Hugh Shearer
![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2018) |
Sir Donald Sangster | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | Michael Manley |
Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party | |
In office 1967 – November 1974 | |
Preceded by | Donald Sangster |
Succeeded by | Edward Seaga |
Deputy Prime Minister of Jamaica | |
In office November 1980 – February 1989 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Seaga |
Preceded by | P. J. Patterson |
Succeeded by | P. J. Patterson |
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade | |
In office 1980–1989 | |
Prime Minister | Edward Seaga |
Preceded by | P. J. Patterson |
Succeeded by | David Coore |
Personal details | |
Born | Martha Brae, British Jamaica | 18 May 1923
Died | 15 July 2004 Kingston, Jamaica | (aged 81)
Political party | Jamaica Labour Party |
Spouses |
|
Children | 5 |
Education | Howard University School of Law |
Hugh Lawson Shearer
Early life and education
Shearer was born in Martha Brae, Trelawney, Jamaica, which is located just south of the parish capital of Falmouth. His father was James Shearer, a former soldier, and Esther Lindo, a dressmaker.[1]
Shearer attended St Simon's College after winning a parish scholarship to the school and later received an honorary LLD from Howard University School of Law.[2]
Trade union career
In 1941, he took a job on the staff of a weekly
He was appointed Island Supervisor of Bustamante's trade union, BITU, and shortly afterwards elected vice-president of the union.
Political career
Shearer was elected to the
Shearer was a member of the Senate from 1962 to 1967, at the same time filling the role of Jamaica's chief spokesman on foreign affairs as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United Nations. In 1967 he was elected as member for Southern Clarendon and, after the death of Sir Donald Sangster, appointed Prime Minister on 11 April 1967.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/1969JamaicaPMHughShearer2.jpg/250px-1969JamaicaPMHughShearer2.jpg)
Thanks to his work with the Jamaican Worker earlier in his life, Shearer managed to stay on generally good terms with the Jamaican
Shearer was generally uncomfortable with notions of pan-Africanism or militant black nationalism. He was also insecure about the stability of newly independent Jamaica in the late 1960s.
His term as prime minister was a prosperous one for Jamaica, with three new
. These six buildings formed the basis of Jamaica's mining and tourism industries, the two biggest earners for the country.Shearer's term was also marked by a great upswing in secondary school enrolment after an intense education campaign on his part. Fifty new schools were constructed.
It was by pressure from Shearer that the
In the 1972 Jamaican general election, the JLP was defeated by 37 seats to 16 seats, and the People's National Party leader, Michael Manley, became prime minister.[3]
In 1974, Shearer was replaced as leader of the JLP by Edward Seaga. Between 1980 and 1989, during the prime ministership of Seaga, Shearer was deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.[4]
Personal life
Hugh Shearer, while working as a journalist, married his first wife Lunette, an accounting clerk, on 7 October 1947. They purchased a property at Chisholm Avenue where they lived, until Mr. Shearer left the matrimonial home.[5]
Shearer was separated from his first wife, with whom he had three children, by the time he became prime minister in 1967.[6]
Hugh Shearer married his second wife, Dr. Denise Eldemire, on 28 August 1998.[7] She is the daughter of the late Dr. Herbert Eldemire, who served as Jamaica's first Health Minister from 1962 to 1972.[8] The couple were married for nearly 6 years, until his death in July 2004
Death and legacy
He died at his home in Kingston on 15 July 2004, at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife, sons Corey Alexander, Howard, Lance and Donald, and daughters Hope, Hilary, Heather, Mischka Garel, and Ana Margaret Sanchez.[citation needed]
On 14 May 2009, the
The $5000 bill with Hugh Shearer's portrait was put in circulation on 24 September 2009.[citation needed] In Jamaican slang, a $5000 banknote is referred to as a Shearer.
References
- ^ Neita, Hartley (2005). Hugh Shearer: A Voice for the People. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers. p. 11.
- ^ "Hugh Shearer, 81; Led Jamaica in Early Years of Independence". Los Angeles Times. 11 July 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- ^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p. 430.
- ^ "The Most Honourable Hugh Shearer". Jamaica Land We Love.
- ^ http://supremecourt.gov.jm/sites/default/files/judgments/Shearer%20,Lunette%20v%20Hugh%20Lawson%20Shearer.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Bell Thompson, Era (October 1967). "Black Leaders of the West Indies (page 77)". Ebony.
- ^ McLymont, Indi (22 July 2002). "Denise Eldemire-Shearer advocate for the elderly". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ^ "Former health minister Herbert Eldemire is dead". Jamaica Observer. 21 May 2010. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ^ "Jamaica introduces $5,000 note, worth US$55", Antillean, 15 May 2009. Archived 24 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Jamaica $5000 note". Trinituner.com. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- ^ "Jamaica-New $5000 bill", SeWhaa!, 18 May 2009. Archived 2 February 2013 at archive.today
Sources
- Neita, Hartley, 2005. Hugh Shearer; A Voice for the People. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, The Institute of Jamaica.
- Senior, Olive, 2003. Encyclopaedia of Jamaican Heritage.
- Image "shearer", 27 August 2013: http://www.jis.gov.jm/special%5Fsections/Shearer/