Chancery Hall. Resulting from his visits, Father Delany states that Lady Caroline Von Berg, converted to Catholicism in 1881. Mass was said at the house. Apparently, Lady Caroline, was well liked and known for her charity in the district. It was at this time that she donated some land at Whitehall district for the building of a small Catholic mission, which was then the main Catholic church in the area. Her husband, Julius Von Berg, was buried in the churchyard at Whitehall. A school was established at the church.

It is not clear when Lady Caroline acquired this land at Whitehall as official records have not yet been found to confirm this. Whitehall Estate and Pen in St. Andrew, were both for sale and being sub-divided in the 1870s.

A third marriage

In February 1886, Lady Caroline married her third husband, another man of German descent, an engineer, Herr Henry Augustus Kriener. He also joined her at Chancery Hall. Father Delany reports that this third marriage to Henry Kriener proved disastrous. He squandered Caroline’s fortune. He seemed to have returned permanently to the United States. Chancery Hall was sold over her head. She went to live with her old nurse nearby.

The Gleaner of February 1893 reports that Chancery Hall Estate (then 880 acres) was bankrupt. It seems to have been sold in March 1892. Shrouded in intrigue, it was again being sold at public auction in 1893.

Lady Caroline’s death

The Catholic Opinion of July 1901 announced the death of Lady Caroline, daughter of Baron Maximillian Von Kettleholdt, noting that she became a catholic many years before and gave the land at Whitehall on which the church dedicated to Thomas Aquinas was built [Gleaner, July 1, 1901]. Lady Caroline’s death certificate records that she died at Whitehall on May 21, 1901. She was buried at Whitehall with her second husband, Count Julius Von Berg.

Epilogue – St Richard Of Chichester Roman Catholic Church and School

The new, larger church at Whitehall dedicated to St Richard of Chichester, was completed and dedicated on 11th August 1963. It was renamed St Richard’s. It seems that the land space was expanded with the purchase of additional acreage. Over 142 years, this church, small or large, facing many challenges, has made a considerable contribution to the community. The primary school was also expanded with a current student population of nearly 900. Its motto is “Excellence is our Goal”. This is one of the premier primary schools in Jamaica.

So, from the tragedy of the Morant Bay Rebellion, came a donation which has contributed to development in Jamaica.

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

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