Emmanuel Charles Quist

Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist, also known as Paa Quist (21 May 1880, in Christiansborg, Accra – 30 March 1959) was a barrister, educator and judge who served as the first Speaker of the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly and the first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.

Biography Early life and ancestry Emmanuel Charles Quist was born in 1880 in Christiansborg, Accra. Richter's ancestor was Heinrich Richter (1785–1849), a prominent Euro-African from Osu. Richter's descendants also included Philip Christian Richter (b. 1903), an academic and Presbyterian minister and Ernest Richter (b. 1922), a diplomat. Carl Quist was also of Ga-Danish ancestry and a son of one of the three Kvist brothers (anglicised to Quist) who came to the Gold Coast via Holland in 1840. The brothers, all ethnic Danes, settled separately in Cape Coast, Christiansborg and Keta.

Education and career From 1889 to 1896, E. C. Quist had his primary and middle school education at the Basel Mission Grammar School and the boys' boarding school, the Salem School respectively. He then attended the Basel Mission Seminary, a theological seminary and teacher- training college at Akropong, Akwapim District where he received training in pedagogy and theology and graduated as a teacher-catechist. He served as the headmaster of his alma mater, the Salem School, Osu from 1899 to 1902. and Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 until his retirement on 14 November 1957. In 1957, he presided over the special state opening of Parliament on Ghana's Independence Day, 6 March, which was witnessed by several visiting international dignitaries including Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II's special representative for the occasion as well as the then US Vice President Richard Nixon and the American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr.

Personal life On 27 June 1929, Quist married Dinah Nita Bruce of Christiansborg, Accra. Emmanuel Quist was a patron of a number of social clubs: the Accra Turf Club, the Rodger Club and the Boy Scouts Movement. and Knighted in 1952. "The Speakers' Conference Hall" at the Parliament House has been named after Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist. A commemorative plaque, sponsored by his wife, Lady Dinah Quist, was erected in his memory in the sanctuary of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu where he was a congregant. The "Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist Street" in Accra was named in his honour.