Robert Bradshaw (politician)

Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw (16 September, 1916 - 23 May, 1978) was a labour activist, Chief Minister and Premier of the island of Saint Kitts in the Caribbean Sea. It was his dream to see the country an independent nation.

Bradshaw was born in the village of Saint Paul Capisterre on the island of St. Kitts, and attended school in the same village.

He supported the cause of the sugar workers, and was one of the political stalwarts of the country. He entered politics in 1946 and won a seat in the Legislative Council and later became a member of the Executive Council. In 1956 he was Minister of Trade and Production for St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. During in the short-lived West Indies Federation (from 1958 to 1962), Bradshaw was elected to the Federal House of Representatives and held the post of minister of finance for the Federation.

After the break-up of the Federation, Bradshaw returned to St. Kitts from Trinidad. In 1966 he became Chief Minister, and in 1967 the first Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, now an associated state of Britain. Under his leadership, all sugar lands as well as the central sugar factory were bought by the government. Opposition to Bradshaw's rule began to build, especially by the families of former estate owners, who founded the People's Action Movement party in 1964, after frustration over a failed demonstration against a raise in electricity rates. Opposition was especially great in Nevis, where it was felt that the island was being neglected and unfairly deprived of revenue, investment and services by its larger neighbour. Bradshaw mainly ignored Nevis' complaints, but Nevisian disenchantment with the Labour Party proved a key factor in the party's eventual fall from power.

In 1977 he went to London for independence talks with the United Kingdom government.

He died in May 1978 of prostate cancer, and was succeeded by his former deputy, Paul Southwell. The country's Robert Bradshaw International Airport is named in his honour. In 1997 he was named the first national hero of St. Kitts and Nevis, and National Heroes Day is celebrated on his birthday.

To many he was known as Finny Hand Bradshaw. Also Papa bradshaw because many consider him to be the father of the nation.

Bibliography

*Alexander, R. J. and Eldon Parker (2004). "A History of Organized Labor in the English-Speaking West Indies". Westport, CT: Praeger.
*Brown, Margaret and W. R. Louis (2001). "The Oxford History of the British Empire". Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Burks, Edward (1967). "New Caribbean State Beset by Poverty and Revolt." "New York Times". June 29.
*Hurwitz, Samuel (1966). "The Federation of the West Indies: A Study in Nationalism." "Journal of British Studies" 6.
*Knight, F. W. and Colin Palmer (1986). "The Modern Caribbean". Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
*(1978). "Robert Bradshaw Dies: Premier in Caribbean." "The Washington Post". May 25.
*Thorndike, Tony (1989). "The Future of the British Caribbean Dependencies." "Journal of Interamerican Affairs and World Studies" 31.