(A)ny man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind . . . . – John Donne, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII.
Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.
The full quote from John Donne’s widely read commentary reads: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
The words came back to me Friday as I tried to prepare this appreciation of the late Sir Branford Taitt, who was laid to rest yesterday after an official funeral.
In this space nearly four years ago, I had occasion to recall telling a politician who had asked me if his Government had done nothing to deserve praise in this column, that if politicians were seeking plaudits then they should look elsewhere.
My rationale then, as now, was that politicians did not deserve praise for implementing the policies and programmes which they had taken to the electorate in search of votes.
Indeed, instead of patting them on the back, I may be moved to say that they have not gone far enough.
That self-imposed rule was broken in December 2009 when I offered sincere congratulations to veteran politicians and Queen’s Counsel Philip Marlowe Greaves and Maurice Athelstan King on their elevation to Barbados’ highest national honour, Knight Of St Andrew.
Today, I propose to break that rule again, this time to honour the life and work of one of Barbados’ most outstanding politicians and public servants, Branford Mayhew Taitt (from 2010, Sir Branford, as well).
To me, there is no doubt that his passing has diminished the political landscape of this country which will now be the poorer because it will no longer benefit from his vast experience as a diplomat and Cabinet minister (and sometime journalist!) whose contributions in and out of the Senate and House of Assembly were always erudite and elegant.
Indeed, it is to my personal knowledge that he added considerably to the vocabulary of not a few MPs when he introduced such words as “gravamen” and “adumbrate”, among others, to the debates in Parliament.
Perhaps, reflective of his work as a journalist in the early days with the New York Daily News, was the keen interest he took in the functioning of the media in Barbados, especially the print sector, not so much from the perspective of the cavilling politician who did not get the kind of press he craved, but as a practitioner who thought we could do much better.
While we did not have any major political disagreements – he took any criticism in stride with the kind of understanding that perhaps only a journalist can muster! – we certainly crossed words over the use of the language, his love for which was possibly unsurpassed.
I well remember as a young reporter that at the end of his frequent telephone conversations with then Editor-in-Chief (now Emeritus) Harold Hoyte would be a reminder to his “almost namesake” not to place a comma after the word “And” at the beginning of the second para in news stories.
It was a long-running issue over a bad habit picked up at the Old Lady when I was learning the craft and trying to emulate the senior writers.
But it was the pride he placed on the pursuit of excellence through education that stayed with me over the years as the media frequently recounted his progression from humble origins to the dizzying heights of political power.
He was determined to make more of himself than his origins would seem to dictate and while he could only aspire to the Oxbridge universities, cold, hard reality meant that the colleges of the United States would be the route to higher education and advancement.
“When I went to Brooklyn College,” he told an interviewer, “I was a grown person, age 20-plus; a married man, but I always wanted to go to university. It was an ambition I had nurtured from here. I wanted higher education as a matter of course. When you have been trained in Barbados and go to school in North America, you are regarded as a foreigner and you also have capabilities which amaze your colleagues.
“My facility with the English language was something which I wore like a badge of honour. I think that all of my children have been inundated. That’s all I’ve ever asked of them, that their use of language be as near to perfect as possible.”
Sir Branford was elected to the House on September 2, 1976, for the then St Michael South West constituency, which was later renamed St Michael West after boundary changes and an increase in House seats from 24 to 27 in 1981.
He described his more than two decades of parliamentary representation as “a very satisfying experience” and one that gave someone born in humble circumstances the opportunity to participate in policy-making and to represent Barbados at the highest levels internationally.
“It’s the sort of thing many people dream about,” he told me in an interview, “but for me, it has been a reality. The most satisfying thing has been the opportunity which I had to represent people of my constituency.”
In the interview, Sir Branford looked back with fondness on his relationship with political colleagues in the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), particularly those, he said, who would have honoured him on more than one occasion by electing him president.
“Inside the party,” he added, “we have had some exciting times, both positive and negative . . . .”
Sir Branford, who revealed that he reluctantly entered elective politics at the repeated, insistent urgings of the late Prime Minister Errol Barrow, acknowledged that it was every politician’s dream to become Prime Minister.
But he did not accept the suggestion that it was his greatest disappointment never to have attained such heights.
“That could lead to the wrong conclusions. If I were called upon to be PM, I would still accept. But it is not something you should yearn for. It doesn’t come to you because you yearn for it. If when the time should come, it will happen.
“I do not have that ambition as the overriding thing in my life, but I will tell you that at some point along the way, it became my ambition. I believe I would have made a fantastic Prime Minister.”
May he rest in peace and rise in the glory he truly deserves.
• Albert Brandford is an independent political correspondent.
