Almost 43 years after he led the 1967 Anguilla Revolution, which culminated in the island’s formal separation from St. Kitts-Nevis in 1980, James Ronald Webster was honoured with a public holiday filled with a spectacular series of social and cultural events on his 84th birthday on Tuesday this week. The morning and afternoon celebration, in recognition of his revolutionary and fearless leadership of Anguilla, will be an annual event. Mr. Webster, who was not in attendance, was reported by Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, to have been at an “undisclosed location.” Reports stated however that he had left the island for his customary visit to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

Birthday dance for Mr. Webster

The full public holiday for Mr. Webster, was a campaign pledge made by the Anguilla United Movement which was elected to office on February 15 as the new Government. The previous Anguilla United Front Government had undertaken to provide a schools’ holiday only on Mr. Webster’s birthday, but the AUM leadership, with the promptings of two nationals, Yanchie Richardson and Percy Thomas, opted for a full and celebrated holiday for everyone, apart from the normal Anguilla Day observance. In that regard, Mr. Edison Baird, in his previous role as an Opposition Member, moved a motion in the House of Assembly, but it failed to get the support of the then Government.

Now in office, the new AUM Government wasted no time in having the Ronald Webster holiday approved in the Executive Council last week, in time for his birthday celebration this week Tuesday, March 2. The programme started in the morning with a parade at the Webster Park led by the Pathfinders’ drum band, followed by schoolchildren and adults including women dressed in the national colours. This was followed by a number of addresses, musical renditions and other tributes which continued in the afternoon after an island-wide motorcade.

A section of the parade at the Ronald Webster Park

At the commencement of the programme, chaired by retired teacher, Janice Hodge,Yanchie Richardson spoke about his involvement, and that of Percy Thomas, in efforts to honour Mr. Webster, including letters they wrote to the previous Government, but without getting the requested support. Mr. Richardson read a letter from Mr. Webster in which he expressed thanks to the AUM Government for “giving him his day.” The revolutionary leader wrote: “I express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Hon. Chief Minister, Mr. Hubert Hughes, and the Hon. Ministers of the House of Assembly, Mr. Yanchie Richardson, the organisers and supporters, for their kindness, thoughtfulness and desire to have me awarded a public holiday on March 2 of each year, beginning March 2, 2010. I am indeed grateful for the opportunity and saying again thank you. I shall, in the name of the Almighty God, keep you in my heart. You are true friends. I regret not being present to help you celebrate this special occasion. Love always.”

Chief Minister Hughes said he was happy that his Government had undertaken to follow “the real way” whereby Mr. Webster should be honoured. “Nobody can deny that it was the tenacity, fortitude, courage and conviction of one man from Island Harbour, James Ronald Webster, who made a difference in the history of Anguilla,” he stressed. “Like Moses, he suffered much challenge from those he led, causing him not to reach the Promised Land, but he took us out of Egypt, on our way to the Promised Land. It will now take an Aaron to lead us into the Promised Land and, with your help, that Aaron is the Anguilla United Movement…. It took the leadership of the Anguilla United Movement to do justice to the revolution and to grant our national hero his day. Today, we do not only have the school children celebrating. We have all Anguilla. It is a real proud moment in the history of this island.”

Mr. Hughes made special mention of a number of persons who helped to promote the Ronald Webster holiday. They included Yanchie Richardson, Ministers Edison Baird, Walcott Richardson and Evan Gumbs; Sam Webster, Barbara Webster-Bourne, Percy Thomas, Don Duncan and Daisy Richardson.

Another section of the parade at the Ronald Webster Park

Mr. Hughes recalled having introduced a motion in the House of Assembly, in February 1977, expressing a lack of confidence in Mr. Webster which led to his fall from office as the island’s then first Chief Minister. He claimed that it was not his motion, but was influenced by other people who wanted Webster out of office. Mr. Hughes said that eventually his Anguilla United Movement later accepted Mr. Webster into its leadership and won six of the seven seats, thus forming a new Government which lasted for sometime.

Chief Minister Hughes added: “On this momentous occasion, we are making sure that Anguilla has the record and history of having its national hero. Nelson Mandela is the national hero of the Union of South Africa; Dr. Martin Luther King has been given his day for the role he played in winning the [voting rights] for black people in the United States of America; Abraham Lincoln has been made a national hero in America for what he did for America and the world; Winston Churchill is considered to be a national hero of Great Britain in that he was personally responsible for mobilizing the western allies to defeat the tyrant, Hitler. Ladies and gentlemen, Ronald Webster …decided that Anguilla must go on its own and today we can say we have completed the process [of honouring him].”

Government Officials and others

Minister of Social Development, Mr. Edison Baird, recalled when he moved the motion in the House of Assembly for the national holiday for Mr. Webster but did not receive the support of the then Government. He described the revolutionary leader as being “a decent and ordinary man and a man that we should emulate.” The Minister continued: “In honouring Mr. Webster, we are in no way saying that he alone fought the revolution…but what we are saying is that Mr. Webster played the leading role, and that the time has come to honour him while he is alive and to give him his flowers. We cannot deny that others played a leading role in the revolution. The late Hon. Atlin Harrigan played a leading role. He was honoured by the British Government. They [the Queen] gave him an OBE but Mr. Webster got nothing. We in Anguilla honoured the Hon. Atlin Harrigan by naming the most important building, the Anguilla House of Assembly, after him. The time has now come for us to do justice to the Hon. James Ronald Webster and in giving him this full and complete day, justice has been done. ..” Mr. Baird quoted Anguillian historian, Mr. Colville Petty, as having written: “Without Mr. Webster, there would be no revolution. The revolution would have collapsed.”

Mr. Baird promised that next year, with more time for planning, a better programme of activities would be organised for Mr. Webster’s birthday and the public holiday accorded to him.

Elected Member for District 2, Jerome Roberts, hailed the public holiday as an effort to uphold the island’s history and to honour Mr. Webster, “the Father of the Nation.” He thanked the AUM Government and expressed gratitude to Mr. Webster on behalf of his constituents for his leadership role during the revolution.

The Elected Member for District 1, Othlyn Vanterpool, spoke on behalf of his mother, Mrs. Helena Vanterpool, one of the heroines who stood with Mr. Webster in the early days of the revolution. Other women who spoke were Daisy Richardson, who also recited poems, and Mildred Vanterpool whose daughter, Chan, joined her in recounting events of the revolution and paid tribute to Mr. Webster.

Four of Mr. Webster's children

Four of Mr. Webster’s children stepped forward and one of them, Frankie, expressed thanks and appreciation to the Government for honouring their father. “On behalf of the children and other family members of Mr. James Ronald Webster, the first Chief Minister of Anguilla, better known as ‘the Father of the Nation’, we extend our gratitude for this honour bestowed on him, declaring his birthday a national holiday,” Frankie stated. He added: “Our father was chosen by God to deliver the people of Anguilla from a greedy [St.Kitts] Government that did not care about us. A man of compassion, courage, determination and devotion, he risked it all on that sacrificial altar. We all lived in fear and suffered during the revolution, but glory to God we overcame. We are proud of our father…He was God’s instrument…We are grateful to all those who played a role in that revolution for without you, he would not have succeeded.”

The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Alkins Rogers, who invited everyone to return to the Ronald Webster Park in the afternoon. The other activities then included the island-wide motorcade referred to above, which started and ended there; a number of sporting and cultural activities (including music and dancing) and various speeches by Government officials and other persons in the community, crossing all political and social lines on the island.

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