Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist | |
|---|---|
 Emmanuel Charles Quist | |
| 1stSpeaker of the Parliament of Ghana | |
| In office 6 March 1957 – 14 November 1957 | |
| Preceded by | New Position |
| Succeeded by | Augustus M. Akiwumi |
| Speaker of theGold Coast Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 6 March 1951 – 5 March 1957 | |
| Preceded by | New Position |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished on Independence |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 March or 21 May 1880[1][2] |
| Died |
|
| Spouse(s) | Lady Dinah Nita Quist (née Bruce; m. 1929) |
| Relations | Clerk family |
| Children |
|
| Education | |
| Occupation | |
Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist,OBE,Kt also known asPaa Quist (21 May 1880, inChristiansborg,Accra – 30 March 1959)[3] was abarrister,educator andjudge who served as the firstSpeaker of theGold Coast Legislative Assembly[4] and the firstSpeaker of the Parliament of Ghana.[5][6][7][8][9]
Emmanuel Charles Quist was born in 1880 in Christiansborg, Accra.[3] He was the son of the Rev. Carl Quist (1843 – 99), aBasel Mission minister fromOsu, Accra.[3][10] HisGa-Danish mother, Paulina Richter, descended from the Royal House ofAnomabo.[3][10] Richter's ancestor was Heinrich Richter (1785–1849), a prominentEuro-African from Osu.[11][12] Richter's descendants also included Philip Christian Richter (b. 1903), an academic and Presbyterian minister and Ernest Richter (b. 1922), a diplomat.[13] Carl Quist was also of Ga-Danish ancestry and a son of one of the threeKvist brothers (anglicised to Quist) who came to the Gold Coast viaHolland in 1840.[3][10][14] The brothers, all ethnic Danes, settled separately inCape Coast,Christiansborg andKeta.[3] E. C. Quist was also related to the historically notableClerk family of Accra, through his cousin, Anna Alice Meyer (1873 – 1934) whose husband was thetheologian andBasel missionary,Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862 – 1961).[14][15]
From 1889 to 1896, E. C. Quist had his primary and middle school education at the Basel Mission Grammar School and the boys' boarding school, theSalem School respectively. He then attended theBasel Mission Seminary, atheological seminary andteacher- training college atAkropong,Akwapim District where he received training inpedagogy andtheology and graduated as ateacher-catechist.[3][16][17] He served as theheadmaster of hisalma mater, theSalem School, Osu from 1899 to 1902.[17] Quist resigned from the teaching profession to pursue a career in commerce.[3] Briefly entering business with the Basel Mission Trading Company, he entered theMiddle Temple inEngland in 1910 and was called to the Bar on 10 April 1913, along with Sir James Henley Coussey who later chaired the Constitutional Committee set up in December 1949 to draw up a new Constitution for theGold Coast.[3][1]
On his return fromLondon, Quist enrolled as abarrister in private practice at the Gold Coast Bar, establishing his chambers inAccra.[3] Quist became the first African Crown Counsel in theGold Coast Civil Service, equivalent to the position of a State Attorney.[3] He resigned from his position as a Crown Counsel within a year to focus on his work as a defence lawyer.[3] He was a member of the Accra Town Council from 1919 to 1929.[3] He was an extraordinary member of theLegislative Council in 1925, serving as a legal advisor to the Eastern Provincial Council of Chiefs. He was elected a member of theLegislative Council, representing theEastern Province, from 1934 to 1948.[3] He was appointed a member of theAchimota College Council.[3]
Apuisne judge at theCape Coast judicature from 1948 to 1949, E. C. Quist was the first African President of theLegislative Council from May 1949 to 1951, Speaker of theNational Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957,[18] and Speaker of theNational Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 until his retirement on 14 November 1957.[3][1] During this period, his colleagues in parliament re-elected him as Speaker during the general elections of 1954 and 1956.[3] The elevation of Quist in 1949 happened after the last Governor of the Gold Coast, SirCharles Arden-Clarke relinquished his concurrent post as the President of the Legislative Council.[3] Quist visited theBritish House of Commons in 1950.[3] On 26 October 1950, he partook in the Speaker's Procession at thePalace of Westminster, as the official guest of the then Speaker,Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, during the opening of a new session that year.[3][19] In 1957, he presided over the special state opening of Parliament on Ghana's Independence Day, 6 March, which was witnessed by several visiting international dignitaries includingPrincess Marina, Duchess of Kent,Queen Elizabeth II's special representative for the occasion as well as the then US Vice PresidentRichard Nixon and the American civil rights activist,Martin Luther King Jr.[3][20][21]
On 27 June 1929, Quist married Dinah Nita Bruce of Christiansborg, Accra.[22] Dinah Bruce was from the prominentBruce family of Accra whose members included Gold Coastphysician andjournalist,Frederick Nanka-Bruce as well asGhanaianmusician,King Bruce. Quist had two daughters Paulina Quist (Mrs.Clerk) and Dinah Quist (Mrs. Annang).[22] Emmanuel Quist was a patron of a number of social clubs: the Accra Turf Club, the Rodger Club and the Boy Scouts Movement.[3] Quist was also a member of theDistrict Grand Lodge of Ghana.
Upon Quist's death in 1959, theGhanaian government accorded him astate funeral with full military honours.[3] After the ceremony at theEbenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu, his body was interred at theOsu Cemetery inAccra.[3]
Quist was createdO.B.E. in 1942, "for public services in the Gold Coast,"[23] andKnighted in 1952.[1][24]"The Speakers' Conference Hall" at the Parliament House has been named after Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist.[25] A commemorative plaque, sponsored by his wife, Lady Dinah Quist, was erected in his memory in the sanctuary of theEbenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu where he was acongregant.[3][26] The"Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist Street" in Accra was named in his honour.[27]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of theGold Coast 1951 – 1957 | Parliament of Ghana created at Independence |
| New title | Speaker of theParliament of Ghana 1957 | Succeeded by |
| First Republic(1957 – 1966) | |
|---|---|
| Second Republic(1969 – 1972) | |
| Third Republic(1979 – 1981) | |
| Fourth Republic(1993 – present) | |
