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the stories of our proud and friendly people, our charming and colourful villages, our fascinating ruins, our intriguing rain forests,
and our traditions that span centuries.

Our People

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Samuel Cable

 

  Between 1829 and 1839, Samuel Cable was the editor of the St. Christopher Advertiser and Weekly Intelligencer, a family-owned newspaper founded c. 1782. He was a member of a free coloured family that had originated in Antigua and had welcomed Thomas Coke to St. Kitts when he was working at establishing the Methodist Church in the region. The Cables, like so many others of their class owned domestic slaves and used skilled slaves in their...

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John Leonard Harney

 

John Leonard Harney John Leonard Harney was born in Estridge in 1884. As a young man he became involved in the early efforts to establish a literary society in St. Kitts and was one of the initial members of the Mutual Improvement Society. He took an active interest in sports and was President of the Basseterre Lawn Tennis Club. J.L. Harney started his career in the business world as a mercantile clerk for the firm S.V. Meggs...

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William Sendall ('Semblin')

 

William Sendall known as Semblin was born in Africa around the time when the slave trade was abolished. He was apparently captured as a slave around the age of 19. The exact details of his story are unclear but Sendall claimed that he had been born in Guinea, in Africa and that he had been taken along with about three hundred others off a privateer by a British war ship. He and his companions were...

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Our Places

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St. Barnabas Anglican Chapel

 

ST. BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHAPEL is a small place of worship on Malone Avenue. Shortly after Governor Philippe Lonvillier De Poincy arrived in St. Kitts in 1639, he donated the service of fifty enslaved workers for the construction of a very fair Hospital, in a very healthy place, where such sick persons as are unable to effect their recovery at their own houses, are attended, and maintained, and visited by Physitians and Surgeons, till they are restored...

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Buckley’s Estate

 

BUCKLEY’S ESTATE is located on the western outskirts of Basseterre. In 1753 the plantation was the property of William Buckley. His only surviving daughter and heir Jeannette married Abednego Matthew (b. 1724). He was the son of William Mathew who in 1715 had been appointed Lieutenant-General of the Leeward Islands and from 1735 was Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief. His ancestors included other governors of St. Kitts and the Leeward Islands. When Jeannette Mathew inherited the plantation from...

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Bayfords Estate

 

Bayfords Estate, St. Kitts This estate is in the Parish of St. Peters, in the hills above Basseterre. Its first known owner was Thomas Bridgewater. At the time of the sale of the French lands on St. Kitts, Bridgewater was already in occupation of the estates but had to pay the Commissioners for it in 1726. The plantation then consisted of approximately 84 acres. At the time of bidding Bridgewater had 28 acres under new cane...

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Our Events

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Cholera Epidemic 1854

 

  The Phantom of Cholera   Cholera is an infectious disease of the small intestine that causes severe watery diarrhea over a few days.  It , can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. In 1850, cholera made its presence felt in Barbados and St. Vincent and by 1853 it was in Nevis.  St. Kitts attempted to control the flow of people from places where...

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Buckley's Strike - 28 Jan 1935 (a time line)

 

Estate Workers 1934, December: The Wade Estates paid their workers a Christmas bonus of 8d per ton of cane cut. Other estates paid only 3d per ton cut. Some estates refused to pay any bonus to their workers. 1935, January: There were cane fires on several sugar estates near Basseterre. 1935, 20 Jan: Estate workers from all over the island attended a Universal Benevolent Association meeting called by its Secretary, Joseph Nathan. He advised them that since there...

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Labour Day - first Monday in May

 

Labour Day March, 1955 The afternoon events at the park were well attended. The Union’s Entertainment Committee organised a Steel Band Competition. Esso, Wilberforce, Amstel, Boston Braves, Battalion and Invaders competed with the last emerging as the winners. Lord Croft sang a special Labour Day Calypso. The bands then played on the streets of Basseterre. Looking to the future, the Messenger’s editorial declared, “The idea is not yet as firmly rooted as it might have been, but...

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"In this  bright future, you can't forget your past"

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