E. F. Gordon
| Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
20 March 1895 Port of Spain, Trinidad |
| Died | 20 April 1955 (aged 60) Bermuda |
| Other names | Mazumbo |
| Occupation | Physician, parliamentarian, civil-rights activist |
Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon (20 March 1895 – 20 April 1955), born in Trinidad & Tobago, was a physician, parliamentarian, civil-rights activist and labour leader in Bermuda, and is regarded as the "father of trade unionism" there: "he championed the cause of Bermudian workers and fought for equal rights for black Bermudians, thereby laying the groundwork for much of the political and social change that came about after his death". He was president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) 1945–55. Gordon has been described as "perhaps the only black charismatic leader to have emerged in the island's modern political history", and as "Bermuda's most dedicated Pan-Africanist".
In 2011, Gordon was honoured as a National Hero of Bermuda. Other posthumous honours he has been accorded include the Peace & Social Justice Award 2016 from the Roman Catholic Church of Bermuda.
Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon was born to Olympia Jardin and Frederick Charles Gordon in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he received his early education at Queen's Royal College (QRC), graduating as one of the school's most brilliant scholars. In 1912 he went to Scotland to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. There he met and married a fellow medical student, Clara Christian (who had previously studied music in the US at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, and Oberlin College, Ohio). To the displeasure of her father George James Christian, a Dominican barrister who had settled in the Gold Coast in 1902, she abandoned her medical studies to begin a family with Gordon.
Qualifying as a doctor at the age of 23 in 1918, Gordon was for some time a medical practitioner in the small Scottish town of Kingussie. In 1921 he returned to the Caribbean with his wife and young family. He briefly worked in Trinidad, then went on to become chief medical supervisor in Dominica.
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