Alfred A. Thorne
Alfred Athiel Thorne (August 14, 1871–April 23, 1956) was a statesman, educator, advocate and a key contributor to the history of human rights in the Americas. He became famous for championing human rights during the late nineteenth century, establishing the first free secondary school for poor children in British Guiana in 1894, and serving as mayor of British Guiana's capital city Georgetown.
A.A. Thorne was born in Barbados, the first person of African descent from any British colony to earn both a Masters degree and Bachelor's degree from a British University in England (graduating with honors from University of Durham, England in 1898). He served as an educator, writer and an elected official in British Guiana for many decades, creating a positive impact for generations, furthering the principles of freedom, democracy and self-determination.[1]
Founding The Middle School
Thorne moved to British Guiana from Barbados and established The Middle School in 1894, the first free school that provided education to children with one equivalent to that provided at Queen's College and Bishop's High School.[1][2]
A. A. Thorne also served as the Schoolmaster at the school, which broke many barriers, including serving both boys and girls, and providing educational opportunities to the poor for free.[3] The private school became known for the high-quality education it provided. It was on par with Queen's College and Bishop's High School.[1][2]
A.A. Thorne also served as an elected Legislator and Town Councillor. He has been praised for "throwing open of certain avenues of employment to Guianese".[3]
Leader, Politician and Writer
Between 1891 and 1925, A. A. Thorne published editorial columns for two of the British colony's newspapers, "Echo" and "Outlook". A. A. Thorne served a prominent role in public service for more than 50 years in British Guiana, serving the Georgetown City Council for 47 years starting in 1902. Thorne was elected to the Combined Court in 1906. He also served as Deputy Mayor in 1921, 1922 and 1925, and elected to the national post of Financial Representative for the North West District and New Amsterdam (1906-1911 and 1916-1921).[1]
Thorne led the British Guiana Labour Union, the country's first worker's union, before he founded and led the country's second trade union, the British Guiana Workers' League, in 1931.[17] He served as the League's leader for 22 years.[1] The League sought to improve the working conditions for people of all ethnic backgrounds in the colony. Most workers were of West African, East Indian, Chinese and Portuguese descent, and had been brought to the country under a system of forced or indentured labor.
A.A. Thorne also served as President of the British Guiana Trades Union Council.[4] The union's activities were primarily concentrated on representing the human rights interests of workers in sugar plantations, municipal workers in Georgetown, and ward-maids at the Georgetown Hospital.[5] His work laid the foundation for the formation of the Man Power Citizens' Association (MPCA), which he also co-led.
Thorne was first elected to the Town Council of the capital city Georgetown in 1902.[2][6] As a member of City Council, he was active in reform efforts of the colony. Two years after joining the council, in 1904, he published an article in a Boston, MA newspaper about the dominance of the sugar plantation and the sugar industry over all other economic sectors in the country.[2] After the Argosy newspaper in Georgetown retaliated, A. A. Thorne was awarded $500 by the courts in a successful claim of libel. The now famous court case is documented in Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926.[7][8]
Thorne entered national politics in 1906 with his election to the post of Financial Representative. While on travel to Europe, the council called an unplanned election and he lost his seat. He was re-elected in 1916 as a member of the Court of Policy.
His worked was tracked by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which includes his name as the British Guiana Trade Council Executive Officer in 1945. The Council was reportedly a national affiliate of the World Federation of Trade Unions. The Trade Council's membership was reportedly 6,200 people.[9]
Public Service
- Georgetown City Council, 1902-1949
- British Guiana Financial Representative, 1906-1911, 1916-1921
- Deputy Mayor, 1921, 1922, 1925
- The Education Commission, 1924-1925
- The Cost of Living Survey Committee, 1942
- The Franchise Commission, 1942-1944
- The Education Development Committee, 1943-1945
- British Guiana Trade Council Executive Officer, 1945
- The Georgetown Fire Advisory Committee, 1945
- The Georgetown Pure Water Supply Board, 1945-1946
Opinions and Impact
A. A. Thorne argued that the 1919 Colonisation Scheme created friction and negative racial feelings in the colony of British Guiana. He also argued for increases in wages as East Indians were introduced to the colony as cheap labor. He stated that the "meager wages and returns from rice on which the East Indian exists would kill out the negro population rapidly".[10] He also fought against the colonial control over rice production, a staple sustenance crop in the colony at the time, which was priced higher in British Guiana than in the smaller, neighboring islands. His son, Alfred P. Thorne, built on this information in reference to the dynamics of maintaining a cheap supply of labor in "under-developed countries" in his book Poor By Design.
Although no formal biography of his life exists yet, he has been widely referenced as a pivotal figure in social activism and change in the Caribbean.[11][12][13] His perspectives were included in Nancy Cunard's Negro: An Anthology in a chapter titled 'The Negro and his Descendants in British Guiana' [14] In it, he describes the social and economic conditions of black people living in the plantation colony of Guiana under Dutch, French and British rule.
Early Life and Family
Alfred Athiel Thorne was the son of Rev. Samuel Thorne of Barbados. He was raised and educated in Barbados at Lodge School and Codrington College before completing his advanced studies at the University of Durham in England.
A.A. Thorne’s first marriage was to Eleanor Amanda McLean, a teacher and accomplished artist, who used her inheritance to help him setup the Middle School. They had five children. The first two were twins: Alfred Hubert Thorne, editor for the Argosy and Chronicle Newspaper in Guyana, who had four daughters, Thelma, Joyce, Winifred and Iva and Albert Athiel Thorne, a Chartered Accountant who had two children, Daphne and Leila. The third child, Alfred McLean-Thorne, studied law in the UK, worked as a justice of the peace in Guyana and had six children: David, who likewise studied in the UK, where he settled; John, who also settled in Europe (Holland); Lynn and Barbara, who both emigrated to New York and Patrick. His fourth and fifth children were also twins: Alfreda, who died while still at college in Barbados and Elfreda, who lived in Suriname and had two children: Audrey Maud and Dennis Fields, who also settled in the UK.
On the death of Eleanor Amanda, A.A. Thorne remarried with one of his students, Violet Janet Ashurst, who subsequently became an educator and artist. Thorne remained happily married to Violet Ashurst for the rest of his life, financially secure from the inheritance from his first wife which he invested in the five children his second marriage produced (four sons and one daughter), all of whom were born and raised in Georgetown and migrated to the USA as young adults: Alfred P. Thorne, PhD, an accomplished economist and educator; Duncan John Vivian Thorne, DMD, a New York-based orthodontist and entrepreneur; Arthur Thorne, who helped to care for his mother Violet as she reached the age of 99; Aileen Callender, who became the first black female manager for New York Port Authority and is retired in Dallas, TX; and Cecil Michael Thorne, MD, an accomplished physician trained in Germany, France and USA, who served as chief of staff for a leading private hospital in Central Ohio and as a longtime contributor to public service initiatives including Rotary International.
Publications
- 'On Industrial Training in British Guiana', Timehri, 19ll & 1912
- 'Education in British Guiana, Part I', Timehri, 1911 [15]
- 'Education in British Guiana, Part II', Timehri, Vol. 11, (third series), (1912).
- 'British Guianese Progress and Limitations', Timehri, Vo1. II, (third series), (1912).
- 'The Negro and his Descendants in British Guiana', Negro: An Anthology, N. Cunard (Ed.), 1934
References
- ^ a b c d e History Today: Alfred Athiel Thorne, Stabroek News, Monday, Feb. 10, 1997.
- ^ a b c d History of the Republic of Guyana, http://www.guyana.org, Chapter 8, last accessed on January 18, 2013.
- ^ a b Norman E. Cameron, 150 Years of Education In Guyana (1808 - 1957) with special reference to Post-Primary Education, last accessed January 18, 2013].
- ^ The Guyana and Caribbean Political and Cultural Center for Popular Education, Guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com, last accessed January 18, 2013.
- ^ History of the Republic of Guyana, http://www.guyana.org, Chapter 6, last accessed on January 18, 2013.
- ^ CORPOKATE BODIES. TOWN COUNCIL,— GEORGETOWN, in Ordinance 28 o/ 1898.
- ^ Thorne v. the Argosy Co., Ltd., et al in Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926.
- ^ Libel Action A.A. Thorne v The Argosy Co., Ltd. and W. Macdonald, last accessed on January 18, 2013.
- ^ U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The Significance of The World Federation of Trade Unions in the Present Power Conflict, 14 June, 1948.
- ^ Clement Toolsie Shiwcharan, INDIANS IN BRITISH GUIANA, 1919-1929: A STUDY IN EFFORT AND ACHIEVEMENT, A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK CENTRE FOR CARIBBEAN STUDIES, OCTOBER 1990.
- ^ Norman Faria, Review, Outstanding history of Caribbean labour , Guyana Chronicle, February 9, 2003
- ^ Winston James, Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America
- ^ Joyce Moore Turner, W. Burghardt Turner, Caribbean Crusaders And The Harlem Renaissance
- ^ A. A. Thorne, The Negro and his Descendants in British Guiana, in Negro: An Anthology collected by Nancy Cunard, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Group, 1934.
- ^ TIMEHRI: THE JOURNAL OF BRITISH GUIANA. Joseph J. Nunan, B.A. et al. (Eds). Education in British Guiana, Part I. Vol. I. (Third Series), 1911. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Toronto, last accessed January 18, 2013.