First Women to Join a Political Party in St. Kitts

Women’s history is not the easiest thing to write.  Information is often nonexistent as women tend to make their contributions quietly and as part of their daily routine without attracting much attention to themselves.  We were thrilled this week to discover some snippets that will become part of the narrative here in St. Kitts.  They came from the Minutes of the Workers League 1935 (J E Fidel O’Flaherty Collection), The Closer Union Commission which had […]

Export of cattle from Nevis

The Administrator’s files are full of interesting short stories. Many are disheartening but every once in a while, a story of success shows up. Today we came across this one in File Confidential 1811 Prohibition of Exports Vol. 4.  During the Second World War there were many concerns about scarcity of food. This resulted in exports of food stuff being prohibited. On the list were cattle as they produced beef and milk and were very […]

The Daily Express

Our item this month is The Daily Express of the 22nd December 1882.   I have to thank three persons whose interest in heritage helped me realise the value of this particular newspaper issue.  First, there is Jeffery Phipps who asked me to to check the Daily Express for a project that he is working on. So far, I have not been able to help him find what he was looking for but one of the boxes that I […]

Persons who served in WWI

At 11 am on 11 November 1918, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”, a ceasefire was declared and negotiations were soon started to terminate the Great War or World War One   A number of persons from St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla had enlisted and served in the various regiments.  At the outbreak of the First World War, activists like Marcus Garvey encouraged West Indians to volunteer arguing that loyalty to the Empire […]

Lebanese during WW1

By 1914, there was a small number of persons from Lebanon living in St. Kitts.  The Colonial administration referred to them as Syrians.  They had come to the Caribbean to escape the turmoil in the Middle East and the hope of starting a better life.   They were in fact citizens of the Ottoman Empire also sometimes referred to as Turkish Empire.  When war broke out in 1914, the Ottoman Empire became an ally of Germany.  This made the Colonial authorities […]