St Kitts and Nevis confers its highest honour — National Hero, with the style “Right Excellent” — on those whose lives shaped the nation: the labour leaders who fought for the dignity of workers, and the statesmen who carried the islands to independence and built the federation’s institutions. They are honoured each year on National Heroes Day, 16 September, at the opening of Independence season. These are the five National Heroes of St Kitts and Nevis.
Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw
Born in St Paul’s Village on 16 September 1916, Bradshaw rose through the sugar factory and the St Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union to become the towering figure of the islands’ labour movement. Elected to the Legislative Council in 1946, he became Chief Minister in 1966 and the first Premier of St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla in 1967, driving improvements in wages, education and healthcare and laying the road to independence he did not live to see. Honoured as the “Father of the Nation”, his name now graces the international airport — and National Heroes Day falls on his birthday.
Sir Caleb Azariah Paul Southwell
Born in Dominica in 1913, Southwell made St Kitts his home and the labour movement his life’s work, serving alongside Bradshaw in the union and in government — including as Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance — from his election in 1952. He succeeded Bradshaw as Premier in 1978 and died in office the following year, remembered for his work on economic development and the early growth of tourism.
Sir Joseph Nathaniel France
A founding figure and long-serving General Secretary of the St Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union, France devoted seven decades to the working people of the islands. As Minister of Social Services he expanded healthcare and social welfare; the J. N. France General Hospital in Basseterre carries his name and his legacy.
Sir Simeon Daniel
The father of modern Nevisian self-government. Daniel founded the Nevis Reformation Party in 1970 to win Nevis a voice of its own, secured the island’s constitutional autonomy in the independence settlement, and served as the first Premier of Nevis from 1983 to 1992. He was named a National Hero in 2013.
Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds
A physician and founding member of the People’s Action Movement, Simmonds became Premier in 1980 and led the federation to independence on 19 September 1983, serving as the nation’s first Prime Minister until 1995. He oversaw the young state’s first decade — diversifying the economy toward tourism — and was named a National Hero in 2015.
Other distinguished leaders
Beyond the five National Heroes, the nation remembers many other builders of its institutions — among them Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore (1939–2000), the barrister who served as Attorney General during the constitutional preparations for independence and as Premier in 1979–80, honoured in the name of the Lee L. Moore Judicial and Legal Services Complex.
A note on portraits
Photographic portraits of the National Heroes remain under copyright, and this page will carry licensed images once permissions are arranged with the national archives. Their stories, not their photographs, are the monument.
Continue exploring
- Independence of St Kitts and Nevis — the achievement they led.
- The Significance of September 19 · National Heroes Day falls on 16 September.
- Political Parties · Timeline of Key Events
- History & Culture hub