Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation

Prime Minister of the
West Indies Federation
Coat of arms of the West Indies
Only officeholder
Grantley Herbert Adams
18 April 1958 – 31 May 1962
StyleThe Right Honourable
AppointerGovernor-General of the West Indies Federation
Formation18 April 1958
First holderGrantley Herbert Adams
Final holderGrantley Herbert Adams
Abolished31 May 1962

The prime minister of the West Indies Federation was the head of government of the short lived West Indies Federation (also known as the British Caribbean Federation), which consisted of ten provinces: Antigua (with Barbuda), Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica (with the Cayman Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands), Montserrat, St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago. The federation was formed on 3 January 1958, and was formally dissolved on 31 May 1962.

The prime minister was elected by the House of Representatives from among its members, constitutionally acted as an advisor to the governor-general of the West Indies Federation, and was involved in economic planning, but had very little power beyond those roles, being junior to the position of governor-general.[1]

Starting in January 1959, the governor-general, Lord Hailes, attempted to get Adams to step down so he could be replaced with Norman Manley, whom Hailes saw as endorsing "decentralised federation" and being able to bring "most responsible people in Jamaica" with him.[2]

Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation (1958–1962)

Parties

  West Indies Federal Labour Party

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Political party Election Cabinet
Took office Left office Time in office
1
Grantley Herbert Adams
Grantley Herbert Adams
(1898–1971)
MP for Barbados		18 April 195831 May 19624 years, 43 daysFederalist1958Adams

See also

References

  1. ^ The Growth of the Modern West Indies. Gordon K. Lewis, Ian Randle Publishers, 2004. Pp. 386-87.
  2. ^ Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean. Spencer Mawby, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Pp. 155, 160.
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