Donald Sangster


Sir Donald Burns Sangster ON GCVO was a Jamaican solicitor and politician, and the second Prime Minister of Jamaica.

Early life

Donald Sangster was born in Black River in the parish of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. His father W.B. Sangster was a land surveyor. His mother's name is Cassandra Sangster.
Sangster attended the prestigious Munro College in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica.

Political career

He entered politics at the age of 21 in 1933, when he was elected to the Parish Council of St Elizabeth, Jamaica. In 1944 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Jamaica as a member of the Jamaica Labour Party. He then went on to become Minister of Social Welfare and Labour and later, Minister of Finance. He became Acting Prime Minister in February 1964 when Prime Minister Sir Alexander Bustamante became ill. He succeeded Bustamante as Prime Minister on 23 February 1967, only to die in office on 11 April, after suffering a subarachnoid haemorrhage.
His face appears on the Jamaican one hundred dollar banknote. Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay is named after him.

Knighthood

He was taken ill on 18 March 1967, and was flown by the U.S. government to the Montreal Neurological Institute for specialist treatment. He went into a coma a few weeks later on 1 April, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during that period; he died 10 days later.