Former Governors-General

Sir Edmund Wickham Lawrence GCMG OBE (born 14 February 1932) was sworn in as Governor General on 2 January 2013.

1951-1954       Primary school teacher

1966                Graduated from the University of London with a degree in Economics

1967-69           Lectured at Walbrook College, London

1969                Started working with the St. Kitts Industrial Bank, known as the Penny Bank.

1970                Under his direction the bank offered  500,000 shares to the public.  The government opted to buy 60% of the offer and the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank was launched.

1972                Established National Bank Trust Company 1973 established National Caribbean Insurance Company

1973                Founding member of the Standing Committee of Chief Executives of Indigenous Banks, now the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks

2001                Established St. Kitts-Nevis Mortgage and Investment Company served as a consultant for the establishment of the indigenous Banks in Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines and the National Bank of Anguilla and its subsidiaries provided independent consultancy services in banking and finance to the Caribbean Development Bank as well as to the Governments of Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis. served on the Boards of the SKNANB Group of Companies, Cable Bay Hotel Company Limited, Digicel (St. Kitts Nevis) Limited, ECIC Holdings Limited (Chairman) and the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Finance Company Limited (Chairman).

He was Vice President of the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Banking, President of the Bankers’ and Financial Services Association of St. Kitts and Nevis; Treasurer of the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park Society and Past Assistant District Governor, Rotary District 7030.

2009                Awarded the National Honour as Companion of the Star of Merit (CSM)

2010                Knight Commander of the most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG)

2013                appointed Knight Grand Cross of the most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG).

Sir Edmund is married to Lady Hulda and they have six children.

Born:               22 October 1921

Parents:           James Matthew and Inez Sebastian

 

Education:

Basseterre Boys Elementary School

1936-39           Pupil Teacher at Basseterre Boys Elementary School

1950-53           B.Sc at Mount Alison University, Canada

1953-58           Medicine at Dalhousie University.  Licensed by the Medical Boards of Canada and of Nova Scotia

1962-66           Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dundee Royal Infirmary, Scotland

 

Career:

1939                Learner dispenser at Cunningham Hospital

1943                Qualified and licensed as chemist and druggist

1944                Laboratory technician

1945                Senior Dispenser and Steward Cunningham Hospital

1958                Joined government medical service in St. Kitts as a general practitioner

1966                Medical Superintendent and Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Cunningham hospital in St. Kitts

1970                Chief Medical Officer

1980                In private practice

 

Military:

1939                Joined St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force

1943                Promoted to Medical Sergeant

1944                Joined HM Royal Air Force and trained as rear gunner during the Second World War

1958                Captain Surgeon of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force

1962-66           Voluntary attachment to the Scottish Army with the rank of Captain.

1966-80           Re-appointed Captain Surgeon of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force

 

Other:

Early 1960s serving brother of the St. John’s Ambulance  Association, later local Chairman

 

1970                Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

1973                Local physician to HRH Prince of Wales during his visit to St. Kitts

1977                ADC and Personal physician to Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla during his visit to Buckingham Palace

1984                Contested general election as a candidate for the St. Kitts Labour Party

1996                Governor General of St. Kitts-Nevis and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George

1998                Honorary degree from Dalhousie University

2002                Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) of Edinburgh in Scotland, for outstanding career and service to humanity in the field of medicine.

2005                Honorary Doctorate from Mount Allison University

Sir Clement Athelston Arrindell, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., Q.C., was born in Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis on 16th April, 1931.  He was the son of George Ernest Arrindell and Hilda Iona Arrindell, deceased (1975). He was educated at Bradley Private School, then at Basseterre Boys Elementary School, where he was head student in his final year, heading a slate of four scholarship winners from the Elementary School.  He entered the St. Kitts & Nevis Grammar School, where he consistently topped his classes.

He graduated in his final year as top Scholar, not only of this particular School, but also of all other graduates in the other Secondary Schools throughout the colony of St. Kitts & Nevis‐Anguilla as it then was, narrowly missing the Leeward Island Scholarship, won that year by Montserrat.

In 1950, he entered the Treasury Department of the Civil Service, and at the end of 1954 he left for studies in England.  In April 1956, he entered Lincoln’s Inn, London, and was called to the Bar in June 1958 after setting a record for completion of the Bar Finals. Following Postgraduate Studies, he returned to St Kitts & Nevis in December 1958.

His career spanned the following: Private Practice as a Barrister‐at‐Law and Solicitor (1959‐1966); Acting Magistrate (1964‐1966), Magistrate (1967‐1972), Senior Magistrate (1972‐June 1978) (serving both at home in St Kitts and in the Territory of the Virgin Islands); Puisne Judge of the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court (July 1978‐November 1981). He was appointed Governor, St. Kitts & Nevis November 1981, and Governor General at Independence, on 19th September 1983, thus making him the last Governor of the Colony of St. Kitts & Nevis and the first Governor General of the newly independent Nation. He was first knighted in 1982.  He married Evelyn Eugenia O’Loughlyn, a prominent music teacher and church organist of Basseterre, in 1967.

Sir Clement retired from active public life in 1996. His hobbies included gardening and piano playing … he had a passion for classical music.

 

Born:               19th April 1931

Parents:           George and Hilda Arrindell

Education:       Private School and Basseterre Boys School

1944-49           St. Kitts Grammar School

1956                Admitted to Lincoln’s Inn, London

1958                Barrister at Law, called to the Bar in England and in St. Kitts

 

Career:

1949-56           Civil servant

1958-64           Private legal practice

1964-66           Acting Magistrate

1966-78           Magistrate

1978-80           Acting Puisne Judge of the West Indies Associated State in Montserrat, with additional responsibilities for the British Virgin Island

1980-1981       Puisne Judge

1981                Governor of the State of St. Kitts and Nevis

1983                Received Knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II

1996                Retirement