By Francis Quamina Farrier

IF you are a youngster, you might be wondering if the headline of my article this week is a mistake. Actually, it is not. The historic fact is that a Guyanese did, indeed, head a foreign government. The individual was Sir Edward Trenton Richards, Kt, CBE, formally of Canje, Berbice, British Guiana.

Growing up in that racially mixed community prepared him for service in a racially mixed country, Bermuda. He created history when he became the very first non-white person to become the government leader of the popular tourist island of Bermuda. This unique story goes back many decades, and is becoming somewhat forgotten, and really should not, especially for Guyanese.
Those who were alive in the era of a Guyanese heading a non-Guyanese government have mostly passed on with the happy knowledge that one of our own made such a great and happy achievement. The establishment of that government which Guyanese-born Sir Edward Trenton Richards headed changed forever. When Edward Richards became the government leader, his party, The United Bermuda Party, which he headed, actually broke the glass ceiling, so to speak. Previously, the non-white section of the population of the island existed in a virtual Apartheid system. There were “Whites Only” and similar signs displayed at many public places. The United Bermuda Party, which was supported mainly by the non-white citizens, finally put that disgraceful behaviour by those who considered themselves as ‘high and mighty’ to an end.

Edward Trenton Richards, the son of Mr. and Mrs. George A. Richards, was born at Adelphi, Canje, Berbice, British Guiana (GUYANA) on October 4, 1908. Growing up in that eastern region of the colony, he attended the Leeds Anglican School on the Corentyne Coast. He was also a student at the Mission Chapel and the Wesleyan schools in New Amsterdam, and finally, The Collegiate in Georgetown. At the last-named school, he served as an assistant master for a while before leaving for Bermuda in 1930. That was the time when almost all schools in the colony of British Guiana were
operated by one of the Christian bodies: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Congregational etc.

As such, students who were not Christian or from denominations other than the one their families were practising were greatly influenced by the denomination that managed the school they were attending. For example, as a student of the Agricola Anglican School, which was located on the East Bank of Demerara, just one mile south of the city of Georgetown, I joined with the other students at the commencement of classes every day, saying prayers of the Anglican faith. As a Catholic, that was not in any way difficult for me since the Catholic and the Anglican (Episcopal) ways of worship are pretty similar. History records that King Henry VIII of England established the Anglican denomination in 1534 as a political act rather than for any serious ideological reason.

Prayers such as The Lord’s Prayer are a staple in both the Catholic and Anglican denominations. Those Wednesday morning services (Mass) of my boyhood student years were and continue to be principal ways of worshipping God by both the Anglican and Catholic denominations. English history has recorded the time and reason for the Anglican Church to have been ‘born’ of the Catholic Church. Most of the ways of worship by Catholics and Anglicans are very similar. Here in Guyana, the two denominations work closely on a number of social issues, such as supporting youth activities.

Back in the 1940s, students, myself included, attended a service at the Agricola Anglican Church every Wednesday morning, which was mandatory. As such, students of another faith, or even those not Christian, were all made to attend the service. While most parents cooperated, there were some quiet objectors.
Edward Richards focused on being a good and brilliant student in that educational, social and religious environment. He excelled in mathematics, and became an assistant master before he migrated to Bermuda, a small island located in the Atlantic Ocean some 600 miles off the eastern coast of South Carolina in the United States.

I have visited Bermuda on three occasions and observed first-hand the all-round high standards of life and living on the island, and the many tourists who flock there. I have also seen the Guyanese who live there united as one in their little diasporan paradise out in the Atlantic. The older ones and those who have been residing on the island for many years do speak of the legacies of the former government leader, Guyanese-born Sir Edward Trenton Richards, who, back in the day, was respectfully and endearingly, referred to as “E.T” (Edward Trenton).

Before settling permanently in Bermuda, the ambitious Edward Richards went to England, where he studied Law at the MiddleTemple. In November 1946, he was called to the Bar in London, after which he returned to Bermuda, where he commenced a long and distinguished career in the legal field. Sir Edward was appointed a magistrate in 1958, a post in which he served with dignity and decorum.

Along his life’s journey, he realised that he had a desire for politics, in which he became actively involved in 1948. That led him to serve as the political representative in the Parish of Warwick. By dint of hard work and many political successes in his adopted homeland, the Guyanese-born Bermudian citizen was appointed a member of the Executive Council (Cabinet) in 1963. Continuing his upward mobility in the political activity of the island, in 1968 he was appointed Member (Minister) for Immigration and Deputy Government Leader. His political pinnacle was then just one step away.

It was just a matter of time before the Berbician reached the top of the political mountain of Bermuda. And that he did. In December of that year, with the retirement of the then Leader, Sir Henry Tucher, Sir Edward Trenton Richards, a man from Canje, Berbice, not only became the very first Black person to head the Government of Bermuda, a country which had practised Apartheid for many long years. Edward Richards also became a Guyanese who headed a non-Guyanese government; something extremely unique. It was and remains historically unique. My visits to the island of Bermuda were some years later, but I heard many stories about the era when Black Bermudians and Black visitors to the island used to be treated like “Children of a Lesser god”.
With Sir Edward Richards becoming government leader, and with his strong quest for justice and dignity for all citizens of the island, the Apartheid system came crashing down, and non-white Bermudian citizens found their place in the sun. In ending this article, it is appropriate to mention that Sir Edward Richards was an honoured and special guest at the Independence celebrations of Guyana in 1966.