Vincent Roth, A Life in Guyana, Volume 2 The Later Years, 1923–1935

In the second volume of Vincent Roth’s Guyana memoirs, Vincent is a mature adult who is very sure of himself and bound to his adopted country. Roth’s memoirs, while revealing colonial petty-minded bureaucracy, jumped-up officialdom, and incompetence, nevertheless present a picture of a country that worked, where the mail reached the remotest parts of the interior, but where the obliterating power of nature over human effort had to be constantly resisted.

Vincent Roth arrived in British Guyana at the age of 18. By the time he left for Barbados in 1964, he had spent 30 years in the interior working as a surveyor and magistrate. He contributed immensely to the development of Guyana as a journalist, naturalist, historian, rebuilder of the national museum, and founder of the zoo in the Botanical Gardens. He wrote several books on Guyanese history and wildlife.