Barbados is mourning the loss of Dean Harold Crichlow, the first black Dean of the Cathedral of St. Michael and All Angels, who passed away earlier today.
In a heartfelt tribute, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley described Crichlow as a towering national figure, a spiritual guide, and a man who courageously held leaders to account from the pulpit and beyond. She noted his fearless voice in the national conversation and his unwavering commitment to the people of Barbados, both spiritually and socially.
Below is the full statement from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley:
As we journey through this world, there is always that one figure who looms larger than life for each of us — that person who reality tells us is mortal just like us but who, somehow, sits in the back of our thoughts as someone who will always be here.
For me, Dean Harold Crichlow was one such person — a father figure, a national personality, a man who, it would appear, knew no fear when it came to his dealings with other mortals. My heart sank when I learnt of his death this morning.
I can only think that there must be some message in the fact that this deeply religious man died today, Sunday, June 22, 2025, on the day of the Feast of St Alban, the patron saint of converts, refugees and victims of torture.
The international events of the past 24 hours, juxtaposed against his death today, ought to make us think. Just as his sermons from the pulpit as the first black Dean of the Cathedral of St. Michael and All Angels provoked heated discussions and debate for just two years shy of three decades — 1972 to 2000 — his death also appears to be telling us to be forever vigilant.
While I cannot speak to the nearly 400-year history of the Anglican Church in Barbados, I can say without fear of challenge that Dean Harold Crichlow was the most recognised figure in the church’s post-Independence era, overshadowing every Bishop who served while he led the Cathedral flock.
I never once got the impression that Dean Crichlow saw his role as restricted to the church. His approach to life did not allow for the separation of the spiritual side of man from the temporal. He challenged leaders from every segment of this society on their duties and responsibilities to ordinary Barbadians — but had a special place in his sermons for politicians.
Many would recall how he kept then Prime Ministers Errol Barrow and JMGM “Tom” Adams, and their Cabinets on their toes in the 1970s and early 80s. For years, his Sunday sermons dominated the front pages of the Monday newspapers. Then, when the big debate in the country was about the future of the sugar industry, Dean Crichlow took to the cane fields with his “bill” in a show of leadership from the front — again taking the premier place in the newspapers.
Interestingly, throughout his career in the pulpit, Dean Crichlow remained a soft-spoken priest with a calming voice — a man who could cut to the core of the issue yet never display an ounce of spitefulness or disrespect to the personalities involved, always predicating his comment on some Bible verse.
But it was not just from the pulpit that Dean Crichlow, who prepared me and my siblings for Confirmation classes, served his country. He was Deputy President of the Senate, Headmaster of Christ Church High School, a teacher at his alma mater Combermere School and Chaplain of the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. He was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit in 1999 in recognition of his service to religion.
Oh, how Barbados could do with a few more Dean Crichlows today.
On behalf of the Government and people of Barbados, I extend sincere condolence to his wife Margot, his children Grace Anne and Gloria and the family of the Anglican Church. May his soul rest in peace and rise in glory.
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