Born From Defiance

In 1913, Herman Clarence Griffith, nicknamed "Mr. Empire", was denied membership to Spartan Cricket Club because of the colour of his skin and his social class. In colonial Barbados, cricket clubs were segregated along rigid racial and class lines.

Griffith, alongside Christopher "Chrissy" Brathwaite (a leading political radical), Lionel Gittens, B.I. Gilkes, and others, chose defiance over acceptance. They founded Empire Club on Empire Day, May 24, 1914, a club open to all, regardless of race or social standing.

What began as a response to injustice became one of the most decorated sporting institutions in Caribbean history, producing three knighted international cricket legends, the only club in the world to do so.