Arnold Morgan Punnett

Arnold Morgan Punnett (Provided by Betty Jane Punnett)

“Mr. Arnold”, as I knew him, was born September 5, 1884, at Belle Vue Estate in St. Vincent, to James Robert Douglas Punnett and his wife Mary Charlotte (Deary) and died in 1969 at eighty four. He spent his early life in Tobago, but returned to St. Vincent and agriculture. Although he tried a number of options, including immigrating to Canada, he always returned to St. Vincent and became a successful planter in St. Vincent, where he owned Diamond Estate. He served as Governor of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad from 1934-1937, and also as Governor of the St. Vincent Secondary Schools.

He served as a Nominated Member of the Legislative Council of St. Vincent for twenty –one years (1925-1946), and as a member of the Executive Council for several periods. Arnold Punnett also served a Justice of the Peace and on the Arrowroot Board, the Banana Board, the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Road Board. He was highly regarded by the colonial administration and received a medal on the occasion of the Coronation of King George I, in 1941 he received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), in 1946 he was accorded the use of the title “Honourable” for the rest of his life, and in 1948 he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

As the Governor of the Windward Islands said at his award of the CBE … “this honour you have truly earned for wellnigh a life-time of public service to the Colony of Saint Vincent – your island home” (from Pioneers in Nation Building by Sir Rupert John, New York: Unitar, 1979).