Jamaica’s Jewish Doctors: 1690-1850

Jamaica’s Jewish Doctors:1690-1850 by Kenneth Collins

Published by the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, October 2026

ISBN: 978-1-9999178-4-5

Beautifully illustrated, this book tells the fascinating story of Jamaica’s small Jewish community, its religious life, its rich culture, art, literature and journalism and the links with Britain and the Portuguese community in London. A remarkable number of forty doctors, mostly of Portuguese origin, studied and graduated in medicine in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. They include a surgeon knighted for his service in the British Army, country doctors, an international adventurer, an early homeopath and an array of other memorable characters. Jews were spread over the island, and nineteen cemeteries are testimony to their presence.