On 14 July 1979 Bernard Darke, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born,

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

-based

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest and photographer for the ''

Catholic Standard The ''Catholic Standard'', founded in 1951, is the official weekly newspaper for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.About ...

'', was stabbed to death by members of the

House of Israel The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel ...

, a religious cult closely tied to the People's National Congress, while photographing

Working People's Alliance The Working People's Alliance is a Democratic socialism, democratic socialist List of political parties in Guyana, political party in Guyana. It was a consultative member of Socialist International until 2005. History The WPA was established in ...

demonstrations of the PNC. Guyana's ''

Stabroek News The ''Stabroek News'' is a privately owned newspaper published in Guyana. It takes its name from ''Stabroek'' , the former name of Georgetown, Guyana. It was first published in November 1986, first as a weekly but it later changed to a daily prin ...

'' described the murder as "the low point of democracy in Guyana" and, for those in the media, "perhaps the most traumatic event of the orbesBurnham regime."

Bernard Darke

Darke was born in 1925. He attended St Peter's College in Southbourne. Darke served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, then became a Jesuit in 1946. He was reported to have been involved in

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

and to have developed an interest in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

while in

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

Heythrop Heythrop is a village and civil parish just over east of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Dunthrop. The 2001 Census recorded the parish population as 93. History Heythrop had a Norman parish church of Saint Nic ...

. During the 1950s, Darke taught at

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the g ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 1958. Darke went to

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

in 1960 and became a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

teaching

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

and

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at St. Stanislaus College in Georgetown. There, he continued his interests in photography and scouting, where he was scout leader from 1962 until his death.

Murder

In 1979, Darke was a photographer for the ''Catholic Standard'', a tabloid paper described as being "extremely critical" of the People's National Congress. The House of Israel was a cult founded by David Hill, an American fugitive known as Rabbi Edward Washington. Opponents of

Forbes Burnham Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980 and then as its f ...

's government said that the House of Israel was a private army for the People's National Congress, and the group was reported to be a "brutal force in street demonstrations". On behalf of the PNC, the House of Israel also engaged in strike breaking activities and the disruption of public meetings. On 14 July 1979

Walter Rodney Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. His notable works include ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'', first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetow ...

and two supporters within his Working People's Alliance were charged with

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

for the

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary ...

s of a government and PNC offices three days earlier, resulting in a violent clash between political factions. During the clash, Darke, a bystander, was stabbed to death by some of the rioters. According to Jesuit author

Malachi Martin Malachi Brendan Martin (23 July 1921 – 27 July 1999), also known under the pseudonym of Michael Serafian, was an Irish-born American Traditionalist Catholic priest, biblical archaeologist, exorcist, palaeographer, professor, and prolific wr ...

, Darke was stabbed to death by a faction of Forbes Burnham partisans. He was working part-time as a photographer for the ''Catholic Standard'' newspaper of

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

. According to a 2013 article in

Kaieteur News ''Kaieteur News'' is a privately owned daily newspaper published in Guyana, South America. ''Kaieteur News'' columnists include Freddie Kissoon, Stella Ramsaroop, Adam Harris C. Adam Harris (born October 14, 1975) is a former Republican member ...

, the target of the assassins may have been Father

Andrew Morrison Andrew Morrison, SJ (5 June 1919 – 26 January 2004) was a Guyanese Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, journalist, and pro-democracy activist. Early life and education Morrison was born on 5 June 1919 in Georgetown, British Guiana. He attended hig ...

, the newspaper's editor. Kaieteur News describes Morrison and the ''Catholic Standard'' in the 1980s as, "fighting against corruption and freedom of the press" that were "muffled" by the Burnham government. In July 1986, Washington and some of his key associates were charged with the murder of Darke. After pleading guilty to the lesser charge of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

, Washington received a fifteen-year prison sentence.

References

External links

Darke's camera mystery solved after 35 years
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darke, Bernard 1979 deaths Royal Navy personnel of World War II Guyanese Jesuits Martyred Roman Catholic priests Guyanese murder victims Assassinated British journalists July 1979 events in South America 20th-century Jesuits 1979 in Guyana

Bernard Darke

Murder

References

Further reading

External links