William Robert Luxton (9 September 1940 – 11 February 2024) was a

Falkland Islander Falkland may refer to: * Falkland, British Columbia, a community in Canada * Falkland, Nova Scotia, a community in Canada * Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the south Atlantic Ocean ** Falklands Crisis of 1770 ** Falklands War of 1982 * Falkl ...

farmer and politician who served as a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from the 2009 general election until his resignation in 2011. Luxton was also a

Member of the Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the British ( ...

from

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, and served on the

Executive Council of the Falkland Islands The Executive Council of the Falkland Islands is the policy making body of the Government of the Falkland Islands, exercising executive power by advising the Governor. It has an equivalent role to that of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom. ...

in the 1980s.

Life

Luxton was born in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

and educated in England. After working on a farm in

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...

he moved back to the islands to manage his family's farm at

Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...

. In 1982

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

invaded and occupied the Falklands for 74 days during which time Luxton was identified by the Argentine military junta as a potential troublemaker. Along with his wife, Patricia, and their children, Luxton was deported to the UK where he became notable for giving numerous interviews about his experiences with the Argentine military. Luxton and his family returned to the islands at the end of the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

Political career

Luxton's portfolios in the

Falkland Islands Government The politics of the Falkland Islands takes place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary representative democratic dependency as set out by the constitution, whereby the Governor exercises the duties of head of state in t ...

included Civil Aviation, Development Corporation, Aquaculture and Rural Development. Luxton was noted for his strong criticism of Argentina's policy on the Falkland Islands. Luxton resigned from the Legislative Assembly in 2011 due to his prolonged absence from the Falklands, which was increasing the workload on other MLAs. He was replaced by Ian Hansen in an uncontested

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. Luxton passed away in February 2024.

References

1940 births People deported from Argentina Falkland Islands farmers Falkland Islands Councillors 1989–1993 Falkland Islands Councillors 1993–1997 Falkland Islands Councillors 1997–2001 Falkland Islands MLAs 2009–2013 2024 deaths {{Falklands-stub