OLD TOWNE (GIU) - Mrs. Deborah Barnes-Jones, Montserrat's new British Governor, was sworn in here Monday during a special sitting of the Legislative Council at the Vue Pointe Hotel.

Barnes-Jones, who arrived here early Sunday, replaces Anthony Longrigg who ended his three year stint on April 2. Longrigg has since returned to the United Kingdom and will retire from the British diplomatic service.

The new Governor comes to Montserrat from Tbilisi where she served for a short time as the UK Ambassador.

Barnes-Jones, accompanied by her husband Richard, inspected a guard of honour drawn up outside the Vue Pointe Hotel.

She is the first female Governor of Montserrat and the first woman to serve in that capacity in the British Overseas Territories (BOTs).

In the mid-1960's, Dame Hilda Bynoe was appointed as Governor of the Associated States of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. She was known throughout the Caribbean as the first woman Governor in the British Commonwealth and the first native Governor of her home of Grenada. Dame Hilda retired from the duties of Office in February, 1974.

Among the officials welcoming the new Governor were Joseph Meade, House Speaker, Professor Sir Howard Fergus, acting Governor, Margaret Annie Dyer-Howe, acting Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and the Environment and Rueben Meade, Member of Parliament and leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives.