British Windward Islands

British Windward Islands
British colony
1833–1958
Flag Badge
Motto "I pede fausto" (Go with a lucky foot)
Anthem "God Save the Queen"
Capital		Bridgetown (1871–1885) St George's (1885–1958)¹
Languages		English
Government		Constitutional monarchy
Monarch
•	1952-1960 (last)	Elizabeth II
Governor-in-Chief
•	1958-1960 (last)	Sir Colville Deverell
History
•	Established	1833
•	Federation	1871
•	Colony of Barbados left	1885
•	British Tobago left	1889
•	British Dominica joined	1940
•	Overseas Territory	1956
•	West Indies Federation	1958
•	Federation dissolved	31 May 1962
Area
•	1958
Preceded by Succeeded by Colony of Barbados British Dominica British Grenada British Saint Lucia British St. Vincent and the Grenadines British Tobago West Indies Federation 20px
¹ Bridgetown was the capital before 1885

The British Windward Islands was a British colony existing between 1833 and 1960 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados (the seat of the governor until 1885, when it returned to its former status of a completely separate colony), Tobago (until 1889, when it was joined to Trinidad), and (since 1940) Dominica, previously included in the British Leeward Islands.

The colony was known as the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands from 1871 to June 1956, and then as the Territory of the Windward Islands until its dissolution in 1960.

The capital was Bridgetown on Barbados, from 1871 to 1885, and thereafter Saint George's on Grenada. The islands were not a single colony, but a confederation of separate colonies with a common governor-in-chief, while each island retained its own institutions. The Windward Islands had neither legislature, laws, revenue nor tariff in common. There was, however, a common court of appeal for the group as well as for Barbados, composed of the chief justices of the respective islands, and there was also a common audit system, while the islands united in maintaining certain institutions of general utility.

See also

• List of Governors of the British Windward Islands
• History of the British West Indies
• Windward Islands
• British Leeward Islands
• Windward Islands cricket team

Sources and references

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
• WorldStatesmen- Grenada, also shows flags

External links

• Queen and Commonwealth: Other Caribbean realms for the official website of the British monarchy
• U.S Library of Congress - Barbados and the Windward Islands colony