The Legislative Council of Trinidad and Tobago served as an advisory commission to the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

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, ...

-ruled

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 ...

, between 1831 and

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1962. The Legislative Council consisted of a mixture of appointed and elected members. After the introduction of elected representation in 1925 the council consisted of 13 "unofficial" members (those who were not civil servants serving ''ex officio'' in the council), seven elected and six appointed. Over time the balance between elected members and appointed members changed. In 1956, the council consisted of 24 elected and 7 appointed unofficial members. From 1950, the council served as a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

legislature.

Background

Between 1797 and 1925, Trinidad was directly ruled from Britain as a

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

with no elected representation. This was unlike the situation in the rest of the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...

where an elected Assembly was the norm. While there was a Council of Advice, which was later replaced by a Council of Government and finally by an Executive and Legislative Council, these were purely advisory bodies and had no elected representation. Following an investigative visit to the Caribbean by Major E. F. L. Wood (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies) between December 13, 1921 and February 14, 1922, a recommendation was made to include elected members. The Treaty of Capitulation of 18 February 1797 surrendered control of Spanish-administered Trinidad to the British. The treaty protected the property rights of the population, and guaranteed that the "free coloured people...shall be protected in their liberty, persons and property, like other inhabitants". In 1801 the first British governor, Sir

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible t ...

, established a Council of Advice which was renamed His Majesty's Council in 1803. In 1831, this purely advisor council was replaced with Council of Government, the first legislative council.

Elections

The first elections to the Legislative Council were held in 1925. Voting rights were based on property or income qualifications. The colony was divided into seven constituencies: * the city of

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

* the county of Caroni * the county of

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

* the Eastern Counties (

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

, St. David, Nariva and Mayaro) * the county of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

* the county of St. Patrick * the ward of

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legislative Council Of Trinidad And Tobago Government of Trinidad and Tobago 1962 disestablishments in Trinidad and Tobago Historical legislatures 1831 establishments in Trinidad and Tobago