Bajan History

Bajan (Barbadian) history.

Princes Albert and George of Wales visit Barbados aboard HMS Bacchante 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 …

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Children of the Barbados Ashkenazi Jewish Community circa1954

Peddlers All: Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados

In 1932, three Polish Jews, Moses Altman, his niece, Dina Mass, and her husband, Moses Mass, arrived in Barbados looking for refuge from the harsh economic conditions and anti-Semitism in Europe. Moses Altman’s wife and children (Henry, Simon, Edna (Pillersdorf), Doris (Kaplan) and Mary (Speisman) arrived not long after and were followed by the families …

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Old Warri warriors St. Peter Barbados

The game of Warri

“Warri is a game with several different names, including wari (or owari), wao, awèlè, awela, ayo, aji, awari, oware and ouri. This game is of the pit-and-pebble family, which originated in Ancient Egypt some 3,500 years ago, making it one of the oldest games in the world. The word “warri” means houses and this game …

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Major Teddy Goddard a Bajan policeman from below the cliff

Major Teddy Goddard – a Bajan policeman from below the cliff

Major Teddy Goddard (Theodore Percival Alleyne Goddard) was born ‘below the cliff’ in Clifton Hall Woods, Barbados in 1883. Children born into poor white families had little prospect of bettering their position. Teddy Goddard, had little idea when he enlisted in the army in 1903 for three years that he would be transported to the …

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Barbados Island life photographs and stories by Craig Burleigh

Barbados Island Life

Craig Burleigh is an American born, Bajan bred, San Francisco Bay Area based professional photographer. He grew up on Rockley Beach with sand between his toes from 1955 to 1965 and at Lamming’s St. Joseph and Edgecliff, St. John later on. Craig has been scanning his back-catalogue of Barbados photographs from the 1970s and is …

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Barbados Trailway Demo Stretch

The Barbados Trailways Project Part 2 – the beginning of the refurbishment

The Barbados Trailway will convert a portion of the disused trainline (which operated from 1881 to 1937) into a 16km paved multi-use trail from Valley Plantation to Consett Bay. It is a fiscally and socially responsible heritage tourism development project that can help to diversify and enhance our tourism product while also providing recreational spaces …

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The Medici Lion at Gun Hill Barbados

The Man Who Carved a Lion. The story of Henry John Wilkinson 1829 – 1911

For over 150 years a seven-foot-tall white Medici lion, carved from coral stone, has drawn locals and visitors to a hillside in St. George, Barbados.  Situated southeast and below the Gun Hill Signal Station, over-looking the beautiful St. George Valley, the lion has stood proudly since it was completed in 1868.  Since that time, it …

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