St. Christopher Five
In 1834, the enslaved populations in the British Empire were emancipated. For many it was the beginning of Apprenticeship. The planters of Antigua chose to go straight into freedom. Lord Romney, a planter with property in St. Kitts, had expressed similar intentions. In St. Kitts the institution of Apprenticeship caused serious unrest and labour disturbances during the first two weeks of August 1834. Some Kittitian apprentices thought that full freedom had been granted but was being withheld. The planters and the Administration […]
Stephen’s Book
James Stephen lived in St. Kitts for eleven years. His experience here inspired his abolitionist beliefs. He provided much of the material that his brother –in-law, William Wilberforce used in his fiery parliamentary speeches on the topic. Stephen himself is regarded as the architect of the Slave Trade Act 1807 which ended the trade within the British Empire. His ideas were also behind the creation of the Slave Registry in the various British colonies. Knowing that the end of the […]
Aerial Navigation Ordinance 1914
On the 28th July 1914 almost 100 years ago to the day, the First World War got underway. It was during its military campaigns that airplanes were first used as weapons. On the 13th July 1914 the Aerial Navigation Ordinance was published and became law in St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. The law was designed to protect the public from the dangers pose by airplanes. It was only in 1903 that the Wright Brothers had flown their powered airplane […]
Prison diet
During a visit of the Justices to the prison, in 1939, the officer in charge of discipline told the prisoners who were on parade that if they had any complaints they could express them at that time. Prisoner Joseph Morton stepped forward and said that the rations provided for the men doing hard labour were insufficient. These rations consisted of 4 ounces of bread and one and half ounces of sugar at 6 am and […]
Moving House
Our item for today is the photograph of a small wooden house being carried from one location to another on a truck along Taylor’s Range in the late 1970s or early 1980s. This sight was once, quite common but has become less so over the years as more and more home owners abandoned wood for the more durable concrete blocks. The houses were small because a great deal of household activity actually took place in […]