Vere Cornwall Bird, Sr.

Background

Sr., Vere Cornwall Bird, was born on December 9, 1909.

Education

Student, St. John's Boys' School. Student, Salvation Army Training School, Trinidad.

Career

Served with Salvation Army, Grenada. Founding member executive board Antigua Trades and Labor Union, 1939, president, 1943-1967. Elected member Legislation Council Antigua, 1945, member executive council, 1951, also chairman committees, 1956.

Elected to Parliament, from 1981. Minister trade and production Antigua, 1956-1960. Chief minister of Antigua, 1960-1967.

Led delegate to United Kingdom that achieved associate statehood for Antigua, 1966. Premier of Antigua, 1967-1971, 76-81. Led delegate that gained full Antiguan independence from Great Britain, 1980.

Prime minister of independent Antigua and Barbuda, 1981-1994. Minister of planning, external affairs, defense and energy, 1981-1982. Minister of finance, 1982-1984.

Minister of defense and information, 1984-1994. Retired, 1994

Participant Caribbean Union Conferences, Trinidad, 1945, St. Kitts, 1946, Jamaica, 1947, West Indian Government Conferences, London, 1953, 56. Founder (with representatives from Barbados and Guyana) Caribbean Free Trade Association, 1965.

Leader Antigua Labor Party.

Achievements

• Vere Cornwall Bird, Senior has been listed as a noteworthy prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda by Marquis Who's Who.