Sir John George Melvin Compton, KCMG PC (29 April 1925 – 7 September 2007)[1] was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first prime minister upon independence in February 1979.

Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton served as prime minister three times: briefly in 1979, again from 1982 to 1996, and from 2006 until his death in 2007.

[2] Compton entered politics in 1954, successfully running for the Micoud/Dennery seat on the Saint Lucia Executive Council as an independent.

[4] Re-elected in 1957,[3] Compton became Minister for Trade and Production in 1958;[2] he was also appointed deputy leader of the SLP[3] under George Charles.

[5] At the conference from April to May 1966 that led to this change,[4] Compton sharply criticized the British government for excluding certain issues, and accused it of favoring "second-class citizenship for people of another color".

[7] The SLP government collapsed in October 1982, and the UWP won the subsequent election in November 1982; Compton became Prime Minister again.

On 13 March 2005, the UWP elected Compton, then 80 years old, as its leader again at a party convention in Soufriere; he received 260 votes against 135 for Vaughan Lewis.

[11] During the 2006 general election season, Compton parried media concerns about his age and campaigned actively, commenting that it was different from preparing to run in the Olympics.

[12] Despite opinion polls forecasting another term for the incumbent St Lucia Labour Party, Compton led the UWP to victory on 11 December 2006.

[18] On 16 May, Sports Minister Leonard Montoute, who was also the deputy leader of the United Workers Party, announced that Compton was unable to stand or walk on his own, and that the cabinet was preparing to select a successor.

[29] Despite Compton's Anglican faith, the local Catholic church was used due to the large number of mourners[30] and at the request of Sir John.

[33] The fourth born daughter, Fiona Compton, is a London-based photographer who graduated from London College of Printing in 2005 with a BA in photography.

In 2013, she participated in season 11 of the American reality cooking show Top Chef, where she was the runner-up and was voted the "fan favorite".