ADAMS, Tom
Jon Michael Geoffrey Manningham Adams, the son of Sir Grantley was born in Barbados, West Indies, on 14 September 1931. Educated at Harrison College, he won a Barbados Scholarship in 1950 and proceeded to study law in England. He worked for some years as a freelance broadcaster and producer for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Independent Television (ITV) in London before returning to Barbados in 1962. He was elected to the Barbados House of Assembly in 1966 and held his seat in that legislature until his death. In 1971 he became leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) which won the general elections of 1976 and 1981. Adams became prime minister of Barbados in 1976 and was still in office when he died suddenly on 11 March 1985, after having generated a great deal of controversy by supporting the United States intervention in Grenada in 1983. His tenure of office witnessed considerable economic prosperity and a consolidation of the social programmes that the Errol Barrow government had initiated. Tom Adams was one of the most eloquent of all Barbadian parliamentary debaters.