Gladys Bustamante
Encyclopedia
Gladys Bustamante, OJ
, (March 8, 1912 - July 25, 2009) was a Jamaica
n workers' and women's rights
activist and the widow of Jamaica's first Prime Minister
, Sir Alexander Bustamante
. Bustamante, a prominent member of the Jamaican trade union
movement, was affectionately known as "Lady B" by Jamaicans.
She has been called the "Mother of the Nation" due to her relationship with many of Jamaica's founders. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding
has called Bustamante "an icon of political struggles" in Jamaica's march towards independence.
, to Frank Longbridge, a farmer
, and Rebecca Blackwood, a housewife
. In her memoir
, The Memoirs of Lady Bustamante, she described her birth as a "welcome baby", "Being born out of wedlock was not a major issue in rural Jamaica then." She was raised by her grandparents in rural Jamaica following her mother's move to Cuba
when she was just 3 years old. Longbridge enrolled in Ashton Primary School.
She moved to Kingston
with her aunt, and lived in the city's Jones Town neighborhood. She enrolled at the Tutorial Secondary and Commercial College, a private secondary school
, where she studied to be a secretary.
. Unable to find a job, she moved back to Kingston, Jamaica
, in 1934.
Upon her return to Kingston, she began working as a cashier
at a restaurant called Arlington House, which had become an important meeting place for members of the Jamaican colonial legislative assembly from rural areas of the island. Longbridge met Alexander Bustamante
, a politician
and trade unionist who would become her future husband, while working at Arlington House. He pronounced her name "Glad Ice" and called her "Miss G" at the time.
Longbridge was hired by Jamaican businessman Alexander Bustamante
, who later founded the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
(BITU), as his personal secretary
on March 9, 1936. Bustamante and Longbridge would form a long personal and professional relationship which would last decades. She would remain his secretary through his years as a trade unionist and then a politician
until he became Prime Minister of Jamaica
in 1962.
Longbridge became active in the Jamaican trade union
movement as a result of her employment with Bustamante and was considered a prominent member of the movement since 1938. She travelled extensively with Bustamante throughout Jamaica to deal with the concerns of the islands' workers. Longbridge became the treasurer
and day-to-day decision maker for the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
(BITU) from the time of the union's foundation. The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union was the largest organization in Jamaica at the time, making Longbridge arguably the most influential woman in Jamaica.
Bustamante later described the role of women in the Jamaican trade union movement in her memoir, "We women were the mainstay of the union's organisation, though we could hardly have functioned without the brave men who toiled day and night, facing all sorts of criticism
and opposition as they tried to help the workers."
She also played a prominent role in the founding of the Jamaica Labour Party
by Alexander Bustamante in July 1943.
In 1951, Longbridge agreed to run for political office in Eastern Westmoreland. She lost the election, which pleased her as she had only reluctantly agreed to seek elected office. At the time, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper described her as "the happiest loser" of the election.
Jamaican political and union life during the late colonial and post-independence era
s centered largely on the rivalry between Bustamante and Norman Manley
. While the two men, who were cousins, often feuded in public, relations between Gladys Bustamante and Manley's wife, Edna Manley, were much more cordial.
in August 1962. She was 28 years younger than he. Bustamante remained the first Prime Minister of Jamaica until his resignation in 1967 due to ill health. He had been effectively incapacitated for the last two years of his premiership due to illness.
When they first met in the 1930s, Gladys Bustamante attended the Moravian Church of the Redeemer. She later converted to Roman Catholicism, her husband's religion.
Gladys Bustamante cared for her husband at their home, which was called Bellencita, for the remainder of his life. Alexander Bustamante died on August 6, 1977. Bustamante described herself as "paralysed with grief" following her husband's death. She coped with her husband's death by becoming intimately involved with Jamaican charitable causes.
Bustamante became a patron of the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston, named for her husband. Much of her work focused on the plight of poor, working class
Jamaicans and their children. She worked to improve the standard of living
for workers in Jamaica's shipping ports and sugarcane
communities. She also worked to improve the lives of impoverished children and their families.
in 1982. The government of Venezuela
bestowed Mrs. Bustamante with the Orchid Award in 1979 in recognition of her husband's career. The Jamaican government further awarded Bustamante the Plaque for Outstanding Public Service to Jamaica in 1986 to mark the end of the United Nations Decade for Women (1976–1986).
The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) awarded Gladys Bustamante the Key to the city of Kingston on October 16, 2006, which was declared to be Lady Bustamante Day.
.
Bustamante continued to hold the title of honorary treasurer of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union at the time of her death in 2009. She was also a trustee and executive member of the Jamaica Labour Party
(JLP) that her husband had founded.
Bustamante lay in state at both the BITU headquarters and the Jamaica Labour Party headquarters on August 4, 2009. She was moved to the National Indoor Sports Centre for viewing on August 7, 2009.
Gladys Bustamante was interred alongside her husband, Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante
, at the National Heroes Park
in Kingston, Jamaica.
Order of Jamaica
The Order of Jamaica is the fourth of the five ranks in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and is considered the equivalent of knighthood in the British honours system....
, (March 8, 1912 - July 25, 2009) was a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n workers' and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
activist and the widow of Jamaica's first Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Jamaica
The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Andrew Holness was elected as the new leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party and succeeded Bruce Golding to become Jamaica's ninth Prime Minister on 23 October 2011...
, Sir Alexander Bustamante
Alexander Bustamante
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante GBE, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican politician and labour leader....
. Bustamante, a prominent member of the Jamaican trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement, was affectionately known as "Lady B" by Jamaicans.
She has been called the "Mother of the Nation" due to her relationship with many of Jamaica's founders. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding
Bruce Golding
Orette Bruce Golding MP served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party.-Biography:...
has called Bustamante "an icon of political struggles" in Jamaica's march towards independence.
Early life
Bustamante was born out of wedlock as Gladys Maud Longbridge on March 8, 1912, in Parson Reid, Westmoreland Parish, near AstonAston
Aston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
, to Frank Longbridge, a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, and Rebecca Blackwood, a housewife
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
. In her memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, The Memoirs of Lady Bustamante, she described her birth as a "welcome baby", "Being born out of wedlock was not a major issue in rural Jamaica then." She was raised by her grandparents in rural Jamaica following her mother's move to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
when she was just 3 years old. Longbridge enrolled in Ashton Primary School.
She moved to Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
with her aunt, and lived in the city's Jones Town neighborhood. She enrolled at the Tutorial Secondary and Commercial College, a private secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
, where she studied to be a secretary.
Career
Longbridge returned to her native Westmoreland in the 1930s, but was unable to find employment during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Unable to find a job, she moved back to Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, in 1934.
Upon her return to Kingston, she began working as a cashier
Cashier
Cashier is an occupation focused on the handling of cash money.- Retail :In a shop, a cashier is a person who scans the goods through a machine called a cash register that the consumer wishes to purchase at the retail store. After all of the goods have been scanned, the cashier then collects...
at a restaurant called Arlington House, which had become an important meeting place for members of the Jamaican colonial legislative assembly from rural areas of the island. Longbridge met Alexander Bustamante
Alexander Bustamante
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante GBE, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican politician and labour leader....
, a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and trade unionist who would become her future husband, while working at Arlington House. He pronounced her name "Glad Ice" and called her "Miss G" at the time.
Longbridge was hired by Jamaican businessman Alexander Bustamante
Alexander Bustamante
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante GBE, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican politician and labour leader....
, who later founded the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union is a trade union center in Jamaica established by Sir Alexander Bustamante. It is affiliated to the global union federation - International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association....
(BITU), as his personal secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
on March 9, 1936. Bustamante and Longbridge would form a long personal and professional relationship which would last decades. She would remain his secretary through his years as a trade unionist and then a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
until he became Prime Minister of Jamaica
Prime Minister of Jamaica
The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Andrew Holness was elected as the new leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party and succeeded Bruce Golding to become Jamaica's ninth Prime Minister on 23 October 2011...
in 1962.
Longbridge became active in the Jamaican trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement as a result of her employment with Bustamante and was considered a prominent member of the movement since 1938. She travelled extensively with Bustamante throughout Jamaica to deal with the concerns of the islands' workers. Longbridge became the treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
and day-to-day decision maker for the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union is a trade union center in Jamaica established by Sir Alexander Bustamante. It is affiliated to the global union federation - International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association....
(BITU) from the time of the union's foundation. The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union was the largest organization in Jamaica at the time, making Longbridge arguably the most influential woman in Jamaica.
Bustamante later described the role of women in the Jamaican trade union movement in her memoir, "We women were the mainstay of the union's organisation, though we could hardly have functioned without the brave men who toiled day and night, facing all sorts of criticism
Criticism
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...
and opposition as they tried to help the workers."
She also played a prominent role in the founding of the Jamaica Labour Party
Jamaica Labour Party
The Jamaica Labour Party is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party. Despite its name, the JLP is a centre-right, conservative party.-Background:...
by Alexander Bustamante in July 1943.
In 1951, Longbridge agreed to run for political office in Eastern Westmoreland. She lost the election, which pleased her as she had only reluctantly agreed to seek elected office. At the time, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper described her as "the happiest loser" of the election.
Jamaican political and union life during the late colonial and post-independence era
Era
An era is a commonly used word for long period of time. When used in science, for example geology, eras denote clearly defined periods of time of arbitrary but well defined length, such as for example the Mesozoic era from 252 Ma–66 Ma, delimited by a start event and an end event. When used in...
s centered largely on the rivalry between Bustamante and Norman Manley
Norman Manley
Norman Washington Manley MM QC National Hero of Jamaica , was a Jamaican statesman. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s...
. While the two men, who were cousins, often feuded in public, relations between Gladys Bustamante and Manley's wife, Edna Manley, were much more cordial.
Marriage
Gladys Longbridge married Alexander Bustamante on September 7, 1962, shortly after Jamaica achieved independence from the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in August 1962. She was 28 years younger than he. Bustamante remained the first Prime Minister of Jamaica until his resignation in 1967 due to ill health. He had been effectively incapacitated for the last two years of his premiership due to illness.
When they first met in the 1930s, Gladys Bustamante attended the Moravian Church of the Redeemer. She later converted to Roman Catholicism, her husband's religion.
Gladys Bustamante cared for her husband at their home, which was called Bellencita, for the remainder of his life. Alexander Bustamante died on August 6, 1977. Bustamante described herself as "paralysed with grief" following her husband's death. She coped with her husband's death by becoming intimately involved with Jamaican charitable causes.
Bustamante became a patron of the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston, named for her husband. Much of her work focused on the plight of poor, working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
Jamaicans and their children. She worked to improve the standard of living
Standard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
for workers in Jamaica's shipping ports and sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
communities. She also worked to improve the lives of impoverished children and their families.
Recognition
Gladys Bustamante received a number of domestic and international awards for her work. She was awarded the Order of JamaicaOrder of Jamaica
The Order of Jamaica is the fourth of the five ranks in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and is considered the equivalent of knighthood in the British honours system....
in 1982. The government of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
bestowed Mrs. Bustamante with the Orchid Award in 1979 in recognition of her husband's career. The Jamaican government further awarded Bustamante the Plaque for Outstanding Public Service to Jamaica in 1986 to mark the end of the United Nations Decade for Women (1976–1986).
The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) awarded Gladys Bustamante the Key to the city of Kingston on October 16, 2006, which was declared to be Lady Bustamante Day.
Later life
In 2009, Prime Minister Bruce Golding and the leadership of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) celebrated Bustamante's 97th birthday at her residence in Irish Town, Saint Andrew Parish, JamaicaSaint Andrew Parish, Jamaica
Saint Andrew is a parish, situated in the southeast of Jamaica in the county of Surrey. It lies north, west and east of Kingston, and stretches into the Blue Mountains and at the 2001 census had the highest population of all the parishes in Jamaica. The Right Excellent George William Gordon Saint...
.
Bustamante continued to hold the title of honorary treasurer of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union at the time of her death in 2009. She was also a trustee and executive member of the Jamaica Labour Party
Jamaica Labour Party
The Jamaica Labour Party is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party. Despite its name, the JLP is a centre-right, conservative party.-Background:...
(JLP) that her husband had founded.
Death
Gladys Bustamante had been ill for several years and had been confined to her Irish Town home for the last two years of her life. Her condition suddenly worsened around 10:00 am on July 25, 2009. She was rushed to the hospital by her caregivers. However, Bustamante died at approximately 4:40 pm on July 25, 2009, at the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. She was 97 years old. Bustamante had no children.Bustamante lay in state at both the BITU headquarters and the Jamaica Labour Party headquarters on August 4, 2009. She was moved to the National Indoor Sports Centre for viewing on August 7, 2009.
Gladys Bustamante was interred alongside her husband, Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante
Alexander Bustamante
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante GBE, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican politician and labour leader....
, at the National Heroes Park
National Heroes Park
National Heroes Park is a botanical garden in Kingston, Jamaica. The largest open space in Kingston at 20 hectares in size, National Heroes Park features numerous monuments, and is the burial site of many of Jamaica's National Heroes, Prime Ministers, and cultural leaders.-History:Founded in 1783,...
in Kingston, Jamaica.