people, the dangers of oligarchical government is fully realised. `Democracy' is a mockery as far as Bermuda is concerned.'' -- E.F. Gordon, Petition to the Secretary of State, 1945.

The opening salvo in the battle for universal franchise was delivered by the fearless and charismatic Dr. E.F. Gordon, MCP and President of the Bermuda Workers Association.

For several decades, black politicians had from time to time raised the issue of universal franchise in the House. They were ignored.

But Dr. Gordon's hand-delivered petition to the British Government asking for a Royal Commission to immediately investigate Bermuda's political and social ills was an attention getter. His brilliant end run around the Assembly was the talk of the town. The House was incensed. The press and the people fascinated.

Dr. Gordon, a Trinidadian, educated at Edinburgh University and working as a doctor in Bermuda, has been described as brilliant, eloquent, fiery, and a hero of the working class by his admirers, and a host of denigrating terms by his detractors and opponents. Dr. Gordon opened his petition campaign with a series of meetings from Somerset to St. George's.

The Petition was from the Bermuda Workers Association and among the reforms for which it pleaded, the franchise was given prominence as the root cause of Bermuda's ills. It noted that the franchise had not changed since 1648, except shortly after Emancipation when the property requirement was doubled from 30 to 60 and in 1945 to allow women of property to vote.

"Your petitioners are quite convinced that almost all the political, economic and social disabilities suffered by the inhabitants of this Ancient and Loyal Colony have their foundation in the fact that the parliamentary franchise is extremely limited.'' The Governor immediately sent off a memorandum to the British Secretary of State. On the subject of the franchise he wrote: "I agree that the system is in need of an overhaul and that `gradual extension of the franchise is desirable' compatible with the growth of the political mindedness which is currently lacking and can only develop if the people are carefully educated in their responsibilities as citizens.'' The Governor concluded in his memorandum that a Royal Commission was not needed. The rely from Downing Street was to formally request the Assembly "take the petition into consideration''. Nothing was done regarding the franchise. A dozen years passed.

Mr. Tucker In contrast to Dr. Gordon's bold attack, the opening move in the ultimate battle for universal franchise was so modest and inauspicious that almost no-one realised it was the beginning of a political upheaval that would transform Bermuda forever.

On July 7, 1958, the Hon. Member for Devonshire, Mr. W.L Tucker, rose in the House to make a motion to study the 1945 Parliamentary Act with a view to extending the franchise to a greater number of people.

Mr. Tucker did not mention universal franchise in his motion. The House anticipated no major changes. The motion was granted and a select committee was formed.

"Mr. Tucker was a respected, senior member of the House of the era of Dr.

Cann and George Ratteray,'' recalled fellow MCP Mr. Arnold Francis, who was one of the youngest members of the House in 1958. "He was a conservative businessman par excellence. He was a well spoken, determined man, a strong individual. He was not a radical.'' Mr. Tucker and his Select Committee disappeared behind closed doors to consider The Parliamentary Act. The Act had extended the franchise to female property owners, but it still barred the vast majority of adult Bermudians from elections. Property ownership was still the fundamental requirement for eligibility. There were also abuses of representation to consider -- the practice of syndicate voting and plural voting which allowed one voter to vote many times.

Social Changes Before their interim report was produced in 1960, the tempo of social change in Bermuda picked up. In 1959, the successful theatre boycott resulted in desegregation in the theatres and subsequently the restaurants. This was followed by the longshoremen's strike. These events could not but influence the committee's deliberations and the climate of the House in general.

Also in 1959, Sir Julian Gascoigne, who would have a liberalising influence on conservatives, took up his post as Governor. Dr. Hodgson writes that "no Governor since HE Governor Cubitt in the 1930s so completely recognised the existence and presence on the Island of the Bermudian Negro.'' The Interim Report In April of the following year, the House Select Committee produced its Interim Report. The Majority Report recommended the plural vote be abolished, and extending the franchise to leaseholders with a minimum annual rent of 240. The assessment of a freehold (ownership) was to be on minimum lot size rather than the value of the land, the voting right to go to no more than two owners, or owner and spouse.

MCP Arnold Francis called the Committee's Report "the classic example of the elephant who had gone into labour and brought forth a mouse''. During the debate on the Report, he and fellow MCP Walter Robinson raised the issue of universal franchise.

A Legislature Divided The Majority Report was approved and sent to the Legislative Council (LegCo).

LegCo was affronted and sent a letter to the House on May 16 reminding it that "Constitutional changes are the responsibility of the Colonial legislature as a whole, and that any committee appointed to review the existing laws should be a Parliamentary Joint Select Committee''.

The House rejected LegCo's request for representation on the House Select Committee and adjourned for the summer.

A state of enmity now existed between the two legislative bodies that would bedevil the process for two years, before a joint select committee was formed.

Mr. Brown Late in that summer of 1960, a new personality would burst on the scene and energise the fight for the franchise, much as Mrs. Morrell had done in 1914.

Mr. Roosevelt Brown on leave from a teaching post at Cuttington College in Liberia. Well travelled and educated, the concept of universal suffrage was known to him, and the norm.

"When you return home and see how things are here, you say to yourself, `how can this be?'', Mr. Brown recalled.

"When I mention universal franchise, no-one knows what it is,'' Mr. Brown said. "Everyone's saying to me, what's that? But if you haven't lived with it or read about it, you just don't know what it is.'' Committee for Universal Adult Suffrage Mrs. Marva Phillips, then a young teacher, recalled how the Committee for Universal Adult Franchise (CUAS) grew out of the Progressive Group, the organisation behind the successful, peaceful, 1959 theatre boycott.

"At that last meeting of the Progressive Group, we were each to target six people outside of the group to meet at St. Paul AME Church hall to discuss the franchise. W.L. Tucker's report had come out which gave the vote to renters only and we knew we had to do something quickly. We knew Roosevelt Brown was interested and he was approached to be the leader of the group. And that was how the CUAS came about.

"It's such a shock when you come back,'' recalled Florenz Maxwell, then a university student active in the CUAS. "All you think is that segregation is stupid. We had gone away to get an education and when we came back we were not considered good enough to cast a vote; while of our friends who had stayed behind had been able to acquire land and a vote. So the educated young were discriminated against participating in their government.

"We were all very idealistic,'' she said. "When you're young, you really believe that you can change the world. The more you do to make things better, the better you feel; whereas when you get older, the more you do, the worse you feel.'' Mr. Brown secured the backing of the Ex-Students Association of Howard Academy for the CUAS and immediately set about organising a series of dynamic, highly successful public forums to be held throughout Bermuda.

The forums brought the debate on the franchise out from behind closed doors.

By the second meeting, the hall was packed.

"The meetings were free and open,'' Mr. Brown said. "It was the first time I had seen, in Bermuda, all shades of people together, in a debate on their genuine concerns.

"I wanted the panels to be inclusive,'' he said. "I made sure I invited Members of the Parliament of the day. Sir Dudley Spurling and Browlow Tucker sat on the first panel. I think it was the first time MP's had confronted the population face to face on an issue.

"There was one panel of women, so they could have a voice,'' he said. "There were those who disagreed with this, but I didn't care. Everyone had the right to an opinion. I even wanted a panel of high school students, but the Board of Education said no.'' "I was a teacher at the time,'' Mrs. Phillips recalled. "We went about speaking around the Island. I was called in by the Director of Education at that time, and another teacher Erskine Simmons was too, and we were told we would lose our jobs.'' They continued the campaign and it turned out to be an empty threat.'' "I remember we used to meet at Coleridge Williams' house at the back of town,'' Mr. Arnold Francis recalled. "Whoever was on duty that day would jump in the back of the truck. We would drive around the countryside in a small motorcade, from parish to parish, telling people about the meetings through a loud speaker.'' Up hill and down, through the countryside we went, "in the back of a truck, urging people to come out and learn about universal suffrage. There was growing interest and it seemed to us we were on a rollercoaster that couldn't be stopped.'' The public meetings, first described as "decorous as a parish vestry'' heated up, and became adversarial.

Bermudians argued that universal franchise should come slowly while others held the view that the time was long overdue. Arguments were advances that the system had worked well for Bermuda for a long time which were countered with the retort it had only worked well for whites.

Fears were expressed that a black electorate would vote on racial lines; counter-assertions were made that black people would vote for the content of a candidate's character rather than the colour of his skin. Fears were expressed that uneducated voters would elect irresponsible people to Parliament, and that young people especially were not to be trusted with the vote. In this Cold War era, even fears about communism were expressed.

"I never said anything at the meetings,'' Mr. Brown said. "I was there to make sure that it was democratic, that everyone had a chance to speak. Front Street and Court Street had a equal voice. Within the hall, there was democracy, freedom to discus and argue. Outside the hall there was not.'' "The atmosphere in the meetings was electric,'' Mrs. Phillips said. "Too long had we been without the vote. As we went around from parish to parish, people were receptive and we had the backing of the people. It forcedf the issue.'' Petition The CUAS also circulated a petition for universal franchise that garnered some 5,000 signatures, which, while significant, was not as many as hoped.

Historian Dr. Eva Hodgson writes: "Hundreds, perhaps thousands, refused to sign the petition for fear of reprisal, loss of jobs, foreclosure of mortgages and other pressures. It was rumoured that Dr. Cann's mortgage had been called in''. Dr. Hodgson noted whether the rumour was true nor not, the fear was real.

"There was a calypso song going the rounds: "Hear the Talk of the Town, Government turned the Franchise down,'' Mr Brown recalled. "Everyone thought we should have a referendum.

"At the last meeting, there were so many people, there were crowds outside.

The Bishop was there, the US Counsul, whites, Portuguese, all shades, the whole community. Everyone was talking. They all thought we should have a referendum.'' The CUAS sent a request for a referendum to the Governor, but this was refused on the grounds that the house was already considering extending the franchise.

Unofficial Committee During this time, Mr. Tucker, chairman of the House Select Committee on the franchise, was abroad, first attending a Parliamentary Conference in Uganda and then becoming seriously ill. However, the CUAS had aroused such interest in the franchise, that the matter could not be left to idle.

An ad hoc committee of very influential Bermudians was formed in his absence.

The members were, as reported by The Royal Gazette , MCP's H.J. Tucker, A.A.

Francis, E.T. Richards, G.A. Cooper and the Hon. Ernest Vesey; LegCo members Dr. The Hon. E.A. Cann and the Hon. Edmund Gibbons; and CUAS members Mr. Leon Williams, Dr. E.S.D. Rattaray and Mr. Roosevelt Brown.

"I remember we had long and interesting talks in the board room of the bank,'' Mr. Francis said, "Sir Henry was one of the more progressive members of the then House.'' Majority Report In January Mr. Brown returned to his teaching post abroad and in February Mr.

W.L. Tucker returned to Bermuda. The change in attitudes brought about by the CUAS meeting and the "Unofficial Committee'' was apparent in the Franchise Committee's Report to the House on June 14, 1961.

The Majority Report dropped the leaseholder requirement and recommended immediate institution of universal suffrage, as well as a four-seat parish electoral system, and a voting age of 21 years. The Minority Report recommended a voting age of 25 years and a system of 38 single-seat electoral districts.

The latter was first proposed by the unofficial committee and was very controversial. Historian Barbara Hunter explains: "The idea was to protect a racial minority from being completely overwhelmed at the polls. The residential patterns were such that 17 of the 38 districts would then have a white majority, instead of just two parishes.

Universal adult suffrage During the ensuing debate Mr. E.T. Richards warned that single seat electorate would encourage elections on racial grounds. Astonishingly, the House voted to adopt the minority report. Mr. Watlington's amendment to give landowners an extra vote was rejected. Non-Bermudian British residents had always had the right to vote in Bermuda, and this was not changed.

The bill was then sent to LegCo, which reversed the decisions of the House.

LegCo rejected the 38 district idea and restored the 4-seat parish system. By a narrow vote of 6 to 5, it supported the 25 year old voting age. The bill was then sent back to the House which promptly rejected the entire revised bill.

At a standstill, a joint select committee of the House and LegCo was formed which would decide the issues.

The Select Committee The majority report recommended a voting age of 25 and the four-seat parish system with each parish divided into two electoral districts. The parishes were divided from north to south, except for Devonshire which was east and west. There was a lot of discussion about the boundaries, in and out of the Assembly -- some calling it racist gerrymandering, while others considered it proper protection of a minority.

"These compromise boundaries looked as a whole, would give a white give a white majority electorate in eight of our eighteen districts -- not too far from the relative ratio of the races in the population,'' historian Barbara Hunter writes, noting a similar provision in the US Voting Rights Act to Hispanics and black minorities.

After the summer recess, the franchise bill was taken up again in December.

Lengthy debates and challenges ensured with no reversal or changes except one.

The House reinstated the plus vote for landowners which is had rejected in July, but amended the requirement from 5,500 sq.ft. to 2,000 sq. ft. The amendment was based on the centuries old assumption that people who owned land were ipso facto responsible and the new fear of a politically ignorant electorate putting irresponsible governments in power. Parliamentarians were exhausted and adjourned for the Christmas break.

The bill went to LegCo on January 8, 1963. There was an unsuccessful bid to drop the plus vote, but discussion was short. There was a sense that the people were running out of patience. The bill was approved and sent back to the Hose for a final consideration. When one MCP rose to make yet another amendment, he was rounded berated by Sir Henry Tucker for discourtesy.

It had been nearly five years since Mr. Tucker rose to make his motion in the House. The Franchise Act was passed on February 15, 1963.

"One point that stands out as one reads the roll calls during the years of debate is that rarely, if ever, were the ayes and nays divided exactly according to race,'' Hunter writes. "The parliamentarians of both races in both Houses who considered and reconsidered this measure, were the cream of Bermuda. Not one of them came out badly.'' Universal suffrage was established, but there remained some dissatisfaction.

The plus vote was used in only one election, and then dropped. The voting age was reduced to 21 years of age and eventually to 18 years of age. Pembroke parish was divided into four electoral districts.

Universal adult suffrage During the ensuing debate Mr. E.T. Richards warned that single seat electorate would encourage elections on racial grounds. Astonishingly, the House voted to adopt the minority report. Mr. Watlington's amendment to give landowners an extra vote was rejected. Non-Bermudian British residents had always had the right to vote in Bermuda, and this was not changed.

The bill was then sent to LegCo, which reversed the decisions of the House.

LegCo rejected the 38 district idea and restored the 4-seat parish system. By a narrow vote of 6 to 5, it supported the 25 year old voting age. The bill was then sent back to the House which promptly rejected the entire revised bill.

At a standstill, a joint select committee of the House and LegCo was formed which would decide the issues.

The Select Committee The majority report recommended a voting age of 25 and the four-seat parish system with each parish divided into two electoral districts. The parishes were divided from north to south, except for Devonshire which was east and west. There was a lot of discussion about the boundaries, in and out of the Assembly -- some calling it racist gerrymandering, while others considered it proper protection of a minority.

"These compromise boundaries looked as a whole, would give a white give a white majority electorate in eight of our eighteen districts -- not too far from the relative ratio of the races in the population,'' historian Barbara Hunter writes, noting a similar provision in the US Voting Rights Act to Hispanics and black minorities.

After the summer recess, the franchise bill was taken up again in December.

Lengthy debates and challenges ensured with no reversal or changes except one.

The House reinstated the plus vote for landowners which is had rejected in July, but amended the requirement from 5,500 sq.ft. to 2,000 sq. ft. The amendment was based on the centuries old assumption that people who owned land were ipso facto responsible and the new fear of a politically ignorant electorate putting irresponsible governments in power. Parliamentarians were exhausted and adjourned for the Christmas break.

The bill went to LegCo on January 8, 1963. There was an unsuccessful bid to drop the plus vote, but discussion was short. There was a sense that the people were running out of patience. The bill was approved and sent back to the Hose for a final consideration. When one MCP rose to make yet another amendment, he was rounded berated by Sir Henry Tucker for discourtesy.

It had been nearly five years since Mr. Tucker rose to make his motion in the House. The Franchise Act was passed on February 15, 1963.

"One point that stands out as one reads the roll calls during the years of debate is that rarely, if ever, were the ayes and nays divided exactly according to race,'' Hunter writes. "The parliamentarians of both races in both Houses who considered and reconsidered this measure, were the cream of Bermuda. Not one of them came out badly.'' Universal suffrage was established, but there remained some dissatisfaction.

The plus vote was used in only one election, and then dropped. The voting age was reduced to 21 years of age and eventually to 18 years of age. Pembroke parish was divided into four electoral districts.

Protest: Bermuda Workers Association members demonstrate outside the House of Assembly in 1947.

CUAS leader: Roosevelt Brown, who led the Committee for Universal Adult Suffrage's fight for the vote.

W.L. Tucker: House of Assembly leader Negro representation, 1958: Eight black legislators, Collingwood Burch, Russell Levi Pearman, W.L. Tucker, Hilton G. Hill, E.T. Richards, Walter Robinson, Arnold Francis and Dr. the Hon. Eustace Cann, formed a delegation to meet Alan Lennox-Boyd, the Secretary of State for the Colonies during a visit to Bermuda.