Richard Sharples
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Sir Richard Christopher Sharples, (6 August 1916 – 10 March 1973) was a British politician and
Governor of Bermuda The governor of Bermuda (officially Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)) is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this arti ...
who was shot dead by assassins linked to a small militant Bermudian
Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...
group called the Black Beret Cadre. The former army major, who had been a
Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...
, resigned his seat to take up the position of Governor of Bermuda in late 1972. His murder resulted in the last executions conducted under British rule, in 1977.


Career

Sharples passed out from the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...
, in 1936 and was commissioned into the Welsh Guards. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he served in France and Italy. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and left the army in 1953.Lieutenant Colonel Sir Richard Sharples KCMG OBE MC
Retrieved 20 September 2022.
He married Pamela Newall in 1946; they had two sons and two daughters. The family greatly enjoyed
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ing, and this was the basis of a close friendship with
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...
, later prime minister. Sharples was elected
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam in a 1954 byelection. After the 1970 general election, he served as
Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...
at the
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, before resigning his seat in 1972 to take up the position of Governor of Bermuda. He was assassinated in 1973 by a faction associating itself with the
Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...
movement. His widow was subsequently made a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
as Baroness Sharples.


Death

Sharples was killed outside Bermuda's Government House on 10 March 1973. An informal dinner party for a small group of guests had just concluded, when he decided to go for a walk with his
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, Horsa, and his '' aide-de-camp'', Captain Hugh Sayers of the Welsh Guards. The two men and dog were ambushed and gunned down outside the Governor's residence.


Aftermath

The Governor's coffin was borne by officers of the Bermuda Regiment, and Sayers' by a party from the Welsh Guards. The coffins were carried atop 25-pounder field guns of the Bermuda Regiment, to the , which was stationed at HM Dockyard Bermuda at the time. The ship's
Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
detachment provided an honour guard on the flight deck. HMS ''Sirius'' conveyed the bodies from
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to St. George's, where they were interred at St. Peter's Church. After the assassination HMS ''Sirius'' provided enhanced security for Commodore Cameron Rusby, the Senior Naval Officer West Indies (SNOWI) who was stationed on the island. A detachment of Royal Marines (subsequently replaced by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment) was posted to the Dockyard to guard SNOWI. Sharples was buried in the graveyard at St Peter's Church in St George's on 16 March 1973, six days after his assassination, with Captain Sayers and Great Dane, Horsa. Elements of the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
's
airborne forces Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers. The main ...
, which were training at Warwick Camp with the Bermuda Regiment at the time of the murders, were called in to assist the civil authorities. The 23 Parachute Field Ambulance, 1 Parachute Logistic Regiment and the band of the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment subsequently provided protection for government buildings, officials and dignitaries as well as assisting the Bermuda Police.


Search, arrests, and sentence

Following a police search, in 1976 Erskine Durrant "Buck" Burrows and Larry Tacklyn, who had ties to a
Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...
group known as the Black Beret Cadre, were arrested. Shortly before his arrest, Burrows would carry out a $28,000 bank robbery. Burrows confessed to shooting and killing Sharples and Sayers. Burrows was convicted of killing Sharples, Sayers, Bermuda Police commissioner George Duckett on 9 September 1972, and the co-owner and the bookkeeper of a supermarket, Victor Rego and Mark Doe on 6 April 1973. He was sentenced to death. In his confession Burrows wrote:
"I, Erskine Durrant Burrows, as former Commander in Chief of all anticolonialist forces in the island of Bermuda, wish to willingly reveal the part I played in the assassination and murder of the former Governor of Bermuda Mr. Richard Sharples and his ADC Captain Hugh Sayers. I wish to state, not forgetting that killing is wrong and sinful, that it was upon my direct orders and inspired efforts and determination, that what was done was done, performed with a magnum .357 six-shot hand-gun. I was not alone when I went up to Government House to kill the Governor, but I shall never reveal who or how many others were with me."
"The motive for killing the Governor . . . was to seek to make the people, Black people in particular, become aware of the evilness and wickedness in this island of Bermuda. One of their major evil strategies being to seek and encourage the Black people to hate and fight each other, while those who are putting this evil strategy into effect laugh and pat themselves on their backs saying, yeah look, we have got them, we have got them conquered. Secondly the motive was to show that these colonialists were just ordinary people like ourselves who eat, sleep and die just like anybody else and that we need not stand in fear or awe of them."
"Finally the motive was to reveal Black people to themselves. This refers to the revealed reactions of many Black people during the Governor's funeral, when Black people were . . . standing with tears in their eyes crying for a man who when he was alive didn't care if they lived or died and here they were crying for a White Governor and yet when many of their own people pass away there is sometimes hardly a tear shed for them. This shows clearly the evil effects that the colonialist propaganda has had over the long years they have ruled over this little island. And my beloved brothers and sisters this ought not to be because there is a supreme authority we can all appeal to and pray to free us from suppression, sin and any evil domination we might be under..."
Tacklyn was acquitted of assassinating Sharples and Sayers but was convicted of killing Victor Rego and Mark Doe at the Shopping Centre supermarket in April 1973. Unlike Burrows, who did not care whether he was to be executed, Tacklyn expected to get a "last minute" reprieve. Both murderers remained in Casemates Prison while the appeals process for Tacklyn was brought before the Privy Council in London. During this time, it was reported that Tacklyn passed the time playing
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, while Burrows took a virtual vow of silence, only communicating his thoughts and requests on scraps of paper.


Execution

Both men were hanged on 2 December 1977 at Casemates Prison. A moratorium on hanging was then in effect and while others had been sentenced to death in the intervening years, no one had been executed in Bermuda since the Second World War. Burrows and Tacklyn would be the last people executed under British rule anywhere. The last hangings on British soil had occurred in 1965, while the last death sentence would be passed on the
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
in 1992. This sentence was eventually quashed and replaced by life imprisonment following retrial in 1994. Meanwhile, the death penalty in the Isle of Man had been abolished in 1993. Since nobody in Bermuda had any experience with carrying out execution, a hangman had to be flown over from
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, which had carried out its the last executions in 1962.


Riots

Three days of rioting followed the executions. During the riots, the Bermuda Regiment proved too small to fulfil its role (which was considered by Major General Glyn Gilbert, the highest ranking Bermudian in the British Army, in his review of the regiment, leading to its increase from 400 soldiers to a full battalion of 750). As a consequence, at the request of the Bermuda Government, soldiers of the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were flown in as reinforcements in the aftermath of the riots. The cost of the damages was estimated to be $2 million.


Aftermath

In 2013, Mel Ayton wrote ''Justice Denied - Bermuda's Black Militants, the Third Man, and the Assassinations of a Police Chief and Governor'', in which he argued that a third man had been involved in the murder of Sharples, but was never prosecuted. The "third man" was described as the most violent member of the Berets and a leader of a more militant faction the group. He advocated for the elimination of the island's political leaders and the institution of a "revolutionary Marxist government."


Honours and decorations

On 20 December 1940, Sharples was awarded the
Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...
(MC) for "gallant conduct in action with the enemy". In 1945, he was mentioned in dispatches for services in Italy. In 1946, he was awarded the
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...
, the
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third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. He was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...
(OBE) in the 1953 Coronation Honours List. In 1972, Sharples was knighted as a
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
following his appointment as Governor of Bermuda.


Notes


Sources

The Ottawa Citizen, 11 March 1973,**as first reported.**
''The Black Panthers: Their Dangerous Bermudian Legacy''
The Black Panthers: Their Dangerous Bermudian Legacy, Mel Ayton 2006.


External links

*
Funeral of Assassinated Governor, Sir Richard Sharples
AP Archive, 17 March 1973
BBC News story from 1973Bernews: Details of assassination of Sir Richard, and subsequent conviction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharples, Richard 1916 births 1973 deaths African and Black nationalism in North America Assassinated British politicians Assassinated English politicians British Army personnel of World War II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deaths by firearm in Bermuda Governors of Bermuda Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 Officers of the Order of the British Empire People murdered in Bermuda Recipients of the Military Cross Foreign recipients of the Silver Star Spouses of life peers UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Welsh Guards officers European politicians assassinated in the 1970s English military personnel English terrorism victims Politicians assassinated in 1973 Terrorist incidents in North America in 1973