Errol Walton Barrow (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Barbadian statesman and the first prime minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy, he became a WWII aviator, combat veteran, lawyer, politician, gourmet cook and author. He is often referred to as the "Father of Independence" in Barbados.
Errol Walton Barrow was born on 21 January 1920 in Saint Lucy, Barbados, the fourth of five children born to the Rev. Reginald Grant Barrow (1889–1980) and his wife Ruth Albertha (née O'Neal) (1884–1939). Ruth was the daughter of a prosperous blacksmith whose success allowed him to purchase the plantation at Saint Lucy, where Errol would later be born.
Reverend Barrow, an Anglican priest, had been appointed headmaster of the Alleyne school after his sermons as curate of St Lucy parish church brought him into conflict with the island's ruling class and church hierarchy. His removal from the pulpit did not succeed in curtailing his advocacy and agitation on behalf of poor black labourers on the island. In 1919 after he challenged the financial misappropriations of the white planters who oversaw the school's endowment, the church summarily transferred him to the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) leaving his wife alone to give birth to their second son at her family home, before she could join her husband with their four infant children.
As parish priest at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Rev. Barrow's brand of what was later termed "liberation theology", was no better received by church authorities there than it had been in Barbados. By late 1920, he was forced out of Holy Cross and he founded St. Luke AME, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the USVI. Although he found a home for his values in the AME Church, his theological freedom made him all the more dangerous in the eyes of the island's authorities, and in 1922 he was deported by order of the Governor as an "undesirable".
Rev. Barrow eventually made his way to New York and became a Bishop in the AME church. Unfortunately, he never reunited with his wife and it was thus that Errol Barrow spent the first six years of his life in St Croix and began his education at the Danish Preparatory School there. He would not see his father again until years later.
Ruth Barrow returned to Barbados to raise her five children with the help of her extended family, living with their grandmother Catherine O’Neal in Bridgetown. Her older brother, Dr. Charles Duncan O’Neal, was a prominent physician and activist (later a National Hero of Barbados) who founded the Democratic League and Workingmen's Association, the first socialist organization in Barbados. Under his fatherly influence, Dr. O'Neal's philosophies formed the core of the young Errol's political and social beliefs. Among Errol's playmates at his grandmother's house on Crumpton Street was his cousin Hugh Springer, later Sir Hugh, Governor General of Barbados and the third member of the family to be named a National Hero.
In Barbados, Errol first attended Wesley Hall Boys School before winning a scholarship to Combermere School, which he attended for one year before being admitted to Harrison College, then the most prestigious boys school on the island. It was during his schoolboy days that Barrow acquired the nickname "Dipper", ostensibly for his awkward cricket batting style. It was a moniker that would follow him as an affectionate brand well into his political career. After graduating from Harrison Barrow spent a year working as a legal clerk while studying to earn a scholarship to Codrington College, the school from which his father had emerged as its youngest ever graduate in 1919. His mother died in 1939, and he won the Island Scholarship in 1940, but by December of that year he had chosen a different path.
World War II and the aftermath
In December 1940, Errol Barrow, along with 11 other of his countrymen who became known as "The Second Barbadian Contingent", enlisted in the Royal Air Force to serve during World War II. His sister Dame Nita Barrow recounted the event in her eulogy to him at his funeral. "I as the big sister packed his clothes ready for his move to the College. Then as he was about to leave a couple of days later, he calmly announced that he would not be going to College. 'I'm going to England. I've joined the Royal Air Force.' "After joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve in London as an Aircraftman 2 (AC2), Barrow underwent initial training for light bomber crews at RAF Benson. He was then stationed at RAF Marham and trained as a wireless operator. By January 1942 he had been promoted to AC1 and was posted to No. 17 Initial Training Wing in August. Thereafter, he undertook an 18-month navigator training course in Canada. Barrow was awarded his Air Navigator wings and promoted to Sergeant on 25 November 1943.
At this point Barrow was united with the men whose lives would become mutually dependent on each other if they were to survive the war: RAF pilot Andrew Leslie Cole and RAAF Wireless/Air gunners Leo Leslie J. Schultz and Robert Allen Stewart and RAF Navigator and Bomber Errol Walton Barrow spent four months training for operational missions in Nova Scotia, graduating on 7 April 1944. The newly formed crew returned to England on 20 September 1944 and joined 88 Squadron, part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force (TAF), flying Douglas Boston light bombers (aka DB-7s and A-20s by the Americans). Between 23 September 1944 and 26 March 1945, Errol Barrow would fly 48 operational sorties giving him 103 hours and 25 mins combat flying. During that time he would have seen first-hand the horrors of medium-altitude bombing. Under battle conditions Barrow proved himself to be an exceptionally competent navigator. His key task as navigator was to get the pilot and crew to their destination, then once over the target to discharge the bomb load and then get the crew back home.
Barrow saw active service supporting the Allied ground forces, bombing German communication infrastructure positions and airfields over the European theatre. His first sorties included supporting ground forces involved in the Battle for Arnhem. Others included support for ground forces during the Battle of the Bulge. At wars end he was appointed as personal navigator to the Commander in Chief of the British Zone of occupied Germany, Air Chief Marshall Sir William Sholto Douglas. During that period Barrow rose to the rank of Flying Officer. Sholto Douglas, who later became chairman of British European Airways, remained close to Barrow and made him godfather to his only child.
His final RAF posting saw him seconded to the Colonial Office, where he oversaw the education and vocational training initiatives for ex-servicemen from all of the colonial territories. Notably of the twelve men who left Barbados as part of the Second Contingent, six were killed during the war.
In September 1947, he was given special permission by the University of London to study at the London School of Economics and study law at the Inns of Court concurrently, taking degrees in 1950 and 1949 respectively. During that time, Barrow also served as Chairman of the Council of Colonial Students where his contemporaries included Forbes Burnham, Michael Manley, Pierre Trudeau, and Lee Kwan Yew, all destined to become political leaders in their home countries.
Barrow returned to Barbados in 1950 and was elected to the Barbados Parliament in 1951 as a member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) representing the parish of Saint George. Feeling the fever of anti-colonialism he had inculcated during his student days in London, he quickly became dissatisfied by general failure of the incremental approach to change advocated by the party stalwarts and their continued support of imperialist powers. By 1952, he began to openly challenge his party's policies and by 1955 made a declaration in Parliament stating: "I no longer want to be associated with them politically or otherwise." :72