norman manley law offices

21 Duke Street

Born in Manchester on July 4, 1893, Norman Manley not only lived through a turbulent time as Jamaica found itself as an independent country – he was one of its architects.

A schoolboy athlete, an artilleryman in World War I, and a Rhodes Scholar, Manley was called to the Bar at Grays Inn, London in 1921 and in Jamaica in 1922. Before returning home, he married his distant cousin and soulmate Edna Swithenbank, who would play a significant role in the development of Jamaican art. She would also be his partner in all other area: when her husband needed a reading on how evidence was being received by the jury, she was known to appear in court to provide feedback.

In Jamaica, he set up office on Duke Street, where some of his early cases were as a government-appointed defender for persons accused of murder. The Gleaner recorded that he became a member of the Jamaica Agricultural Society in 1924 at which time his business address was 18a Duke Street. In the early 1930s, he was the barrister for the Banana Producers’ Association, a cooperative of growers, and it was through his negotiations with Samuel ZeMurray, President of the United Fruit Company, that the Jamaica Welfare Limited was created. By the late 1930s, operating from 21 Duke Street, Manley was an in-demand barrister who had also become engaged with the need for Jamaicans to play a role in their own development. In 1938, while also involved in labour mediation and providing support for his cousin Alexander Bustamante, Manley co-founded the People’s National Party with O.T. Fairclough. He would contest several elections and be Jamaica’s Premier. His decision to hold a referendum on West Indian Federation and his high-minded decision to go to the polls in its aftermath lost him the opportunity to lead Jamaica into independence – that honour going to his long-time political rival Bustamante, who had broken with Manley in the mid-1940s.

A 1954 biography of Norman Manley, published for the PNP, recalled that Manley’s determination to contribute to national development through political representation pre-dated his first appearance before the Jamaican Bar. “There is still in existence today a letter he wrote in 1922 in which he clearly forecast that when he had made his name in his profession he meant to make his contribution in the political field.” This meant that Mr Manley would, in the 1950s and 1960s, become as well known for his appearances at the upper end of Duke Street, in the legislature, as he once had been for his legal work centered at the lower end of Duke Street and in the courts.