In the historiography of the Anglophone Caribbean, colonial influences significantly shaped social welfare and social work practice in Guyana, a former British colony. Pre-emancipation, social welfare mirrored poor relief policies, initially aiding impoverished White expatriates affected by poverty and later extending to formerly enslaved Africans and indentured servants. While rooted in formerly enslaved Africans’ survival strategies and methods, the professional evolution of Caribbean social work was propelled by the recommendations of the West Indies Royal Commission. Social welfare services were based on addressing multiple maladies, including deplorable socio-economic conditions, civil disobedience, labour unrest, and the general discontent among the working class in the 1930s. This chapter draws on the findings of a socio-historical survey that contextualises Guyana’s social work evolution within the broader context and debates of social welfare and social policy during critical epochs, locally and internationally. It extensively reviews historical records, accounts, reports, and seminal and contemporary literature, and embodies an examination of the trajectory of the evolution of ‘professional’ social work practice. The colonial events influencing social policy development in Guyana over the last 85 years (1935–2020) are also deconstructed.