Lois Browne-Evans

Dame Lois Marie Browne-Evans DBE JP (1 June 1927 – 29 May 2007) was a lawyer and political figure in Bermuda. She led the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) in opposition before being appointed Bermuda's first female Attorney-General. She first gained recognition in 1953 as Bermuda's first female barrister. Browne-Evans died of a suspected stroke on 29 May 2007, three days before her 80th birthday.

Browne-Evans was educated at King's College London and became Bermuda's first female barrister in 1953 after being called to the bar at Middle Temple in June 1953. She was the first black woman to be elected to the House of Assembly of Bermuda, defeating the long-serving incumbent Sir Bayard Dill, becoming the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Devonshire North constituency in 1963. Five years later she became the leader of the PLP, gaining worldwide recognition as the first female Leader of the Opposition in the British Commonwealth. In 1972 she stepped down as leader but took on the role of Jamaica’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 from Queen Elizabeth II, forcing the PLP to abandon its boycott.

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