Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw (16 September 1916 – 23 May 1978) was the first

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and previously served as

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 ...

, legislator, and labour activist.

Early life

Bradshaw was born in the

Saint Paul Capisterre Village Saint Paul Capisterre (known locally as Saint Paul's) is a town in Saint Paul Capisterre Parish on the island of Saint Kitts in Saint Kitts and Nevis. It is the largest town in the Capisterre region of Saint Kitts. Its population is estimated ...

in Saint Kitts to Mary Jane Francis, a domestic servant, and William Bradshaw, a blacksmith. He was raised by his grandmother after his father moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

when Bradshaw was nine months old. He attended St. Paul's Primary School and completed seventh grade, the highest level of primary education available in Saint Kitts at the time. At 16, Bradshaw became a machine apprentice at the St. Kitts Sugar Factory, where he began to take interest in the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. In 1940, he left the sugar factory following a strike for higher wages and joined the St. Kitts and Nevis Trades and Labour Union as a clerk. Bradshaw succeeded Joseph Matthew Sebastian as president of the union in 1944. In 1963 he married, Mildred Sahaley, a Kittitian-Lebanese. They had one daughter, Isis Carla Bradshaw, together. His first daughter, Etsu, is from an earlier relationship.

Political career

Bradshaw supported the cause of the

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

workers and was one of the political stalwarts of the country. In 1945 he became president of the recently created St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Labour Party. He entered politics in 1946 and won a seat in the Legislative Council in the elections that year, later becoming a member of the Executive Council. In 1956 he was Minister of Trade and Production for

St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (or Saint Christopher, Nevis, and Anguilla) was a British colony in the West Indies from 1882 to 1983, consisting of the islands of Anguilla (until 1980), Nevis, and Saint Kitts, Saint Christopher (or Saint Kitt ...

. During the short-lived

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 ...

(from 1958 to 1962), Bradshaw was elected to the Federal House of Representatives and held the post of minister of finance for the

. After the break-up of the Federation, Bradshaw returned to St. Kitts from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. In 1966 he became Chief Minister, and in 1967 the first Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, then an associated state of the United Kingdom. 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. 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. Opposition in Anguilla was even stronger, with the Anguillans evicting St. Kitts police from their island and holding referendums in 1967 and 1969, both times voting overwhelmingly to secede from St. Kitts-Nevis and remain a separate British territory. In 1977 Bradshaw travelled to London for talks on independence with the British government.

Death

Bradshaw died on 23 May 1978 of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

at his home in Basseterre. He was succeeded by his

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, Paul Southwell. He is buried in Springfield cemetery in Basseterre.

Legacy

In 1996, Bradshaw was posthumously awarded the title of First National Hero by the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis and is honoured annually on

National Heroes Day Heroes' Day or National Heroes' Day may refer to a number of commemorations of national heroes in different countries and territories. It is often held on the birthday of a national hero or heroine, or the anniversary of their great deeds that m ...

, which is observed on his birthday. On the inaugural National Heroes Day in 1998, the Golden Rock Airport in Saint Kitts was renamed the

Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport Robert L. Bradshaw Airport , formerly known as ''Golden Rock Airport'', is an international airport located just northeast of Basseterre, on the island of Saint Kitts, serving the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It was named after the first Pr ...

in his honor. In 2007, the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw Memorial Park was dedicated at his birthplace in St. Paul's. On 17 September 2010, the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw building was dedicated on the Windsor University School of Medicine campus in Cayon.

References

*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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. 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 ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. May 25. *Thorndike, Tony (1989). "The Future of the British Caribbean Dependencies." ''Journal of Interamerican Affairs and World Studies'' 31. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bra 1916 births 1978 deaths Prime Ministers of Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour ministers of Saint Kitts and Nevis Trade ministers of Saint Kitts and Nevis Recipients of the Order of the National Hero (Saint Kitts and Nevis) Saint Kitts and Nevis trade unionists Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party politicians Deaths from cancer in Saint Kitts and Nevis Deaths from prostate cancer British Leeward Islands people of World War II People from Saint Paul Capisterre Parish National Heroes of Saint Kitts and Nevis Members of the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation

Early life

Political career

Death

Legacy

References

Further reading