Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

126 MICHAEL MAXWELL PHILIP (1829-1888) A s a lawyer he was the solicitor-general for a number of years as well as the first non-white Mayor of Port of Spain from 1867-1870. He was also a Member of the Legislative Council from 1871-1888 and acted as Attorney General on two occasions. He also fought the colonial government for their anglicization policies which he viewed as anti- catholic. He wrote the novel ‘ Emmanuel Appadocca’ in 1854, perhaps the first novel written by a Trinidadian. KARL T. HUDSON-PHILLIPS (1933-2014) H e became a lawyer in 1959 and has made important contributions in the fields of law and politics as a former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago and a former judge of the International Criminal Court. He was also lead Counsel in the murder trial of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. He served as aMember of Parliament from1966 to 1976 and between 1969 and 1973 as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs. In this role he piloted the dreaded “Public Order Act” which was proposed by the then government in response to the Black Power riots and Army Mutiny of 1970. There was a calypso composed and sung by the Mighty Chalkdust “Ah fraid Karl”. In 1974, Hudson-Phillips founded the National Land Tenants and Ratepayers Association of Trinidad and Tobago and in 1980 he founded the Organisation for National Reconstruction (ONR), a political party which eventually joined the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) which contested the 1986 general elections and won 33 of the 36 seats to form the government. As with Dr. Eric Williams, he also fell out of favour with Prime Minister ANR Robinson and retired from active politics. He was awarded the Chaconia Medal Gold in 1975 and the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.