Sir Hugh Worrell Springer

First Registrar of UCWI and the University of The West Indies

Often remembered as one of the greatest Barbadians of all time, Sir Hugh Worrell Springer worked in a variety of professional and political capacities worldwide.

He was an educator, a politician, a leader of organized labor, served in Parliament, and was a member of the House of Assembly, just to name a few of his posts.

It has to be said that his highest acclaim is that of being appointed as Barbados’ Head of State – he was notably Barbados’ third native Governor General.Throughout his life, Sir Hugh Worrell Springer held all manner of prestigious positions such as the first General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union, the General Secretary of the Barbados Labour Party, the Acting Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Barbados, the Director of the Commonwealth Education Liaison Unit, the Commonwealth Assistant Secretary-General, and the Secretary-General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

After receiving a Barbados Scholarship in Classics from Harrison College in 1931, Springer went on to Hertford College in Oxford where he was awarded a BA in 1936. After Oxford, he made the decision to pursue teaching at one of the best known educational colleges in London. However, it was made clear to Springer that based on his complexion he was not in a position to hold the post of a teacher. Nevertheless, Sir Hugh moved on, with his head held high and ready for a new challenge.

He returned home to Barbados in 1938, after being called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in London, where he had previously studied Law.It was in 1940 that Springer was elected to the House of Assembly and in 1944, he was then elected member of the Executive Committee. In another nod to his educational pursuits, in 1946 the Barbados Progressive League-Congress Party coalition appointed Springer to be responsible for Education, Legal Departments, Agriculture and Fisheries. After acknowledging the need for wider regional assistance, Sir Hugh controversially resigned from the Progressive League and the Barbados Workers’ Union in 1947 and accepted the role of Registrar of the University College of the West Indies at Mona, in Jamaica.

Sir Hugh retired from the University in 1963 after which he became a Senior Visiting Fellow at All Souls’ College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. He was additionally elected as an Honorary Fellow in 1988. It was when Sir Deighton Ward, the Governor-General of Barbados at the time, died in office in 1984, that Springer was knighted and then appointed as Barbados’ newest Governor General – one of his finest achievements.

Unfortunately, Sir Hugh was forced to retire in 1990 due to his failing health, and he subsequently died in 1994. In 1998, by an act of Parliament, Springer was publicly honored by being named as one of the ten official National Heroes of Barbados, ensuring his works and achievements live on in the hearts and minds of Barbadians for years to come.