Norman Manley
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The Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley |
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| 1st Premier of Jamaica | |
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In office 1959 – 29 April 1962 |
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| Preceded by | himself as Chief Minister |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Bustamante as Prime Minister |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Sir Kenneth Blackburne |
| 2nd Chief Minister of Jamaica | |
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In office 2 February 1955 – 1959 (post abolished) |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Baron Caradon |
| Succeeded by | himself as Premier |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 July 1893 Roxborough, Manchester, Jamaica |
| Died | 2 September 1969 (aged 76) Kingston, Jamaica |
| Nationality | Jamaican/Mixed |
| Political party | People's National Party |
| Spouse(s) | Edna Manley |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Norman Washington Manley MM, QC, National Hero of Jamaica (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969), was a Jamaican statesman. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate of universal suffrage, which was granted by the British colonial government to the colony in 1944.
Together with Osmond Fairclough, the brothers Frank and Ken Hill, Hedley P. Jacobs and others in 1938 he founded the People's National Party which later was tied to the Trade Union Congress and even later the National Workers Union. He led the PNP in every election from 1944 to 1967. Their efforts resulted in the New Constitution of 1944, granting full adult suffrage.
Manley served as the colony's Chief Minister from 1955 to 1959, and as Premier from 1959 to 1962. He was a proponent of self-government but was persuaded to join nine other British colonies in the Caribbean territories in a Federation of the West Indies but called a referendum on the issue in 1961. Voters chose to have Jamaica withdraw from the union. He then opted to call a general election even though his five-year mandate was barely half way through.
Norman Washington Manley was born to mixed-race parents in Roxborough in Jamaica's Manchester Parish, his father, Thomas Albert Samuel Manley was a small businessman born in Porus, Manchester, Jamaica in 1852. His mother, Margaret Shearer, was the daughter of a mixed-race woman and her Irish husband, a pen-keeper. His grandparents were Samuel Manley, a trader who had migrated from Yorkshire, and Esther Anderson Stone.
Manley was a brilliant scholar, soldier and athlete, and studied law at Jesus College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He served in the Royal Field Artillery during World War I, and was awarded the Military Medal (M.M.).
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