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University Hospitals | For Governors | Election for governors cuh.org.uk | The Bermuda Triangle and the Mysterious Square - a geometrical puzzle scientificpsychic.com |
 The Governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of Bermuda. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the Governor is to act as the de facto head of state, and he or she is responsible for appointing the Premier and the 11 members of the Senate (the upper house of Bermuda's Parliament). The current Governor is Sir Richard Gozney; he was sworn-in on December 12, 2007[1] . The Governor has his own flag in Bermuda, the Union Flag defaced with the territory's coat of arms.
[edit] HistoryBermuda's settlement began in 1609, with the wrecking of the flag ship of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture. Although most of the passengers and crew ultimately completed their voyage to Virginia, the archipelago was permanently settled from that point, and left in the hands of the Virginia Company. The first intentional settlers arrived in 1612, under the colony's first Governor, Richard Moore. A carpenter by trade, Moore ensured the long-term survival of the colony by concentrating on building fortifications, including the first stone forts in the English New World, and developing St. George's Town. Bermuda was the second permanent English colony established (as an extension of the first, Jamestown, Virginia). Bermuda was administered by the Virginia Company, and its successor, the Somers Isles Company, 'til 1684. The companies appointed the colony's governors 'til the Crown took over administration. The Crown maintained the system of government established under the company; an elected parliament and a privy council under a governor. The Privy Council was also known as the Governor's Council. The last company-appointed Governor was reappointed by the Crown. In 1707 the British State was created by the union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland, and Bermuda thereby became a British colony. Since the 1783 independence of Virginia, it has been the Britain's oldest colony. Following US independence, Bermuda became an important Royal Navy base, with a large military garrison to guard it. [2] As such, the policy of the government 'til the closure of the Royal Naval dockyard in 1953 had been to appoint retiring Generals or Admirals as Bermuda's Governor and Commander-in-Chief. On the rare occasions when a civilian was appointed to the role, it was only as Governor - the role of Commander-in-Chief being filled by a serving General or Admiral in Bermuda or Newfoundland. Since the 1950s, those appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief have tended to be prominent career-politicians at the ends of their political lives. Prior to the creation of the Parliament of Bermuda, the House of Assembly, in 1620, the Governors ruled supreme, and were often draconian. Governor Daniel Tucker, formerly of Virginia, who arrived in 1616, was notorious for his harshness, having many islanders hanged, maimed, or whipped on the slightest provocation. One Bermudian, John Wood, was hanged for airing his views on the Governor in church. Governor Tucker's personal boat was reportedly stolen by five islanders, one named Sauders, who left a note saying they were on their way to England, or Davy Jones' Locker, either place being preferable to Bermuda under Tucker's rule. On reaching England, they complained about the harshness of Tucker's rule, though their complaints fell on deaf ears. Governor Tucker also, reportedly, used his oversight of the surveying of Bermuda to enrich himself and future generations of Bermudian Tuckers with prime real estate. For the remainder of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, the real political power in Bermuda lay in the elected parliament and the appointed Council, both dominated by members of Bermuda's wealthy commercial class. Governor's who were too high-handed or injudicious in the exercise of their office occassionally fell foul of the local political institutions. Governor Isaac Richier, who arrived in 1691, quickly made himself unpopular with his carousing and criminal behaviour. Bermudian complaints saw him placed in jail, and replaced by Governor Goddard. When Goddard proved worse than Richier, attorney general Samuel Trott had him jailed alongside richier. The two governors were to be tried before a pair of prominent Bermudians, John Trimmingham and William Butterfield. After Trott called the amateur judges bush lawyers, however, he found himself in St. George's jail along side the governors. After they confided in him their plan for escape, Trott informed the judges. Richier and Goddard were sent back to England for trial. [3]
With the build up of the naval and military bases on the island following American independence, the position of the Governor was enhanced. Despite this, the Governors - appointed by the Crown - remained largely dependant on the Bermudian parliament to pass laws and to provide funds. This fact often found Governors pleading in vain for the required acts of parliament or money to carry out policies determined at Government House, or in London. This was particularly noticeable in the Bermudian Parliament's neglect to maintain militia, which (other than during the course of the American War of 1812), it allowed to become moribund after the build-up of the naval and military base began in 1795. Attempts to raise militias directly under the control of the Governor, without acts of the local parliament, ultimately failed because the parliament did not provide funds. In the 1860s, it became the policy of the British Government to reduce the costly professional military garrison in Bermuda. As it was not wished to leave the colony, seen more as a naval base, unguarded, this could only be done if the professional soldiers were replaced with part-time Volunteer units. Successive governors were set the task of convincing the Bermudian parliament to raise the required units, but, concerned of being saddled with the cost of maintaining the entire garrison, as well as with the possibility for social disruption that could be caused by raising either racially-segregated or integrated units, the Bermudian Parliamentarians simply refused. This state of affairs continued until the Secretary of State for War found a lever to blackmail the Bermuda Parliament with in 1892, when it finally passed acts for the creation of volunteer forces (although the units would be entirely funded by the British Government). [4]
[edit] List of Governors of Bermuda
[edit] SourcesBermuda and Great Britain; Bermuda Online Portal
[edit] External links |
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