page_title: Alexander Aikman
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Aikman / Career
caption_attribution_description: Kingston, &amp; Port Royal. From Windsor Farm.
context_page_description: Alexander Aikman was a Scottish printer, newspaper publisher, planter, and member of Jamaica's House of Assembly. From 1805 to 1825, he was a member of the House of Assembly as the representative of Saint George parish.
context_section_description: At the American Revolutionary War, Alexander, in common with several other Loyalists, left British America and immigrated to the British Colony of Jamaica. He arrived in Saint George Parish, about 1777, at the age of 22. Soon after his arrival, he purchased the printing business of Robert Sherlock of Spanish-Town.  In 1779 he founded The Jamaica Mercury and Kingston Weekly Advertiser with David Douglass (d. 1786). In 1780 it became The Royal Gazette.  It was published weekly in Port Royal Street, but soon afterward in Harbour Street. Alexander's older brother William operated a book and stationery store on King Street.    
  In 1780 Douglass and Aikman became printers to the House of Assembly and the King's Printer. In addition, they printed "Almanac and Register," "Observations on the Dysentery of the West Indies," "A Brief History of the Late Expedition against Fort San Juan," and other books. After Douglass died in 1786, Alexander Aikman became the printer. In 1803 Alexander Aikman & Son were the printers. In 1809 it was Alexander Aikman, Jr.  After his son's death in 1831, Alexander, for a short time, resumed his printing and publishing businesses before retiring.
  From 1805 to 1825, Alexander represented the old parish of Saint George as a member of British Jamaica's House of Assembly. During that period, he owned three properties, two of which were in Saint George Parish.
  Aikman visited England in 1796 to hire a pressman (in which voyage he was taken by a privateer, and had to repurchase his property at Philadelphia). He visited again in 1801, in 1803, and in 1814, but from that time had remained at home.
  
  En route to his 1796 London visit, it appears Alexander experienced another incident. His daughter's gravestone describes surviving a shipwreck off Isle of Wight's coast. Others confirm the passage of a significant storm in the English Channel, which caused significant damage, injuries, and death. From Susannah Aikman's altar tomb (see: Louisa Susanna Wells' page for detail):
  In the memorable Storm of Novr. 17th and 18th 1795, she escaped shipwreck, together with her Father, Mother, and infant Sister when above 2000 of their fellow creatures met a watery grave near the back of this Island. 
  Alexander was a wealthy man. He owned four properties, each of which initially relied on slaves. Those properties  were "Birnam Wood" in Saint George (257 enslaved), "Wallenford" in Saint George (58 enslaved), "Prospect Pen" in Saint Andrew (39 enslaved), and his printing office in Kingston (3 enslaved).  In 1831, approximately 60,000 of Jamaica's 300,000 slaves initiated a strike, which escalated and became the Baptist War. In 1834, slavery was abolished throughout Jamaica, British West Indies, and the British Empire. In Jamaica, former slaves transitioned to an apprenticeship program, with full freedom in 1838.
  Prospect Pen was also known as Prospect Park, which subsequently became Vale Royal. Later, Vale Royal became the official residence of the Colonial Secretary.
caption: Kingston, & Port Royal. From Windsor Farm by James Hakewill
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