The late Dr. Roy Edison McTaggart is the Cayman Islands’ newest national hero.
Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin, MBE, JP, MLA. made the announcement during the National Heroes Day celebrations today (Monday, 25 January 2016).
Dr. Roy, who died in 1983, is the first national hero to have been named since 2012 and the ninth to receive the award.
Describing Dr. Roy as a politician of the finest calibre, Mr. McLaughlin lauded his many attributes and achievements.
“As one of the founding fathers of our nation, it is truly fitting that we have chosen to recognise the late Dr. Roy as the ninth national hero of the Cayman Islands,” he said. “We have all benefitted from his many good deeds, undertaken during a long life spent serving this country with diligence and dedication.”
Also speaking at the event, Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Kurt Tibbetts, OBE, JP, said: “It was a joy to see the honour of National Hero bestowed on Dr. Roy. I encourage everyone to get to know the contributions of this outstanding character from the history of our islands.”
Born in 1893, Roy was a pioneering politician, businessman, dentist, cultural guardian and philanthropist.
Yet he is perhaps best remembered as the man who ensured the Cayman Islands remained a British Crown Colony when Jamaica became independent in 1962.
At that time, Britain gave the Cayman Islands the choice to move to internal self-government under Jamaica or to remain as a colony. Totally opposed to aligning with Jamaica, Dr. Roy canvassed the Cayman Islands and received more than 3000 signatures in support of remaining with Britain. He was the only one of 18 members of the Legislative Assembly who favoured this route, but after he made a passionate speech, the house voted unanimously for these islands to remain a colony.
The last son of Frederick S. McTaggart and Antoinette Marie Eden, Dr. Roy attended Presbyterian School in the Cayman Islands, in those days the only school in Grand Cayman, and which his father was instrumental in establishing. He then studied at Morrison’s Collegiate School in Jamaica, followed by colleges in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
Qualifying as a doctor of dental surgery, he graduated at the head of his class at the age of 22, and became the sole dentist in the Cayman Islands at that time.

He married his first wife Rhoda Virginia Bodden in 1916. After her death in 1965 and being widowed for many years, he married Emily May Bodden in 1972.
A legislator for more than 35 years, as the second elected member for George Town Dr. Roy helped bring free education to the Cayman Islands, introducing the Compulsory Free Education Bill, which passed in 1931. He was also the first chairman of the former Cayman Heritage Council.
Dr. Roy started his business career in 1917 when, with his brother Dr. Malcolm “Mallie” McTaggart, he purchased F.N. Lambert & Co, a firm that had vessels in the shipping and turtling industry. He was also the first and only chairman of the Cayman Islands Shipping Company Ltd. that owned and operated the M.V. Cimboco, a vessel that was a lifeline for Caymanians during the Second World War.
In 1947, Dr. Roy ventured into real estate when he built the Sea View Hotel in George Town. He and an American associate later constructed Coral Caymanian, which was the first rental homes development in the Cayman Islands.
He also built the original Barclay’s Bank building in George Town, which was the first four-storey building on the island. In addition, he was a founder and managing director of the Cayman Weekly newspaper which was a forerunner of today’s Cayman Compass.
A generous man, Dr. Roy gave large contributions to the Pines Retirement Home and Prospect Youth Centre, and often performed dental procedures for free.
Dr. Roy was also part of the Caymanian leadership which opposed joining the ill-fated West Indies Federation in 1957. This move triggered constitutional changes which came into effect in 1959.
His family home was on South Church Street, where Ugland House is now located. Dr. Roy’s Drive is named in his honour, and there is a plaque on the wall of Elmslie Memorial Church which also bears his name.
Dr. Roy now joins the ranks of national heroes Hon. William Warren Conolly, OBE, JP; Hon. James (Jim) Manoah Bodden; Hon. Thomas William Farrington, CBE, JP; Hon. Sybil Joyce Hylton, MBE; Hon. Ormond L. Panton, OBE; Hon. Desmond V. Watler, CBE; Hon. Mary Evelyn Wood, Cert. Hon.; Hon. William Warren Connolly, OBE, JP; and Hon, Sybil McLaughlin MBE, JP who is only the living recipient of the award.
Photo captions:
Dr. Roy Edison McTaggart
Dr. Roy meets HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, in Jamaica in the 1960s.
Jennifer and Brian Wight, grandniece and grandnephew of the late Dr. Roy McTaggart, accept a certificate of honour after he is named as the Cayman Islands’ ninth national hero.

Remarks naming Dr. Roy Edison McTaggart newest National Hero
By Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin, MBE, JP, MLA
Monday, 25 January, 2016
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure today to announce a new national hero – the late Dr. Roy Edison McTaggart.
Although he passed away in the 1980s, many of the older generation will remember Dr. Roy well, while the younger generation will certainly know his name. We have all benefitted from his many good deeds undertaken during a long life spent serving this country with diligence and dedication.
It is truly fitting that we have chosen to recognise one of the builders of a modern Cayman Islands, the late Dr. Roy as the ninth national hero of the Cayman Islands.
Dr. Roy was a pioneer in the development of a modern Cayman Islands, erecting the first four-storey building; he was the country’s first and only dentist at the time; a pioneer in tourism; founder of a newspaper; a staunch Member of the Legislative Assembly; a businessman, cultural guardian, philanthropist and former president of the Chamber of Commerce; all at a time when the Cayman Islands was at a crossroads.
Dr. Roy was born on 2 February, 1893, as the last son of Frederick S. McTaggart and Antoinette Marie nee Eden. He attended Presbyterian School in the Cayman Islands, then Morrison’s Collegiate School in Jamaica followed by colleges in the states of Philadelphia and Washington in the United States of America. He became qualified as a doctor of dental surgery, graduating at the head of his class at the age of 22 and became the only dentist in the Cayman Islands at the time.
Yet he is perhaps best remembered as the man who helped ensure the Cayman Islands remained a British Crown Colony when Jamaica chose independence in 1962.
At a time when Britain gave us the choice to go with Jamaica, Dr. Roy opposed the move and stood firm in the face of local opposition. It was a tense time in the Cayman Islands with the decision to stay with Jamaica or with Britain polarising Caymanian opinion, greatly raising the temperature of public debate and throwing party alignments into disarray. Added to that was the threat from residents of the Sister Islands that they would seek separate Crown Colony status under Britain if Grand Cayman went with Jamaica rule. Governor Kenneth Blackburne, after listening to the impassioned plea of Dr. Roy and the applause that followed, declared that the British case had clearly won. The next day the Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to keep the Cayman Islands as a British colony.
Sometime later, Dr. Roy was at a function following Jamaica’s independence when he was approached by Jamaican Prime Minister Sir Donald Sangster. The Prime Minister commented that Dr. Roy was “the devil who kept Jamaica from getting control of the Cayman Islands” to which Dr. Roy is said to have replied: “Thank God!”
Dr. Roy was a politician of the finest calibre and served as a legislator for more than 35 years as the second elected member for George Town.
One of his most significant achievements during that time was to help bring free education to the Cayman Islands by introducing the Compulsory Free Education Bill, which passed in 1921.
As a young man, he first ventured into business with his brother Dr. “Mallie” McTaggart in 1917 when he purchased F.N. Lambert and Company; a firm that had vessels in the shipping and turtling industry. He was also the first and only chairman of the Cayman Islands Shipping Company Ltd. that owned and operated the M.V. Cimboco, a vessel that was a lifeline for Caymanians during the Second World War.
It was Dr. Roy who built the Sea View Hotel on South Church Street on the site where Ugland House now stands and he was one of the first Caymanians to construct homes for rent, collaborating with an American associate to develop Coral Caymanian. He also built the By-Rite Supermarket on the site that still sits opposite the court house next to Butterfield Bank.
In 1953 Dr. Roy’s dental parlour on South Church Street became home to the first commercial bank in the Cayman Islands, Barclay’s DCO with a staff of two. In 1957, when Dr. Roy built the Rembro, short for R.E. McTaggart and Brother, Building on Cardinal Avenue, Barclay’s leased half of the ground floor. It was the first four-storey building on Grand Cayman and still stands today. Dr. Roy was also a founder and managing director of the Cayman Weekly newspaper and the first chairman of the Cayman Heritage Council.
Dr. Roy was a generous man and gave large contributions to the Pines Retirement Home and Prospect Youth Centre. He often performed dental procedures for free as well as helped fellow Caymanians in any way he could.
Although Dr. Roy was not blessed with children of his own, he became a father figure to many of his nephews, nieces and their descendants. So it is with great pleasure that I offer congratulations to his extended family today.
Dr. Roy passed away in 1983 but his legacy lives on. His name is already part of our cultural heritage with Dr. Roy’s Drive, which was dedicated to his memory, as well as a plaque in Elmslie Memorial Church. We now commit him to perpetuity as an official national hero of the Cayman Islands.