Who is Baron Bliss?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss, commonly known as Baron Bliss (16 February 1869 – 9 March 1926),
was a British born traveler who willed some two million U.S. dollars to a trust fund for the benefit of the
citizens of what was then the colony of British Honduras, now Belize.
The will left by Baron Bliss is a meticulously worded document which is quite specific in its do's and don’ts.
Only the interest is to be spent and no loans can be raised on the security. An interesting stipulation is
that no American is to be a trustee or an employee of any trustee -- and for this, no actual reason is given.
Belize celebrates Baron Bliss Day each March 9 in his honour. The Bliss Institute (a performing arts
centre that was previously a museum, research centre, and library in Belize City) was part of the benefits
from this endowment, as were the city’s Bliss Lighthouse (where Bliss’s tomb is located), the Bliss School
of Nursing, and various other medical facilities around the country.
Bliss’s early personal history as well as the origin of his “Baron” title is uncertain. He styled himself
“Fourth Baron Bliss of the Kingdom of Portugal”; there is some speculation that the original Portuguese
title was Barão de Barrato. He was born into a wealthy Suffolk (some say Buckingham) family and
was rumoured to have been disinherited for keeping a hansom cab waiting. He subsequently made a
substantial fortune speculating in petroleum shares.
After leaving England, Baron Bliss made his first stop in the Bahamas where he acquired some property,
seemingly indicating that he contemplated staying there. After some five years, however, he grew to dislike
the place and in 1925 shifted rudder for the other end of the Caribbean. His next stop was Trinidad but after
contracting food poisoning just a short time after arriving, he concluded that neither was that place for him.
At that time he decided to heed the invitation of an old friend Willoughby Bullock, who was then Attorney
General of Belize. After a brief stop in Jamaica, most likely for medical attention, the Sea King on
January 14th 1926, dropped anchor in the harbor of Belize and the Baron’s heart was at ease.
Although he never set foot on land and was in fact dead less than two months after arriving in our waters,
Baron Bliss was so impressed with the beauty and hospitality that greeted him in Belize, that he decided
to leave the bulk of his fortune.
