Iris Bradshaw was born in Grenada in 1914 of Barbadian parents and apart from her early childhood, lived all her life in Barbados.

Iris Bayley was a self taught scientist and published the definitive description of the unique embryology of the whistling frog which has no tadpole stage.

[4] In 1952 with her husband Harry Bayley they designed and built their bay-house Andromeda on 8 acres (32,000 m2) of land in Saint Joseph, Barbados that had been in her family since 1740.

[5] Andromeda was situated on a hillside overlooking the rugged east coast of Barbados with Bathsheba to one side and Tent Bay the other.

It started off as Iris Bayley's private botanical garden with flowering plants and tropical trees.