BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 24TH 2014 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is leading an official delegation to the funeral of the late Kittitian jurist, the late Dr. Joseph Samuel Archibald, QC in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
Dr. Archibald who died earlier this month will be buried on Saturday 26th April.
His body will be viewed at the Road Town Methodist Church from 9.00 AM to 10.30 AM. The Service begins at 11:00 AM with burial in the Methodist Cemetery.
Other members of the Prime Minister’s delegation include Attorney General, the Hon. Jason Hamilton; Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Joseph Edmeade; Former Attorney General, Dr. Dennis Merchant and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Erasmus Williams.
Prime Minister Douglas has described Dr. Archibald’s career as one marked by a “dizzying array of extraordinary accomplishments.”
The funeral is expected to be attended by the Governor and Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Members of the Cabinet and the Virgin Islands House of Assembly, the Chief Justice, OECS Appeal Court and High Court Judges, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), international and regional lawyers, barristers and solicitors.
Dr. Douglas noted that over his distinguished career, Joseph Archibald, began his education in St. Kitts at the Basseterre Boys’ School and served in his native land as a magistrate, High Court Registrar, Senior Crown Counsel, President of the Civil Service Association, and Director of Prosecutions.
He served as the principal law officer of the Government, was a member of both executive and legislative councils, and served as a British Virgin Islands Administrator’s Deputy. He was a private attorney, a trial lawyer, and Attorney General of St. Kitts- Nevis-Anguilla.
Dr. Archibald was elected founding president of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Bar Association and served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and Chairman of the Eastern Caribbean’s Civil Justice Task Force.
The name “Joseph Samuel Archibald, Q.C.” is one of 18 names inscribed on the Rule of Law Monument in Austria, all 18 persons being outstanding members of the World Jurists Association.
“I was honoured to know Joseph Samuel Archibald. I was, and shall forever be, inspired by his example. I am grateful to have been able to call him my friend. To all who knew and loved him, I extend heartfelt condolences, especially to his wife, Inez , daughters, brother, sister and family members,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who met Mr. Archibald for the last time on 7th February 2014 during a Town Hall Meeting with nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis in Tortola.
In 2012, Mr. Archibald accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Douglas to deliver the Fourth Annual Prime Minister’s Independence Lecture Series on “A Nevisian Family in St. Kitts: A 100-Year Glance – Dignity, Discipline, Purpose, Independence.”
Prime Minister Douglas last met Mr. Archibald on February 7th 2014, when the latter attended a Town Hall Meeting in Tortola.