Lois Browne-Evans
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, JP (1 June 1927 - 29 May 2007) was a lawyer and political figure in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. She led the Progressive Labour Party
Progressive Labour Party (Bermuda)
The Progressive Labour Party is a political party in Bermuda. It has been in power since 1998, winning subsequent elections in 2003 and 2007.- Formation :...
(PLP) in opposition before being appointed Bermuda's first female Attorney-General. She first gained recognition in 1953 as the Bermuda's first female barrister. Browne-Evans died of a suspected stroke on 29 May 2007, three days before her 80th birthday.
Background
Browne-Evans was educated at King's College LondonKing's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, and became Bermuda's first female barrister in 1953 after being called to the bar at Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in June 1953. She was the first black woman to be elected to the House of Assembly of Bermuda
House of Assembly of Bermuda
The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Bermuda. The house has 36 members, each elected for a five year term in a single seat constituencies....
, becoming the Member of Parliament (MP)
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Devonshire North constituency
Devonshire Parish, Bermuda
-Location:It is located in the centre of the territory, close to the junction between the main part of the main island and the peninsula containing the capital, Hamilton, and Pembroke Parish . To the northeast, it is joined to Smith's Parish, and to the southwest it borders Paget Parish. As with...
in 1963. Five years later she became the leader of the PLP, gaining worldwide recognition as the first female Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest party not in government in a Westminster System of parliamentary government...
in the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. In 1972 she stepped down as leader but took on the role of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
’s Honorary Consul in Bermuda, the first Bermudian to serve in that capacity. From 1976-85 she again led the PLP in opposition.
In 1998, the PLP achieved its first electoral victory. Browne-Evans was appointed Minister of Legislative Affairs and became the country's first female Attorney-General in 1999. That year, she circumvented a party ban on accepting British honours when she accepted the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
from Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, forcing the PLP to abandon its boycott.
She debated at the London and Bermuda Constitutional Conferences and served as delegate to numerous international conferences in Africa, New Zealand, the USA and the Caribbean.
Outside of politics, Browne-Evans was a member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers
International Federation of Women Lawyers
The International Federation of Women Lawyers , in Spanish Federacion Internacional de Abogadas , is an International Non-Governmental Organization that enhances the status of women and children by providing legal aid, legal literacy and education programs, and through advocacy, law reform,...
and a founding member of the Bermuda Business and Professional Women's Club. She was the first female member of the Devonshire Recreation Club and a founding partner of Browne & Wade Chambers in Hamilton
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
.
Position on independence
Despite her knighthood, Lois Browne-Evans said after a keynote address by Premier Alex Scott at a Founder's Day Luncheon that Bermuda would achieve independence from the UK within five years.Family
Lois Marie Browne was born on the Parson’s Road, Pembroke, one of four children of James Browne, a contractor and owner of the Clayhouse Inn, and his wife Emmeline.She married Trinidadian
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
-born John Evans in 1958; the couple had three children - Ernestine, Donald, and Nadine.
Legacy
Several months after her death, the PLP government under Premier Dr. Ewart BrownEwart Brown
Ewart Frederick Brown, Jr. was Premier of Bermuda and leader of the Progressive Labour Party from 2006 and 2010. He served as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Warwick South Central for 17 years until his retirement from politics in October 2010.Brown was elected leader of the ruling...
decided that a planned new police station/court house would be named after Browne-Evans. In 2008, Brown's government created a National Heroes Day holiday to commemorate Browne-Evans, intended to replace the existing national holiday Bermuda Day
Bermuda Day
Bermuda Day is a public holiday in the islands of Bermuda. Like certain other public holidays, it is always celebrated on May 24, or the weekday nearest May 24 if that date falls on the weekend....
(later changed to replace the Queen's Official Birthday
Queen's Official Birthday
The Queen's Official Birthday is the selected day on which the birthday of the monarch of Commonwealth realms is officially celebrated in Commonwealth countries and in Fiji, which is now a republic. It is an invention of the early 20th century...
).