Lennox Honychurch

Lennox Honychurch is the foremost historian and anthropologist in Dominica, and perhaps in the entire Caribbean. Born in Portsmouth in 1952, Honychurch is the grandson of Elma Napier, a notable Dominican writer, and politician. His works cut across history, archaeology, anthropology, and community education among others.

He attended St. Mary’s Academy and obtained a scholarship to study at Oxford University. He later obtained his Ph.D. at St. Hugh’s College. He has a Mphil and a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Museology. The Dominican government awarded Honychurch the second-highest award in the country – the Sisserou Medal for Meritorious Service to Dominica – in 1987. In 2011, he was honoured with the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence in Arts and Letters, and the University of the West Indies awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2012.

Lennox Honychurch devotes much of his time to research and writing and published several books and numerous articles in reputable publications. He has written a lot on Caribbean history and culture as well as on constitutional and political changes in Dominica. Some of his books include –

• The Dominican Story (1975)
• Dominica: Isle of Adventure (1991)
• The Caribbean People (three-book series; 1995)
• Dominica’s Cabrits and Prince Rupert’s Bay (2013)

Between 1975 and 1979, Honychurch served as a senator in the House of Assembly under the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) ticket. He was also the press secretary to the ruling DFP government between 1980 and 1981. He was the President of the Dominica Conservation Association, and Chairman of the Dominica National Cultural Council as well as the Director of Historic Restoration of Fort Shirley National Park.

Honychurch has been working for several years to restore Fort Shirley National Park in the Cabrits into an ecology and heritage site where tourists would be proud to visit.