41 Facts About Lynden Pindling

Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, KCMG, PC, NH, JP was a Bahamian politician who is regarded by some as the "Father of the Nation", having led the Bahamas to majority rule and independence.

Lynden Pindling served as the first black premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands from 1967 to 1969 and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 1969 to 1992.

Lynden Pindling was leader of the Progressive Liberal Party from 1956 to 1997 when he resigned from public life under scandal.

Lynden Pindling conceded defeat with the words: "the people of this great little democracy have spoken in a most dignified and eloquent manner and the voice of the people, is the voice of God".

Lynden Pindling was born on 22 March 1930 to Arnold and Viola Lynden Pindling in his grandfather's home in Mason's Addition, Nassau.

Lynden Pindling's father was a native of Jamaica who had immigrated to the Bahamas to join the Royal Bahamas Police Force as a constable.

Lynden Pindling's father was a shopkeeper, occasional farmer, raiser of racehorses and a businessman.

Lynden Pindling's mother hailed from the island of Acklins, which she left as a child.

Lynden Pindling became chief delivery boy using the handlebars of his bike to make drop-offs in neighbouring areas.

Lynden Pindling's parents wanted the best possible education available to him that they could afford, which led to Lynden Pindling transferring schools frequently in his earlier years.

Lynden Pindling first attended Eastern Primary School, then located on School Lane between Shirley and Dowdeswell Street.

Lynden Pindling spent some time at a Seventh-day Adventist primary school at his mother behest.

Between the ages seven and nine, Lynden Pindling attended all three of the government's junior schools.

Lynden Pindling spent approximately one year each at Eastern Junior on Bay Street, Southern Junior on Wulff Road and Western Junior on the corner of Meeting Street and Hospital Lane.

Lynden Pindling then spent three years at Western Senior School from 1940 to 1943, where the head teacher was musician, Timothy Gibson from whom Pindling later took piano lessons.

Lynden Pindling participated in sports like track and field and softball.

Lynden Pindling went on to study at King's College, University of London, from which he received a law degree.

Lynden Pindling was admitted to the Middle Temple on 12 October 1948 and was Called to the Bar on 10 February 1953.

Lynden Pindling became Parliamentary Leader of the party when PLP Chairman and de facto leader, Henry Taylor, was defeated in the 1956 general election.

Lynden Pindling was elected the party's Parliamentary Leader over the dynamic and popular labour leader Randol Fawkes.

Lynden Pindling was appointed as the first leader of the opposition in 1964.

Lynden Pindling would go on to win successive elections to the House of Assembly in 1962,1967,1972,1977,1982,1987,1992 and 1997.

On 27 April 1965, a day known in Bahamian history as "Black Tuesday", Lynden Pindling delivered a speech in the House of Assembly.

Lynden Pindling was elected in 1967 on a platform that included hostility to gambling, corruption and the Bay Street Boys' mob connections.

Lynden Pindling went on to lead the Bahamas to independence from Great Britain on 10 July 1973.

Lynden Pindling introduced social security measures in the form of the National Insurance Scheme, and the formation of the College of The Bahamas and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Lynden Pindling held the additional portfolio of Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1990.

Lynden Pindling told the commission that US interests had first approached him with evidence to implicate the UBP in corruption, which led to the royal commission.

In 1973, during a US Senate subcommittee investigation of corrupt offshore finances, mob elements accused Mike McLaney and his associate Elliott Roosevelt of having offered a contract to kill Lynden Pindling for reneging on the deal.

Lehder boasted to the Colombian media about his involvement in drug trafficking at Norman's Cay and about giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs to the ruling Progressive Liberal Party, but Lynden Pindling vigorously denied the accusations, and made a testy appearance on NBC to rebut them.

Sir Lynden Pindling spent much of his time working to improve the reputation of his country, but became vulnerable to charges of corruption in 1984, when an official commission set up to investigate drug trafficking in the Bahamas found wide evidence of official corruption in his cabinet and the Bahamian police.

The FNM would go on to win a second landslide victory in 1997, and Lynden Pindling retired from politics shortly afterward.

Lynden Pindling was succeeded as party leader by Perry Christie.

On 5 May 1956, Lynden Pindling married Marguerite McKenzie, of Long Bay Cays in Andros, at St Ann's Parish on Fox Hill Road in Nassau.

Lynden Pindling was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 1976, and he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1982.

In early 1996, Lynden Pindling began showing signs of tiredness and was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer.

Lynden Pindling underwent a ten-week course of radiation treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital's Oncology Center in Baltimore, and was given a clean bill of health, after which he returned to his post-Prime Minister work as lawyer.

In early July 2000, the cancer was found to have spread to his bones and Lynden Pindling was prescribed palliative care.

Lynden Pindling died on Saturday, 26 August 2000 at his home on Skyline Drive, New Providence, surrounded by family.

Lynden Pindling's body was laid to rest at St Agnes Cemetery on Nassau Street in a mausoleum.

Lynden Pindling is depicted on the current one dollar Bahamian bank note.