Étienne Dupuch

Who was Étienne Dupuch?

Sir Étienne Dupuch, OBE was the editor of the Nassau Tribune from 1919 and served in the Bahamian House of Assembly for 24 years.

He was named as 'longest serving newspaper editor' by the Guinness Book of World Records.

A veteran of the First World War, Sir Étienne introduced into the Bahamian House of Assembly the first comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in the colony's history, which outlawed the practice of racial discrimination in hotels, restaurants and other public places at a time when the country's tourist industry was experiencing dramatic growth. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He also received a papal knighthood from Pope Pius XII.

He died aged 92 at Camperdown, Nassau, The Bahamas, after catching fire in his garden while trying to destroy an ants nest.

Sir Étienne began his newspaper career as a boy by delivering The Tribune on roller-skates through Nassau's 'over the hill' ghetto areas. He took over the editorship after serving as a soldier in the British Army during the First World War.

He kept faith with the slogan 'Being Bound to Swear to the Dogmas of No Master', used by his father Leon Dupuch when he launched The Tribune as a four-page newspaper in 1903. The slogan was originally used in The Bahamas by John Wells, a loyalist who started the first Bahamian newspaper, The Gazette. His descendent Lisa Wells founded the first news website in The Bahamas, BahamasB2B.com, in 2000. For years, Sir Étienne was at odds with Nassau's ruling white élite, 'the Bay Street Boys', and was hostile to HRH The Duke of Windsor during his five-year 'reign' as Governor of the Bahamas during the Second World War.