Bustamante, Sir William Alexander
e-mail
1884-1977
Also known as William Aelxander Clarke and Alejandro Bustamanti
First Prime Minister of Jamaica
Little is known for certain about Bustamante's early life, which he seems to have deliberately concealed or fabricated, but he was probably born in Jamaica into poverty, one of 13 children, to an Arawak mother and an Irish father, and spent some years in the USA, apparently without legal papers and for some of the time under an assumed name. 
When he returned to Jamaica it was as "the adopted son of a Castilian Spaniard" According to this story he was adopted at the age of 15 by a wealthy Spanish army officer on vacation in Jamaica, and spent some years in Spain, where he was well educated. He joined the Spanish army, then worked in Cuba and Panama, before going to New York, where he became wealthy through judicious investments and money-lending following the stock market crash of 1929. Returning to Jamaica he formed the Bustamante Industrial Trade Unions in 1942, with himself as president for life, and he was arrested for civil disorder in the campaign for Jamaican independence. When independence was achieved in 1962 he was elected the country's first prime minister, and was succeeded in 1967 by his cousin and political rival, Norman Manly.
References
Dever, Maria, and Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
Dictionary of National Biography
Eaton, George E. Alexander Bustamante and Modern Jamaica. (Kingston: Kingston Publishers, 1975)
Cartwright, David M. "[Democratic Socialism in Jamaica]." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1156/jamaica.html
Indexes
AfricanNative American and Alaskan Native, Inuit
Cuba
Jamaica
Panama
USA
19th Century
20th Century
Rulers, Nobles, Chiefs, Presidents, Prime Ministers
Military and Defense
Unions, Labor
Self-made Men and Women
Figures Whose Adoption or Fostering Is Fictitious, Disputed or Unconfirmed
Priest, Religious, Teacher, Coach, Mentor, Patron, Apprentice Master or Owner
Always in Contact or Knew Identities
