Dame Hilda Louisa Bynoe, DBE (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Gibbs; 18 November 1921 – 6 April 2013) was the

Governor of Grenada This is a list of Viceroys of Grenada from the establishment of French rule in 1649 until its independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. Following independence, the viceroy of Grenada ceased to represent the British monarch and British governme ...

between 1967 and 1972. A doctor and hospital administrator, Bynoe was, so far, the only woman to have been a governor of one of the British Dependencies, Hilda Bynoe was the first woman Governor of a

Commonwealth of Nations 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 C ...

country, becoming Governor of Grenada, Cariacou and Petit Martinique. She spent most of her adult life as a teacher and doctor of medicine in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

Early life and career

Born in Crochu,

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pet ...

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, Bynoe was educated at the village school, where her father, Thomas Joseph Gibbs, was headmaster and where her mother, sister and aunts had at one time or the other been teachers, and at St. Joseph's Convent, the island's only Roman Catholic Secondary School for girls. The first few years of adulthood were spent as a teacher at the Convent of St. Joseph in San Fernando, Trinidad, and later at Bishop Anstey High School in Port of Spain, Trinidad, as a science student. In 1944 she left for Europe to study Medicine and graduated from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Bar ...

, then the London School of Medicine for Women, in 1951.

Governor of Grenada

In June 1968, she was appointed

, the first woman governor in the British Commonwealth and the first Grenada native to occupy the post. She was appointed a

Dame Commander of the 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 ...

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 ...

in 1969. In January 1974, following demonstrations calling for her resignation, Bynoe made a speech over the radio calling for public support. The Prime Minister,

Eric Gairy Sir Eric Matthew Gairy PC (18 February 192223 August 1997) was the first Prime Minister of Grenada, serving from his country's independence in 1974 until his overthrow in a coup by Maurice Bishop in 1979. Gairy also served as head of governme ...

, advised the Queen to dismiss Bynoe, accusing Bynoe of attempting to undermine the Premier's authority to recommend the appointment and dismissal of governors. Gairy then requested permission to retire from the Queen, which was granted.

Personal life

Hilda Bynoe met and married Peter Cecil Alexander Bynoe, a Trinidadian RAF Officer; they had two sons, Roland and Michael. The Bynoe family returned to the West Indies in 1953 and Hilda Bynoe served in

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 ...

and Trinidad for the next fifteen years. In 1990, she retired to continue her writing and to assist in the care of her granddaughters Olukemi and Nandi. She continued as Patroness of several organizations, including the Caribbean College of Family Physicians, the John Hayes Memorial Kidney Foundation and the Caribbean Women’s Association. She died, aged 91, in Trinidad.

References

External links

Biodata
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bynoe, Hilda 1921 births 2013 deaths Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Grenadian medical doctors Governors of British Grenada Grenadian Roman Catholics Alumni of the University of London Grenadian women in politics British women medical doctors Alumni of the London School of Medicine for Women Caribbean women physicians 20th-century women politicians 20th-century women physicians People from Saint Andrew Parish, Grenada Grenadian expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago Grenadian expatriates in the United Kingdom

Early life and career

Governor of Grenada

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links