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Charmaine Eccleston

b. 1962

Born
24 Dec 1962, Kingston
Country of birth
Jamaica

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

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  • Birth24 Dec 1962, KingstonProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Kingston

    Birth, Kingston

What was it like?

The world around Kingston, 1962: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Charmaine was born the same year as Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, and Jodie Foster.

Born the same year

  • Jim Carrey

    Canadian-American actor and comedian (born 1962)

  • Tom Cruise

    American actor and film producer (born 1962)

  • Jodie Foster

    American actress and filmmaker (born 1962)

  • Ruud Gullit

    Dutch association football player and manager

  • Keir Starmer

    Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2024 to 2026

  • Demi Moore

    American actress and producer (born 1962)

Fashion

Church as a fashion show

Going to church was considered a fashion show extraordinaire, where men wore sharp suits and women wore hats as a continued tradition.

Fashion show model pay rates

Models working in downtown Kingston fashion shows were typically paid one pound sixpence per live show.

Music

Christmas Jonkonnu masquerades

During the 1950s and 1960s, Jonkonnu masquerade bands performed in the streets during Christmas, wearing elaborate costumes and playing fife and rattling drums.

Around 1950–1959

Penny sets at rural dances

In the 1950s, rural Jamaican patrons could select music at country dances using a penny set, which cost one penny per item.

Getting around

Memorable horse-drawn funeral transportation

Horse-drawn hearses were a common sight, often featuring formal drivers in top hats and horses equipped with poop-bags to keep the streets clean.

Around 1950–1959

Common everyday travel in the 1950s

During the 1950s, motorcars were mostly for the wealthy, so many people relied on bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, or mule-drawn carts known as drays to navigate the roads.

Daily life

British-Focused Schooling and Strict Discipline

Schooling often began at age seven and followed a British curriculum that focused on English history and geography rather than Jamaican history. Discipline was frequently strict, with teachers using canes or straps to punish students for breaking rules.

Outdoor Cooking and Hand Preparation

Cooking was commonly performed outdoors or in separate kitchen structures using wood fires or coal, sometimes with simple metal sheets used for baking. Meals were prepared by hand, involving tasks such as grating corn for porridge or grinding coffee with a mortar and stick.

Food

Candy treats cost 1 cent or less

Children could buy small treats like icy mints for 1 cent or candies called paradise plum for a farthing.

Draught Porter cost 1.5 pence

Draught porter, a cheap drink for the poorest classes, was sold for 1.5 pence a glass by street vendors and shops.

Prices and wages

Food and travel prices

In the pre-decimal currency era, beef, yams, and potatoes could be bought by the heap for sixpence. A train ride on the Kalamazoo from May Pen to Frankfield cost fivepence.

Shoes and clothing costs

During the 1960s, a pair of Batta shoes cost one shilling, which was considered expensive but could last an entire year. Children sometimes wore homemade underwear crafted from white empty flour bags.

Work

Sugar Industry Seasonal Migrant Labor

For six months of the year, thousands of rural families were disrupted while men migrated to sugar estates to cut or load cane. During this period, these workers often bunked shoulder to shoulder in dilapidated barracks.

Survival Through Arrest and Incarceration

Due to widespread unemployment and poverty, some individuals in Kingston would purposefully march to get arrested and jailed simply to be fed.

News and letters

Standard letter postage rates and post offices

During the 1950s and 1960s, ordinary mail was often sent via post offices, with inland letter postage costing 2d. in 1952 and 3d. by 1965.

Telegraph service and urgent delivery fees

For urgent messages, the government telegraph service connected towns and villages, costing 2s. for the first 12 words by 1967. If an addressee lived more than one mile from the office, a porterage fee of 6d. per mile was charged for delivery.

During their lifetime

  1. 1962

    Jamaica gains independence in 1962

    Jamaica became an independent nation, ending its status as part of the Federation of the West Indies.

  2. 1974

    Bauxite levy increases state revenue in 1974

    The government imposed a 7.5 percent levy on bauxite to increase national benefits, generating nearly J$ 200 million within one year.

  3. 1999

    Fuel price protests in 1999

    Violent protests erupted across the country following a significant 30 percent increase in fuel prices.

Family

Spouses