St. Vincent was first inhabited by the Ciboney, a grouping of Meso-Indians. These early inhabitants were gradually displaced by another indigenous group, the Arawaks, who entered the West Indies from Venezuela and moved gradually north and west along the island chain.
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The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Unity Picnic, also called Vincy Unity Picnic is coordinated by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Associations of Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. It started many years ago with a few folks from the three organizations gathering at Brown's Bay Provincial Park in the 1000 Islands area of Ontario. The venue is one of the largest parks in the vicinity to serve the three communities.
1498 St. Vincent was so named 1655 Wars between the Carib and French settlers. 1675 Slave ship wrecked off Bequia. "Negro" slaves swam to St. Vincent and later produced the Black Caribs. 1763 St. Vincent became British by Peace of Paris 1765 St. Vincent Botanic Gardens established 1772 First Carib War
One Trinidadian writer described Elma Francois as "one of the most vociferous Africentric activists in the history of Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean". But many Vincentians are unaware of the fact that this outspoken lady was actually born in the northeastern village of Overland in St. Vincent. It has been suggested that Elma had 'Carib blood', based on the surname 'Francois' and the location of the family home - Overland.
When Veronica Francis migrated to Trinidad in 1922, she took her seventeen-month-old-son with her. Neither the mother nor the boy knew the latter would be the first person to start the steelband movement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and also to influence the course of Carnival in this country for years to come.
In a one-day match in 1895 at Victoria Park, St. Vincent beat the visiting English team led by a Mr. Lucas. Scores were: St. Vincent 159, England 63. The bowler who destroyed them was Charles Ollivierre. He may have got some help from the pitch, but even the English admitted he was quite a handful. Mr Ollivierre subsequently played for Derbyshire in England and died there in Pontefract in 1949 at the age of 73.
Letter ordering destruction of Carib lands, extract. St. Vincent, 1796. Catalogue reference: CO 260/14. Crown Copyright.
Mr Townsend's letter to the Governor of the Bank, intimating a probability of a speedy peace, and the duty Morris owes, as recent Governor of St Vincent, to the King leads him to acquaint Grantham that should the island of Grenada be left to the French, and that of St Vincent to the English, it will be absolutely requisite to have the island of Bequia, as also the other smaller islands between Union Island and St Vincent...
Most Vincentians would be familiar with the name F.O. Mason, but many younger ones and those who aren’t into cricket would know very few details of his cricketing career. I searched around a bit for details of his most significant accomplishments and came up with the highlights chronicled below.
Gentlemen, I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves.
1898 match at Victoria Park, St. Vincent, Lord Hawke's XI vs. St. Vincent in which Pelham Warner scored 156, the finest innings seen at the park. Doubtless the *Ollivierre* boys were playing then.
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia indicates that, “Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufrière (French: ‘sulphur outlet’). These include Soufrière Hills on Montserrat and La Grande Soufrière on Guadeloupe”.
Wilfred Norris Slack (“Wilf”, “Slacky”) and Neil FetzGerald Williams (“Nellie”) are names that are recorded in the Wisden cricket annals, but forgotten by many Vincentians. Both of these fine Vincentian cricketers were unfortunately “clean bowled” short of their half-centuries – they each died in the prime of life.
Many of us look forward to Caribana celebrations every summer in Toronto. But how many people are aware of its origins? Well the two documents below highlight a couple of Vincentian brothers who were instrumental in creating this famous Caribbean festival.
Former Cricket Canada president Dr. Geoff Edwards has joined several of the game’s illustrious players, administrators and supporters in the world’s first cricket Hall of Fame. He was inducted two weeks ago along with new International Cricket Council (ICC) president Zaheer Abbas, who was unable to attend the event because of meetings in Dubai.
The SVG Toronto Ad Hoc Committee under the leadership of SVG Consul General to Toronto, Mr. Fitz Huggins and which consists of a number of individuals and organizations was involved in responding to two disasters in our home country.
Ottawa, September 11, 2012 - Beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT today citizens of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (St. Vincent), Namibia, Botswana, and Swaziland now require a visa to travel to Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced.
This video is entitled Events that crippled the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines
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