Together with a third friend, Paul Bower, after university Edward and Burt set off on a two year tour of the world. In Katmandu they obtained a rare audience with the fearsome Maharajah Mohun Shamshere Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal and, rashly, sought permission to climb Everest from a never attempted Nepalese face. The bemused Maharaja granted it and the trio were forced to hike 500 miles across some of the world’s highest snow-capped mountains. They were the first Westerners to reach base camp, but unfit, unprepared, and unaccustomed to dysentery, they gave up quite quickly afterwards. Edward often scoffed at exercise. He used to say: ‘the body is like a car; the more mileage you put on it, the quicker it is likely to break down. Best to keep it in the garage and polish it up from time to time."

Called to the Bar in 1951, Edward continued to build strong ties with the kingdom of Bhutan and became adviser to the late King. Disturbed by its dungeons and flogging, he suggested a constitution along Westminster lines and set up a judicial system and its first trial--an inquiry into the assassination of his friend Prime Minister Jigme Dorji, by the Commander-in-Chief of the army. Despite having written it, he always said the ‘summing up’ was so moving, the King, the accused, the whole court and even he himself were in tears. The King then sent the crown prince (and present King), daughters and a nephew to England with Edward to be educated. His nephew Paljor, nicknamed ‘Benji’ Dorji became Bhutan’s first Chief Justice, despite studying ‘the Sporting Life’ newspaper considerably more than his books on jurisprudence.

This was not surprising as Edward spent nights at the Clermont Club and days at the racecourse with his brother Charles trying to earn some extra ‘loot’ by punting. In 1954 he married Kathleen, the daughter of bookmaker William Hill and had two daughters, Sarah also a barrister non-practicing and Caroline who has four children: Alexander 25, Anthony 24, Annabel 9 and Henry 8. He often had trouble making ends meet, and when really broke, he used to pick a two-horse race and back both horses with two different bookmakers. He then collected his winnings in cash and delayed paying his losing bet (usually to his father-in-law) as long as possible.

In 1956 aged 28, he accepted what, in the colonial service, was considered, a playboy’s post as Chief Magistrate in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas. He immediately fell in love with the islands and the Bahamian people who were warm, and hospitable. In return he dispensed island justice leniently and with plenty of humour. He sent no-one to prison and this did not go down well with the old guard who admonished him to be more ‘serious’. He once argued with Solicitor General Sir Ralph Campbell over a 30 mph speed limit on the long road home to his house in Lyford Cay, pushing for 60 mph and eventually persuading him to split the difference at 45. It remains so. He was for a time acting Solicitor General himself and was always a popular fourth at the bridge tables of Lyford Cay society in the 50s, sometimes insensing his grand hostesses with wild grand slam bidding which he referred to as ‘the Bhutanese convention’.

Sadness followed with the tragic death of his wife and, restless again, in1960, he joined the United Nations Organisation as legal adviser taking up a post in Beirut to negotiate a peace treaty in the Middle East. Journeying through the Middle East, Fiji, the Philippines and Indonesia, amongst others, he became friends with Ratu Mara the Prime Minister of Fiji, the King of Morocco and Professor Sumitro Djojohadikusumo Minister of Trade in Indonesia. During these trips he developed another hobby; bullion coins. Initially working with Spinks, the Royal mint, and Burt Todd to produce silver and gold coins for Bhutan, he later conceived an international project with the World Wildlife Fund and the IUCN for the issue of coins bearing the Head of State on one face and an endangered animal on the other. It was an original concept, which raised $5 million for conservation among the 24 participating countries ranging from Thailand to Tanzania. This was followed by an issue for UNICEF to commemorate the International Year of the Child participated in by 35 countries including the International Republic of China, its first ever global accord. Edward’s dream of a full Troy ounce gold coin led to South Africa’s Krugerrand. He was actively partnered in these coin projects by his second wife Mary Mullen met in New York. Despite rants on the subject of American women, they married in 1968 and have one daughter Laura. Edward briefly went back to practicing at the Bar in London, but Mary who did not much care for the ‘moth-eaten’ aspect of the English gentry nor the cigar-smoke of racecourse boyos encouraged him to move back to the Bahamas which he duly did in 1967.

Landing this time on the island of Grand Bahama, he worked with Sir Charles Hayward and the Firth Cleveland Group, while forming a law firm, first with John Lamb, then Bahamian Ruby Nottage. Sir Charles was then a minority owner of The Grand Bahama Port Authority. Ten years on, Edward and Sir ‘union’ Jack Hayward (son of Sir Charles) assumed the management of the Port Authority under an agreement to govern the island called The Hawksbill Creek Agreement. As one source quotes: "When Edward took over in1976 the place was really a ghost town. The group was losing $2.5 million annually and the future looked bleak"

In 1979 majority owner, Sir Wallace Groves then 75 invited Edward to a meeting in his office and as one of Edward’s many business skills was the art of reading upside down, Edward realised that Wallace was triggering a buy/sell agreement of Hayward family shares. Edward and Jack (now owner of the football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers) subsequently refused Groves and countered with a cheeky David vs Goliath challenge to buy out his 42% share of the company with $42 million. ‘We had thirty days to scrape up and borrow everything we could’ said Edward. Somehow they persuaded the banks and then raised a further $70 million to turn the company private one year later. It was reported in the papers that Grand Bahama was now being run by a lawyer and a playboy. Upon reading this Jack was supposed to have muttered: ‘...but they’ve got it wrong; I’m not a lawyer!’

Edward often remarked that he loved being in the Bahamas so much he was going to throw his passport away. But in England he met and in 1979 married Lady Henrietta FitzRoy daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Grafton. Henrietta moved to the Bahamas to her parents’ dismay. She said her parents imagined, ‘we had slot machines all down the front drive’. This myth was laid to rest as Henrietta and Edward founded the Grand Bahama Children’s Home, for orphans and abandoned children as well as St Georges’ High and several other schools.. With Henrietta by his side, Edward settled permanently in Grand Bahama for the last 25 years of his life. They have two children Henry 21 and Katie 20 who are at university in Newcastle and Bristol respectively.

He became inordinately proud of his work in the community. For the children, he created a school marching band and chose its musical instruments, often turning up at assembly to make an impromptu speech or two. Ghettos were replaced with decent housing and it was not unusual for him to be found, in suit and tie, pottering around some rough neighbourhood on a whim after dark, introducing himself with the words: "Good evening, man, I’m Edward St George Chairman of the Port Authority. Is there anything we can do for you?" His informal management style could infuriate colleagues longing for routine, or kept waiting, because he insisted that anyone who wanted to see him in his office was welcome. Says Jack Hayward,’nobody ever left empty-handed; that’s why there was always a queue’.

An old-fashioned patriarch with a mediterranean sense of family, he sometimes held up business meetings to take a call about a failed exam or missed flight. He called each of his children almost daily wherever they were in the world giving advice, and expressing strong views on their friends and lifestyle. Once when a boyfriend with a pony-tail turned up on the doorstep, he was unimpressed. "But he is very clever daddy" came the adolescent protest. "In my experience" he rejoined, "the only thing you find under a pony’s tail is a pony’s arse!" Once a year for a summer holiday he took everyone to Malta, where there were still many catholic cousins, and was fond of a family address which while irreverent and light-hearted often ended with him counselling chastely: "As granny used to say, it was never charity that emptied the purse, nor love that emptied the heart".

When his brother Charles died, Edward continued to run his Newmarket stables as Lucayan Stud and adopted his famous black and white chevron colours. Unlike his brother, he did not handle losing with equanimity; once commenting: "show me a good loser and I’ll show you a born loser". But nobody who accompanied him to the races left empty-handed; he always ensured that even the youngest members of the party received a share of any winnings. He was early to spot future talent and engaged Frankie Dettori and Olivier Peslier, before they became superstars. When Dettori once had an unlucky ride for him at Doncaster, he greeted him after the race with the words: "Frankie what’s the Italian for jackass?". Favourite trainers included David Loder, Jeremy Noseda, Richard Hannon and David ‘Dandy’ Nichols. Naming horses after friends, family, and places in the Bahamas, some of the best included Brave Burt, Desert Prince (Irish 2000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II stakes), Bahamian Bounty, Lucky Lionel and Kool Kat Katie. His recent success with 9 year-old Bahamian Pirate in the Nunthorpe Stakes gave him the oldest Group One winner in racing history. Said Graham Greene of the Racing Post: "He was always prepared to sell if offered what he considered a good deal. This shrewd business sense enabled him to become one of the rare breed that made their racing self-financing". Racing mates included Henrietta’s brother James Euston.

Edward, also a frustrated architect, designed and built a new Grand Bahama courthouse and Port Lucaya, a Bahamian-style complex of shops, bars, music and restaurants round a scenic port, With partners Hutchison Whampoa Ltd of Hong Kong, a new industrial harbour for large container ships, with the largest dry dock in the world, was constructed, and a giant Hotel ‘Our Lucaya’ and new airport were built with accompanying new airline contracts. The island rapidly became the commercial capital of the Bahamas. When President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa visited in 2003, he invited Edward to lecture the South African business community on how the private sector and Government should work together.

Two recent hurricanes packing 120 mile an hour winds, Francis and Jeanne, hit Grand Bahama successively in early September. "My life’s work!", Edward exclaimed taking the wheel of a truck in the midst of the first storm determined to visit the power company and people on the island. Unfortunately he had not driven a gear shift for so long that this effort only served to endanger even more lives. After the hurricanes, he worked tirelessly to restore water, food supplies, and electricity, rehouse the homeless,and repair the damage. Only recently he announced "we are almost back to normal again". Then in November he started having chest pains.

Edward died on Sunday December 20th 2004 at midnight in the Methodist Hospital in Houston Texas having had heart surgery. In the Intensive Care Unit, still groggy from anaesthesia, he regaled doctors and nurses with tales and jokes and announced that he was going home immediately. Shortly after complications set in, he remonstrated: ‘bloody stupid of me to let them talk me into this". He was not one to give up on life easily, and as often before, he quoted from his old drinking friend Dylan Thomas: "Do not go gentle into that dark night; rage, rage, against the dying of the light". But in the end it was peaceful. That was Edward. Even the hardiest in the hospital wept and as for the island of Grand Bahama and his family; it’s sheer disbelief. He was thought to be invincible. "I hope" he used to say "I’ve left a footprint in the sand".

Sarah St George Dec 22nd 2004