His Excellency Frederick Eutrope Degazon
Former President of the Commonwealth of Dominica

Frederick Eutrope Degazon was the first President of Dominica. He was born in Castries, Saint Lucia, and at last report was living in exile in London.

Early life and education

Degazon went to college in Saint Lucia and studied law in the University of London.

Career

President, Speaker, Civil Servant, Lawyer. Born in St. Lucia 1913. Educated at St. Mary's College, St. Lucia, and London University. Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn 1934. Practised privately in St. Lucia and Dominica 1934 -1940. Served in the Civil Service of Dominica, St. Lucia and Jamaica as Acting Administrator, Crown Attorney, Member of Executive and Legislative Councils and Permanent Secretary at various times in these territories. He was Commissioner for the Reconstruction of Castries in 1949 after the disasterous fire in 1948 that raised most of the city.

He retired to Dominica in 1969 where he took up private practice and was made Speaker of the House of Assembly 1977-1978. He was elected the first President of Dominica after Independence in 1978. But during the disturbances associated with the constitutional crisis of June 1979, he and his wife fled across the island to Melville Hall Airport at dawn and secretly escaped to England via Antigua leaving the country without a President. He resigned from the Presidency in 1980 and lives in exile in London.