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As a youngster Grantley was educated at St. Giles and at Harrison College in Barbados. In 1918 he was awarded
the Barbados Scholarship and then on to study at Oxford University in London. He
later became a lawyer.
In 1929 he got married to Grace Thorne at St. John's Church and produced a child J.M.G.M. 'Tom' Adams, who followed in his father’s footstep and won the Barbados Scholarship, and attended Oxford to become a lawyer. Tom Adams would later be elected as Barbados' second Prime Minister from (1976 - 1985).
Grantley
Adams was elected into the House of Assembly (1934, 1935, and 1936). In 1938, he
helped form the Barbados Progressive League now called the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) League, a position which he held until 1941.
From 1941 to
1954, Adams was president of the Barbados Workers 'Union (BWU). During his presidency, he advocated independence, unionism and
power to the disenfranchised. In
1942 the exclusive income qualification was lowered and women were given the
right to vote. He was a social reformer bent on achieving human rights for
Barbadians.
Grantley became the first Premier of Barbados and
the only Prime Minister of the now defunct West Indies Federation, serving from
1958 to 1962.In 1957 he was knighted and Sir Grantley Adams is one of Barbados 10 National Heroes.
Sir Grantley Adams died in 1976 at the age of 73. He is buried at St. Michael's Cathedral.
In 1976, Seawell
Airport was renamed Grantley Adams International Airport.
Adams is one of Barbados' National Heroes. A statue in honour of Adams is located in front of the Government
Headquarters at Bay Street, St. Michael. A local secondary school was also named
after him. His image appears on Barbados' $100 notes.
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