Sir (William) George Mallet

GCSL The Order of Saint Lucia is an order of chivalry established in 1986 by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II. The Order comprises seven classes. In decreasing order of seniority, these are: * ''Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Lucia ...

GCMG 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. It is named in honour ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(24 July 1923 – 20 October 2010) was a politician who was

Governor-General of Saint Lucia The governor-general of Saint Lucia is the representative of the Saint Lucian monarch, currently Charles III. The official residence of the governor-general is Government House. The position of governor-general was established when Saint Lucia ...

and held a number of high offices in the island

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

, one of the Windward Islands of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

in the

Eastern Caribbean The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...

. Sir George served as the Minister for Trade, Industry, Agriculture and Tourism in the first post-independence government of St Lucia beginning in 1979. In later years, Sir George served as Deputy Prime Minister and was responsible for numerous government ministries including

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

, Home Affairs and CARICOM Affairs. As a member of the United Workers Party (UWP), Mallet represented the Castries Central district. He was very popular amongst his constituents and never lost the Castries Central seat during his political career. After retiring from active politics in 1996, Mallet served as

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

between 1 June 1996 and 31 August 1997. His wife, Beryl, died on 27 August 2003.

Early life and political career

Mallet was born in Panama on 24 July 1923. His family lived in Panama for a number of years while his father was an office worker for the Panama Canal. While still very young Mallet's mother returned to Saint Lucia with her children. He acquired his education at the Roman Catholic Boys' School in Castries and at the Castries Intermediate Secondary School. Upon graduation, he joined the commercial sector, first as a clerk and later as a sales manager and accountant with leading business houses in Castries. These included Minvielle & Co., Minvielle & Chastanet and Peter & Co. He was first elected to the Castries City Council in 1952. He served as chairman of that council until 1964. In 1958, Mallet was elected to the Saint Lucia Legislative Council to represent the constituency of Castries Central. With his growing role in the public sector and the responsibilities of the city council and the legislative council, Mallet resigned from his post as accountant with Peter & Co. Now fully a public servant, Mallet was a member of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) and was appointed to the post of Minister for Trade, Industry, Agriculture and Tourism. At that time Saint Lucia was still under British rule and local politics were dominated by PPP and the

Saint Lucia Labour Party The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) is a social democratic political party in Saint Lucia. It currently holds 13 of the 17 seats in the House of Assembly. History The party was established in 1949, backed by the Saint Lucia Workers Cooperative Un ...

(SLP). In 1961, amidst significant political unrest, a third political party emerged, the National Labour Movement (NLM). The NLM was led by

John Compton Sir John George Melvin Compton, (29 April 1925 – 7 September 2007) was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first Prime Minister upon independence in February 1979. Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton ser ...

, a former SLP member who broke away from that group to form a new political party due to the SLP's internal power struggles. In 1964, the People's Progressive Party and the National Labour Movement combined forces and formed a new party—the United Workers Party (UWP). This new party won the election held in June 1964. Mallet retained his position as Minister for Trade, Industry, Agriculture and Tourism and John Compton became

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. On 1 March 1967 Saint Lucia became an

Associated State An associated state is the minor partner in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some dependent, most fully sovereign states) and a major party—usually a larger nation. The details of such free association are contain ...

of the United Kingdom, a move closer to independence that placed the Saint Lucian government fully in charge of the island's internal affairs. The UWP continued to win the subsequent national elections and pushed for full independence; the party's platform sharply criticised the British government's administration over the island. Eventually, Saint Lucian independence was achieved on 22 February 1979. Despite some civil unrest, Saint Lucia's transition to independence was one of the most peaceful in Caribbean history and the island maintains good relations with Great Britain.

Post-independence political career

Mallet continued in his role as Minister for Trade, Industry and Tourism until a few months after independence in 1979, when the United Workers Party (UWP) was defeated in national elections by the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP). Mallet did win the Castries Central seat in the election; but with the change of government he became a member of the opposition party in the Saint Lucia

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

. The SLP government collapsed in January 1982 and the UWP won the subsequent election in May 1982. John Compton became the island's prime minister and he named Mallet as deputy prime minister. Mallet was appointed to serve as Minister for Trade, Industry and Tourism. He held this position until 1992; after that year's national election he was named Minister for Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Trade and Industry. A year later, he undertook the additional responsibility of the Ministry for CARICOM Affairs. In 1996, after 38 years of service, Mallet resigned his seat in the House of Assembly. However, before leaving office, Mallet campaigned heavily for his chosen successor to the Castries Central seat, Dr. Vaughan Lewis. Lewis, a former director of the

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...

(OECS), won the Castries Central seat and assumed the office of Prime Minister on 2 April 1996. On 1 June 1996 George Mallet was appointed to the office of Governor General. In 1997,

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during h ...

awarded Mallet the Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George (GCMG) and he was given the title ''Sir''. However, with the SLP's election victory the next year, Sir George retired from the post of Governor General on 31 August 1997.

Death

Mallet died on 20 October 2010 in Castries, aged 87, after a long battle with cancer.

Honours and awards

In 1996, Mallet was made Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Lucia (GCSL) in recognition of his years of service to Saint Lucia and the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the honour of Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George (GCMG). Mallet also was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry for men and women of high office, or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

is a British order of chivalry bestowed for meritorious service to the government in peace as well as for gallantry in wartime.

References

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