Rose Leon’s remarkable political journey stands as a testament to her unwavering dedication to Jamaica. From blazing trails as the only woman to serve as minister in both major political parties to weathering political setbacks and returning stronger, her commitment never wavered. Through launching housing initiatives or mentoring future leaders, Leon devoted her life to national service, championing progress with passion, resilience, and a fierce love for her country.

Published Friday, May 16, 1975 

The remarkable record of Rose Leon

Another in the series saluting women who have contributed to Jamaican public life.
A remarkable Jamaican woman is Rose Agatha Leon, MP, JP, Minister of Local Government, who holds the record of being the only Jamaican politician (and perhaps unique in any other country) to have had the distinction of (1) being elected on the ticket of both the ruling and opposition political parties; and (2) being called to Cabinet rank as minister in both. She was Minister of Health and Housing (JLP) and is Minister of Local Government (PNP).
She was also the first and only woman in Jamaican politics to lose her Parliamentary seat because of a breach of the electoral law, which prevented her from seeking election for a period of five years, and then to return from this disenfranchisement and regain her place in Parliament with flying colours.
Her record is formidable: Former Minister of Health and Housing (1953–55); Member of the House of Representatives (JLP) for Western Saint Andrew (1949–55); Chairman, Jamaica Labour Party (1948–60); Member, British Parliamentary Association (1947); Member, Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation and its Poor Relief Committee (1947–53) (JLP); Elected Councillor, Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation (1969) (PNP); Deputy Mayor (1971–72) (PNP); Former member, Board of Visitors, Female Division General Penitentiary; Minimum Wage Advisory Board (Dry Goods); Saint Andrew Vocational Scholarship Selection Committee; Former member, House Committee on Communications; Former member, House Committee on Social Welfare.
Hectic
Hers has been an unusual and hectic career, kept alive by her physical vitality, stamina, enthusiasm, ambition, and remarkable energy.
Born Rose Agatha Huie, the daughter of Benjamin Joseph Huie, M.D., this woman of great charisma, flexibility, and drive — aggressively capable in the public arena — was educated at Central Branch Elementary School, otherwise called “Conversorium”, in Kingston, the city of her birth. Later, she attended Wolmer’s High School and the Abyssinian School of Cosmetic Chemistry, New York. After her professional training, she returned to Jamaica and established the Leon School of Beauty Culture — the “university” for thousands of Jamaican women who trained there in the cosmetic arts.
Her career in national politics began when she ousted the late Rev. E. E. McLaughlin, Baptist pastor of St. Andrew, from his popular citadel in Western Saint Andrew on the ticket of the Jamaica Labour Party in 1949. Rose Leon the politician was made. From then, she never looked back.
In years to come, she campaigned across the island with Bustamante, taking vitamin pills to sustain her in the rigours of campaigning, and gave her support to fellow JLP candidates from Kingston to Negril, night and day, with an ardour that knew no abatement. This was to prove her political Waterloo in her second bid for political honours in 1955.
Court Case
Mrs Leon won her seat and was officially sworn in when, arising from one of her impassioned speeches on behalf of a JLP candidate in the parish of Clarendon, the Court ruled that she had exceeded the bounds of electoral propriety. An action was brought in court against her by the losing PNP candidate.
The trial was not without its drama and pathos as the present Mr Justice Salmon of Great Britain — then in private practice as a Queen’s Counsel — appeared alone, like a knight in armour, in her defence. But Mrs Leon lost the case, and with it her seat as Member of the House of Representatives for Western St. Andrew. Worse still, she was debarred, in keeping with the law, from running as a candidate in any election for five years.
With philosophical and stoic-like resignation, Mrs Leon took her medicine.
Record
As Minister of Health and Housing in the JLP Government, she proved her mettle. Hers was a colossal job of social and economic reform. She initiated many of the indigent housing schemes that provided for the masses her party aimed to serve. Sir Alexander Bustamante was overwhelmingly impressed with her strength of character, enlightened administrative qualities, and ministerial capabilities. He gave her a free hand.
When the JLP lost at the polls in 1955, Mrs Leon took upon herself the task of reorganising and rebuilding the flagging structure of the party then caught in the doldrums of defeat. In this, she did an outstanding job, but she ran into inter-party rivalries and intrigue. Her explosive and what was considered unwise utterances at the famous Ward Theatre Conclave led to her resignation from the JLP.
The resignation from the party of her first love and the subsequent failure to gain readmission left her with two alternatives: move away from the political scene or accept the inevitable — join the PNP and continue to serve her beloved nation. She chose the latter. The party recognised her sterling worth and character, and they acknowledged her ministerial calibre. In the 1972 elections, she won handsomely in West Rural St. Andrew and became a minister in Parliament once again.
She continues, indomitable — a unique woman.

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