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.

Bronte Agatha Welsh was born in Challengers Village on the 31st December 1918, the first daughter of Evan and Annie Welsh and the second of their six children. Evan was a mason and Anne a seamstress so Bronte and her brothers and sisters grew up in a household were industry was highly valued. Her early education took place at a small private school. However, at eight years of age she was enrolled at the Basseterre Girls’...
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Edgar Challenger Edgar Challenger was born on the 29th November 1905, the youngest son of John Oscar Challenger and Louisa Wynter. He attended Miss Malvena Amory’s infant school and received his primary education at the school run by Miss Connie Wattley. At age twelve he entered the St. Kitts-Nevis Grammar School, but following an incident with his teacher of Latin he refused to attend any further classes. Instead young Edgar was sent to Lodge School in...
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Edgar Samuel Bridgewater Edgar Samuel Bridgewater was born at Westbury, Nevis on 3rd October 1900. He was one of eight children born to George Bridgewater and his wife Amanda. As the father was a policeman, the family moved around a great deal. Edgar first emigrated with the family to Antigua, where he attended the Buxton Grove Primary School. At twelve years of age, young Edgar was taught by his father to play the organ. He came...
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Salt Pond, St. Kitts English and French settlers started setting up colonies on St. Kitts from 1624. They share the island and agreed to keep the peace unless war was declared by their sovereign nations. The area now called the Salt Ponds was to be used in common. The very narrow isthmus that connects the Salt Pond area to the main part of St. Kitts was very hilly and heavily wooded making it easier to access the...
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Joseph N. France General Hospital, St. Kitts by Sonia Daly-Finley, Director, Institutional Nursing Service Under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Health and Welfare, construction of The Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital began in March of 1966 and was expected to be completed in September 1967. The master plan for the Hospital was prepared by Sir John Weekes of Llewellyn Partners, United Kingdom. The facility was built by Clarence Johnson Construction Company Limited of Antigua...
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Wingfield The area now occupied by Wingfield and Romney estates, just outside the village of Old Road, was the site of the first permanent plantation settlement in the English Caribbean. It was close to the Kalinago holy places and the fortified buildings along with possible socially unacceptable behaviour may have provoked them into attempting to remove the intruders. Wingfield Estate was the property of the John Jeafferson, who along with his brother Samuel accompanied Thomas Warner in...
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Statehood flag The West Indies Federation was an experiment in unity for the English Speaking Caribbean and should have resulted in an independent West Indian nation.. After long discussions it came into being in 1958. Elections took place that year but Jamaica and Trinidad did not join the new political unit with the same commitment as the other islands. Economic prosperity meant that these two islands did not feel the need to be part of a...
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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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Treaty of Basseterre Historical BackgroundThe idea of unification within the Caribbean region gained the interest of the British Colonial Office in the late nineteenth Century mostly as a colonial administrative device designed to cut the cost of managing the colonies with failing economies and a growing reliance on Britain. The 20th century however saw a growing discontent with regards to the unrepresentative nature of the island governments. In 1914, T. Albert Marryshow of Grenada, founded the Representative...
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