Audrey Jeffers

Audrey Layne Jeffers CM, OBE (February 12, 1898 in Port of Spain – June 24, 1968) was a Trinidadian social worker and the first female member of the Legislative Council of Trinidad and Tobago. Although born to an upper middle class family, Jeffers was moved from an early age by the sufferings of the poor and dispossessed.

Jeffers established the Coterie of Social Workers which provided free lunches to poor school children. The first "Breakfast Shed" was established in Port of Spain in 1926. Others were established in Barataria, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, Siparia and Tobago. They went on to establish homes for the elderly, the blind, "women in distress" and day nurseries. The first day nursery, established in John John, Port of Spain, was named the Cipriani House after Arthur Andrew Cipriani, an important labour leader.

In 1936 Jeffers was the first woman elected to the Port of Spain City Council. In 1946 she was appointed to the Legislative Council by Governor Sir Bede Clifford.

The Audrey Jeffers Highway is named after her.

References

*cite book | author=Anthony, Michael | title=Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago | publisher=Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Md., and London | year=2001 |id=ISBN 0-8108-3173-2
* [http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Biography%5CAudreyJeffers.html Audrey Jeffers] , "Trinidad Guardian", August 1, 1998.