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Grantley Herbert Adams

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
The Right Excellent Sir
Grantley Adams
CMG, QC
Grantley Herbert Adams (cropped).jpg
Adams in the 1950s
Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation
In office
18 April 1958 – 31 May 1962
MonarchElizabeth II
Governor-GeneralLord Hailes
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
1st Premier of Barbados
In office
18 February 1953 – 17 April 1958
MonarchElizabeth II
GovernorSir Alfred Savage
Sir Robert Arundell
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHugh Cummins
Personal details
Born28 April 1898
Died28 November 1971 (1971-11-29) (aged 73)
Saint Michael, Barbados
Political partyBarbados Labour
Other political
affiliations		West Indies Federal Labour
SpouseGrace Thorne
Statue of Sir Grantley Adams in front of the Office of the Cabinet complex in Barbados
Statue of Sir Grantley Adams in front of the Office of the Cabinet complex in Barbados

Sir Grantley Herbert Adams, CMG, QC (28 April 1898 – 28 November 1971) was a Barbadian politician. He served as the inaugural premier of Barbados from 1953 to 1958 and then became the first and only prime minister of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. He was a founder of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP),[1] and he was named in 1998 as one of the National Heroes of Barbados.[2]

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Order of St Michael and St George

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.

Prime Minister of Barbados

Prime Minister of Barbados

The prime minister of Barbados is the head of government of Barbados. The prime minister is appointed by the president under the terms of the Constitution. As the nominal holder of executive authority, the president holds responsibility for conducting parliamentary elections and for proclaiming one of the candidates as prime minister.

West Indies Federation

West Indies Federation

The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state—possibly similar to the Canadian Confederation, Australian Commonwealth, or Central African Federation. Before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed or function viably. The formation of a West Indian Federation was encouraged by the United Kingdom, but also requested by West Indian nationalists.

Barbados Labour Party

Barbados Labour Party

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party in the House of Assembly of Barbados, holding 30 out of 30 seats. The BLP was elected to government on 25 May 2018 after a decade in opposition, with Mottley becoming the country's first female prime minister. The party originally won all of the seats in the House of Assembly, but Bishop Joseph Atherley, the MP for St. Michael West, became an independent MP and the leader of the opposition on 2 June 2018. The party won all 30 seats in the 2022 general election.

Early life

Adams was born at Colliston, Government Hill, St. Michael, on 28 April 1898. He was the third child of seven born to Fitzherbert Adams and the former Rosa Frances Turney. Adams was educated at St. Giles and at Harrison College in Barbados. In 1918, he won the scholarship and departed the following year for his undergraduate studies at Oxford University. Adams played a single match of first-class cricket for Barbados during the 1925–26 season, as a wicket-keeper against British Guiana in the Inter-Colonial Tournament.[3]

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Saint Michael, Barbados

Saint Michael, Barbados

The parish of St. Michael is one of eleven parishes of Barbados. It has a land area of 39 km2 (15 sq mi) and is found at the southwest portion of the island. Saint Michael has survived by name as one of the original six parishes created in 1629 by Governor Sir William Tufton.

Harrison College (Barbados)

Harrison College (Barbados)

Harrison College is a co-educational grammar school in Bridgetown, Barbados. Founded in 1733, the school takes its name from Thomas Harrison, a Bridgetown merchant, who intended it to serve as "A Public and Free School for the poor and indigent boys of the parish".

First-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adjudged to be worthy of the status by virtue of the standard of the competing teams. Matches must allow for the teams to play two innings each, although in practice a team might play only one innings or none at all.

Barbados national cricket team

Barbados national cricket team

The Barbados national cricket team is the national cricket team of Barbados, organised by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA). Barbados is a member of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which is a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in its own right, and Barbadians play internationally for the West Indies cricket team.

Wicket-keeper

Wicket-keeper

The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards. The role of the keeper is governed by Law 27 of the Laws of Cricket.

Guyana national cricket team

Guyana national cricket team

The Guyana cricket team is the representative first class cricket team of Guyana. The side does not take part in any international competitions, but rather in inter-regional competitions in the Caribbean, such as the Regional Four Day Competition and the Regional Super50), and the best players may be selected for the West Indies team, which plays international cricket. The team competes under the franchise name Guyana Harpy Eagles.

Inter-Colonial Tournament

Inter-Colonial Tournament

The Inter-Colonial Tournament was the main first class cricket competition in the West Indies held between 1892-93 and 1938-39.

Political career

Adams' political interest began when he was still a law student in England. He became a member of the Liberal Party at Oxford, finding his views aligned best with those of the Asquithian liberals, in support of private enterprise and trade. Under the Liberal ideals of the era, support of trade union action, representational government and reform of the land ownership and taxation system were towards the overall goal of fostering free trade.[4]

As the British liberals that shaped him rejected the socialism of the British Labour Party, so too did Adams oppose the labour-focused efforts of the Democratic League of Charles Duncan O'Neal and Clennell Wickham on his return to Barbados in 1925. He attacked their strike efforts as editor of the Agricultural Reporter, a planter paper that had opposed workers' rights since its nineteenth century inception. With a growing reputation and popularity among the conservative establishment, Adams' entry into the House of Assembly in 1934 was assured by his role in the deconstruction of the socialist League, including bankrupting one of the key journalistic voices in support of workers' rights.[5]

Nevertheless, Adams' fundamental belief in liberal policies meant that he tended to support pro-working class efforts once he was installed in the House, and continued to espouse many of O’Neale's causes after the man's passing in 1936. Adams therefore consolidated his position by subsuming the fragmented Labour movement he had shattered, and marrying them to his own liberal ideals. It is this face that embraced the workers' rebellions of 1937 and lead to the establishment of the Barbados Labour Party in 1938.[4]

Adams was president of the Barbados Workers' Union (BWU) from 1941 to 1954, and was involved in the lowering of the exclusive income qualification in 1942. By 1949, governmental control was wrested from the planters. Adams became the first Premier of Barbados in 1953 and additionally Minister of Finance in 1954. Four years later he became the Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation, defeating Ashford Sinanan by two votes. (Sinanan went on to serve as Leader of the Opposition of Trinidad's Democratic Labour Party.) Adams served this role from 1958 to 1962; Barbados was one of the ten provinces of the West Indies Federation, an organisation doomed by nationalistic attitudes and by the fact that its members, as British colonies, held limited legislative power.

Yet he retained his reputation for conservatism through his support of the monarchy. His leaderships's failure to form unions such as the BWU and his rejection of attempts to speed up the push for Independence was used by his opponents as evidence that he was no longer in touch with the needs of his country. Errol Walton Barrow, a fervent reformer, became the new people's advocate. Barrow had left the BLP and formed the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) as the social democrat alternative to Adams' liberal government, one that cleaved more closely to Labour's disruptive traditions. As such, Barrow instituted many progressive social welfare focused on demolishing long-standing class barriers, including free education for all Barbadians, and the School Meals system, the latter being vehemently derided by Adams himself. By 1961, Barrow had replaced Adams as Premier and the DLP controlled the government.

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Charles Duncan O'Neal

Charles Duncan O'Neal

Charles Duncan O'Neal was a Barbados physician, political figure and labor rights activist. He founded the radical Democratic League in 1924 and influenced the shift towards party-focused politics still seen in Barbados today.

Clennell Wickham

Clennell Wickham

Clennell Wilsden Wickham was a radical West Indian journalist, editor of Barbadian newspaper The Herald and champion of black, working-class causes against the white planter oligarchy in colonial Barbados during the inter-war period, leading to the social unrest that triggered the Riots of 26 July 1937.

Barbados Labour Party

Barbados Labour Party

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party in the House of Assembly of Barbados, holding 30 out of 30 seats. The BLP was elected to government on 25 May 2018 after a decade in opposition, with Mottley becoming the country's first female prime minister. The party originally won all of the seats in the House of Assembly, but Bishop Joseph Atherley, the MP for St. Michael West, became an independent MP and the leader of the opposition on 2 June 2018. The party won all 30 seats in the 2022 general election.

Barbados Workers' Union

Barbados Workers' Union

The Barbados Workers' Union is a trade union in Barbados.

1958 West Indies federal elections

1958 West Indies federal elections

Federal elections were held in the West Indies Federation for the first and only time on 25 March 1958. The result was a victory for the West Indies Federal Labour Party, which won 25 of the 45 seats in the House of Representatives.

Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation

Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation

The prime minister of the West Indies Federation was the head of government of the short lived West Indies Federation, which consisted of ten provinces: Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago. The federation was formed on 3 January 1958, and was formally dissolved on 31 May 1962.

Ashford Sinanan

Ashford Sinanan

Ashford Sastri Sinanan was a politician from Trinidad and Tobago who served in various roles prior to and following Trinidad and Tobago’s independence in 1962. Along with his brother, Mitra, Sinanan helped draft portions of Trinidad’s constitution and later went on to serve as the country’s first High Commissioner to India. High office, however, ultimately eluded him: first, in his 1958 bid to become the first Prime Minister of the Federation of the West Indies, a contest that he narrowly lost by 2 seats to Barbados’ Sir Grantley Adams; and second, in 1974, when he resigned from his post as High Commissioner to India to found the West Indian National Party (WINP). The WINP ultimately failed to break the 20-year rule of then Prime Minister, Eric Williams.

Democratic Labour Party (Trinidad and Tobago)

Democratic Labour Party (Trinidad and Tobago)

The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago from 1957 till 1976. The party was the party which opposed the People's National Movement (PNM) at the time of Independence. After several splits brought about by leadership struggles, the party lost its hold on the Indo-Trinidadian community in the 1976 General Elections and was displaced in parliament by the United Labour Front under the leadership of Basdeo Panday, a former DLP senator. The party was the representative of the ethnic Indian community in the country; however Indian Muslims and Christians were said to be less loyal to the party than Indian Hindus.

Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)

Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP), colloquially known as the "Dems", is a political party in Barbados, established in 1955. It was the ruling party from 15 January 2008 to 24 May 2018 but faced an electoral wipeout in the 2018 general election which left it with no MPs.

Personal life

Adams was married to Grace Thorne (1904-1990) in 1929 at St. John's Church. Their only child, Tom, himself won the Barbados Scholarship and attended Oxford to become a lawyer. Tom Adams was elected as Barbados' second Prime Minister in 1976.

Legacy

Grantley Adams International Airport, formerly Seawell Airport, located in Christ Church, Barbados, was named after the former Premier in 1976. A statue in honour of Adams is located in front of Government Headquarters at Bay Street, St. Michael.

Adams is one of Barbados' National Heroes.[2] He was the father of Barbados' second Prime Minister following independence, the late J. M. G. "Tom" Adams.

Adams was buried in Bridgetown, Barbados, at the churchyard of the Anglican Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels on Saint Michael's Row.

The former home of Adams, located on Roebuck Street, Bridgetown, functions as the headquarters of the Barbados Labour Party political group. Adams is featured on the front of the Barbados $100 bill,[2] popularly referred to as a "Grantley".

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Grantley Adams International Airport

Grantley Adams International Airport

Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) is an international airport at Seawell, Christ Church, Barbados, serving as the country's only port of entry by air.

Christ Church, Barbados

Christ Church, Barbados

The parish of Christ Church is one of eleven historic political divisions of Barbados. It has a land area of 57 km2 (22 sq mi) and is found at the southern end of the island. Christ Church has survived by name as one of the original six parishes created in 1629 by Governor Sir William Tufton.

Tom Adams (politician)

Tom Adams (politician)

Jon Michael Geoffrey Manningham Adams, known as Tom Adams, was a Barbadian politician who served as the second prime minister of Barbados from 1976 until 1985.

Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels

Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels

The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, is an Anglican church located on St. Michael's Row, two blocks east of National Heroes Square; at the centre of Bridgetown, Barbados. The Cathedral is the tallest of the Anglican 's houses of worship within Barbados.

Source: "Grantley Herbert Adams", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 24th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantley_Herbert_Adams.

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Further Reading

Barbados

Politics of Barbados

Owen Arthur

Tom Adams (politician)

Errol Barrow

Harold Bernard St. John

Lloyd Erskine Sandiford

House of Assembly of Barbados

Hugh Gordon Cummins

Index of Barbados-related articles

Barbados–Canada relations

Ashford Sinanan

1958 West Indies federal elections

2018 Barbadian general election

Joseph Atherley
See also
Further reading
  • F. A. Hoyos: The Rise of West Indian Democracy: The Life and Times of Sir Grantley Adams, Advocate Press (1963)
References
  1. ^ Price, Sanka (10 March 2014). "'Political giant' passes away". Daily Nation. Nation Publishing. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Sir Grantley Adams (1898 – 1971)". Barbados Pocket Guide. Sun Group. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  3. ^ Grantley Adams playing statisticers CricketArchive; Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b Hoyos, F. A., Grantley Adams and the Social Revolution, Macmillan (1974).
  5. ^ Lewis, Gordon, The Growth of the Modern West Indies, New York, 1972.
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