Ajay Kumar at 18:48, 28 August 2023

2023-08-28T18:48:27Z

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{{Short description|Trinidad and Tobago historians (born 1946)}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| birth_name = Bridget Mary Brereton
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1946}}
| birth_place = [[Madras]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| occupation = Historian
| known for =
| alma_mater = [[University of the West Indies, Mona]];<br/> [[University of Toronto]];<br/> [[University of the West Indies, St Augustine]]
| notable_works =
| awards =
| website =
}}
'''Bridget Brereton''' (born 1946) is a [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidad]]-based historian, who is Emerita Professor of History at the [[University of the West Indies, St. Augustine]].<ref name=CRGS>{{cite web|url=https://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/december2018/BridgetBrereton.asp|title=Bridget Brereton|website=Caribbean Review of Gender Studies|publisher=The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago}}</ref> She is the author of works including ''A History of Modern Trinidad''; ''Law, Justice and Empire: The Colonial Career of John Gorrie, 1829–1892''; ''Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad, 1870–1900'' and her articles have been widely published in journals and as book chapters.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/contributor/Bridget-M-Brereton/3491 Bridget M. Brereton], Britannica.com.</ref><ref name="Nasser Khan interview">{{cite web|url=https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.386584.85a996d1ff|title=Prof Bridget Brereton: A passionate historian|newspaper=[[Trinidad & Tobago Guardian]]|first=Nasser|last=Khan|date=17 August 201}}</ref> She edited Volume V of the [[UNESCO]] ''[[General History of the Caribbean]]: The Twentieth Century'' (2004), and has been co-editor of several other books.<ref name="Nasser Khan interview" />

== Biography ==
Bridget Mary Brereton was born in [[Madras]], India, to Patrick and Hedda (née Friedlander) Cruttwell.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/63687/2/01_Higman_Lady_Nugent%27s_Social_Hi_2014.pdf|journal=[[The Journal of Caribbean History]]|volume=48|number=1 & 2|title=Who Is Bridget Brereton?|first=Carl|last=Campbell|date=2014|page=14}}</ref> Her father had been serving in the Indian Army during World War II, though as the war was over by the time she was born, her family returned to Britain when she was a baby and Brereton grew up in Scotland and England: she went to primary school in [[Edinburgh]] until the age of nine, after which she attended the [[The Maynard School|Maynard School for Girls]] in [[Exeter]], where she took her [[O-level]] and [[A-Level]] examinations.<ref name="Nasser Khan interview" />

She went to Jamaica at the age of 17, when her father took up a post as Professor of English at the [[University of the West Indies, Mona]] (UWI), and where she studied history and graduated with a first-class BA Honours degree at the age of 20.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/63687/2/01_Higman_Lady_Nugent%27s_Social_Hi_2014.pdf|journal=The Journal of Caribbean History|volume=48|number=1 & 2|title=Bridget Brereton: A Life in History|first=Patricia|last=Mohammed|date=2014|page=41}}</ref> Marrying a fellow student from Trinidad and Tobago, she relocated there.<ref name="Nasser Khan interview" /> She obtained an MA degree at the [[University of Toronto]], and went on to become the first person to gain a PhD in a humanities or social sciences subject at [[University of the West Indies, St Augustine|UWI's St Augustine campus]] in Trinidad.<ref name="Nasser Khan interview" /> A work she has cited as having been particularly influential in her development as a scholar is ''Trinidad in Transition: The Years after Slavery'' by British historian Donald Wood.<ref name="Nasser Khan interview" />

In 1972, she began teaching in the History Department at St Augustine, where by 1980 she was a senior lecturer, going on be Reader in Caribbean Social History by 1988, and becoming in 1995 the first female Professor of History at St Augustine.<ref>{{cite journal|url=|journal=The Journal of Caribbean History|volume=48|number=1 & 2|title=Who Is Bridget Brereton?|first=|last=Campbell|date=2014|page=15}}</ref>

Brereton was a university teacher for many years, holding positions variously as Head of the Department of History, Deputy Principal, and Interim Principal at UWI, St Augustine.<ref name=CRGS /> She has additionally held many public-service roles, among them as former Chair of the Board of the [[National Library and Information System]] (NALIS).<ref name=CRGS />

== Selected works ==
* ''Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad, 1870–1900'' (1979; Cambridge University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0521523134}})
* ''A History of Modern Trinidad, 1783–1962'' (1989)
* ''Law, Justice And Empire: The Colonial Career Of John Gorrie 1829–1892'' (The Press UWI biography series) (University Press of the West Indies, 1997, {{ISBN|978-9766400354}})
* ''From Imperial College to the University of the West Indies: A History of the St Augustine Campus, T&T'' (2010)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* Niala Dwarika-Bhagat, Karen Eccles, Michelle Gill, Marsha Winter, [https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/63687/2/01_Higman_Lady_Nugent%27s_Social_Hi_2014.pdf "An Annotated Bibliography of the Works of Bridget Brereton"], ''[[The Journal of Caribbean History]]'' 48, 1 & 2 (2014): 169–201.

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[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century British historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Trinidad and Tobago historians]]
[[Category:21st-century British historians]]
[[Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago historians]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of the West Indies]]
[[Category:British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago]]
[[Category:British women historians]]

[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:University of the West Indies alumni]]

Bridget Brereton - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 18:48, 28 August 2023