December 19, just gone, was one of Anguilla’s most renowned national holidays although there are no official events to commemorate the occasion. Yet it marks the formal separation of Anguilla from what was the Associated State of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. The holiday, originally Separation Day, is now called Heroes and Heroines Day.
The former state was created by Britain, “the administering power”, in 1967 as one of a number of groupings of East Caribbean islands as Associated states under the now defunct West Indies Act. Associated status of the various islands with Britain was granted following the collapse of the West Indies Federation leaving the islands called “the Little Eight” virtually by themselves. Since then most of the islands have become independent nations and members of the Commonwealth in their own right. Both Anguilla and Montserrat have the status of Overseas Territories, the upgrade of Colonial Territories.
Anguilla shocked the region and the rest of the world when it threw out the St. Kitts Constabulary and took over its own affairs on May 30, 1967 – the highpoint of ‘the Anguilla Revolution’. The upheaval followed a series of demonstrations and violent incidents earlier in the year which registered its objection to Statehood.
Historically, there was petition after petition for separation since Anguilla was annexed in an unpopular union with St. Kitts – with Anguillians being regarded as second class citizens, made fun at and neglected.
Associated Statehood made Anguilla both a double colony of Britain – which retained responsibility for external affairs and defense – and of St. Kitts, the seat of the despised Central Government, under Premier Robert Bradshaw, with complete control of internal affairs. Squarely at the mercy of the dictatorial Bradshaw regime, and with no provision for an Island Council and a rejection of the demands of Anguilla, the people of the island rebelled en mass led by the late James Ronald Webster.
After a long and foreboding road to self-determination Britain formally separated Anguilla from the State of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. This action was taken by an Order-in-Council called the Anguilla Act 1980. The Bill was rushed through both Houses of Parliament in a record three days, with December 19 being the Appointed Day for Separation.
