Sir Vincent Beache was a politician from Saint Vincent and leader of the

Saint Vincent Labour Party The Saint Vincent Labour Party was a social democratic political party in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from 1955 to 1994. It was the ruling party from 1967 to 1972 and again from 1974 until 1984. History The party was established in 1955. Nohle ...

. Beache was born on 13 August 1931 in South Rivers, St Vincent. He served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, UK. He got training as electrical technician in UK. In Saint Vincent, he was a banana grower. He was first a candidate of

in House of Assembly elections in 1972. Later he was elected as a member 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 ...

from 1974 to 1989. Beache was appointed minister of trade and agriculture from March 1978 to April 1984. After

leader Hudson K. Tannis died in a plane crash in August 1986, Beache was elected to succeed him as party leader. He was appointed

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in the House of Assembly from March 1985 to March 1989. Beache was the leader of the party at the time of the 1989 elections when the party failed to win any seats in the House of Assembly. Beache was replaced as the party leader in 1992. However, he was re-elected as party leader for the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

. Following the elections, he was again appointed

from March 1994 to August 1999. Beache became the first leader of the

Unity Labour Party The Unity Labour Party (ULP) is a democratic socialist political party in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Currently the governing party, it is led by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

in 1994 when

and

Movement for National Unity The Movement for National Unity was a political party in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It was formed shortly before the 1984 general elections by a split from the United People's Movement due to the refusal of most party members to disown Fide ...

merged. Beache resigned as party leader in 1998, and he was succeeded by

Ralph Gonsalves Ralph Everard Gonsalves (born 8 August 1946) is a Vincentian politician who has served as prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the leader of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) since 2001.

. He was appointed by

as the minister of national security, public service and airport development from April 2001 to November 2005. He retired from active politics before the 2005 elections. In 2002 he was awarded the

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 ...

(KCMG). He died on 5 August 2019 at Spring Estate in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

References

1931 births 2019 deaths Members of the House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Government ministers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent Labour Party politicians Agriculture ministers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Unity Labour Party politicians {{SaintVincent-politician-stub