Phillip Goldson
| Philip Goldson | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Belize House of Representatives for Albert | |
|
In office 1 March 1965 – 27 August 1998 |
|
| Preceded by | Frederick Westby |
| Succeeded by | Mark Espat |
| Member of the British Honduras Legislative Assembly for Belize South | |
|
In office 28 April 1954 – 20 March 1957 |
|
| Preceded by | (constituency created) |
| Succeeded by | Denbeigh Jeffrey |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 July 1923 Belize City, British Honduras (now Belize) |
| Died | 3 October 2001 (aged 78) New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality | Belizean |
| Political party |
National Alliance for Belizean Rights (1992–1998) United Democratic Party (1973–1992) National Independence Party (1958–1973) Honduran Independence Party (1956–1958) People's United Party (1950–1956) |
Philip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson (25 July 1923 – 3 October 2001) was a Belizean newspaper editor, activist and politician. He served in the House of Representatives of Belize as member for the Albert constituency from 1965 to 1998 and twice as a minister. Goldson was a founding member of both of Belize's current major political parties, the People's United Party (PUP) in the 1950s and the United Democratic Party (UDP) in the 1970s. He was also the leading spokesman of the hardline anti-Guatemalan territorial claims National Alliance for Belizean Rights party in the 1990s.
Goldson was born in Belize City to Peter Edward Goldson and Florence Babb and attended St. Mary's Primary School. Although he never had an opportunity to go to a secondary school he studied at night and succeeded in obtaining the Cambridge University Overseas Junior Certificate in 1939 and the Senior School Certificate in 1941. For much of the early 1940s he participated in the Open Forum movement featuring George Price and Leigh Richardson as well as older activists such as Clifford Betson and Antonio Soberanis. But his main job was as editor of the Belize Billboard, which he took up in 1941.
From 1941 to 1947, Goldson worked in the British Honduras Civil Service, at the same time started his journalism career doing editing work at the Civil Service Chronicle. With the advent of the nationalist movement, he wrote news items for the Belize Billboard. The plight of the workers in Belize led him into trade unionism. He became the national organizer of The General Workers Union in 1949, later becoming its general secretary.
In 1950, Belize's first major political party, the PUP, was formed under John Smith as leader. Goldson was named assistant secretary, working under Price. He continued to edit the Belize Billboard and kept it running as a daily newspaper until its offices were destroyed in the late 1960s.
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