Richard Sharples#The assassins

{{Short description|British politician and Governor of Bermuda (1916 - 1973)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = Lieutenant Colonel Sir

|name = Richard Sharples

|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|OBE|MC}}

|image = Richardsharples.jpg

|caption = Richard Sharples in 1959

|office = Governor of Bermuda

|term_start = 1972

|term_end = 10 March 1973

|monarch = Elizabeth II

|preceded = Lord Martonmere

|succeeded = Sir Edwin Leather

|office1 = Member of Parliament
for Sutton and Cheam

|term_start1 = 4 November 1954

|term_end1 = 31 October 1972

|predecessor1 = Sydney Marshall

|successor1 = Graham Tope

|birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1916|8|6}}

|birth_place = England

|death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1973|3|10|1916|8|6}}

|death_place = Hamilton, Bermuda

|death_cause = Assassination by gunshot

|resting_place = St. Peter's Church, St. George's

|party =

|spouse = {{Marriage|Pamela Newall|1946}}

|children = 4

|alma_mater = Royal Military College, Sandhurst

|allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}

|branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}

|rank = x15px Lieutenant colonel

|commands =

|unit = Welsh Guards

|battles = Second World War

|nickname =

|serviceyears = 1936-1953

}}

Sir Richard Christopher Sharples, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|KCMG|OBE|MC}} (6 August 1916 – 10 March 1973) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda who was shot dead by assassins linked to a small militant Bermudian Black Power group called the Black Beret Cadre. The former army major, who had been a Cabinet Minister, resigned his seat to take up the position of Governor of Bermuda in late 1972. His murder resulted in the last executions conducted under British rule, in 1977.

Career

Sharples passed out from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1936 and was commissioned into the Welsh Guards. During the Second World War he served in France and Italy. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and left the army in 1953.[http://householdbrigade2614.co.uk/members/in-memoriam/lieutenant-colonel-sir-richard-sharples-kcmg-obe-mc-welsh-guards Lieutenant Colonel Sir Richard Sharples KCMG OBE MC]. Retrieved 20 September 2022. He married Pamela Newall in 1946; they had two sons and two daughters. The family greatly enjoyed yachting, and this was the basis of a close friendship with Edward Heath, later prime minister. Sharples was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam in a 1954 by{{nbhyph}}election. After the 1970 general election, he served as Minister of State at the Home Office, before resigning his seat in 1972 to take up the position of Governor of Bermuda. He was assassinated in 1973 by a faction associating itself with the Black Power movement.

His widow was subsequently made a life peer as Baroness Sharples.

Death

File:Sharples grave.jpg

Sharples was killed outside Bermuda's Government House on 10 March 1973. An informal dinner party for a small group of guests had just concluded, when he decided to go for a walk with his Great Dane, Horsa, and his aide-de-camp, Captain Hugh Sayers of the Welsh Guards. The two men and dog were ambushed and gunned down outside the Governor's residence.{{cite book|author=Oliver Lindsay|title=Once a Grenadier: The Grenadier Guards, 1945-1995|publisher=Leo Cooper|year=1996|isbn=9780850525267|page=249}}

= Aftermath =

The Governor's coffin was borne by officers of the Bermuda Regiment, and Sayers' by a party from the Welsh Guards. The coffins were carried atop 25-pounder field guns of the Bermuda Regiment, to the {{sclass|Leander|frigate|1}} {{HMS|Sirius|F40|6}}, which was stationed at HM Dockyard Bermuda at the time. The ship's Royal Marines detachment provided an honour guard on the flight deck. HMS Sirius conveyed the bodies from Hamilton to St. George's, where they were interred at St. Peter's Church. After the assassination HMS Sirius provided enhanced security for Commodore Cameron Rusby, the Senior Naval Officer West Indies (SNOWI)[https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/01/24/family-treasure-restored-to-owner/ "Family Treasure Restored to Owner] who was stationed on the island. A detachment of Royal Marines (subsequently replaced by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment) was posted to the Dockyard to guard SNOWI.[http://www.hmssirius.info/Mick_Pinchen_SNOWI.htm Guarding SNOWI, by Mick Pinchen, Royal Marine]

Sharples was buried in the graveyard at St Peter's Church in St George's on 16 March 1973, six days after his assassination, with Captain Sayers and Great Dane, Horsa.

Elements of the British Army's airborne forces, which were training at Warwick Camp with the Bermuda Regiment at the time of the murders, were called in to assist the civil authorities. The 23 Parachute Field Ambulance, 1 Parachute Logistic Regiment and the band of the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment subsequently provided protection for government buildings, officials and dignitaries as well as assisting the Bermuda Police.

= Search, arrests, and sentence =

Following a police search, in 1976 Erskine Durrant "Buck" Burrows and Larry Tacklyn, who had ties to a Black Power group known as the Black Beret Cadre, were arrested.{{Cite web |date=3 June 2022 |title=Baroness Sharples Obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/baroness-sharples-obituary-8nkhwk03c|access-date=19 June 2022 |website=The Times newspaper}} Shortly before his arrest, Burrows would carry out a $28,000 bank robbery.{{Cite web |date=2010-12-02 |title=1977: Larry Tacklyn and Erskine Burrows, for the murder of Richard Sharples {{!}} Executed Today |url=https://www.executedtoday.com/2010/12/02/1977-larry-tacklyn-erskine-burrows-richard-sharples-bermuda/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |language=en-US}} Burrows confessed to shooting and killing Sharples and Sayers. Burrows was convicted of killing Sharples, Sayers, Bermuda Police commissioner George Duckett on 9 September 1972, and the co-owner and the bookkeeper of a supermarket, Victor Rego and Mark Doe on 6 April 1973. He was sentenced to death.{{Cite web|title=Assassination of Governor Sir Richard Sharples Bermuda Buck|url=http://bernews.com/government/assassination-of-sir-richard-sharples/|website=Bernews|access-date=2020-05-13}}

In his confession Burrows wrote:

"I, Erskine Durrant Burrows, as former Commander in Chief of all anticolonialist forces in the island of Bermuda, wish to willingly reveal the part I played in the assassination and murder of the former Governor of Bermuda Mr. Richard Sharples and his ADC Captain Hugh Sayers. I wish to state, not forgetting that killing is wrong and sinful, that it was upon my direct orders and inspired efforts and determination, that what was done was done, performed with a magnum .357 six-shot hand-gun. I was not alone when I went up to Government House to kill the Governor, but I shall never reveal who or how many others were with me."{{Cite book |last=Swan |first=Q. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XzGAAAAQBAJ&q=the+motive+for+killing#v=snippet&q=the%20motive%20for%20killing&f=false |title=Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization |date=2009-12-21 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-10218-7 |pages=175 |language=en}}

"The motive for killing the Governor . . . was to seek to make the people, Black people in particular, become aware of the evilness and wickedness in this island of Bermuda. One of their major evil strategies being to seek and encourage the Black people to hate and fight each other, while those who are putting this evil strategy into effect laugh and pat themselves on their backs saying, yeah look, we have got them, we have got them conquered. Secondly the motive was to show that these colonialists were just ordinary people like ourselves who eat, sleep and die just like anybody else and that we need not stand in fear or awe of them."

"Finally the motive was to reveal Black people to themselves. This refers to the revealed reactions of many Black people during the Governor's funeral, when Black people were . . . standing with tears in their eyes crying for a man who when he was alive didn't care if they lived or died and here they were crying for a White Governor and yet when many of their own people pass away there is sometimes hardly a tear shed for them. This shows clearly the evil effects that the colonialist propaganda has had over the long years they have ruled over this little island. And my beloved brothers and sisters this ought not to be because there is a supreme authority we can all appeal to and pray to free us from suppression, sin and any evil domination we might be under..."

Tacklyn was acquitted of assassinating Sharples and Sayers but was convicted of killing Victor Rego and Mark Doe at the Shopping Centre supermarket in April 1973.{{Cite news |last= |date=1977-12-03 |title=2 HANGED IN BERMUDA; BLACK RIOT QUELLED |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/03/archives/new-jersey-pages-2-hanged-in-bermuda-black-riot-quelled-12hour.html |access-date=2025-06-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Unlike Burrows, who did not care whether he was to be executed, Tacklyn expected to get a "last minute" reprieve.

Both murderers remained in Casemates Prison while the appeals process for Tacklyn was brought before the Privy Council in London. During this time, it was reported that Tacklyn passed the time playing table tennis, while Burrows took a virtual vow of silence, only communicating his thoughts and requests on scraps of paper.

= Execution =

Both men were hanged on 2 December 1977 at Casemates Prison. A moratorium on hanging was then in effect and while others had been sentenced to death in the intervening years, no one had been executed in Bermuda since the Second World War. Burrows and Tacklyn would be the last people executed under British rule anywhere. The last hangings on British soil had occurred in 1965, while the last death sentence would be passed on the Isle of Man in 1992.{{cite news |last1=Browne |first1=Anthony |title=Death penalty abolished on all British territory |url=https://www.thetimes.com/best-law-firms/profile-legal/article/death-penalty-abolished-on-all-british-territory-2cpw5dgwxxv |access-date=15 April 2020 |work=The Times |date=23 October 2002}}{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/manx-court-sentences-man-to-be-hanged-1532599.html | title=Manx court sentences man to be hanged | website=Independent.co.uk | date=10 July 1992 }} This sentence was eventually quashed and replaced by life imprisonment following retrial in 1994. Meanwhile, the death penalty in the Isle of Man had been abolished in 1993.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2020-11-26 |title=Capital Punishment in the Isle of Man in the late 20th Century: The Macabre Dance. |url=https://edgelawblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/capital-punishment-in-the-isle-of-man-in-the-late-20th-century-the-macabre-dance/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |language=en}}

Since nobody in Bermuda had any experience with carrying out execution, a hangman had to be flown over from Canada, which had carried out its the last executions in 1962.{{Cite news |date=1978-01-10 |title=Article clipped from The Toronto Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star/152889043/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |work=The Toronto Star |pages=7}}

== Riots ==

Three days of rioting followed the executions. During the riots, the Bermuda Regiment proved too small to fulfil its role (which was considered by Major General Glyn Gilbert, the highest ranking Bermudian in the British Army, in his review of the regiment, leading to its increase from 400 soldiers to a full battalion of 750). As a consequence, at the request of the Bermuda Government, soldiers of the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were flown in as reinforcements in the aftermath of the riots. The cost of the damages was estimated to be $2 million.{{Cite web |url=http://bermuda-online.org/britarmy.htm |title=Bermuda Online: British Army in Bermuda from 1701 to 1977 |access-date=23 September 2012 |archive-date=14 April 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414105617/http://bermuda-online.org/britarmy.htm |url-status=dead }}

Aftermath

In 2013, Mel Ayton wrote Justice Denied - Bermuda's Black Militants, the Third Man, and the Assassinations of a Police Chief and Governor, in which he argued that a third man had been involved in the murder of Sharples, but was never prosecuted. The "third man" was described as the most violent member of the Berets and a leader of a more militant faction the group. He advocated for the elimination of the island's political leaders and the institution of a "revolutionary Marxist government."{{Cite web |last=Ayton |first=Mel |date=February 18, 2013 |title=Black Power, the “Third Man,” and the Assassinations of Bermuda’s Police Chief and Governor Crime Magazine |url=https://www.crimemagazine.com/black-power-%E2%80%9Cthird-man%E2%80%9D-and-assassinations-bermuda%E2%80%99s-police-chief-and-governor |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=www.crimemagazine.com}}

Honours and decorations

On 20 December 1940, Sharples was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for "gallant conduct in action with the enemy".{{London Gazette |issue=35020 |date=20 December 1940 |page=7199 |supp=y}} In 1945, he was mentioned in dispatches for services in Italy.{{London Gazette |issue=36886 |date=9 January 1945 |page=325 |supp=y}} In 1946, he was awarded the Silver Star, the United States Armed Forces third-highest military decoration for valor in combat.{{London Gazette |issue=37761 |date=15 October 1946 |page=5138 |supp=y}} He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1953 Coronation Honours List.{{London Gazette |issue=39863 |date=26 May 1953 |page=2939 |supp=y}}

In 1972, Sharples was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George following his appointment as Governor of Bermuda.{{London Gazette |issue=45703 |date=16 June 1972 |page=7265 |supp=y}}

Notes

Sources

The Ottawa Citizen, 11 March 1973,**as first reported.**

[http://hnn.us/articles/29986.html The Black Panthers: Their Dangerous Bermudian Legacy]

The Black Panthers: Their Dangerous Bermudian Legacy, Mel Ayton 2006.

External links

{{Hansard-contribs | mr-richard-sharples| Richard Sharples }}
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDBf_kNxW60 Funeral of Assassinated Governor, Sir Richard Sharples], AP Archive, 17 March 1973
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/10/newsid_2798000/2798039.stm BBC News story from 1973]
[http://bernews.com/bermuda-facts/government/assassination-of-sir-richard-sharples/ Bernews: Details of assassination of Sir Richard, and subsequent conviction]

{{succession box

| title = Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam

| years = 1954–1972

| before = Sydney Marshall

| after = Graham Tope

}}

{{succession box|title=Governor of Bermuda|before=Lord Martonmere|after=Sir Edwin Leather|years=1972–1973}}

Category:1916 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:African and Black nationalism in North America

Category:Assassinated British politicians

Category:Assassinated English politicians