Few people have shaped Bermuda’s legal and political landscape as profoundly as Dame Lois Browne-Evans.
A trailblazer in every sense, she was the island’s first female lawyer, first female Attorney General and first woman to serve as Opposition Leader in the British Commonwealth.
Flags were lowered in her honour when she passed in 2007, days shy of her 80th birthday. More than 1,000 packed into the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity for her funeral, while thousands more lined the streets of Hamilton to pay their final respects. Her life’s work was recognised with an obituary in The Times, one of Britain’s most prestigious newspapers.
By then, she was known as a voice of the people, having championed civil rights and social progress throughout her adult life.
LONG ROAD OF LEARNING
Dame Lois was the second of four children born on Parsons Road, Pembroke, to James Theophilus, a building contractor, and Emmeline Browne, a housekeeper.
From a young age, her dream was to become a lawyer. She began her education at what was then called the Central School, graduating from The Berkeley Institute in 1946.
With limited job opportunities for Black women, she first worked as a junior bookkeeper and then as a teacher. Inspired by Sir Edward Richards – a lawyer and the first Black government leader – she pursued legal studies in Britain rather than the US, where many of her peers had gone.
Dame Lois was called to the London Bar in June 1953 and to the Bermuda Bar that December. Soon after, she opened her own legal practice.
FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS
With a deep commitment to workers’ rights, she joined the Bermuda Industrial Union in 1959. The following year, she left the island for Nigeria, where she witnessed the historic moment the United Kingdom’s largest African colony gained independence.
On her return to Bermuda, Dame Lois became increasingly involved in politics. In 1963, she ran as a candidate for the Progressive Labour Party in Devonshire North and was ultimately elected as an MP: the first Black woman to sit in the House of Assembly.
Two years later, internal divisions over the party’s philosophical direction led to a major split. Five of the PLP’s six MPs departed, leaving Dame Lois as the sole parliamentary voice for the party and its supporters.
After PLP leader Walter Robinson lost his seat in the 1968 General Election – Bermuda’s first in which all adults had the right to vote – Dame Lois was elected to succeed him: the first female Opposition Leader in the Commonwealth.
Dame Lois held the position until Walter Robinson returned to politics in 1972. The following year, she was appointed Jamaica’s Honorary Consul in Bermuda: the first Bermudian to serve in that capacity.
In 1976, she resumed the role of Opposition Leader. She also took on one of the most high-profile cases of her career, defending Larry Tacklyn, who, along with Erskine “Buck” Burrows, was accused of murdering Governor Sir Richard Sharples, his aide-de-camp Captain Hugh Sayers, and shopkeepers Victor Rego and Mark Doe.
Tacklyn was acquitted of the Government House murders but was sentenced to hang for his involvement in the Shopping Centre killings.
Dame Lois served as Opposition Leader until 1985 and remained an active PLP MP for another 18 years. She continued to champion key social issues, including immigration reform and legislation that granted Bermudian status to foreign women married to Bermudian men.
In 1998, after the PLP secured its first election victory, Dame Lois was appointed Minister of Legislative Affairs.
The following year, she made history once again, becoming Bermuda’s first elected Attorney General and its first female Attorney General, and was later appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
