Isaac Glanville Fonseca
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Isaac Glanville Fonseca was a
British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...
political figure around the time of the restoration of democracy in 1950. Fonseca was one of the community leaders who participated in the " march of 1949" and later went on to become one of the longest serving legislators in the British Virgin Islands, winning a total of six general elections before retiring from politics.


The march of 1949

In 1949 an unlikely political hero emerged in the British Virgin Islands. Theodolph H Faulkner was a fisherman from
Anegada Anegada is the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It lies about north of Virgin Gorda. Anegada is the only inhabited British Virgin Island formed from ...
, who came to
Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...
with his pregnant wife. He had a disagreement with the medical officer, and he went straight to the marketplace and for several nights criticised the government with mounting passion. His oratory struck a chord, and a movement started. Led by community leaders such as Isaac Fonseca and Carlton de Castro, a throng of over 1,500 British Virgin Islanders marched on the Administrator's office on 24 November 1949 and presented their grievances. This led directly to the enacting of a new constitution for the Territory under which the first general election was held in 1950. Four candidates were elected on a Territory wide basis to serve on the new Legislative Council alongside two appointed members, two ''ex officio'' members, and the
Administrator of the British Virgin Islands The governor of the Virgin Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The r ...
. Isaac Fonseca was amongst the four candidates elected, and a bust memorialising him and the other inaugural legislators stands outside of the
House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...
.


Political career

Between 1950 and 1967 elections were conducted on a non-party basis, and the Legislative Council functioned as a collection of wise men for the better guidance of the Territory. At each such general election Isaac Fonseca stood, and at each such election he was voted back in. Although these early Legislative Councils did not appoint ministers of government, from 1954 certain members were allocated ministerial type responsibilities and between 1957 and 1960 Fonseca was the Member for Works and Communications (he may also have held the same post between 1954 and 1957, but the record is unclear). In 1967 further constitutional change occurred which introduced Ministerial Government and party politics into the British Virgin Islands. The legislators duly banded into political parties, and Fonseca became the head of the newly created People's Own Party. However in the 1967 general election, although Fonseca himself won his seat, it was the only seat his party would win in the seven member Legislative Council, consigning his party to third place behind the
BVI United Party The United Party (sometimes referred to as the BVI United Party) (or UP) was a political party of the British Virgin Islands. It was formed by Conrad Maduro, H. Lavity Stoutt, Terrance B. Lettsome and Ivan Dawson during the first session of th ...
and the
VI Democratic Party The VI Democratic Party (VIDP or DP) was a political party of the British Virgin Islands. It was originally formed by Dr Q. William Osborne during the first session of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands under the new cons ...
. Fonseca ran again in the 1971 general election, but was defeated by Q. William Osborne. He ran again in 1975, and lost, and then retired from politics.


Electoral history


Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Isaac Glanville British Virgin Islands politicians Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Tortola