National

Today in History: April 10

THE BAHAMAS – Shirley Butler, a general election first, and Parliament dissolved.See what events took place on this day in history.

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8 months ago

April 10, 2024

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THE BAHAMAS – On this day in Bahamian history –

On April 10th 1929, Shirley Butler, née Oakes, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Born to Harry Oakes and Eunice Oakes, she was their second child and moved to The Bahamas with her family in 1935.

Her father purchased the new Colonial Hotel and renamed it the British Colonial Hotel. Shirley would become a vice-president and director of the British Colonial Hotel Company Limited. She would later become a director at Butler’s bank. She was also the manager of Jacaranda House on East Hill Street & Parliament Street which was purchases by the Oakes Estate.

She was married to Allan Churchill Butler. It was her inheritance that allowed Butler to start Butler’s bank. This bank would later be bought by Robert Vesco and used in many of his financial schemes.

In April 1981, Shirley Oakes-Butler was involved in a car accident that left her in a coma. She died in 1986.

In 1968, the government of The Bahamas held a general election.

Thirty-eight seats were contested and the final result was the Progressive Liberal Party winning 29 seats, the United Bahamian Party winning 7 seats, the Labour Party winning 1 seat and 1 seat being won by an independent candidate.

The landslide victory was the first election in which the PLP won a majority of seats in an election. Lynden Pindling would continue as premier of the Bahama Islands.

The crushing defeat for the UBP would lead to its merging with the Free Progressive Liberal Party – a breakaway group of the PLP – in 1971 to form a new party, the Free National Movement.

Then in 2012, Parliament was dissolved paving the way for the May 7, 2012, general election.

They were the first general election in which a third party, the Democratic National Alliance, offered a full slate of candidates alongside the two major parties. The Free National Movement and the Progressive Liberal Party.

The result was a victory for the opposition PLP, whose leader Perry Christie became prime minister.