Tom Adams (politician)

The Right Honourable
Tom Adams
QC
2nd Prime Minister of Barbados
In office
September 8, 1976 – March 11, 1985
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor General Deighton Lisle Ward
Hugh Springer
Deputy Bernard St. John
Preceded by Errol Barrow
Succeeded by Bernard St. John
Personal details
Born September 24, 1931(1931-09-24)
Barbados
Died March 11, 1985(1985-03-11) (aged 53)
Barbados
Political party Barbados Labour Party
Residence Ilaro Court 1984 - 1985
Occupation Lawyer

Jon Michael Geoffrey Manningham "Tom" Adams (September 24, 1931 – March 11, 1985) was a Barbadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Barbados from 1976 until 1985.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

He was the only son of Grantley Adams (a lawyer and the only Premier of the West Indies Federation) and Grace Adams, née Thorne. He was also friends with Barbados Slim.

Adams was educated at Harrison College, from which he won a Barbados Scholarship to Magdalen College of the University of Oxford.

Prime Minister

He served as the second Prime Minister of Barbados between 1976 and 1985. His party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), had capitalized on the population's desire for a change from Errol Barrow's Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which had governed the island since independence in 1966.

Adams moved the country in the direction of Margaret Thatcher's Britain and Ronald Reagan's United States, reflecting the conservatism of the early 1980s. This alliance found its greatest expression when Tom Adams was the leading proponent in the grouping of Eastern Caribbean states which asked Reagan to intervene in overthrowing the Cuban-backed communist regime of Bernard Coard who had toppled Maurice Bishop, who was later murdered, in Grenada. Barbados was used as a staging point for some of the U.S. forces, and a nominal contingent of the Barbados Defence Force accompanied in the invasion force's wake, not least to allow (as Barrow claimed) Reagan to gild the statistics. The Bajan population was of two minds about Adams' move, generally conceding that Bishop's murder had moved Grenada too far, but being uneasy with Reagan's US heavy-handedness. Nevertheless, Adams' BLP was tipped to win the upcoming elections at the time.

Adams died of a heart attack at Ilaro Court, the Prime Minister's official residence, on March 11, 1985. He was the first sitting Prime Minister of Barbados to die in office.[1]

Adams' deputy Prime Minister, Bernard St. John, succeeded him but the Barbadian turned back to the other political party, Errol Barrow, and his DLP in the subsequent election in 1986. Ironically, Barrow too would die in office in 1987 shortly after his election victory.[1]

The ten-story building in Bridgetown which houses the Central Bank of Barbados is today known as the Tom Adams Financial Centre in his honour. He is also one of the namesakes of the island's ABC Highway.

He was buried in Bridgetown, Barbados at the churchyard of the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels on Saint Michael's Row.

References

Further reading

See also

Preceded by
Errol Barrow
Prime Minister of Barbados
1976 – 1985
Succeeded by
Harold Bernard St. John