Karl Watson By Sarah Venable
Want to be amazed by the recognition accorded to one of our favourite sons of the soil? Google “Dr. Karl Watson Barbados” and see the prodigious results. They’ll include several references to him in his bygone roles as President of the Barbados National Trust and university lecturer in history at the University of the West Indies, as well as his ongoing tenure as editor of the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. They may or may not mention that he has also been a diplomat, representing Barbados in Venezuela, Brazil and Germany. Or that he’s an outspoken environmentalist who serves on the Barbados Scientific Authority (Biodiversity and CITES) and helps protect migratory birds. His store of Caribbean and Barbadian knowledge is vast. Add “author” to the search term and you’ll find his books, which include Barbados the Civilised Island: A Social History 1750 to 1816; The White Minority in the Caribbean; Not For Wages Alone: The 1938 Labour Disturbances of Jamaica; Old Doll, the Matriarch of Newton Plantation, Barbados First, A Pictorial History 1900 to 1970, and a chapter in The Sephardic Jews of the Caribbean. What the Google results won’t tell you (but we will) is that he’s fun, charming, caring and secretly shy. He regards his students as surrogate children and is very proud of their achievements. Dr. Watson also acts, playing the role of George Washington during dinners at the great man’s temporary residence here; collects Caribbean art and loves to dance. He told us: “I trained at the Barbados Dance Theatre and I have danced for the public on TV (local American TV) and in the show Guys and Dolls in Caracas, Venezuela. I was Student of the Year at UWI in 1968 and then paid my way through the University of Florida by working in the library and by taking part in every experiment that came on campus, from listening to dolphins communicating (a Navy experiment during the Vietnam war to see whether dolphins could be used as combatants), to sleep experiments etc.” A champion on the Harrison College swimming team, he also swam and dived for Barbados at regional swim meets. Search engine results won’t tell you either what a kind and generous person he is. “My main problem is that I can’t say no, and I burden myself,” he admitted. Not only will he help almost anyone who asks, but he also takes in animals, especially rescue dogs. In addition, monkeys come for snacks and birds have nested in his house. It got so bad, he said, that “My two surviving sisters each independently gave me the same gift—a statue of St. Francis of Assisi.” He was the middle of seven children and grew up in the chattel house his great grandmother had owned. “When my father moved us there, I was two, and at first we lived as she had done, with no electricity or running water and an outside pit toilet. My father quickly had the services put in, and an indoor toilet came later, when I was about eight.” As a boy, Karl endured some teasing from all quarters for his outsider status, but he emerged with a positive attitude and learned a lot along the way. In any case, the whole neighbourhood was proud when he passed the test for admission to the island’s prestigious boys secondary school, Harrison College—at only nine years of age! Nicknames were popular in those days and at age 6 his Uncle Cam gave Karl the nickname, “The Walking Dictionary” which reflected his love of reading from a very early age. His passion for Barbados’ heritage led him to introduce archaeology and heritage programmes at UWI Cave Hill. He helped lay the groundwork for the listing of Bridgetown and its Historic Garrison as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gold Crown of Merit.
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