THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

The House of Assembly comprises 30 members elected by adult suffrage on the first past-the-post system. The Presiding Officer of the House of Assembly is the Speaker. Visitors to the public gallery are called Strangers. The House of Assembly usually meets on a Tuesday, but if there is urgent business a meeting can be called on any other day. Senate usually sits on Wednesday.

Highlights of the House of Assembly

The Speaker's chair, a gift from the Government of India to the People of Barbados on attainment of our Independence on November 30, 1966.

The stained-glass-windows, which were manufactured in the 1870s by Clayton and Bell of the UK, feature the British Monarchs from 1603 to 1636 including Oliver Cromwell who was Lord Protector 1653-1958.

The life of a Parliament is for five years from it's first sitting after a general election.

The Hallway

The main entrance to the House of Assembly has a Bust of Sir William Conrad Reeves the first black person to be knighted. His many achievements included many years of outstanding service in the practice of the law, as a law officer, as a member of the House of Assembly and 16 years as Chief Justice of Barbados. His career was a long record of faithful service to all classes of this country.

At the entrance to the Chamber is a list of all Members of the House of Assembly since adult suffrage in 1951.

Speakers of the House of Assembly

  
 

Col. Thomas Modyford

............1652; 1654; 1661-1654

Capt. George Martin

............1665

Lt. Col. Simon Lambert

............1660; 1669-1673

Col. John Burch

............1661

Samuel Farmer

............1665;1667

John Jennings

............1667

Henry Walrond

............1669-1671

Henry Skeete

............1672-1673

Col. Christopher Codrington

............1674;1678;1681;1682

Col. William Sharpe

............1676-1678; 1682-1683

Col. Richard

............1679-1681

Ricahrd Seawell

............1684-1685

John Reid

............1685-1687; 1689

John Farmer

............1687

Judge Foster

............1688-1689

J. Bromley

............1690-1691

John Sutton

............1690-1691

Wm. Foster

............1690

Robert Harper

............1690

John Mills

............1691-1692

Willoughby Chamberlaine

............1692-1693

Col. Waterman

............1693-1694

Abel Alleyne

............1694

Col. John Colleton

............1694-1695

Col. Robert Bishop

............1695-1696

Lt. Col. Thomas Maxwell

............1697-1700; 1702; 1703

James Colleton

............1700-1701

Lt. Col. Richard Downes

............1701-1702; 1708-1712

William Holder

............1703-1706

Wm. Wheeler

............1706-1707

Reynold Alleyne

............1712; 1714-1715

William Carter

............1712; 1714; 1715-1717

Edmund Sutton

............1717-1720

George Forester

............1722-1723

Henry Peers

............1727-1731; 1736-1740

John Lyte

............1740-1742; 1760-1767

Sir William Gibbons, Bart

............1742-1760

John Gay Alleyne, Bart

............1767-1770; 1772-1779

Samson Wood

............1770-1772; 1780-1787

Joshua Gittens

............1797-1804

John Beckles

............1804-1819

Thomas Griffith

............1819-1821

Cheeseman Moe

............1823-1825

Robert Haynes

............1825-1829

Col. Nathaniel Forte

............1829-1835

Samuel Hinds

............1836-1839

Sr. R.B. Clarke

............1839-1840

George Taylor

............1841-1846

Francis Gooding, M.B.

............1846-1847

Sir John Thomas

............1847-1860

Chas Packer

............1861-1867

Thomas Gill

............1867-1870

Edmund Lee Haynes

............1870

Agustus Briggs

............1871-1875

John Glasgow Grant

............1875-1879

George C. Pil

............1879-1880

Henry Pilgrim

............1880

John Kellman

............1881-1883

A.J. Pile, C.M.G.

............1883-1885; 1887-1889; 1891-1893; 1894-1898

Timothy Yearwood

............1886-1887

W.H. Greaves

............1889-1890

E.B. Colvin

............1891-1893

Sir F.J. Clarke, K.C.M.G., V.D.

............1898-1934

G.D.L. Pile, O.B.E.

............1934; 1937; 1942-1944

Sir. H.B.G. Austin, O.B.E.

............1934-1937; 1938-1942

G.B. Evelyn

............1944-1948

Sir K.N.R. Husbands

............1948-1956

Dr. H.G.H. Cummins, C.B.E.

............1956-1958

Sir J.E.Theodore Brancker, Q.C.

............1961-1966

N.G.A. Maxwell, Esq., LL.B.

............1971-1976

C.A.E. Hoppin, Esq., J.P.

............1976

W.C.B. Hinds, Esq.

............1976-1984

C. Lindsay Bolden, Esq., LL.B.

............1984-1986

Lawson A. Weekes, G.C.M., J.P., M.P.

............1986-1994

His Hon. Ishmael A. Roett, G.C.M., M.P.

............1994-present