CPA NEWS Parliament of Bermuda celebrates its 400th anniversary The Parliament of Bermuda has celebrated its 400th anniversary. Bermuda’s first Parliament met in 1620 in St. Peter’s Church in St George, known as ‘Their Majesties Chappell’, which is also the oldest Anglican church outside of England. The gavel used by the Speaker at the House of Assembly in Hamilton was made from a cedar tree that still exists in the churchyard of St Peter’s. Bermuda’s Parliament has been in continuous existence since 1620 and it has the distinction of being the oldest Parliament in the Commonwealth outside of Westminster in London. A number of events planned for the 400th anniversary of the first sitting of Bermuda’s Parliament had to be postponed in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, however some events including a Youth Parliament, an art competition, a public debate and a commemorative stamp launch did take place. The theme of the anniversary is ‘Bermuda: Future Matters’. Recently a ceremony was held to mark the occasion of the 400th anniversary and the Throne Speech for the new session of the Bermuda Parliament attended by the President of the Senate, Mrs. Joan Dillas-Wright, MBE, JP and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Dennis P. Lister, JP, MP as well as the Premier of Bermuda, Hon. E. David Burt, JP, MP and many current and former Speakers and Members of Parliament. The Governor of Bermuda, H. E. John Rankin read a message of congratulations from Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, to the people of Bermuda which said: “On the occasion of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bermuda Parliament, I have pleasure in sending my warm congratulations to the people of Bermuda. I have fond memories of my visits to the islands, including in 1953 when I opened Parliament on the first stop on my Commonwealth tour and most recently in 2009. I send best wishes on this auspicious occasion and for the future.”
The historic nature of the occasion was noted in the Throne Speech read by the Governor of Bermuda, which said, “The Legislature convenes today within earshot of the venue where, 400 years ago, an Assembly, composed only of white men, was summoned to meet by the then Governor Nathaniel Butler. In these four centuries, the walls of those chambers in which the Legislature has met could speak of debates on slavery, universal adult suffrage, the end of capital punishment, human rights and all manner of laws meant to ‘serve and regard the public.’ Today, black and white, women and men represent a people whose vote is of equal value across an Island that has surpassed the likely dreams of those who met in that first Assembly, only 11 years after the Sea Venture happened upon this uninhabited North Atlantic paradise. More than ever, the yoke of representative service weighs heavily on those who have taken it up. Four hundred years later, the Commonwealth’s oldest representative body outside the United Kingdom’s Parliament will be summoned again to deliberate and act in unprecedented ways in these unprecedented times to meet equally unprecedented challenges.” Bermuda's Parliament is one of the oldest known Legislatures in the Commonwealth and dates back to 1st August 1620. On that day the then incumbent Governor, Nathaniel Butler, summoned a General Assembly to convene at St Peter's Church in the town of St George. The Assembly was the forerunner of Bermuda's present House of Assembly. Since 1684, when direct administrative control of Bermuda's affairs was transferred to England, Bermuda's Governors, representing the authority of the Crown and acting on instructions, have played a major Executive role in Bermuda until the 1960s when, following the Constitutional Conference in 1966, Bermuda moved from a representative to a responsible form of government. In 1815, Hamilton replaced the town of St George as the capital of Bermuda. In the same year, the Parliament, the courts and all public offices were transferred to the new capital. The first gathering of the Assembly took place in the Town Hall on Front Street in Hamilton on 13th January 1815. In 1826 the Assembly moved to the Sessions House on Parliament Hill, which has been the meeting place for the Parliament of Bermuda ever since.
304 | The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue Four | 100 years of publishing 1920-2020
