Bertha Higgins

Bertha Alexandrina Higgins MBE (29 October 1889 – 17 July 1966) was an Antiguan artist, musician, teacher and politician. She was appointed to the Senate of the West Indies Federation in 1958, becoming the first female parliamentarian from Antigua and Barbuda.

For the American suffragist, see Bertha G. Higgins.
Bertha Higgins
Member of the Federation Senate
In office
1958–1962
ConstituencyAntigua and Barbuda
Personal details
Born29 October 1889
Died17 July 1966(1966-07-17) (aged 76)

Biography

Higgins was born in October 1889, one of three daughters of Julia Florence Henry and Roland Edward Henry.[1] She attended Coke Memorial College and the Durhadden School, where she studied art.[1] She subsequently became an art teacher at the Moravian Female Teachers Training College and taught art and music at the Antigua Girls' High School.[1] Both her sisters also became music teachers.[1] She married Robert E. Higgins in 1921.[1] During the 1940s she helped establish the Antigua Artists Society,[1] as well as teaching and arranging music for the Hell's Gate Steel Orchestra.[2][3]

Following the 1958 West Indies federal elections, Higgins was appointed to the Federal Senate as a representative of the West Indies Federal Labour Party. She was one of two female members (alongside Marguerite Wyke of Trinidad and Tobago) and the first female parliamentarian from Antigua.[4] She was awarded an MBE in the 1961 New Year Honours.

Higgins died in July 1966.[1]

References
  1. Bertha Higgins Caribbean Elections
  2. The Story Of Pan In Antigua MNI Alive
  3. First - First Pan on the Net
  4. "The Steelband as Nationalism and Art", The CLR James Journal, volume 8, number 1, Winter 2000–2001, pp108-115
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