Sandra Prunella Mason (1949- )

May 12, 2022 
/ Contributed By: Otis Alexander

Sandra Mason (Wikipedia)|Sandra Mason (Richard Grimes

Sandra Mason (Wikipedia)

Her Excellency, The Most Honorable Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, is the first president of the Republic of Barbados. Mason was born on January 17, 1949, in East Point, Saint Philip, Barbados. Her early education began at St. Catherineโ€™s Primary School in 1955, and she left in 1959. However, she received her high school diploma from Queenโ€™s College in England, receiving seven General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level qualifications and Advanced level qualifications in French and English.

Sandra Mason (Richard Grimes, Loop News)

Sandra Mason (Richard Grimes, Loop News)

Mason then began teaching at the Princess Margaret Secondary School in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, in 1968. In 1973, she earned a Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Cave Hill. Two years later, in 1975, she obtained a Legal Education Certificate from Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and was admitted to the Barbados Bar Association, becoming the first Barbadian female attorney-at-law to have graduated from the law school. She worked as a trust administrator with Barclays Bank Dominion, Colonial, and Overseas, Barbados, until 1976. In 1978, she was the Juvenile and Family Court Magistrate and taught in the Faculty of Law at UWI.

For one year, 1993 to 1994, Mason served as Barbadosโ€™ ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. Between 1994 and 1997, Mason was Chief Magistrate for Barbados and served simultaneously as the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

Mason completed a course in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the University of Windsor, Orlรฉans, Ontario, Canada, and at The Stitt Feld Handy Houston ADR Ltd. in 2000, the largest provider of dispute resolution services globally.

In 2008, Mason became the first woman appeals judge to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals. For a brief time, in 2012, she was Acting Governor-General of Barbados. Two years later, in 2014, she became the first Barbadian appointed a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, based in London, England, where she resolved contract disputes between Commonwealth countries.

Barbados Ends British Rule, Becomes a Republic (New York Times)In 2018 at Londonโ€™s Buckingham Palace, Mason was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. In 2021, she became Barbadosโ€™ first president as the nation transitioned from a constitutional monarchy, 55 years after the anniversary of independence from Britain. From 2018 to 2021, Dame Mason was Barbadosโ€™s eighth and final governor-general. She secured two-thirds of the votes in Barbadosโ€™ Senate and the House of Assembly.

Her Excellency The Most Honorable Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, has one biological son, Matthew.

About the Author

Author Profile

Otis D. Alexander, Library Director at Saint John Vianney College Seminary & Graduate School in Miami, Florida, has also directed academic and public libraries in the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas, and Virginia. In addition, he has been a library manager in the Virgin Islands of the United States as well as in the Republic of Liberia. His research has appeared in Public Library Quarterly, Scribnerโ€™s Encyclopedia of American Lives, and Virginia Libraries journal. Alexander received the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees from the University of the District of Columbia and the Master of Library & Information Science degree from Ball State University. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from International University and studied additionally at Harvard Graduate School of Education Leadership for Academic Librarians, Oberlin Conservatory of Music Voice Performance Pedagogy, and Atlanta University School of Library & Information Studies.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Alexander, O. (2022, May 12). Sandra Prunella Mason (1949- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/sandra-prunella-mason-1949/

Source of the Author's Information:

Katherine Fung, โ€œWho is Sandra Mason? Barbados’ First President as Island Ends British Rule,โ€ https://www.newsweek.com/who-sandra-mason-barbados-first-president-island-ends-british-rule-1654133; โ€œSandra Mason (17 January 1949 โ€“),โ€ http://caribbeanelections.com/knowledge/biography/bios/mason_sandra.asp; โ€œSharon Pruitt Young, โ€œBarbados elects a woman as its first president as it moves toward becoming a republic,โ€ https://www.npr.org/2021/10/22/1048403692/barbados-president-woman-sandra-mason-republic.

Further Reading