Gladys Bustamante
| Gladys Bustamante | |
|---|---|
| Spouse of the 1st Prime Minister of Jamaica | |
|
In office 7 September 1962 – 23 February 1967 |
|
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Vacant (1967–1972) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 March 1912 Westmoreland Parish, Colony of Jamaica (now Jamaica) |
| Died | 25 July 2009 (aged 97) Kingston, Jamaica |
| Political party | Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) |
| Spouse(s) | Alexander Bustamante |
| Alma mater | Tutorial Secondary and Commercial College |
| Occupation | Activist, trade unionist, secretary |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Gladys Bustamante, OJ, (8 March 1912 – 25 July 2009) was a Jamaican workers' and women's rights activist and wife of Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica's first Prime Minister. She was a prominent member of the Jamaican trade union movement, and was affectionately known as "Lady B" by Jamaicans.
She has been called the "Mother of the Nation" due to her relationship with many of Jamaica's founders. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has called Bustamante "an icon of political struggles" in Jamaica's march towards independence.
She was born out of wedlock as Gladys Maud Longbridge on 8 March 1912 in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica to Frank Longbridge, a farmer, and Rebecca Blackwood, a housewife. In her memoir, The Memoirs of Lady Bustamante, she described her birth as a "welcome baby", writing "Being born out of wedlock was not a major issue in rural Jamaica then." She was raised by her grandparents in rural Jamaica following her mother's move to Cuba when she was 3 years old. Longbridge enrolled in Ashton Primary School.
Her aunt moved with the girl to Kingston, where they lived in the city's Jones Town neighborhood. Longbridge enrolled at the Tutorial Secondary and Commercial College, a private secondary school, where she studied to be a secretary.
Longbridge returned to her native Westmoreland in the 1930s, but was unable to find employment during the Great Depression. She moved back to Kingston in 1934.
Upon her return to Kingston, she began working as a cashier at a restaurant called Arlington House, which had become an important meeting place for members of the Jamaican colonial legislative assembly from rural areas of the island. While working there, she met Alexander Bustamante, a businessman and politician, whom she later married. He pronounced her name "Glad Ice" and called her "Miss G" at the time.
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