Each year, Barbadian communities globally celebrate the birth of Errol Walton Barrow, the father of our Nation and National hero. The UK Barbadian community is no different, and this year, BOCFA and BooksNtingsz, both Barbadian-led organisations, took on this mantle and hosted the Errol Barrow Lecture at All Saints Church, Notting Hill, London.
Also on the event schedule was local Calypsonian Jeff” De Admiral” Hinds and Poetess Amanda Inniss, followed by a tribute to Errol Barrow by Dr Beverley Goring
The following is a transcript of Dr Beverley Goring’s presentation.
It can be argued that no one has made as significant a contribution to tiny Barbados than Errol Walton Barrow. Indeed, when he bestrode the country like a colossus during the 1960s and early 1970s, some Barbadians used to refer to Barbados as ‘Barrow- Barbados’.
Barrow was born on 21st January 1920 in St Lucy, Barbados, into a family active in politics. His father, Reginald, was an Anglican priest and was later Headmaster of the Alleyne School, my alma mater. His mother, Ruth, was from another well-known political family; she was the sister of Charle Duncan O’Neal, who founded the first Socialist Organisation in Barbados. Barrow attended Combermere School and later Harrison’s College and was about to enter Codrington Theological College but changed his mind and instead enlisted in the Royal Air Force. After a very successful and decorated career in the Air Force, he attended the London School of Economics and went on to study law at the Inns of Court London. He was Chairman of the Council of Colonial Students, and his contemporaries included the likes of Forbes Burnham of Guyana and Michael Manley of Jamaica, who also went on to lead their countries.
He entered politics on his return to Barbados and was elected to Parliament in 1951 for the Barbados Labour Party. However, he was one of a group of people who wanted a more progressive agenda for the country; they broke away and formed the Democratic Labour Party in 1955. His party won the election in 1961 and was then able to introduce many of those progressive policies that revolutionised Barbados and gave hope to many poor and downtrodden black Barbadians, in much the same way as the great Dr Martin Luther King Jr who championed the cause of Blacks in the United States in the 1960s. It is noteworthy that both men have holidays named in their honour this month. Dr King’s birthday is on 15th January, but he is celebrated the first Monday after his birthday.
Historian Alexander Hoyos once noted that Barrow, a graduate of the London School of Economics, brought the resources of a trained lawyer/ economist to the cause of progress and reform. Some of those transformative policies included the introduction of national health service insurance and social security, free secondary education, and founding Cave Hill Campus as part of the University of the West Indies. These remain some of the most impactful initiatives to this day. In fact, Barrow believed that the children of servants and plantation workers had the same rights to education as the rich upper classes and planter classes on the island. So, free secondary education was indeed a game changer for the poor and working classes.
In 1966, he took the island into Independence from Britain after his party won elections, thus becoming Barbados’ first Prime Minister. He died in 1987, aged sixty-seven. In 2007, he was recognised as the Father of the Nation and his statue was unveiled in Independence Square in the capital, Bridgetown. He has been declared a National Hero, and his Birthday on 21st January was declared a public holiday. Reverend Guy Hewitt, in his book on Errol Barrow, called Fathering the Nation, says, and I quote, “Errol Walton Barrow’s name is synonymous with the growth and development of Barbados and the modern Caribbean. This courageous, sophisticated, soft-spoken yet sharp tongue, intellectual giant was the extraordinary leader of a quiet revolution in Barbados and the English-speaking Caribbean.” That is quite an accolade.
The Errol Barrow Memorial Lecture was entitled The Untold Story of Caribbean People and was presented by Mr Collin Carter, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, author, and educational benefactor to both the St Giles Boys’ School and Fresh Start Academy in Barbados.
Collin Carter is also known as the Godfather of Black Undertakers in the UK as his entry into this market in 1992 led the way for many others, who he would have impacted their lives or careers in this field in some way or another.
He was inspired by a shipping client, Collin established African-Caribbean Funeral Services, the UK’s first independently Black-owned funeral service. This pioneering business not only facilitated the repatriation of loved ones to their homelands but also introduced culturally significant, traditional-led funerals for African and Caribbean communities in the UK, filling a vital gap that had previously been unmet.
In his lecture, Collin kept his audience enthralled with his anecdotes and historical revelations, which were previously unknown to many of this large and diverse audience, where he was given a standing ovation on completion.
