AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY JAMAICAN SATINWOOD, ROSEWOOD AND SPECIMEN-WOOD WORK TABLE, attributed to Ralph Turnbull of Kingston, Jamaica, the rectangular top with spiral bound decoration centered with a star, above three drawers, the top drawer with a secretaire writing surface, the middle drawer with an arrangement of lidded compartments above a well drawer, all with turned timber knop handles raised on a carved leaf and berry scroll quatrefoil base and carved paw feet. 66 x 48cmBorn in Scotland in 1788, Ralph Turnbull appears to have moved to Jamaica with this two brothers, Thomas and Cuthbert, in the early 19th century. An advertisement in the Kingston Chronicle in 1819 indicates that he was in partnership with his brothers at that time, though they would appear to have had separate businesses by 1823. He was also married about this time and he and his wife Jane had three children.Ralph Turnbull is best known for his idiosyncratic furniture, with its unusual exotic veneers. It appears that he was the only one of the Turnbull’s to actually label his work. Such was the quality of his work that he was awarded a most prestigious commission - a large suite of furniture for the Governor, the Marquis of Sligo. Peter Howe Browne (1788 - 1845) was the son and heir of John Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and on the death of his father in 1809 he became 2nd Marquess of Sligo inheriting his father’s titles and immense fortunes, including over 130,000 acres of County Mayo. He also inherited two plantations in Jamaica from his Kelly grandmother. In 1834-35 he was Governor and Vice-Admiral of Jamaica and set about reforming the status of slaves on the island and improving the work and living conditions they had had to endure. Sligo was the first plantation owner to initiate a wage system for black workers and later, after emancipation, to divide his lands into numerous farms to be leased to the former slaves. The planters, who were dead set against him for initiating such reforms, commenced a campaign of vilification against him culminating in his removal from office in late 1836. His work towards the emancipation of slaves continued however and his pamphlet, ‘Jamaica Under the Apprenticeship System’ greatly influenced the debate on emancipation in the British parliament in 1838. Sligo is renowned widely as one of the principal influences in the abolition of slavery and his public announcement in March 1838 that he would free all apprentices on his own estates in Jamaica drove the government to declaring full emancipation on August 1838. Sligo is acknowledged as “Champion of the Slaves”, and the town of Sligoville, Jamaica, the first free slave village in the world, still bears his name.