About the 1949 Great March and Restoration Day
This is a new holiday in the British Virgin Islands, and its working title is Commemoration of the Great March of 1949 and the Restoration of the Legislative Council. It was observed on the second Monday of November in 2021, but the date was changed to the fourth Monday in November from 2022.
It commemorates the events of Thursday November 24th 1949, when the people of the Virgin Islands marched through the streets of Road Town, in what has come to be known as The Great March of 1949.
This historic march demanded a change to the way matters affected the lives of Virgin Islanders then, now and this will continue well into the future.
The march was the catalyst for political development in the territory, leading to the evolution of the Modern Virgin Islands.
The historic demonstration was led by one of the Territory’s heroes Theodolph Faulkner of Anegada. He was joined by other national heroes of the day, Isaac “Glanny” Fonseca and Carlton deCastro, and over 1,500 British Virgin Islanders as they marched through the streets of Road Town to the Commissioner’s Office in protest of issues adversely impacting the Territory.
The march was precipitated by conditions occurring in the community that significantly affected the quality of their lives, but over which they had no control and no say. The marchers presented the Commissioner with a petition outlining their grievances against the political system which at the time was administered from Antigua under a structure called the Presidency of the Leeward Islands.
