Milo B. Butler

Sir Milo Boughton Butler GCMG GCVO (born August 11, 1906 in Nassau , † January 22, 1979 ) was a politician of the Bahamas , who was second Governor General of the Bahamas from 1973 until his death .

Life

Butler completed his education at the George Washington School in Florida , at the Public School in Rum Cay and most recently at the Boys' Central School in Nassau. He then worked as a businessman in New Providence and most recently President of the family company Milo B. Butler and Sons Limited . On October 14, 1928, he married Caroline Loretta Watson, who came from Long Island , and had seven sons and three daughters with her.

He began his political career in 1936 when he ran for the first time in the New Providence-Western District constituency for a seat as a member of the House of Assembly , but was defeated by Harry Oakes . In the following year, however, he was elected member of the House of Assembly in a by-election in this constituency and belonged to this until 1947.

In 1956 he was elected again to the House of Assembly and again represented the New Providence-Western District constituency until 1966 . He became known in particular for throwing the hourglass of the parliament speaker out of a window of the parliament building during a speech in 1956 to protest against the government's restriction of speaking time to twelve minutes.

Most recently he was a member of the House of Assembly from 1967 to 1973 and was now a representative of the constituency of Bain Town . When the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won in 1967 and had an absolute majority in the Assembly House, Butler became a member of Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling's new cabinet . First he became Minister for Health and Welfare in 1967 and then Minister for Labor, Agriculture and Fisheries in 1968, before he retained the Ministerial Office for Agriculture and Fisheries in 1970 after a further reshuffle of the cabinet. He was last appointed Minister without Portfolio in 1972.

In June 1972, Butler was honored with the title of National Hero by a special resolution by the House of Assembly .

After the sovereignty of the Bahamas, he became the second Governor General of the Bahamas on August 1, 1973, succeeding John Warburton Paul . Thereupon he was ennobled as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG) and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". During a state visit in February 1975, Queen Elizabeth II also proposed him to the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order .

In addition to his political career, Butler was involved in the Anglican community of the Church in the Province of the West Indies and served on the parish council of St. Matthew's Anglican Church from 1952 to 1979 and as a member of the Synod of the Anglican Community from 1974 to 1979 .

After his death after a long and serious illness, he was succeeded on January 22, 1979 by Gerald Christopher Cash as Governor General. Butler was eventually heard by his depiction on the $ 20 Bahamian dollar banknote .

Web links

• Biography on the Bahamas National Archives homepage (accessed August 5, 2012)