A large framed photograph holds pride of place in Marjorie Lashley’s home.
Displayed near the front door entrance, the picture captures the moment on Independence Night 1966 at the Garrison Savannah, when Barbados’ first Prime Minister Errol Barrow and the first Governor General Sir John Stow joined raised hands in jubilation after the Barbados National Flag was raised over the newly independent nation.
The image is a constant reminder of Lashley’s special relationship with the man whom Barbadians call The Father of Independence. Some of Lashley’s memories may have faded with age, but her eyes still light up when she talks about her friend “Mr Barrow”.
“He gave us a lot to get this country developed and he gave the underpriviledged a chance to make something of themselves,” she recalled.
What endeared her to Barrow most was his introduction of free secondary education.
“I joined the Democratic Labour Party [DLP] in the ’60s and I joined when I heard Mr Barrow talking about free secondary education. I said, ‘This is a good thing’, because we used to have a lot of bright children that their ability went to waste.
“I remember when I was a child, they were giving two Exhibitions to Queen’s College and Harrison College. I won one but I could not go because I had to buy the books. But I did not suffer because the Catholic was giving free secondary education; so I went there.”
At that time her father had already died, leaving her mother the sole breadwinner to raise six children.
Lashley became a stalwart in the DLP founded by Barrow, to whom she was first introduced by two party faithfuls. But she was swayed towards the DLP, formed in 1955, through the interest demonstrated by an uncle who had joined the new political party.
“I had two uncles who were political giants. One was a ‘B’ and when Barrow came, one became a ‘D’. There used to be argument after argument and somehow Uncle Morty’s argument always had a more solid sounding than Uncle Leon’s own. Uncle Leon was a Grantley [a follower of Sir Grantley Adams]. Uncle Morty also felt that the free education was a good idea and he went on to Mr Barrow.”
Lashley would also become deeply involved in the DLP. She was the longest serving leader of the party’s Women’s League, which she headed for 15 years, and was a member of the Dems’ Council. Her leadership activity extended to other women’s groups such as the National Organisation of Women, of which she was a vice-president, and to the Caribbean Women’s Association (CARIWA) which she also served as vice-president.
She says her commitment to service was encouraged by Barrow, though the two would sometimes be at odds over matters under discussion at party level.
“I was one of those persons who would not sit down and hear Mr Barrow talk and don’t ask no questions,” she said. “A lot of people would sit down, hear Mr Barrow talk, don’t ask any questions and then get up with the bad talk. But I would ask questions because there is always a question to be asked.”
Laughing as she recounted the memory, she added: “I remember one time Mr Barrow said he don’t want to hear me or Carmeta Fraser. So I went outside. When he realised that nobody asking any questions, he say, ‘Where is Marjorie Lashley? Call Marjorie Lashley’.
“We used to have our good little arguments but he was not a man to keep you in mind. When you asked questions he was able to explain what he was doing.”
One of her enduring memories was Barrow taking action on a resolution she had spearheaded in the DLP Women’s League.
“I remember taking a resolution to the party about women who live for a long time in partnerships with men and if that man is deceased and had property, that woman had no rights and children born out of wedlock had no rights.
“I remember when Barrow brought that to the House of Assembly, he said, ‘This came from the Women’s League’. He did not call my name, but today it is law and there are no bastard children any more. That made me very happy.”
She pointed out her treasured friendship with Prime Minister Barrow extended beyond the walls of DLP headquarters.
“It was my fish cakes,” she said. “I started classes and so on at the party at the Women’s League and I used to teach them different things. My fish cakes used to be a little different from the ordinary fish cakes because I used to put pumpkin and potato in them, and Barrow liked that.”
He was also won over by her pudding and souse which she sold through orders; and, along with other DLP members, Barrow himself was one of her most faithful customers.
“If I stood too long to take it down at the DLP, Barrow would come, eat what he wanted, take out what he wanted and pay me. He did not mind coming into your house.”
This is part of the picture Lashley painted of “the man of the people”.
“He could have gone to any supermarket but he would go to Duguid’s supermarket [then located on Deighton Road, St Michael]. He would go where you hear the needs of the people. For example, his barber was a man on Baxter’s Road and he would hear a lot of things about the needs of the people when he was down there. He got to know the needs of the people by mixing with them, but he was never disrespected,” Lashley said.
She lived on Culloden Road, near Culloden Farm, at the time the Prime Minister’s official residence, which was a hub of entertainment. Lashley has fond memories of being invited to functions there and “Bs, Ds and everybody was there”.
That invitations were also extended to people associated with the opposing political party was a factor that, to Lashley, indicated Barrow’s appreciation of people regardless of rank or association.
“Mr Barrow was a man of the people. He could deal with anybody, and to me his role was to help whoever he could help.”
On this point, she stressed: “You cannot say that the Barbados Labour Party did not do anything. I will not join anybody to say things like that, but Mr Barrow felt you could go further.
“I have friends within the other party too, and sometimes I just don’t talk politics with them. If you are practising democracy, you are free to have your own views and I don’t feel that the only body that can run a country is one party,” Lashley added.
She pointed out this view was reinforced by Barrow himself when he lost the General Election of 1976.
“I was wondering how Mr Barrow was taking this. He was sitting down at [DLP] headquarters and I put my hands on his shoulder and he said to me: ‘Marjorie, you can’t win all’.”
Though arthritic knees today limit her mobility and have curtailed her participation in DLP activities, Lashley remains committed to the party, saying: “I don’t see myself leaving at this young age,” (which she gave as “only 58 years reversed”).
“I would never leave the Democratic Labour Party. There is no way I would stop supporting them unless they went beserk and do some foolishness.”
That fervent commitment influenced the presentation of the party’s Mirror Image Award which she received in 2005 for her contribution.
She said she believed that if Errol Barrow were to return to mortal form today, he would say: “Marjorie, are you still with the Democratic Labour Party?” (GC)
