Ebenezer Joshua


Ebenezer Theodore Joshua (23 May 1908 – 14 March 1991) was a Vincentian politician and the first chief minister of Saint Vincent from 1956 to 1967.


Ebenezer Joshua
Politician
MonarchElizabeth II
Former leader of the People's Political Party (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
Personal details
Born(1908-05-23)23 May 1908
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Died14 March 1991(1991-03-14) (aged 82)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Early life and career

Joshua was born in Kingstown, Saint Vincent, British Windward Islands. As a young man in the 1920s, he went to work on the nearby island of Trinidad. There he became involved in trade unionism with Buzz Butler, and was an official of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union from 1938 until 1950, when he tried unsuccessfully to be elected to the Trinidad legislature.[1] Returning to Saint Vincent, Joshua entered politics in Saint Vincent, and was elected to the island's assembly in 1951.[1] In 1952 he and his wife, Ivy Joshua founded the People's Political Party (PPP) as the political arm of the Federated Industrial Allied Workers Union (FIAWU), a trade union organization aimed at representing agricultural and shipyard workers.[2] The party was staunchly against colonialism and the plantocracy.[3]

Politics

In 1956, upon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gaining increased autonomy, Joshua became chief minister. His PPP saw continued success in subsequent elections. Joshua supported the unsuccessful Federation of the West Indies. In 1964 Joshua discontinued support for the sugar growers, closing the Saint Vincent Sugar Mill as a result of steady losses which had happened for several years.

Joshua attended an initial conference of the Caribbean Food Crop Society held in Barbados to discuss alternative crops and techniques for better productivity for bananas and arrowroot. A misunderstanding of this sequence of circumstance and Vincentian history by American musician Eric von Schmidt became the basis for the song "Joshua Gone Barbados".[4] In 1967 the PPP lost their parliamentary majority and Joshua was succeeded by Milton Cato, leader of the more moderate Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Labour Party. Joshua remained in parliament, but the PPP began to decline as the conservative New Democratic Party emerged as political competition. In 1979 the PPP lost all parliamentary representation, and the party was dissolved in 1984.

Personal life

In 1980, Joshua became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[5] He served for a time in the presidency of the LDS Church's Kingstown Branch, then the only congregation of the Church in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.[6] Joshua died in Kingstown, Saint Vincent on 14 March 1991. He had a son and a daughter.[7]

The E. T. Joshua Airport in Arnos Vale is named after him.

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gollark: Also, hybrid magic/electric computers, assuming you can get a spell to, I don't know, change the resistance of a wire (by heating/cooling it or something), though I've no idea if that'd be remotely practical.
gollark: Well, assuming magic→electrical conversion can be compact enough, anyone with decent amounts of magic can power portable devices.
gollark: Presumably there are lots of applications for combining them.

References
  1. "Joshua, Ebenezer Theodore", in Bryan Dyde, Caribbean Companion: The A to Z Reference, Macmillan Caribbean, 1992, p. 92.
  2. Martin, Afi A. (2016). "Joshua, Ivy Inez (1924–1992), politician and trade unionist". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-93580-2.  – via Oxford University Press's Reference Online (subscription required)
  3. Fraser, Adrian (2016). "Joshua, Ebenezer (1908–1991), first chief minister and longtime legislator of St. Vincent". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-93580-2.  – via Oxford University Press's Reference Online (subscription required)
  4. kzfr article on von Schmidt's song
  5. 2008 Deseret Morning News Church Almanac (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Morning News) p. 457.
  6. Todd Krueger, "St. Vincent and the Grenadines" in Arnold K. Car,, Donald Q. cannon and Richard O. Cowan, ed. Encyclopedia of LDs Church History, p. 1182
  7. article commemorating Joshua
Political offices
Preceded by
position created		 Chief Minister of Saint Vincent
1956–1967		 Succeeded by
Milton Cato
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