Background
George Charles was born on 7 June 1916 in Castries. His father, James Luc Charles, became Minister without Portfolio in the Grantley Herbert Adams government when the federation was established in 1958.
George Charles was born on 7 June 1916 in Castries. His father, James Luc Charles, became Minister without Portfolio in the Grantley Herbert Adams government when the federation was established in 1958.
Received his primary and secondary education in St. Lucia.
He worked for a short time with his businessman uncle and then left for the Dutch colony of Curasao to work in the oil industry. Upon his return to St. Lucia, he became a commission agent.
Charles’ political career developed through the labor movement. In 1948 he joined the St. Lucia Workers Union (SWU) and was elected its general secretary the following year. This union, bom out of labor struggles in the late 1930s, became the most powerful political force on the island and the basis for formation of the country’s first political party, the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP), on the eve of the 1951 elections. These elections followed constitutional advances that established universal adult suffrage and provided for a Legislative Council in which a majority of members were elected. The new SLP won six of eight elected seats in the Legislative Council in 1951. Charles, who was then elected to the council, was reelected in September 1954 and became minister of social services when a quasi-cabinet system was introduced two years later.
Charles assumed the presidency of the Saint Lucia Workers Union in 1954. In 1957 he was also elected leader of the SLP and led the party to its second electoral victory as it won seven of eight elected seats in the Legislative Council. Charles became one of the leading advocates for a West Indian Federation, aligning his party with the ultimately victorious West Indies Federal Labour party.
In January 1960 a cabinet form of government was established, along with a 13-member Legislative Council, including 10 elected members, and Charles became St. Lucia’s first chief minister. In elections the following year, he led the party to yet another victory, winning nine of the ten elected council seats. However, his leadership was under internal attack from a group of younger party officials. They opposed the reelection of Charles as party leader and chief min¬ister. They defected after the 1961 elections to form a new political party, the National Labour Movement (NLM), leaving the SLP with only a bare majority (six of ten elected seats) in the Legislative Council. Charles continued to lead the government until 1964, when further internal conflict produced the defection of two additional elected party members. Elections were forced, and the SLP was defeated.
Charles continued as party leader of the SLP until 1967 and as Leader of the Opposition until 1969. He left the presidency of the St. Lucia Workers Union in 1968.
