Errol Barrow
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The Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow PC, QC |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Premier of Barbados | |
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In office 4 December 1961 – 30 November 1966 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Robert Arundell |
| Preceded by | Hugh Cummins |
| Succeeded by | Position Abolished |
| 1st Prime Minister of Barbados | |
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In office 30 November 1966 – 8 September 1976 |
|
| Governor-General |
John Montague Stow Arleigh Winston Scott |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | J.M.G. (Tom) Adams |
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In office 29 May 1986 – 1 June 1987 |
|
| Governor-General | Hugh Springer |
| Deputy | Erskine Sandiford |
| Preceded by | Bernard St. John |
| Succeeded by | Erskine Sandiford |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 January 1920 Saint Lucy, Barbados |
| Died | 1 June 1987 (aged 67) Saint Michael, Barbados |
| Political party | Democratic Labour Party |
| Spouse(s) | Carolyn Marie Barrow, (nee Plaskett) |
| Children | Lesley Barrow David O'Neal Barrow Eric Wayne Padmore |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Great Britain
|
| Service/branch | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1940–1947 |
| Rank | Flying Officer |
Errol Walton Barrow, PC, QC (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Caribbean statesman and the first Prime Minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy, he was educated at Harrison College. He was also known as "Dipper Barrow" within the country itself.
Errol Barrow served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He enlisted in the RAF on 31 December 1940 and flew some 45 operational bombing missions over the European Theatre. By 1945 he had risen to the rank of Flying Officer and was appointed as personal navigator to the Commander in Chief of the British Zone of occupied Germany, Sir William Sholto Douglas.
After the war he studied Law at the Inns of Court and economics at the London School of Economics concurrently, taking degrees in 1949 and 1950 respectively. During that time, Barrow also served as Chairman of the Council of Colonial Students where his contemporaries included Forbes Burnham, Michael Manley, Pierre Trudeau, and Lee Kwan Yew, all destined to become political leaders in their home countries.
He returned to Barbados in 1950 and was elected to the Barbados Parliament in 1951 as a member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Feeling the fever of anti-colonialism he had inculcated during his student days in London, he quickly became dissatisfied by the incremental approach to change advocated by the party stalwarts.
In 1955 he founded the Democratic Labour Party as a progressive alternative to the BLP. He became its leader in 1958 and the party won parliamentary elections in 1961 within his constituency of St. John. Barrow served as Premier of Barbados from 1961 until 1966 when, after leading the country to independence from Great Britain, he became Prime Minister. He served continuously in that capacity as well as stints as Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the next ten years. During this period he had a lengthy affair with American musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone, who had fled to Barbados to avoid prosecution for tax resistance.
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