Montague Lockhart

  

The Right Honorable Sir Montague Lockhart GCMG
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Prime Minister of the Bahamas
In office 31 December 1983 – 8 March 1993 (Acting: 31 December 1983 – 19 March 1984)
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Cecil Pritchard
Succeeded by	Tim Cambridge
Chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
In office 10 June 1993 – 22 October 2005
Preceded by	Matthias Jacques
Succeeded by	Edward Vanderpool-Wallace
Member of Parliament for Grand Bahama – Marco City
In office 19 March 1984 – 8 March 1993
Personal details
Born	(1938-04-07) April 7, 1938 North Long Island, Bahamas
Political party	Free National Movement
Alma mater	London School of Economics

Montague Oliver Lockhart GCMG (born 7 April 1938) is a retired Bahamian politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 1983 to 1993 and as Chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States from 1993 to 2005. He rose to prominence during the Antillean War, when he became the leader the Free National Movement, one of the country's largest political parties, and opposed the ruling Marxist-Landonist New Jewel Movement. Lockhart spent time as the Bahamian ambassador to the Antilles before the Antillean military intervention in the Bahamas to remove the NJM from power, after the outbreak of protests and a coup. He became a prominent advisor to the Antillean and OECS coalition that intervened, and led the Free National Movement to win the majority in the 1984 election.

Early life and education

Montague Lockhart was born in 1938 in Long Island, Bahamas. He attended the Government High School in Nassau before graduating from the London School of Economics in 1963 with a degree in international relations.

Political career

Lockhart joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the West Indies in 1964, and then the same organization of the newly-independent Bahamas in 1976 after the dissolution of the federation. He served in a number of diplomatic posts, including in the North American Affairs Office of the West Indies Foreign Ministry, and then as Bahamian ambassador to Dominica (1976–1980) and to the Antilles (1980–1982). After the NJM took power the existence of the Free National Movement, which had been the leading pro-independence party in the Bahamas when it was part of the West Indies, was tolerated but closely monitored. Because of this Lockhart continued to serve in diplomatic posts under the new government.

As the ambassador to the Antilles, he consulted President Amelia Abarough on the political situation in the Bahamas regarding the takeover by the Marxist-Landonist NJM.

Awards and honors

• Bahamas:
  • Member of the Order of the Nation (ON)
• United Kingdom:
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG)