Jessie Burnham | |
|---|---|
| Member of the House of Assembly | |
| In office 1953–1957 | |
| Constituency | Georgetown Central |
Jessie Irma Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese educator and politician. In 1953 she was elected to the House of Assembly alongside Janet Jagan and Jane Phillips-Gay,becoming its first female members.
Burnham grew up on Pike Street in the Kitty district of Georgetown,where her father was a member of the village council and headteacher of the local Methodist school. [1] She trained to be a teacher and worked at the Bedford Methodist school. [1]
In the 1953 elections to the House of Assembly,Burnham was a candidate of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) in Georgetown Central. She was one of three women elected to the House alongside Janet Jagan and Jane Phillips-Gay,who became the first women in a Guyanese legislature. [2] Her brother Forbes was also elected,and went on to become the first Prime Minister of Guyana. However,Jessie was not re-elected in the August 1957 elections. [2] In October 1957 the siblings left the PPP to establish the People's National Congress (PNC),with Forbes as leader and Jessie as an assistant secretary. However,she left the party the following year. [3] After rejoining the PPP,she published a booklet in 1964 with the title Beware My Brother. [4]