The Right Excellent Sir Roland Theodore Symonette achieved high office as a Bahamian political figure. He was leader of the United Bahamian Party, which some felt represented the interests of the "Bay Street Boys" and was the ruling party between 1958 and 1967. When the country achieved self-government in 1964 Symonette was the first premier.
Biography
Roland "Pop" Symonette was one of nine children of Methodist minister Edwin Lofthouse Symonette and his wife Lavania Alethia on the small island settlement of Current, Eleuthera. Although he had only six years of formal education, Symonette became one of the wealthiest men of his generation. An autodidact and lifelong advocate of education, he was a school teacher early in his career. As teaching was a difficult way to make a living, Symonette first tried to make his way as a fisherman in Riveria Beach, Florida and then during Prohibition, Symonette transported whiskey to the United States. During this time he engaged in business with the Bronfman syndicate via Sam Ross, the spouse of Libby Bronfman. Symonette parted ways with the Bronfmans as prohibition ended and when the Bronfman's were looking into more unsavory ways to profit from human vice. Presumably Symonette felt that in addition to being morally objectional, the Bronfman's plans would endanger the populace of his small homeland. Symonette's distaste for gambling and drugs was well known. With the profits from bootlegging, Sir Roland invested in real estate, hotels, a shipyard which built boats for the British Navy during WWII and eventually a wide range of philanthropic interests, including Camp Symonette, originally built for the youth of the Bahamas. The Symonette family's holdings have never been publicly confirmed, but public speculation has placed it between $700 million and $2.5 billion USD. In 1925, Symonette campaigned successfully for a seat in the Bahamas' House of Assembly. He served in the House, representing the Shirlea district until his retirement in 1977. His 52 years as a Member of Parliament is the longest record of service in the House of Assembly. Symonette served as the head of government of the Bahama Islands from 1955 to 1964 and in 1964, when the country achieved internal self-government, he became the first Premier of the Bahama Islands. In 1959, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Symonette's political opposition seeks to smear him by repeating that the United Bahamian Party which Symonettee led was a "white oligarchy" intent on suppressing Afro-Bahamaians, this is an opinion not a fact. While it's true that he was conservative, Sir Roland's philanthropy extended to many Afro-Bahamian churches and individuals. The 1967 British Royal Commission of Inquiry reported that Symonette received 5,000 pounds from the U.S. casino interests who had left Cuba and were seeking a greater presence in The Bahamas. This sum was so modest to a man of Symonette's wealth that it is thought that he was acting as an informant to US intelligence agencies, who were concerned lest mobsters reestablish enterprises like the ones they operated in Cuba before the revolution. . Source: Masters of Paradise: Organised Crime and the Internal Revenue Service in the Bahamas by Alan Block page 41 as quoted below: "…Of those on the executive council who were lobbied so in intensely and extensively, Sir Roland Symonette was the most reluctant and disturbed. Soon to become the first premier of the Bahamas with the passage of a new constitution in 1964, Symonette was morally opposed to gambling. And even though he finally accepted a modest consultancy agreement with DEVCO, he still could not bring himself to vote for the certificate. Shortly after this difficult and morally ambiguous period, Symonette became premier and resigned his consultancy, having collected only 5,000 pounds."
Family life
Symonette was married three times. By his first wife Gertrude Nellie, Symonette had one son, Basil Harcourt. By his second wife, the former Thelma Bell Clepper of Andalusia, Alabama, Symonette had one son, Robert "Bobby", and one daughter, Zelda. In the late 1940s, Symonette married Canadian Margaret Frances, the union producing one daughter, Margaret Ann, who died of encephalitis when she was a toddler, and two sons, Roland Craig and Theodore Brent. Symonette's eldest son founded the Bitter End Resort in the BVI's. His second son Bobby served as Speaker of the House of Assembly. His youngest son Brent Symonette was the Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Free National Movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Ingraham led government and in 2017 was appointed Minister of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration. His daughter was honored by the B'nai Brith for improving relations between the races. Sir Roland Symonette died on 13 March 1980 at his home in Nassau; his widow, Lady Margaret Symonette died 24 years later in 2004.
Legacy
Symonette's portrait appears on the Bahamian $50 note. A community park in the settlement of Current, Eleuthera, Bahamas, just feet from his birthplace, was named after him on what would have been his 111th birthday, 16 December 2009.
