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Dame Lois Browne-Evans • (1927-2007)

Dame Lois Browne-Evans was a Bermudian
trailblazer in the fields of law and politics for
more than 50 years.

In 1953, she became Bermuda’s first female lawyer,
and ten years later she became Bermuda’s first black
female MP when she was elected to the House of
courtesy the bermudian magazine party – the Progressive Labour Party. The 1963
Assembly as a member of Bermuda’s first political

election was also the first to be held when all adults
could vote – not just property owners, which had
been the rule for centuries.

Five years later, Dame Lois became the first female
Opposition Leader when she took part in the 1968 general election – the first truly
democratic election in Bermuda’s history. She would step down as PLP leader in
1972, but became the Opposition Leader again in 1976, and would hold the job
until 1985.
In law, Dame Lois took on a number of major criminal cases, including defending
Larry Tacklyn who was convicted of murder. In 1977, she led an unsuccessful campaign
to spare him and Buck Burrows, who was convicted of the murder of Governor Sir
Richard Sharples, from being hanged. As a lawyer, she always maintained that people
accused of crimes were innocent until proven guilty and had the right to a lawyer to
defend them.

The hangings, which capped a turbulent period in Bermuda’s history, led to riots. courtesy bermuda biographies
The events of December 1977 pitted Dame Lois, in her role as Opposition Leader,
against the then Premier, Sir David Gibbons. After the riots, a number of proposals
aimed at improving relations between whites and blacks and improving living
conditions were put in place.
In 1985, Dame Lois resigned as Leader of the PLP after losing an election to Sir
John Swan of the United Bermuda Party.

She remained an MP and a member of the Shadow Cabinet and was a successful
candidate in the 1998 election when the PLP became the Government for the first time.
Assessment
In 1999, she became the first black female Attorney General and, after retiring from Indicator
politics in 2003, she was appointed a Dame of the Order of the British Empire.
Write an essay about the life
Dame Lois died at the age of 79 in 2007. During her life, she was a role model of Dame Lois Browne-Evans.
and pioneer for many Bermudians and for women. A strong defender of human
rights, she fought for workers’ rights, an end to the death penalty and against
discrimination of all descriptions. As a result, she was named Bermuda’s first
National Hero in 2007 – her final “first”.

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