Lois Browne-Evans

Dame Lois Marie Browne-Evans, D.B.E., J.P., (1 June 1927 - 29 May 2007) led the Bermudian Progressive Labour Party [http://www.plp.bm (PLP] ) in opposition before being appointed Bermuda's first female Attorney-General. She first gained recognition in 1953 as the Bermuda's first female barrister. Browne-Evans died of undisclosed causes on May 29 2007, three days before her 80th birthday.

Background

Lois Browne-Evans was Bermuda’s first female barrister in 1953 after being called to the bar in June 1953; becoming the first black woman to be elected to Parliament becoming a Member of Parliament (M.P.) in 1968 gaining world-wide recognition as the first female Opposition Leader in the British Commonwealth until she stepped down in 1972. She was elected as leader once again in 1976; a position she held until 1985 when she once again stepped down.

She was appointed Minster of Legislative Affairs in 1998 and became Bermuda’s first elected Attorney General and first female Attorney-General in 1999. The longest serving PLP Member of Parliament (M.P.), and represented the Devonshire North Constituency, Bermuda from 1963 until 1985.

In 1972 she became Jamaica’s Honorary Consul in Bermuda, the first Bermudian to serve in that capacity. In 1999 she was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. She debated at the historic London and Bermuda Constitutional Conferences and served as delegate to numerous international conferences in Africa, New Zealand, the USA and the Caribbean.

She was a member of the "International Federation of Women Lawyers" and a founding member of the Bermuda Business and Professional Women's Club. She was the first female member of the Devonshire Recreation Club and a founding partner of Browne & Wade Chambers in Hamilton.

Bermudian Independence

Despite her knighthood, Lois Browne-Evans said after a keynote address by Premier Alex Scott at the party’s Founder’s Day Luncheon that Bermuda would achieve independence from the UK at some point.

External links

* [http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=24&SubSectionID=270&ArticleID=33879 Obituary from Bermuda Sun]
* [http://www.theroyalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Video/video.jsp?video=Lois_Brown_Evans_1.wmv The Premier's statement on the death of Lois Browne-Eveans]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1862391.ece Times Online - Obituaries]
* [http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt Government Web Page for Official Times of Dame Lois’ funeral]
* [http://bermuda.election.bm/1998/lm_Brown-Evans.htm Bermuda Election 1998]

Political Links

# [http://www.plp.bm/ Progressive Labour Party (PLP)]
# [http://www.politics.bm/archives/2004/03/01_000177.html] Politics.bm
# [http://www.bermuda-online.org/citizenship.htm] Bermuda Online
# http://www.limeyinbermuda.com/latest_news/2005/09/killing_the_kil.html
# http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43/091.html
# http://www.trustprofessionals.com/news/2004/2004-03-01.html

Footnotes