BelizeSearch.com Website of the Day GPCBelize.com Click here for past Websites of the Day

The Right Honourable George Cadle Price passed away yesterday at 6:30am. Belize lost one of its Greatest, RIP Hon. George Cadle Price.

The Right Honourable George Cadle Price, who was born on January 15, 1919, was the first Prime Minister of Belize and is considered one of the principal architects of the country's independence, and is referred to by many as the Father of the Nation. Born in Belize City to William and Irene Price née Escalante, he entered politics in 1947 with his election to the Belize City Council. Three years later, on September 29, 1950, he co-founded the People's United Party, which he led for four decades and which was devoted to the political and economic independence of the British colony, then known as British Honduras.

Price was never educated further than St. John's College High School (SJC did not have a sixth form until the 1960s.) While there, however, he was exposed to the teachings of Catholic social justice, in particular the encyclical Rerum Novarum. Upon graduation Price was hired by local businessman Robert Sidney Turton as his private secretary. He also rallied a few SJC graduates, some of them later members of the PUP, to contest elections in 1944 and 1947 for the local Town Board, being successful in 1947. Price also contributed to the Belize Billboard, then run by Phillip Goldson.

Price, upon the formation of the PC in 1950, was named its Assistant Secretary, and in a famous speech later that year claimed that "National Unity" propelled the PC's actions. With the formation of the PUP, Price's stature rose and he ascended through the party ranks until he became Party Leader following a leadership dispute in 1956.

Elected to the colony's Legislative Council in 1954, he also served as mayor of Belize City from 1956 to 1962. In 1956, Price became also Party Leader of the PUP. As First Minister, a post he held since 1961, he led the team which began negotiations over independence with Great Britain. He maintained that post as Premier in 1964.

In 1981 Belize gained its independence, and Price served as the country's first prime minister and foreign minister until 1984. After the PUP's defeat in the elections by the United Democratic Party under Manuel Esquivel, he resumed the post of prime minister in 1989, serving until 1993, when he was again replaced by Esquivel.

In 1982, Price became a member of the United Kingdom's Privy Council. In October 1996 he announced his resignation as party leader, and on November 10, 1996 was formally succeeded by Said Musa.

In September 2000, Price became the first person to receive Belize's highest honour, the Order of National Hero, for the prominent role he played in leading his country to independence. He received similar honours in other Caribbean and Central American countries.

Top photo by Kay Scott, other photographs by many different folks

Click here to comment on this picture.

Belize Slideshow
Other Belizean "Pictures of the Day":
San Pedro Daily, Tony Rath's "Images of Belize"

Click here for a large selection of photographs and videos of Belize
Email us - Weyour photographs. Send us yours with a description!

Belize Search.com Belize News.com Belize Cards.com Belize History IslandBazaar.net Belize Weather
Belize Lodging Tours & Recreation Diving & Snorkeling Fishing Travel Tips Real Estate
AmbergrisCaye.com Island Information Visitor Center Belize Business San Pedro Sun
SanPedroDaily.com Belize Message Board Restaurants Things to do