Gaskynd Granger was born in British Guiana on 5th September, 1907. While residing in Trinidad, he was employed as a labourer in the Public Works Department, Edward Street, Port of Spain since 1936. During this period, he was known as an Officer and /or Organiser in the Trade Union field. In 1937, he was the Organiser of the Federated Workers Trade Union (FWTU), apart from the other leaders, namely Alfred Richards (President) and Sylvester Patrick (Secretary). The FWTU “was one of the earliest attempts to form an omnibus union to represent various categories of workers outside the oil and sugar industries” (Teelucksingh, 2013). By 1967, the FWTU merged with the National Union of Government Employees (NUGE) to become the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW).

Apart from Trinidad, Gaskynd Granger was also mentioned as a notable activist in Tobago in the 1940s by Dr. Susan Craig-James in her publication “The Changing Society of Tobago, Vol. 2”. Around the 1960s, Granger applied to become a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, where he dedicated his life as a pioneering Trade Unionist/ Labour Activist until his passing on the 16th January, 1996.

References Correspondence in the Gaskynd Granger Collection, 27th and 29th March 1965. Craig, S. (2008). The Changing Society of Tobago (p. 120, 179). Arima: Cornerstone Press. Craig-James, S. (2017). Gaskynd Granger Collection Query Email. Teelucksingh, J. (2013). The Cost of Freedom (p. 224). Saarbrücken: Scholar's Press. Trinidad Express. (2016). In Loving Memory of Gaskynd A. Granger, p. 49.