The Right Honourable Sir Lynden Pindling KCMG JP |
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1st Prime Minister of the Bahamas | |
In office 10 July 1973 – 21 August 1992 |
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Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor General |
Milo Butler Gerald Cash Henry Taylor Clifford Darling |
Preceded by | Position Established |
Succeeded by | Hubert Ingraham |
Personal details | |
Born | 22 March 1930 Nassau, Bahamas |
Died | 26 August 2000 (aged 70) Nassau, Bahamas |
Political party | Progressive Liberal |
Spouse(s) | Marguerite McKenzie |
Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling KCMG PC JP (22 March 1930 – 26 August 2000), is regarded as the "Father of the Nation" of the Bahamas, having led it to majority rule on 10 January 1967 and to independence on 10 July 1973. He served as the first black premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands from 1967 to 1969 and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 1969 to 1992. He was leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) from 1956 to 1997 when he resigned from public life under scandal.
Pindling won an unbroken string of general elections until 1992, when the PLP lost to the Free National Movement (FNM) led by Hubert Alexander Ingraham. He conceded defeat with the words: "the people of this great little democracy have spoken in a most dignified and eloquent manner (and) the voice of the people, is the voice of God".
Pindling was a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1983.
Pindling was born on 22 March 1930 to Arnold and Viola Pindling in his grandfather's home in Mason's Addition, Nassau, Bahamas. Pindling's father was a native of Jamaica who had earlier immigrated to The Bahamas to join the Royal Bahamas Police Force as a constable. He studied at King's College London.