Howard Reynold Penn

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1903–1994), more commonly known simply as H.R. Penn, was a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served during the years immediately after the reintroduction of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

in the British Virgin Islands in 1950. He was elected as a member of First

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 Brit ...

and continued to serve until his defeat in the 1963 general election. Prior to the introduction of Ministerial government in 1967, various executive type posts were delegated to members of the Legislative Council in a ministerial-like fashion. From 1957 to 1960 H.R. Penn was appointed Member for Trade and Production, and he was reappointed to that post from 1960 to 1963. H.R. Penn later served as the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

from 1971 to 1975 under

Willard Wheatley Willard Wheatley MBE (16 July 1915 – 22 January 1997) was a British Virgin Islands educator and politician who served two consecutive terms as the Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1971 to 1979. He was the second ever Chief ...

's administration. Record keeping during the early years of politics in the British Virgin Islands was poor; electoral records are incomplete, and there were no

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s published in the Territory at the time (the first newspaper in the British Virgin Islands, ''

The Island Sun ''The Island Sun'' is a weekly newspaper in the British Virgin Islands. Founded on 23 June 1962, it is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the British Overseas Territory. The Sun is published weekly by Sun Enterprises (B.V.I.) Li ...

'', was first published in 1962). Much of the information on politics from the early days come from H.R. Penn's memoirs.

Electoral history

Footnotes

1903 births British Virgin Islands politicians Officers of the Order of the British Empire Place of death missing 1994 deaths {{BritishVirginIslands-politician-stub