The Independent Who Helped Build Tourism And Form a Government: Hon. Charles William “Liam” Maguire
ROAD TO 1976 SERIES: GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY PROFILE...
Charles William “Liam” Maguire, businessman, tourism pioneer, elected representative, and one of the first Ministers of the Turks and Caicos Islands. His decision to run as an Independent helped make the formation of the first Ministerial Government possible in 1976. Photograph courtesy of Joan Astwood’s collection.
Charles William “Liam” Maguire was not born in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He came from London around the beginning of the 1960s, when the country was poor and searching for a future beyond salt, fishing and government employment. Many British workers completed their assignments in small colonial territories and returned home. Maguire took a different path. He stayed, built businesses, entered community life and eventually became an elected representative and one of the first Ministers of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Some historical records spell his surname “McGuire,” but the official parliamentary list records him as Charles William Maguire. This article therefore uses Maguire, while recognising that the alternative spelling appears in historical documents. Long before Ministerial Government arrived in 1976, he had already invested years of work, money and risk on the Islands, particularly in South Caicos.
The Country He Chose
The Turks and Caicos Islands Maguire encountered bore little resemblance to today's internationally known destination. No Grace Bay resort corridor or modern tourism economy existed. Roads, electricity, water, communications, and air services were limited, while inter-island travel depended heavily on boats, small aircraft, and suitable weather.
The salt industry that had sustained Grand Turk, Salt Cay and South Caicos for generations was declining. Fishing remained essential, particularly in South Caicos, while government employment supported many households. Migration was also reshaping communities as Islanders travelled to The Bahamas, the United States and elsewhere in search of work and greater opportunities.
Maguire came as a surveyor and engineer, work that brought him into direct contact with the land, settlements and physical limitations of the Islands. South Caicos became the centre of much of his activity. With its natural harbour, maritime traditions and hardworking population, the island possessed considerable strengths, but the decline of salt created an urgent need for new employment and economic activity. No individual could solve those problems, but Maguire was among those willing to invest in new possibilities.
The Admiral’s Arms and the Caicos Company
One of the ventures most closely associated with him was the Admiral’s Arms Hotel. Historical accounts identify the former Kersteiner House as the building converted into the hotel during the 1960s. Surviving deeds and company papers are still needed to settle every detail of its early history, but the evidence clearly associates Maguire with establishing and operating the hotel.
The Admiral’s Arms provided accommodation for pilots, businesspeople, officials and other travellers passing through South Caicos. Its walls and ceiling carried the registration numbers of aircraft whose pilots had stayed there, while its dining room, bar, saltwater pool and commanding view of the harbour made it one of the island’s best-known gathering places. At a time when tourism was still more possibility than industry, the hotel represented confidence that visitors could become part of a changing local economy.
Maguire also owned and operated the enterprise generally remembered as the Caicos Company. Historical sources use several versions of its name, including Caicos Company Ltd. and Caicos Company Holdings Ltd. Its activities extended beyond hotel operations into commercial services, aviation support and the early provision of electricity. Accounts describe hotel generators later contributing to a private electricity supply for parts of the community, bringing light, refrigeration, machinery and new opportunities to homes and businesses.
Norman B. Saunders, who would later become Chief Minister, worked for Maguire at the Caicos Company from 1964 to 1974, initially as accountant and later as his deputy in its local operations. The association brings together two men who would later occupy important positions in the country's political life during an earlier period of commercial development in South Caicos.
Promoting an Island Before Mass Tourism
Maguire did not simply establish accommodation and wait for travellers to discover it. In 1963, he printed a promotional brochure for his business in South Caicos, advertising accommodation and services while presenting the island as a destination worth visiting.
The brochure is important physical evidence of early tourism promotion. It appeared years before the Turks and Caicos Islands developed a major resort industry and decades before Grace Bay became internationally known. Although produced for a private enterprise, it inevitably promoted the wider community by encouraging visitors to travel to South Caicos, stay there, and spend money.
Its significance does not depend upon proving that it was the country's first tourism brochure. It records an early effort to bring visitors to South Caicos through a private business, at a time when the island needed new economic opportunities.
Aviation, Electricity and Employment
South Caicos occupied an important position in regional aviation during the 1960s and 1970s. Aircraft travelling between North America, South America and Caribbean destinations stopped for fuel, services and accommodation, and the Caicos Company participated in the commercial activity surrounding the airport and visiting aircraft.
Hotel operations, aviation services, and electricity provision also created jobs. The surviving record does not allow every job or project to be quantified precisely, but it shows a businessman participating directly in the island’s transition from an economy historically dominated by salt and fishing towards a more diversified future.
That practical experience would later become particularly relevant when Maguire entered politics. Tourism, infrastructure, aviation, investment and employment were not simply subjects he encountered after receiving a ministerial portfolio. He had already spent years confronting them on the ground.
Royalty, Donkeys and the Beginnings of a Tradition
Another side of his contribution appeared during the Royal Visit of 25 February 1966, when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the Turks and Caicos Islands. When the Royal Yacht Britannia reached South Caicos, the programme included official welcomes, exhibitions, boats and community presentations. It also included something far more local: a donkey race.
The Turks and Caicos National Museum credits Maguire with initiating the race. Nine jockeys rode decorated donkeys along the waterfront, passing the government jetty and Caicos Fisheries before returning towards the Royal Box. For a few minutes, the formality of a Royal Visit met the humour and personality of South Caicos.
The sailing display associated with the visit also helped inspire what followed. In May 1967, South Caicos held its first annual Regatta, beginning a tradition that would become the oldest continuing festival of its kind in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Accounts of the early organising identify Maguire as a driving force behind the Caicos sloop race held during that first Regatta.
Those sloops had not been built as recreational vessels. For generations they carried people, salt, fish, food, mail and supplies between islands and neighbouring countries. Placing them at the centre of a public race transformed an essential part of working island life into a celebration of maritime skill and identity.
His role should be recognised without overlooking the community effort behind the wider Regatta. Norman Saunders assisted with its organisation, the Caicos Company and other businesses contributed sponsorship and prizes, while boat owners, sailors and residents made the event succeed. What began through the work of early organisers was embraced by South Caicos and became part of its cultural inheritance.
A Regional Tourism Voice
By the early 1970s, Maguire's tourism activities extended beyond his own businesses. A United Nations report published in 1974 identified him as a hotelier, a member of the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board and a Regional Director of the Caribbean Hotel Association.
That documentary record places him within regional tourism discussions at a time when the local industry remained small and uncertain. Large resorts had not yet transformed Providenciales, and tourism had not become the dominant force in the national economy. His experience therefore belonged to an earlier stage, when basic questions still had to be answered about accommodation, transportation, promotion, investment and how the Islands could attract visitors at all.
Tourism in the Turks and Caicos was not created by one person, company or government. Maguire's significance lies instead in being among those who recognised its possibilities early and attempted to build some of the services required to support it.
From Business to the State Council
By 1972, his public role had expanded from business into elected politics. He offered himself to the voters of Middle Caicos and won a seat in the State Council.
For a London-born businessman without generations of family roots on the island, election by the people of Middle Caicos was significant. Contemporary reporting later stated that he had obtained Turks and Caicos status. The legal instrument should still be located, but the available evidence supports the conclusion that he held that status before contesting the 1976 election.
Within a year of entering the State Council, he became associated with one of the most unusual constitutional proposals in the country's history: closer association with Canada.
On 14 March 1973, the State Council adopted a resolution supporting exploration of such a relationship. The timing was important. The Bahamas was approaching independence, Britain's relationship with its Caribbean territories was changing, and the Turks and Caicos Islands was considering its own constitutional and economic future.
Maguire carried the idea beyond the Council chamber, travelling to Ottawa and gaining the attention of Canadian parliamentarians, including Heath Macquarrie. In August 1973, a delegation from the Canadian branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visited the Turks and Caicos Islands. In January 1974, Canadian Member of Parliament Max Saltsman introduced a private member's bill asking Canada to examine a possible association with the territory, with one version contemplating a relationship with Nova Scotia.
The proposal did not succeed. In April 1974, the Canadian Government decided not to pursue it. British officials had doubts, no referendum had demonstrated majority support and no final constitutional model had been agreed. Those limitations are important. Nevertheless, an idea debated in the Turks and Caicos State Council had reached Canada's Parliament, and Maguire had played an important role in carrying it there.
The 1976 Election
The political structure of the Turks and Caicos Islands changed fundamentally in 1976. The new Constitution came into operation on 30 August, creating the office of Chief Minister and providing the framework for Ministerial Government. The general election followed on 29 September.
This time Maguire stood as an Independent in South Caicos South, rather than Middle Caicos, which he had represented in the 1972 State Council. The electorate chose him by 121 votes to 76, giving him a majority of 45.
Nationally, no political party won an outright majority. The People's Democratic Movement won five seats, the Progressive National Organisation four, while two Independents were elected: Daniel Williams in Bottle Creek and Maguire in South Caicos South. Six elected members were required for a working majority, placing the two Independents in a pivotal position.
South Caicos Had Its Say
What happened after the votes were counted became part of the foundation story of Ministerial Government.
Daniel Williams joined the PDM on 30 September, according to contemporary reporting, giving J. A. G. S. McCartney the six elected supporters needed for a working majority. Maguire also agreed to support the PDM-led administration, but contemporary reporting is important in understanding how his decision was presented at the time.
On 5 October 1976, the Cayman Compass reported that he had decided to vote with the PDM “because of the desires of his constituency,” while intending to remain an Independent. The wording matters because it places South Caicos South, rather than simply Maguire's personal political preference, within the story of how the first government was formed.
He had not stood as a PDM candidate, and the available evidence does not establish that he formally joined the party immediately after the election. His position is better understood as an Independent agreeing to work with the PDM while retaining the mandate under which the people of South Caicos South had elected him.
Maguire subsequently accepted office as Minister of Tourism, Development of Industries and Resources. His involvement therefore extended far beyond supplying an additional vote. He joined the first ministerial team and accepted direct responsibility for areas that would become central to the country's economic future.
A post-election interview reported by The Miami Herald provides another glimpse of his thinking. Maguire expressed confidence in the incoming administration, saying he believed the PDM wanted change and could move the country forward. Explaining his willingness to accept ministerial responsibility, he said he wanted to work for the Islands and believed he had something to contribute.
The arrangement created a working majority, although no formal written coalition agreement has been established. Williams supplied the sixth elected supporter; Maguire strengthened the administration and entered its ministerial team.
His portfolio was particularly appropriate. Years before receiving a ministerial title, he had run a hotel, worked in aviation and electricity services, promoted tourism, and helped establish a maritime event that became one of South Caicos' enduring traditions. He entered government responsible for fields in which he already possessed practical experience.
A Painful Departure
Maguire did not contest the general election of 4 November 1980. After leaving political office, he returned to the island where he had spent so many years working and investing.
The final chapter of his life there appears to have been difficult. Community recollections maintain that political divisions and the actions of certain individuals made his position increasingly uncomfortable, and he eventually left the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Whatever the precise circumstances surrounding his departure, they do not erase what preceded them. By then he had spent years investing in South Caicos, employing people, promoting tourism, participating in public life and serving in the country's first Ministerial Government.
Hon. Liam Maguire, Minister of Tourism and Development, with Patricia Jackson-Patino, Miss Cayman Islands 1977, during his 1978 visit to the Cayman Islands. Photograph courtesy of Joan Astwood’s collection.
The Man Who Came, Stayed and Belonged
No usual description fully captures Charles William Maguire. Describing him simply as a Londoner overlooks the fact that voters in both Middle Caicos and South Caicos elected him. Calling him a businessman leaves out his service on the State Council and in the first Ministerial Government. Remembering only the politician obscures the Admiral's Arms, the Caicos Company, aviation, electricity, early tourism promotion and the Regatta. Even identifying him as one of the Independents who helped shape the government formed after the 1976 election tells only the final part of a much longer story.
His life crossed all of those worlds.
He was born elsewhere, but made the Turks and Caicos Islands his home, obtained Turks and Caicos status, invested in its development, and twice received the confidence of its voters. When the constitutional changes of 1976 finally placed greater responsibility for governing the territory into the hands of elected representatives, he accepted a place in that first ministerial administration.
His story therefore raises a question larger than one man's career: what does it mean to belong to a country?
For Liam Maguire, belonging was demonstrated through years of participation. It could be seen in a hotel overlooking South Caicos harbour, in aircraft arriving at the airport, in early electricity services, in a 1963 brochure encouraging visitors to discover the island, in decorated donkeys racing before a Queen, in Caicos sloops competing before cheering crowds, in debates over the country's constitutional future, and finally in the confidence placed in him by voters.
That is the fuller measure of his place in the history of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Charles William “Liam” Maguire came from elsewhere, but he became part of the life of these Islands during an important period of transition. He contributed to South Caicos before tourism became the foundation of the national economy and entered government at the very moment when Ministerial Government began.
Fifty years later, he should not be remembered only for the parliamentary numbers of September 1976. The more complete story is the one that came before and surrounded that moment: the engineer, businessman, hotelier, tourism advocate, community organiser, elected representative and Minister whose life became closely intertwined with South Caicos and with a country searching for a new future.
He came, stayed and served. In doing so, Liam Maguire earned a lasting place in the Turks and Caicos story.
This Golden Anniversary Profile is dedicated to Charles William “Liam” Maguire and to the people of South Caicos whose work, skill and community spirit helped create the developments and traditions with which his name became associated.
About the Author
Joan Astwood-Sutton, LLB (Hons.), MA Publishing, and Certificate in Youth & Community Studies, is an author, publisher, historian, museum founder, storyteller and historical preservation advocate in the Turks and Caicos Islands. She is the Founder and Director of the Hon. Lewis Edwin Astwood Research Library, Museum and Learning Facility, dedicated to preserving the political, cultural and historical legacy of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
She is the daughter of the late Hon. Lewis Edwin Astwood, who served as the first Minister of Public Works, Utilities and Labour when Ministerial Government began in 1976, and the late Mildred Garland-Astwood, a craftswoman, designer, community adviser, political activist and contributor to the community life of the period. Through archival preservation, oral-history documentation and historical research, Joan works to recover the people and events that helped shape the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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