Sir Cecil Vincent Wallace Whitfield (20 March 1930 – 9 May 1990) was a Bahamian politician who was a founding member and the first leader of the

Free National Movement The Free National Movement (abbreviated FNM) is a political party in the Bahamas formed in the early 1970s and led by Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Michael Pintard and the current deputy leader is Shanendon C ...

political party. He also served as a Minister in the cabinet of

Lynden Pindling Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC, Order of National Hero (Bahamas), NH, Justice of the peace, JP (22 March 193026 August 2000) was a The Bahamas, Bahamian politician who ...

from 1967 to 1970 and as a longtime member of the

Bahamian Parliament The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is formally made up of the sovereign (represented by the governor-general), an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Asse ...

Early life

Cecil Vincent Wallace Whitfield was born on 20 March 1930 in Nassau to Kenneth Whitfield and Dorothy Wallace. He studied at the Government High School. He was a custom's officer before studying law at

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

Career

Originally a custom's officer, Wallace Whitfield started his political career in the early 1950s when he joined the

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party (abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton ...

(PLP). In 1967 he was Chairman of the PLP and joined the House of Assembly as an MP representing the St. Agnes constituency as a representative for the PLP. In January 1967, Wallace Whitfield was selected to join Lynden Pindling's cabinet during his term as

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, first serving as Minister of Works before serving as Minister of Education and later Culture. He had a key role in developing infrastructure throughout The Bahamas, particularly in the "over-the-hill" communities in New Providence in the late 1960s. When Pindling was elected as the Bahamas' first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

in 1969, Wallace Whitfield rejoined Pindling's cabinet as

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

. While Minister of Education, he initiated a massive school construction project to help develop the Bahamian education system. However, during Pindling's term as Prime Minister, Wallace Whitfield remained an outspoken critic of Pindling and his perceived

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

. This led to his resignation from the cabinet and the PLP in 1970.

Free National Movement

In late 1970, Wallace Whitfield and a group of seven other former MPs from the PLP known as the "Dissident Eight", which included

Arthur Foulkes Sir Arthur Alexander Foulkes, ON, GCMG (born 11 May 1928) is a politician who was the ninth governor-general of the Bahamas from 2010 to 2014. Foulkes was elected to the House of Assembly in 1967 and served in the government of Lynden Pindling ...

, formed a breakaway political party called the Free Progressive Liberal Party. Wallace Whitfield called on all parties in opposition to Pindling to disband, which led to the disbandment of the United Bahamian Party (UBP). On October 20, 1971, the Dissident Eight and several former members of the UBP met at Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill, Nassau, where they formed a new independent center-right political party called the Free National Movement (FNM). In 1971, he stood as Leader of the Opposition in the Bahamas. Wallace-Whitfield was selected as the first leader of the Free National Movement, which he served as until 1972. Under his leadership, the FNM won nine seats in Parliament in the 1972 election, however Wallace-Whitfield himself was not elected. As a result, he was replaced as leader of the FNM by Kendal Isaacs. After a long string of parliamentary defeats between 1973 and 1977, the FNM split into two opposing factions: the FNM and the Bahamian Democratic Party (BDP). Wallace Whitfield took control of the FNM, while John Henry Bostwick took control of the BDP. When the FNM reunified in 1980, Wallace Whitfield was again replaced by Kendal Isaacs, who led the party in the 1982 election. Wallace-Whitfield served as an MP for the FNM until his death in 1990. Following the 1987 election, Isaacs resigned as leader of the FNM. Wallace Whitfield was elected as his replacement, and led the FNM until his death, being replaced by

Hubert Ingraham Hubert Alexander Ingraham, PC (born 4 August 1947) is a Bahamian politician who was Prime Minister of the Bahamas from August 1992 to May 2002, and again from May 2007 to May 2012. He is a member of the Free National Movement Party (FNM). Pr ...

Personal life and death

Wallace-Whitfield died at a hospital in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

on 9 May 1990 and was buried at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Nassau. He had a wife named Daphne.

Honors

Wallace Whitfield was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1987 for his services to the Bahamas. He was posthumously awarded Order of the National Hero in 2018. His face is featured on all five-dollar Bahamian dollar bills. The Cecil Wallace Whitfield Centre corporate complex in Nassau which houses the Ministry of Finance and Office of the Prime Minister is named in his honor. The

Headquarters in Grand Bahama is also named the Cecil Wallace Whitfield Centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace Whitfield, Cecil 1930 births 1990 deaths Education ministers of the Bahamas Progressive Liberal Party politicians Members of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas Leaders of the opposition (Bahamas) Free National Movement politicians People from Nassau, Bahamas Members of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor