Sir Howard Archibald Fergus KBE (22 July 1937 – 23 March 2023) was a Montserratian author and historian.
Fergus served as the Speaker of the Legislative Council of Montserrat from 1975 to 2001, one of the longest terms for a presiding officer in the Commonwealth of Nations.
[1] Fergus's most important work was the book Montserrat: History of a Caribbean Colony published in 1994 by The Macmillan Press, London, ISBN 978-0-333-61217-0.
This historical account was supported by copious references to primary sources, and contains chapters on settlement, sugar, slavery, emancipation, cotton, limes and The Montserrat Company, politics, education, and arts and culture.
[3] Fergus wrote the words for the national song of Montserrat, "Motherland", with the music composed and arranged by George Irish.
His poetry began appearing from 1976, with "Cotton Rhymes; Green Innocence" (1978) and "Stop the Carnival" (1980), and his poems were anthologised in the Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse and appeared in Artrage, Writing Ulster, Bim, The New Voices, Caribbean Quarterly, Ambit, Caribanthology and others.
The book includes poems in the names of individual authors; reveals "a new level of maturity and creative skill; and the book benefits greatly from the presence of Archie Markham, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University".
The book was published with financial assistance from The Department of Education and Culture, Montserrat Moments Inn.
In this literary study, “The writings of Lasana M. Sekou were compared to the works of a range of poets, from Aimé Césaire to Oswald Mtshali, from Kamau Brathwaite to Dylan Thomas, from e.e.
It transformed the lives of people at the grassroots, helped them to cope with violent storms of wind and fire and is still fuelling national development in the twenty-first century."
2007 – Montserrat: Defining Moments ... "offers valuable information and insights on the events and persons that have given direction and character to a unique people called Montserratians.
It is another source of material on a small country that had braved many challenges but refuses to be cowed into defeat" – Dr. Hon Lowell L. Lewis.
The book includes many colourful images of Montserrat and its people; designed by Igor Kravtchenko and published by KiMAGIC in 2007.
Book written in memory of Edward Archibald Markham, Professor of Creative Writing, Sheffield Hallam University.
First published in 2010 by Fergus Publications; book design by Igor Kravtchenko and special assistance from Fiona Meade and members of Lime Tree Lane for ideas for poems.
Published by Fergus Publications, for the Montserrat District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies in 2011; book design and prepress by KiMAGIC.
"The book dedicated to Bishop Abrahamand Frances Riley For Faithful Service They carried the Pentecostal Torch with honour".