Published 4 October 2019
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
On Saturday, October 12, 2019, the UWI Open Campus will confer the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) on Sir Tapley for outstanding public service to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. The service will be held in Antigua and Barbuda at St John’s Pentecostal Church.
“I would like on a note of commendation to commend His Excellency our Governor-General, Sir Tapley Seaton, on his award of honorary doctorate by the University of the West Indies, and to say how well-deserved he is,” said Prime Minister Harris at his monthly press conference on Thursday, October 03, 2019. “He is a man who has given incredible service to this country through all areas… I want on behalf of the Cabinet to extend publicly our commendation to him and the choice by the University of him as a fit and proper person to be awarded that high honour.”
In 1980 at the age of 29, Sir Tapley was appointed as attorney-general of St. Kitts and Nevis, serving in that capacity for 15 years. This made him the youngest and longest-serving attorney-general in the region. Previously, he served as crown counsel, acting registrar, and magistrate.
Sir Tapley was admitted to practice law in 1975 from among the first group of graduates of the Faculty of Law at the UWI Cave Hill Campus. In 1985, Sir Tapley was awarded the rank of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by Queen Elizabeth II during a royal visit to St. Kitts and Nevis. In 1988, he was promoted to the rank of Silk (Queen’s Counsel), becoming the first graduate of the West Indian law school to achieve the honour.
After his tenure as attorney general ended in 1995, Sir Tapley spent 20 years in private practice, where he served in a number of capacities including but not limited to, director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce; president of the St. Kitts and Nevis Bar Association; president of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Bar Association, and first president of the St Christopher National Trust, as well as vice-president of the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park Society and chairman of the UWI’s Territorial Advisory Committee. He was also a member of the Tripartite Committee (Government/Chamber/Trade Union), as well as the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.
In September 2015, Sir Tapley was appointed governor-general of St. Kitts and Nevis, a position he still holds today. In November 2015, he was conferred the accolade, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (G.C.M.G) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
