The Most Honorable Hugh Lawson Shearer, ON, OJ: April 11, 1967, to March 2, 1972
Hugh Lawson Shearer, born in Martha Brae, Trelawny, on May 18, 1923, was said to be a distant cousin of Sir Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley, who were also cousins.
Before entering representational politics in 1949, when he lost his bid for the West Kingston seat on behalf of the JLP, he was very active as a trade unionist. He worked with the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), where he was also editor of the union’s newspaper, “The Jamaica Worker.” In 1953 he was appointed island supervisor of the BITU, and in 1955 was elected as a member of parliament, although the JLP lost the general elections. He lost his seat in the 1959 elections, but in 1960 was elected vice-president of the BITU, second to Sir Alexander Bustamante.
In the 1967 general elections, he won the South Clarendon seat formerly held by Sir Alexander. He was appointed minister of external affairs by Prime Minister Sir Donald Sangster, not knowing fate destined him to become prime minister within a few weeks.
Some historians refer to Shearer as Jamaica’s “reluctant prime minister,” as when the JLP met to elect a successor to Sangster, it was generally considered the position would go to Clement Tavarez, then minister of housing. But, in what was a surprise to some, Shearer won the appointment, defeating Tavarez by one vote. It was speculated, though not confirmed, that the winning vote was made by Bustamante, who was in support of Shearer’s ascendancy. Shearer was sworn in as prime minister on April 11, 1967.
He was appointed as a member of the Privy Council of England by Queen Elizabeth in 1969.
Under Shearer’s administration, the Jamaican currency was decimalized from the former British sterling (pound, shilling, and pence) currency system to the implementation of the Jamaican dollar.
Shearer’s tenure as prime minister was regarded as Jamaica’s most prosperous since independence, with strong growth in the agriculture, mining, and tourism sectors. He also presided over the development of the nation’s educational system in collaboration with the then minister of education, Edwin Allen. The Shearer government designed the New Deal Education Program to provide a sound education for every child in Jamaica.
His tenure was not without controversy. In the late 1960s, the Black Power Movement spread from the USA to Jamaica. One of the strongest proponents was Walter Rodney, a Guyanese lecturer at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica.
Rodney, a historian, was also a liberal political activist and supporter of the Black Power Movement, whose influence grew on students at UWI. On 15 October 1968, the Shearer-led government declared Rodney persona non grata. The decision to ban him from ever returning to Jamaica and his subsequent dismissal by the University of the West Indies caused strong protests, including marches, by students. The protests were fueled when Shearer, who later admitted to misreading the purpose of the movement in Jamaica, banned books relating to Black Power. The protests escalated into a riot known as the Rodney Riots, which began on October 16, 1968, resulting in six deaths and causing millions of dollars in damage.
It is believed that the Rodney issue caused massive dissatisfaction among the Jamaican youth towards the Shearer administration. In addition, his cousin Michael Manley had entered the political fray as the leader of the opposing PNP and toured the island’s length and breadth, criticizing the government for not appropriately distributing the nation’s wealth.
Despite Jamaica’s prosperity, the JLP lost the general elections in 1972 to the PNP, and Shearer became leader of the opposition. He returned as a member of the nation’s government in 1980, when the JLP won the general elections, but having been replaced by Edward Seaga as the leader of the JLP, he served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. In 1989, the JLP again lost the general elections, but Shearer served as MP for Southern Clarendon. He lost that seat in the 1993 general elections, after which he retired from active public life. He died in 2004, at the age of 81. Hugh Lawson Shearer was survived by his wife, Dr. Denise Eldemire Shearer, sons, and daughters.
