Category: Bajan History

Bajan (Barbadian) history.

  • Barbados in 2030 – Scenarios 1 & 2

    Barbados in 2030 – Scenarios 1 & 2

    These “Barbados in 2030″ scenarios were created 4 years ago in 2019 for a Caribbean regional conglomerate, who gave me permission to re-publish them. In this post, BajanThings are re-publishing the first two of the four scenarios which were based on the premise that Bajan society would generally “pull together”, as it has for centuries:…

  • Memories of Growing up in Barbados in the 1950s

    Memories of Growing up in Barbados in the 1950s

    I grew up in Barbados in the 1950s and lived their for the first 18 years of my life. I enjoy an ongoing, deep love affair with Barbados. Barbados is a country whose historical and international fame and importance bears no relation to its tiny size but instead to several other factors. So I was…

  • Stanton Henry King: Sailor, Author, Chantey Singer (1867 – 1939)

    Stanton Henry King: Sailor, Author, Chantey Singer (1867 – 1939)

    Stanton Henry King was born in Barbados on 1st May 1867 and died 10th November 1939 in Everett, Massachusetts, USA. He was a sailor, author, and chantey (shanty) singer who was known for his works on maritime life and culture. He served in the US Navy before going to Boston and becoming the director of…

  • “These Fields and Hills beyond recall” – The Quaker biblical root for field and hill names associated with Dukes Plantation, St. Thomas

    “These Fields and Hills beyond recall” – The Quaker biblical root for field and hill names associated with Dukes Plantation, St. Thomas

    The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2, King James Version Are “these fields and hills” really “beyond recall” as our National Anthem so authoritatively claims? The fields as…

  • Rediffusion Barbados (1934 -1997)

    Rediffusion Barbados (1934 -1997)

    Barbados Rediffusion was born 31 years before Barbados was granted its independence from Britain in 1966 and it died peacefully exactly 31 years after that event. IPS Correspondent Terry Ally – “Barbados Rediffusion: The End of an Era in Broadcasting History” For a long while in the 1950s to 1960s, Rediffusion was the lone radio…

  • The Quaker Gardens of St. Thomas – Friends’ equality even in death

    The Quaker Gardens of St. Thomas – Friends’ equality even in death

    The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Society of Friends or Friends or Quakers early burial grounds, consisted of simple grassy areas, appearing to be little other than tended gardens or fields. Graves were generally unmarked and often there were few outward signs that any burials had actually taken place. “1780 – N.B…

  • Remembering EIIR 1926 – 2022

    Remembering EIIR 1926 – 2022

    Here we remember HM Queen Elizabeth II (21st April 1926 – 8th September 2022). Queen Elizabeth II’s historic 70 year reign marks the end of Great Britain’s longest ever reigning monarch and a truly remarkable life of service. We take this opportunity to remember Queen Elizabeth II’s five state visits to Barbados: Editor’s note: Backstory to…

  • The Barbados Trailways Project Part 3 – tree planting

    The Barbados Trailways Project Part 3 – tree planting

    The Barbados Trailway Project The Barbados Trailway is a paved bicycle and pedestrian path located primarily on right-of-way lands of the former Barbados Railway. The Barbados Trailway Project The mission of the Barbados Trailway is: Converting the old Barbados Railway reserve into an accessible pathway for pedestrians, runners and cyclists. The Barbados Railway was a…

  • Freya Stark (married name: Perowne)

    Freya Stark (married name: Perowne)

    Dame Freya Madeline Stark DBE (31 January 1893 – 9 May 1993), was a British explorer and travel writer. She was the wife of the Barbados Colonial Secretary Stewart Perowne and was one of five passengers who travelled in May 1948 from Barbados to Trinidad to join the Empire Windrush for its historic passage to…

  • Prince Albert and Prince George visit Barbados while Midshipmen aboard HMS Bacchante in 1879

    Prince Albert and Prince George visit Barbados while Midshipmen aboard HMS Bacchante in 1879

    Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales visited Barbados in December 1879 while midshipmen aboard HMS HMS Bacchante. While aboard HMS Bacchante as Midshipmen Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales kept private journals and note books. These were published in full in two volumes in 1886 by Macmillan and Co. London. “The…