About the Authors

Ann Watson Yates was born and spent her youth in Barbados. Her family on both sides (Watson and Gooding) settled on the island almost 400 years ago. She was educated at Codrington High School, and gained distinctions in Fine Art from the Royal Drawing Society in London.

She worked for many years with the stamp dealers Stanley Gibbons as an investment adviser in their rare stamp department in London.

It was during this time, that in addition to stamps, she started to collect maps, prints, engravings, post cards and photographs of Barbados. Her pictures and ideas form the nucleus of these books.

Having lived in Barbados, she subsequently moved to Guyana, Puerto Rico, Australia, Paris, London and Washington DC, where she lived in these countries for several years. She has travelled in Latin America, the USA, Europe and the Far East. She has also visited Africa on numerous occasions, in particular Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Burundi and Ruanda.

She later divided her time between Barbados and the United Kingdom.

Ann Watson Yates died in (…)

This website is dedicated to her life and her work.

---

Karl Watson is a Barbadian. Late cousin to Ann Watson Yates, he was educated at Harrison College, the University of the West Indies and the University of Florida.

He served for some years in the Barbadian Foreign Service in South America and Germany, and subsequently taught in Jamaica at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. At present he is the Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados, where in addition to teaching undergraduate courses in history and archaeology, he administers the M.A. programme in Heritage Studies.

He is the editor of the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and serves as Honorary Secretary of the Barbados National Trust. He is also Chairman of the George Washington House Restoration Committee and Chairman of the Barbados/Carolinas Committee. He also serves on the Biodiversity Committee and the CITES Committee.

Karl Watson is the author of several books and articles and is a committed environmentalist with a deep interest in ornithology.