Reginald Conyers

Who is Reginald Conyers?

Sir James Reginald Conyers CBE, known as Reggie Conyers during his early life, was a Bermudian lawyer, politician, and cricketer. Born in Pembroke Parish, Bermuda, Conyers was a keen member of the Hamilton Cricket Club, and toured the United States with the club in 1905. Having regularly played for Bermuda against touring American teams, he was invited to play for the Gentlemen of Philadelphia during the team's 1908–09 tour of Jamaica. In the final match of the tour, against Jamaica at Melbourne Park, Conyers scored 149 runs opening Philadelphia's batting, his highest first-class score and only first-class century. He would later make several appearances for Philadelphia's Merion Cricket Club in the Halifax Cup competition in 1909 and 1911. Conyers remained heavily involved in Bermudian cricket after the tour's end, often captaining the Bermudan national team against touring sides from North America. He was playing competitive cricket until as late as 1928, when he captained Bermuda on a tour of the United States aged 49.

After the conclusion of the First World War, Conyers established a law firm based in Hamilton, and in 1928 merged his firm with that of Nicholas Dill and James Pearman, forming Conyers Dill & Pearman, now a leading offshore law firm. Conyers was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1936, and a knight bachelor in 1944, for "services to Bermuda". He served in the House of Assembly from the 1930s, and served for a period of time as Speaker. Conyers also chaired a committee attempting to implement conscription during the Second World War. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, in July 1948. Conyers had been a noted opponent of extending certain rights to black Bermudians, and had a well-known rivalry with Dr. Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon, one of the leaders of the labour movement in Bermuda. After Conyers' funeral, Gordon remarked that he had only attended to "make sure he was put in the hole", and later said he was "one of the biggest curses the n*gger ever had in Bermuda". In his will, Conyers left money for the Port Royal School in Hamilton, providing it was "used for the education of white children".