The Agony of St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla

• Pages: 115-139

CHAPTER 7

It has been widely acknowledged that as long as the islands of St Kitts, Nevis and

Anguilla comprised a common political and administrative unit under the name of St

Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla, there was implicit in that formation a constitutional Gordian Knot.

As we shall see, Nevis has tried hard ever since 1882 to cut that knot and, more recently,

Anguilla successfully did just that. This chapter will show how at last Anguilla succeeded

and is now, in a manner of speaking, an ‘independent colony’. But a new and faster

constitutional Gordian knot was tied when St Kitts and Nevis entered into a novel type of

federation in September 1983 becoming at that time the last of the six Associated States in

the Commonwealth Caribbean to attain independence. We shall deal firstly with Anguilla

and then address the constitutional position of the independent State of St Christopher (or

St Kitts) and Nevis.

A ANGUILLA – A HISTORY OF NEGLECT:

ITS EVENTUAL SECESSION AND BEYOND

Introduction

In a previous volume the author tried to convey to his readers that Anguilla had

experienced centuries of arbitrary buffeting from the Colonial Office and almost total

neglect from all quarters.1The record shows that at the time when the St Kitts Legislature

reluctantly agreed to have Anguilla annexed to St Kitts, one of the conditions laid down

was that the arrangement should entail no financial commitment by the larger colony

and, although this particular condition has never, to the knowledge of the author, been

specifically adverted to, St Kitts in fact did everything to fulfil the condition to the letter,

as the following further historical details relating to Anguilla will fully demonstrate.

During most of the 19th century, when communication between the two islands was

uncertain and irregular, Anguilla usually had as its representative in the Legislature a

Kittitian with neither knowledge of, interest in, or commitment to the affairs of Anguilla;

and the writer has been informed by a former Premier of the State that, as late as 1937,

Anguilla was represented by an Anguillan who was resident in St Kitts and was, in fact,

in charge of a sugar plantation there. He would visit Anguilla about once a year.

A short historical summary2

From 1825 until the end of that century the chief official of Anguilla was a stipendiary

magistrate who was paid from imperial funds. He combined the functions of President of

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THE AGONY OF ST KITTS, NEVIS AND ANGUILLA

1 See Phillips, 1977, Chapter IX, pp 98–106.

2 Once more I express my indebtedness to Mr Anthony Phillips, senior lecturer in history at the

University of the West Indies, for having permitted to me to draw upon his work for the [contd]

the Vestry with dispenser of medicines. The then Vestry comprised the stipendiary

magistrate, the rector of the Anglican church (ex officio) and 11 members elected by male

inhabitants paying rates and taxes. The Vestry had power to impose rates and taxes; to

supervise the maintenance of public roads; to regulate the salaries of public officers and

generally to deal with local matters. In so far as a civil service was concerned, there was at

that time a small number of public officers in the island operating by prescription.

According to the Colonial Office records, the Anguillans displayed little evidence of

civilisation and they continued ‘to dream life away without a thought and without a care

in a state of perfect happiness’, in conditions of semi-barbarism.3

The Anguillan Court in its summary jurisdiction was presided over by the local

stipendiary and a justice of the peace chosen from the total local commission, which

comprised four justices of the peace. The magistrate also presided alone over a petty debt

court. High Court matters were dealt with by the Chief Justice of St Kitts, who was paid

an additional fee from imperial funds for this service. It should therefore come as no

surprise to hear that during the 19th century there were many complaints from Anguilla

concerning difficulties and delays in securing judicial remedies on the island. One

interesting case was that of William Flemming, a landowner resident in England, who

experienced considerable difficulty in recovering lands which were in possession of

tenants as licencees. He was finally able to secure redress and to enter into possession of

his lands in 1863 after a delay of three years, during which time the court had in fact not

sat at all. Thereafter, a provision was made for an annual sitting of the High Court

whether or not any case appeared on the list.

Life must have been dismal, too, for the stipendiaries, as is evident from two cases. In

1853, it was necessary to remove one Pickwood (who had served in this capacity in

Anguilla for many years) to one of the two magisterial districts of St Kitts proper, because

it was discovered that the utter solitude of the place had had a most deleterious effect

upon his mental, no less than his physical, health. It was then arranged that one of the

other St Kitts magistrates should be sent to Anguilla whenever emergencies arose and

especially during the absence of the rector.

After Pickwood’s death, it was decided that Dr Isidor Dyett, formerly in temporary

charge of the Virgin Islands, should be appointed to Anguilla. Dyett’s reaction was

violent. He bemoaned the fact that his 32 years of faithful public service should not be

considered worthy of ‘some better fate, some happier lot, than that of a hopeless

immolation at a place like Anguilla’.4

When Pickwood died in 1862 and before Dyett’s appointment Benjamin Pine,

Lieutenant Governor of St Kitts, had visited Anguilla to urge the candidature of

Richardson, the senior JP, as stipendiary. He also then took the opportunity to make two

additional proposals, viz:

(a) that an independent executive authority should be set up on the island; and

Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutional Law

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2 [contd] historical data in the following pages stating the position in Anguilla up to 1871, from an

unpublished thesis presented to the University of London for an MA degree.

3 See CO 239/99, June 1856, No 22.

4 Phillips, 1977, p 253.