Ask Us Loyalist Collection, British West Indies Guide

Background Research

Background Research

The following reference sources act as starting points for researchers studying the British West Indies, providing a comprehensive overview.  Reference sources, such as subject-specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographies, provide an overview of a topic and its related issues and help to define unfamiliar terms, while also referring to key secondary sources.  

*You may also search the libraries' reference database. 

 

Selected Reference Works 

 

Oxford Bibliographies. **Online available to STU and UNB community.  

Abstract: Sources are rigorously peer reviewed and vetted to ensure scholarly accuracy and objectivity. Bibliography titles of relevance include: Gender in the Caribbean; Barbados in the Atlantic World; Jamaica in the Atlantic World; Atlantic Slavery; Slave Owners in the British Atlantic; and The Caribbean. Annotated content is regularly revised and new themes added. 

 

Societies after Slavery: a select annotated bibliography of printed sources on Cuba, Brazil, British colonial Africa, South Africa, and the British West Indies 

Abstract: Bibliography covers a span of emancipations from the British West Indies in the 1830s to Sierra Leone in 1927. Has annotated primary and secondary sources.  Arranged geographically - the British West Indies, British Colonial Africa, South Africa, Cuba, and Brazil. 

 

A Study On The Historiography Of The British West Indies To The End Of The Nineteenth Century 

Abstract: Study based on the printed histories available in the libraries of the University College of the West Indies and of the Institute of Jamaica. 

 

A Guide To Source Materials For The Study Of Barbados History, 1627-1834 

Abstract: Range of sources for study of pre-emancipation Barbadian history; particularly useful for printed material. Divided by time period and source type with brief abstracts. Incomplete but useful start to research. Supplement was produced in 1991 but not available at UNB Libraries. 

 

The Oxford Handbook Of Slavery. 

Abstract: A series of penetrating, original, and authoritative essays on the history and historiography of the institution of slavery in the New World, written by a team of leading international contributors.  Covers the topic by region – United States, Central America, Caribbean, Brazil; and themes – transatlantic slave trade, origins, biology, “Indians,” race, class, religion, proslavery ideology, United States law, resistance, culture, economics, gender, abolition and anti-slavery, Haitian Revolution, internal slave trade, demography, comparative slavery, finding slave voices, archaeology, and post emancipation adjustments.

 

A Guide To Manuscript Sources In United States And West Indian Depositories Relating To The British West Indies During The Era of The American Revolution  

Abstract: Organised first by the 2 regions; subdivided within each by state and country. Provides name of collections within specific depositories, with summary of types of subject matter contained within. 

 

A Guide To Manuscript Sources For The History Of Latin America And The Caribbean In The British Isles. 

Abstract: Archival and manuscript sources preserved in the British Isles. Within each geographical area, entries are arranged in alphabetical order of location of owners or of repositories in whose custody the papers are. One major exception is the section on business records, covering material throughout the British Isles. This has been placed at the end of the book. Index found at end of book including names of specific places and regions (such as West Indies, British), people, company names, collection names, societies, commissions, and subject terms. 

 

Primary Sources

Selected Primary Sources in The Loyalist Collection

*Click on the titles to see the full record.

 

Categories:

Government Departments

Individuals

Jamaica

Military 

Officials - Public and Religious

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Government Departments

 

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence: Jamaica (CO 137): 1780-87 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6J3C6 

Keywords: Jamaica – government and politics; Jamaica security; British trade policy; British foreign policy and relations - Spain; conflict - American Revolution (1775-1783), Anglo-Spanish War (1779-1783); military - British army and navy, colonial provincials, militia, Black participants, health; Jamaica weather and natural disasters; agriculture, plantations and slavery; Nicaragua – war zone, weather, geography and landscape ; Black history; Miskito indigenous people ("Indians"); and maritime law and crime 

Summary: Contains the correspondence (February 5, 1780 - August 11, 1787) between the British secretary of state responsible for the colonies and the governor of Jamaica, with various types of documents written by others included as enclosures, such as reports, petitions, and military returns. Much of it relates to Britain's interests in and military focus on the Spanish territories in Central America, and those involved and affected - British settlers along the Mosquito Shore (including American loyalists) and the island of Roatan in the Bay of Honduras, as well as the native inhabitants. Jamaicans' concerns about island security, trade restrictions with the United States, and effects of devastating hurricanes are also documented. 

Finding Aid: Document summaries are available electronically for many volumes; see Electronic Finding Aid section of catalogue record. 

 

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence: West Indies (CO 318): 1699-1830 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6W4C6 

Keywords: military – British, colonial volunteers, Black corps, expeditions, General Charles Cathcart, Commander in Chief of Islands Henry Bowyer, and medical reports and returns; health and welfare; Spanish West Indies; Havana, Cuba; slavery; illegal slave trade; liberated and apprenticed Africans (conditions and appearance); “free people of colour” and legal and social inequalities; illegal trade and privateering; piracy; maritime communications 

Summary: Contains correspondence and papers from governors to colonial secretary of state relating generally to British colonial affairs in the Caribbean region. Includes the following: Volume 3, Military Despatches, 1699 - circa 1796 (chiefly relating to expeditions and other military activities in the West Indies); Volume 4, Military Despatches, 1782-1830; Volume 31,  Despatches from Offices and Individuals, 1807 (mostly incoming letters to the secretary of state from the commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Windward and Leeward Islands; some discuss trade, island descriptions, and relations with France and Spain); Volume 32, Report of the Board of Health on the West Indian Station, 1799-1807 (mostly letters from the governors and presidents in council with reports from medical officials on colony health, including seamen); Volume 76, Commissioners of Legal Enquiry in the West Indies, 1822-1828, Free People of Colour: Disabilities and Grievances (memorials and papers collected by British commissioners relating to the claims of free Black persons and their legal disabilities and grievances at different islands; and Volume 83, Commissioners of Enquiry into the state of the 'captured negroes' in the West Indies: Commissioners Bowles and Gannon and Secretaries Barrow and Barron, 1823-1824 (reports, examinations, and correspondence related to enquiries into the state and condition of Africans liberated from slavery under acts for abolishing the slave trade).  

Finding Aids: Available digitally are summarised document listings for all volumes purchased, except vol. 4. See Electronic Finding Aid field in catalogue record. 

 

Great Britain. Public Records. American Manuscript Maps in British Repositories (parts 1 and 2) 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7P8A4M3A4 and .G7P8A4M3C6 

Keywords: maps and mapping, cartography and cartographers, colonial North America and Caribbean; revolutionary America 

Summary:  Selection of maps and plans held by The National Archives in England having immense historical value as cartographic archives and record of events and places to which they relate.  Most were commissioned by the Crown with most generated by the War Office and Colonial Office. It is divided into 2 collections, parts 1 (Peace of Parish to American Revolution, 1760-1872) and 2 (Colonial Era, 1585-1893). There are general small-scale maps of large areas; maps of river systems, bays, islands, coast lines, and harbours; Indigenous lands; settlement areas; towns and townships; land grants; military fortifications; whole colonies; and many more.  They include Canada, the United States, West Indies or Caribbean, Bermuda, and Central America. 

Finding Aid: Listing and description of West Indies or Caribbean maps is available electronically.  Also guide listing cartographers in print. 

 

Jamaica. Assembly. Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica: 1664-1826 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .J3A8J6 

Keywords: government; legislation; revenue; economy; trade; social issues; local issues; maritime matters; Black history - manumissions, rebellions, maroons, runaways, military, and free people of colour; “slaves”; “Indians”; Jews; women; defense and security; patents and inventions; planters; merchants; Cuba; Hispaniola; natural disasters 

Summary: The Journals contain printed editions of the minutes of the Jamaica House of Assembly from its first meeting on January 20, 1664 to December 22, 1826. In Jamaica the members of the assembly set the legislature agenda. Bills mainly arose from petitions laid before the house by the advice of standing or ad hoc committees in the assembly or by members on behalf of their constituents on a wide range of matters. The records provide a window into the matters of importance to the inhabitants of the island. The types of documents found in the minutes include instructions, bills, accounts, reports, messages, petitions, acts, complaints or grievances, letters, and returns. The minutes provide a window into Jamaican society and its values and concerns. Major themes of legislation pertain to private legislation, local history, black history, slavery, Indigenous people, women, defence, government administration, revenue and taxation, law and order, the military, society and social history, trade, immigration and settlement, religious groups, maritime matters, commerce, industry, the economy, and transportation. Broader geographic areas are the British West Indies and Caribbean. 

Finding Aids: Available digitally are detailed contents for two periods: 1782 Feb. 26-June 12 and 1795 Nov. 27-Dec. 18; also scanned subject indexes from the minutes for volumes 7-12 (1777 Oct. 21-1815 Dec. 22). See Electronic Finding Aid section in catalogue record. Indexes available for each volume are found on film. See also in Notes section, link to Statutes and Laws of Jamaica. 

 

William Pitt. Papers of William Pitt, the Younger: 1774-1806 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .P5W5P3 

Keywords: British prime minister, slavery, military, colonialism, trade, demographics, agriculture, politics, race, health, climate, law, slave trade, finances, economics, religion 

Summary: Papers cover aspects of the British army and navy, and regions of Portugal, United States, South America, Central America, Canada, and the West Indies. Relating to the West Indies, circa 1774-1804 (volumes 348-351), contain a variety of documents relevant to the colonial governance of the West Indies during the tenure of William Pitt as prime minister of Great Britain (1783 -1801, 1804-Jan. 1806) and chancellor of the exchequer. Document types include census summaries, economic and geographic accounts, memorials and petitions, reports, and correspondence.   

The content is closely connected to slavery and colonial attitudes towards enslaved people; the plantation system (including lists of enslaved people); military and security; crop productions (particularly sugar); and trade; with reports from islands requested by Britain describing the state of their countries for categories such as population details, agriculture, resources, geography, and imports and exports.  Most documents appear to be working copies created for Pitt’s records. Names and correspondents include in the main - island governors; government agents, committees, and officials from Britain and the islands; merchants and planters with interest in the islands; and military officers. 

Finding Aids:  Available digitally is a list of documents with subject terms for volume 348, section relating to Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Christopher/St. Kitts, Saint Vincent, and Guadeloupe. 

 

Individuals 

 

Jeffery Amherst. Official Papers and Correspondence, 1740-1783 

Call Number: MICL FC LMR .A4J4P3 

Keywords: British military - army, navy, colonial provincials (dispositions and operations); politics and government (governors and statesmen); foreign relations (Britain and France, Britain and United States); commerce and trade (merchants, purveyors); native/indigenous affairs; health and welfare (disease, climate, hospital services); Canada; United States; West Indies (Caribbean) 

Summary: Jeffery Amherst was commander-in-chief of British Forces during the Seven Years’ War, 1758-1763, and general-in-chief command at London during the American Revolution, 1778-1782. Consists of official correspondence and supporting documents, such as military returns and lists, accumulated by Amherst during his careers. Some correspondence is from Amherst's predecessors in the North American Command. Correspondence provides a record of Amherst’s communications with key political and military leaders of the day pertaining to the running and organisation of British forces, and the intendant circumstances. Because of the role of the commander-in-chief during times of conflict, conditions within the colonies can be gleaned incidentally. Women's voices and circumstances are few but included. 

There is material pertaining to the West Indies throughout the collection, but volumes 55 and 56 (letters and papers between commander-in-chief and military, naval, and civil officers) particularly pertain to this area during the Seven Year’s War. These volumes provide source material documenting the Caribbean as the principal theatre of war. Starting after the occupation of Guadeloupe, the richest of France's Caribbean islands, it covers the period which saw the British capture most of the significant French or Spanish sugar producing islands. Well documented are the British preparations, invasions, and occupations of Dominica (1761), Martinique (1762), and Cuba (1762). Prevalence of sickness and its adverse consequences to the army is found throughout the documents. After 1763 peace treaty, documents withdrawal and reduction of British forces and personnel from Cuba, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Bermuda.  

Finding Aids: Volumes 121-125, 127, 130 have digital document listings giving name of correspondents, date, and place for each document. Volume 55 relating to the West Indies has document listing with summaries for each document. Volumes 237-238 have proper name index. 

 

George Chalmers. Letters: 1728-1818 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .C4G4L4 

Keywords: The Bahamas, public official, American loyalist, government, politics and political culture, trade, agriculture, slavery, “slave” registration, cotton, plantations, planters, exotic plants, salt, economy, demographics 

Summary:  Collection is composed of letters and papers relating to many aspects of The Bahamas, mostly for the period George Chalmers was acting as British colonial agent in London to The Bahamas (1792-1818), but also some from an earlier period.  As agent, he saw himself accountable to the assembly which was often in conflict with the British government and island governors, particularly over the issue of slavery. Correspondence is between Chalmers and officials and private individuals and mostly incoming. Documents are varied, including statistics, returns, petitions or memorials, notes, histories, questionnaires, and reports, and material presented to the House of Assembly such as committee reports, affidavits, and resolutions.  

Subject matter centres on various contemporary matters relating to the islands of The Bahamas, and includes commentary and news relating to Bahamas internal government and politics, and international affairs such as the progress of war; also covers topics such as agriculture; trade, especially with Spanish settlements; economics; salt industry; population studies; cotton plantations and planters; slavery and Black history; nautical sailing directions; land grant policy; American loyalists; Bermuda-Turks islands affairs; horticulture; maritime defence and military infrastructure; health and climate; and  loyalist and planter William Wylly. 

Finding Aids: Available electronically are document summaries for: 1. Reel 1, Section 1, Letters and Papers 1797 Nov. 3-1801 Aug. 30; and Reel 2, Section 2, responses by 15 cotton planters to a government questionnaire, 1800. Transcription also available electronically for large part of Reel 2, Section 4, Representation of House of Assembly of Bahamas to colonial secretary of state pertaining to a “slave registration act,” which includes Chalmers’ opinions too, 1817. (See Electronic Finding Aid section in catalogue record for these.) 

 

William Hewitt. Papers: 1756-1790 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .H4W5P3 

Keywords: Ceded Islands, Dominica, Tobago, Saint Vincent, British colonial official, personal finance, land, property, enslaved people, hurricane, wartime experience, misfortune, family 

Summary: While the inclusive dates of the Papers extend from 1756 to 1790, most of the material falls within two periods, 1766 to 1772, and 1777 to 1781, and relates mostly to Hewitt's time in the West Indies, including his role as commissioner for the disposal of land in the Ceded Islands, and as land and property owner, including property in enslaved people Provides insight into his personal experience in the Caribbean during a difficult period - international conflict, devastating hurricanes, as well as into the world of personal finance as someone who was an investor. The geographic focus includes the islands of Grenada, the Grenadiers, St. Vincent, Dominica, Tobago, and to a lesser extent, Barbados - predominantly Dominica. The categories of material include various financial records, diary of voyage to the West Indies; correspondence, in and outgoing; various types of documents pertaining to property, including those enslaved; official papers; legal documents; and papers relating to Hewitt's death and estate. Many communications contributed by family members, West Indian planters and surveyors, and English merchants. 

Finding Aids: Available electronically are content listings - one giving name and date coverage of each of the documents, and a second with detailed summaries for each manuscript, numbered 49-163. See Electronic Finding Aid section in the catalogue record. 

 

Lydia Parrish. Records of Some Southern Loyalists 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .P3L9R4 

Keywords: Bahamas; American Loyalists – biographies, experience, migration, settlement; American Revolution; East and West Florida; Georgia; South Carolina 

Summary: Contains research notes by Lydia Parrish before her death in 1953 pertaining to loyalists who arrived at The Bahamas at the end of the American Revolution, providing historical context and biographical information. The biography of each person or family is based, almost entirely, on primary source materials. There are quotations throughout the text with numbered footnotes, which often contain additional information.  The references cited most frequently are sources in the Southern United States and in the West Indies, and they include: wills; church records; estate documents; grant books; census records; newspapers; records of the Registrar General in Nassau, Bahamas, South Carolina and other jurisdictions; British Colonial Office records; royal gazettes; family correspondence; published colonial records; gravestone inscriptions; historical society collections; and secondary sources. Geographically, loyalists mainly had lived in the southern United States, especially Georgia and South Carolina, and East and West Florida. 

Finding Aids: List of names found in the Index for those with one or more pages of content is included in catalogue record, with brief content added for many. 

 

William Pitt. Papers of William Pitt, the Younger: 1774-1806 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .P5W5P3 

Keywords: British prime minister, slavery, military, colonialism, trade, demographics, agriculture, politics, race, health, climate, law, slave trade, finances, economics, religion 

Summary: Papers cover aspects of the British army and navy, and regions of Portugal, United States, South America, Central America, Canada, and the West Indies. Relating to the West Indies, circa 1774-1804 (volumes 348-351), contain a variety of documents relevant to the colonial governance of the West Indies during the tenure of William Pitt as prime minister of Great Britain (1783 -1801, 1804-Jan. 1806) and chancellor of the exchequer. Document types include census summaries, economic and geographic accounts, memorials and petitions, reports, and correspondence.   

The content is closely connected to slavery and colonial attitudes towards enslaved people; the plantation system (including lists of enslaved people); military and security; crop productions (particularly sugar); and trade; with reports from islands requested by Britain describing the state of their countries for categories such as population details, agriculture, resources, geography, and imports and exports.  Most documents appear to be working copies created for Pitt’s records. Names and correspondents include in the main - island governors; government agents, committees, and officials from Britain and the islands; merchants and planters with interest in the islands; and military officers. 

Finding Aids:  Available digitally is a list of documents with subject terms for volume 348, section relating to Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Christopher/St. Kitts, Saint Vincent, and Guadeloupe. 

 

Senhouse, Joseph and William. Material Relating to the West Indies from the Senhouse Papers: 1762 - 1831 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .S4J6P3 

Keywords: public officials, customs, agriculture, natural history, government, colonialism, trade, geography, Black history, slavery, plantations, planters, health and welfare, commerce, travel and description, ships, shipping, privateering, race, Barbados, Dominica 

Summary: This microfilm edition of the Senhouse Papers consists of the records of Joseph Senhouse and his brother William, but primarily from Joseph. They contain memoirs; letter books; several waste books and account books under the categories as private trade, cash books, plantation journals and ledgers, and customs accounts; observations; maps; leases; plantation estimates; memorandum books; and a marriage settlement. The records document the brothers' experiences as customs officers and planters in the British West Indies. Plantation and "slave" records make up a substantial portion of the Papers. The Papers provide a glimpse into the social and economic life of the West Indies, before, during, and immediately following the American Revolution. 

Finding Aids: Available digitally a list of documents relating to privateering and a transcription of Joseph Senhouse’s “Memoirs of Dominica,” 1772. 

 

Vernona Smith. Abstracts of Jamaica Wills: 1625-1792 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .S6V4W5 

Keywords: wills, Jamaica, society, planters, merchants, women, children, family, property, enslaved property, St. Kitts parish records 

Summary: The collection contains 32 abstracts of wills of English colonists and property owners in Jamaica taken from the Principal Probate Registry in London. Not a cross section of society, it records the large planters and merchants, only half of whom lived in Jamaica while the rest resided in London. Although a small set, the abstracts provide a glimpse into Jamaican society during the years when the sugar industry grew and flourished. Also contains records copied from the registers of three parishes on the island of Saint Christophers (Saint/St. Kitts), 1721-1730. These include baptisms and burials from the parishes of St. John Capisterre and St. Mary Cayon. Subjects include social history, family history, women, black history, chattel slavery, and race relations. 

Finding Aids: Index to names in the wills, typed from the handwritten on the film, is available electronically. 

 

William Vassall. Letter Books, 1769-1800 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .V3W5L4 

Keywords: Jamaica, slavery and Black history, merchants and mercantilism, commerce and trade, agriculture, planters and plantations, food technology, natural history and disasters, American loyalist 

Summary: Vassall inherited his family’s Jamaican estates which produced sugar and rum. Vassal had lived at and owned properties in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which were confiscated due to his loyalist sympathies. He left early in the war to England and from there spent years trying to get his property back legally. The first letter book includes the periods from 27 November 1769 until 24 July 1786, and from 1 January 1798 until 21 March 1800. The dates of the second letter book are from 4 July 1786 until 1 January 1798. Letters from the pre-revolutionary period are chiefly concerned with Vassall's sugar plantations in Jamaica, the export of rum and sugar to England, the forwarding of goods to Boston for his personal use, and the provision of goods for his Jamaican estates. Much of the correspondence is with James and John Wedderburn who managed his Jamaican plantations. His correspondents at London included Beeston Long of the firm Long, Drake and Long, which was involved in the Jamaica trade. After he moved to London, the correspondence with John Wedderburn continues, but there are also many letters to Boston and to Bristol, Rhode Island, concerning the confiscation and sale of his estates after the war, which he felt was a great injustice.   

Finding Aids: Summaries for letters dated 1790 to April 1792 are available; see Electronic Finding Aid section of catalogue record. 

 

Jamaica

 

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence: Jamaica (CO 137): 1780-87 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6J3C6 

Keywords: Jamaica – government and politics; Jamaica security; British trade policy; British foreign policy and relations - Spain; conflict - American Revolution (1775-1783), Anglo-Spanish War (1779-1783); military - British army and navy, colonial provincials, militia, Black participants, health; Jamaica weather and natural disasters; agriculture, plantations and slavery; Nicaragua – war zone, weather, geography and landscape ; Black history; Miskito indigenous people ("Indians"); and maritime law and crime 

Summary: Contains the correspondence (February 5, 1780 - August 11, 1787) between the British secretary of state responsible for the colonies and the governor of Jamaica, with various types of documents written by others included as enclosures, such as reports, petitions, and military returns. Much of it relates to Britain's interests in and military focus on the Spanish territories in Central America, and those involved and affected - British settlers along the Mosquito Shore (including American loyalists) and the island of Roatan in the Bay of Honduras, as well as the native inhabitants. Jamaicans' concerns about island security, trade restrictions with the United States, and effects of devastating hurricanes are also documented. 

Finding Aid: Document summaries are available electronically for many volumes; see Electronic Finding Aid section of catalogue record. 

 

Great Britain. War Office. Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO 12/10684): Duke of Cumberland's Regiment : 1783. 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LMR .G7W3M8D8 

Keywords: Britain – military – army - colonial provincials – personnel – movements - organisation, Black pioneers, health - sick, casualties, South Carolina, Jamaica, Lord Charles Montagu 

Summary: The Duke of Cumberland's Regiment, also known as Montagu's Corps, was a British army provincial unit raised near the end of the American Revolution in South Carolina at the authorisation of the governor of Jamaica. American colonists and rebel prisoners who joined sailed to Jamaica in 1781, and a second battalion was raised in New York in 1783. The muster rolls fall within the period from 25 December 1782 to 24 October 1783, when the unit was disbanded. Each muster roll contains the names of each member of the unit for purposes of pay. The Remarks column contains notes about individual soldiers, and as the regiment served in Jamaica, an inordinate number of the men are listed as sick, or sick in the regimental hospital. Other comments, typical of muster rolls includes updated information on the member since last muster: on duty, dead, absent by leave, furlough, deserted, on guard, recruiting, and discharged.  

The musters of the 1st Battalion are far more detailed than those for the 2nd Battalion and can include the following headings: length of time in service, and where they are intended to locate - to remain in Jamaica, embark for England, and embark for Nova Scotia. Several companies of the 2nd Battalion have either two or three members of the Black Pioneers attached. 

Finding Aids: Catalogue record includes the company captains listed with dates and place for each muster in the order found on microfilm. 

 

Jamaica. Assembly. Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica: 1664-1826 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .J3A8J6 

Keywords: government; legislation; revenue; economy; trade; social issues; local issues; maritime matters; Black history - manumissions, rebellions, maroons, runaways, military, and free people of colour; “slaves”; “Indians”; Jews; women; defence and security; war; patents and inventions; planters; merchants; Cuba; Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic); natural disasters. 

Summary: The Journals contain printed editions of the minutes of the Jamaica House of Assembly from its first meeting on January 20, 1664 to December 22, 1826. In Jamaica the members of the assembly set the legislature agenda. Bills mainly arose from petitions laid before the house by the advice of standing or ad hoc committees in the assembly or by members on behalf of their constituents on a wide range of matters. The records provide a window into the matters of importance to the inhabitants of the island. The types of documents found in the minutes include instructions, bills, accounts, reports, messages, petitions, acts, complaints or grievances, letters, and returns. The minutes provide a window into Jamaican society and its values and concerns. Major themes of legislation pertain to private legislation, local history, black history, slavery, Indigenous people, women, defence, government administration, revenue and taxation, law and order, the military, society and social history, trade, immigration and settlement, religious groups, maritime matters, commerce, industry, the economy, and transportation. Broader geographic areas are the British West Indies and Caribbean. 

Finding Aids: Available digitally are detailed contents for two periods: 1782 Feb. 26-June 12 and 1795 Nov. 27-Dec. 18; also scanned subject indexes from the minutes for volumes 7-12 (1777 Oct. 21-1815 Dec. 22). See Electronic Finding Aid section in catalogue record. Indexes available for each volume are found on film. See also in Notes section, link to Statutes and Laws of Jamaica.

 

Nova Scotia Public Records. Papers Relating to the Negro Refugees : 1783-1839

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .N6P8N4

Keywords: Jamaica, Maroons, Black history, slavery, Nova Scotia, resettlement, social history, health and welfare, local history.

Summary: A group of Jamaican Maroons, escaped slaves who had formed their own communities in Jamaica, were deported to Nova Scotia in 1796 after a failed rebellion.  There they were settled on lands in Preston and supported by government.  They were not content and the government agreed to send them to Sierra Leone in 1800, where they had previously transported the Black Loyalists. The records pertain to the three waves of people of African descent who arrived in Nova Scotia between the years of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, with the bulk concerning the refugees from the latter war. The documentation is quite varied, and typically generated by government employees or agents; for example, correspondence, reports, petitions, land settlement plans, business contracts, and accounts. The years covered for the Jamaican Maroons are1797, 1800-1804. 

Finding Aids: Documents have been digitised and made available via the Nova Scotia Archives' website; they are searchable based on a title or heading given to the documents, and browsable.

 

William Vassall. Letter Books, 1769-1800 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .V3W5L4 

Keywords: Jamaica, slavery and Black history, merchants and mercantilism, commerce and trade, agriculture, planters and plantations, food technology, natural history and disasters, American loyalist 

Summary: Vassall inherited his family’s Jamaican estates which produced sugar and rum. Vassal had lived at and owned properties in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which were confiscated due to his loyalist sympathies. He left early in the war to England and from there spent years trying to get his property back legally. The first letter book includes the periods from 27 November 1769 until 24 July 1786, and from 1 January 1798 until 21 March 1800. The dates of the second letter book are from 4 July 1786 until 1 January 1798. Letters from the pre-revolutionary period are chiefly concerned with Vassall's sugar plantations in Jamaica, the export of rum and sugar to England, the forwarding of goods to Boston for his personal use, and the provision of goods for his Jamaican estates. Much of the correspondence is with James and John Wedderburn who managed his Jamaican plantations. His correspondents at London included Beeston Long of the firm Long, Drake and Long, which was involved in the Jamaica trade. After he moved to London, the correspondence with John Wedderburn continues, but there are also many letters to Boston and to Bristol, Rhode Island, concerning the confiscation and sale of his estates after the war, which he felt was a great injustice.   

Finding Aids: Summaries for letters dated 1790 to April 1792 are available; see Electronic Finding Aid section of catalogue record. 

 

Military

 

Jeffery Amherst. Official Papers and Correspondence, 1740-1783 

Call Number: MICL FC LMR .A4J4P3 

Keywords: British military - army, navy, colonial provincials (dispositions and operations); politics and government (governors and statesmen); foreign relations (Britain and France, Britain and United States); commerce and trade (merchants, purveyors); native/indigenous affairs; health and welfare (disease, climate, hospital services); Canada; United States; West Indies (Caribbean) 

Summary: Jeffery Amherst was commander-in-chief of British Forces during the Seven Years’ War, 1758-1763, and general-in-chief command at London during the American Revolution, 1778-1782. Consists of official correspondence and supporting documents, such as military returns and lists, accumulated by Amherst during his careers. Some correspondence is from Amherst's predecessors in the North American Command. Correspondence provides a record of Amherst’s communications with key political and military leaders of the day pertaining to the running and organisation of British forces, and the intendant circumstances. Because of the role of the commander-in-chief during times of conflict, conditions within the colonies can be gleaned incidentally. Women's voices and circumstances are few but included. 

There is material pertaining to the West Indies throughout the collection, but volumes 55 and 56 (letters and papers between commander-in-chief and military, naval, and civil officers) particularly pertain to this area during the Seven Year’s War. These volumes provide source material documenting the Caribbean as the principal theatre of war. Starting after the occupation of Guadeloupe, the richest of France's Caribbean islands, it covers the period which saw the British capture most of the significant French or Spanish sugar producing islands. Well documented are the British preparations, invasions, and occupations of Dominica (1761), Martinique (1762), and Cuba (1762). Prevalence of sickness and its adverse consequences to the army is found throughout the documents. After 1763 peace treaty, documents withdrawal and reduction of British forces and personnel from Cuba, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Bermuda.  

Finding Aids: Volumes 121-125, 127, 130 have digital document listings giving name of correspondents, date, and place for each document. Volume 55 relating to the West Indies has document listing with summaries for each document. Volumes 237-238 have proper name index. 

 

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence: Jamaica (CO 137): 1780-87 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6J3C6 

Keywords: Jamaica – government and politics; Jamaica security; British trade policy; British foreign policy and relations - Spain; conflict - American Revolution (1775-1783), Anglo-Spanish War (1779-1783); military - British army and navy, colonial provincials, militia, Black participants, health; Jamaica weather and natural disasters; agriculture, plantations and slavery; Nicaragua – military engagements, weather, geography and landscape ; Black history; Miskito indigenous people ("Indians"); and maritime law and crime 

Summary: Contains the correspondence (February 5, 1780 - August 11, 1787) between the British secretary of state responsible for the colonies and the governor of Jamaica, with various types of documents written by others included as enclosures, such as reports, petitions, and military returns. Much of it relates to Britain's interests in and military focus on the Spanish territories in Central America, and those involved and affected - British settlers along the Mosquito Shore (including American loyalists) and the island of Roatan in the Bay of Honduras, as well as the native inhabitants. Jamaicans' concerns about island security, trade restrictions with the United States, and effects of devastating hurricanes are also documented. 

Finding Aid: Document summaries are available electronically for many volumes; see Electronic Finding Aid section of catalogue record. 

 

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence: West Indies (CO 318): 1699-1830 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6W4C6 

Keywords: military – British, colonial volunteers, Black corps, expeditions, General Charles Cathcart, Commander in Chief of Islands Henry Bowyer, and medical reports and returns; health and welfare; Spanish West Indies; Havana, Cuba; slavery; illegal slave trade; liberated and apprenticed Africans (conditions and appearance); “free people of colour” and legal and social inequalities; illegal trade and privateering; piracy; maritime communications 

Summary: Contains correspondence and papers from governors to colonial secretary of staterelating generally to British colonial affairs in the Caribbean region. Includes the following: Volume 3, Military Despatches, 1699 - circa 1796 (chiefly relating to expeditions and other military activities in the West Indies); Volume 4, Military Despatches, 1782-1830; Volume 31,  Despatches from Offices and Individuals, 1807 (mostly incoming letters to the secretary of state from the commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Windward and Leeward Islands; some discuss trade, island descriptions, and relations with France and Spain); Volume 32, Report of the Board of Health on the West Indian Station, 1799-1807 (mostly letters from the governors and presidents in council with reports from medical officials on colony health, including seamen); Volume 76, Commissioners of Legal Enquiry in the West Indies, 1822-1828, Free People of Colour: Disabilities and Grievances (memorials and papers collected by British commissioners relating to the claims of free Black persons and their legal disabilities and grievances at different islands; and Volume 83, Commissioners of Enquiry into the state of the 'captured negroes' in the West Indies: Commissioners Bowles and Gannon and Secretaries Barrow and Barron, 1823-1824 (reports, examinations, and correspondence related to enquiries into the state and condition of Africans liberated from slavery under acts for abolishing the slave trade).  

Finding Aids: Available digitally are summarised document listings for all volumes purchased, except vol. 4. See Electronic Finding Aid field in catalogue record. 

 

Great Britain. War Office. Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO 12/10684): Duke of Cumberland's Regiment : 1783

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LMR .G7W3M8D8 

Keywords: Britain – military – army - colonial provincials – personnel – movements - organisation, Black pioneers, health - sick, casualties, South Carolina, Jamaica, Lord Charles Montagu 

Summary: The Duke of Cumberland's Regiment, also known as Montagu's Corps, was a British army provincial unit raised near the end of the American Revolution in South Carolina at the authorisation of the governor of Jamaica. American colonists and rebel prisoners who joined sailed to Jamaica in 1781, and a second battalion was raised in New York in 1783. The muster rolls fall within the period from 25 December 1782 to 24 October 1783, when the unit was disbanded. Each muster roll contains the names of each member of the unit for purposes of pay. The Remarks column contains notes about individual soldiers, and as the regiment served in Jamaica, an inordinate number of the men are listed as sick, or sick in the regimental hospital. Other comments, typical of muster rolls includes updated information on the member since last muster: on duty, dead, absent by leave, furlough, deserted, on guard, recruiting, and discharged.  

The musters of the 1st Battalion are far more detailed than those for the 2nd Battalion and can include the following headings: length of time in service, and where they are intended to locate - to remain in Jamaica, embark for England, and embark for Nova Scotia. Several companies of the 2nd Battalion have either two or three members of the Black Pioneers attached. 

Finding Aids: Catalogue record includes the company captains listed with dates and place for each muster in the order found on microfilm. 

 

Great Britain. War Office. Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO 12/11233, 11237-8):  Royal West India Rangers:  1806-1819 

Call Number: HIL-MICL LMR .G7W3R79

Keywords: British Army personnel, regiment, boys, wives, movements, casualties, health; West Indies, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Antigua 

Summary:  The material includes the pay lists and other relevant documents for the Royal West India Rangers and covers the first and the last years of its existence where, after leaving England, they spent their time in the West Indies: 25 Sept. 1806-24 June 1810, 25 Dec. 1813-24 June 1819.  Covers the period of the Napoleonic Wars which had global implications, including in the Caribbean. Male child soldiers are indicated. The Royal West India Rangers, organised in Britain initially, had performed mostly garrison duties in the West Indies but also saw action in two invasions of the French island of Guadeloupe (1810 and 1815).  Besides the obvious risk of getting injured or dying during war, the Caribbean environment created conditions for large numbers getting ill or dying from diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever. They disbanded to New Brunswick, Canada in 1819. These documents reveal much about the individual and regimental experience during this period of international conflict. 

Finding Aids: Listing of each company captains’ muster roll, with dates, is added to the catalogue record in the order found on the film. 

 

National Maritime Museum (Greenwich, England). Documents Relating to the American Revolution:  1775-1783 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LMR .N3D6A4 

Keywords: West Indies, Royal Navy, seamen, captains, admirals, ships, first-hand accounts, engagements, health 

Summary: Provides first-hand accounts of the war at sea. The documents include correspondence, journals, logs, memorials, orders, signals and instructions, lists of British officers and seamen, and lists of ships in convoys. Organised into 2 main sections – Naval War in North America, and Naval War in the West Indies. Most of the documents are official in nature, but not all. Pertaining to the West Indies material, they are documents generated by Admirals, captains, and seamen belonging to vessels of the Royal Navy serving in the Caribbean. Topics cover personal accounts of sieges, battles, and actions; everyday occurrences, routines, and observations; sailing positions; correspondence and orders from commanders; captains' ship logs; and and letters with news. 

Finding Aids: Brief summary of each numbered item (which could be a batch of letters from a captain, or a captain’s log), including vessel name, is available in the catalogue record. 

 

Officials - Public and Religious

 

George Chalmers. Letters: 1728-1818 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .C4G4L4 

Keywords: The Bahamas, public official, American loyalist, government, politics and political culture, trade, agriculture, slavery, “slave” registration, cotton, plantations, planters, exotic plants, salt, economy, demographics 

Summary:  Collection is composed of letters and papers relating to many aspects of The Bahamas, mostly for the period George Chalmers was acting as British colonial agent in London to The Bahamas (1792-1818), but also some from an earlier period.  As agent, he saw himself accountable to the assembly which was often in conflict with the British government and island governors, particularly over the issue of slavery. Correspondence is between Chalmers and officials and private individuals and mostly incoming. Documents are varied, including statistics, returns, petitions or memorials, notes, histories, questionnaires, and reports, and material presented to the House of Assembly such as committee reports, affidavits, and resolutions.  

Subject matter centres on various contemporary matters relating to the islands of The Bahamas, and includes commentary and news relating to Bahamas internal government and politics, and international affairs such as the progress of war; also covers topics such as agriculture; trade, especially with Spanish settlements; economics; salt industry; population studies; cotton plantations and planters; slavery and Black history; nautical sailing directions; land grant policy; American loyalists; Bermuda-Turks islands affairs; horticulture; maritime defence and military infrastructure; health and climate; and  loyalist and planter William Wylly. 

Finding Aids: Available electronically are document summaries for: 1. Reel 1, Section 1, Letters and Papers 1797 Nov. 3-1801 Aug. 30; and Reel 2, Section 2, responses by 15 cotton planters to a government questionnaire, 1800. Transcription also available electronically for large part of Reel 2, Section 4, Representation of House of Assembly of Bahamas to colonial secretary of state pertaining to a “slave registration act,” which includes Chalmers’ opinions too, 1817. (See Electronic Finding Aid section in catalogue record for these.) 

 

Great Britain. Church of England. Diocese of London. Bishop. Fulham Papers at Lambeth Palace Library: 1626-1822 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LCR .G7D5F3P5 

Keywords: Church of England, colonies, bishop, clergy, church, vestries, state of religion- controversies and challenges, Black people – conversion and instruction, slavery, society, education, Codrington plantation (Barbados), Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 

Summary: The volumes relate to the administration of the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church, in America (Unites States and Canada) and the West Indies, which was understood to be under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London before the founding of separate episcopates in those colonies. In 1824 the West Indies obtained bishops.  

The correspondence to the bishop at London from the colonies is divided into seven main sections - General Correspondence (arranged in 2 main sections – continental colonies and the West Indies, further subdivided into specific colonies under the 2), Ordination Papers, 1748-1824, Missionary Bonds (1748-1811), Diocesan Book for the Plantations, Pamphlets, American Papers (1699-1774), and Alphabetical lists of clergy ordained, licensed, etc. by the Bishop of London, 1723-48. West Indies material is found throughout this material, but volumes 15-20 (General Correspondence section) deals just with this area, arranged as follows: Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, and Windward Islands). Collection provides insight into colonial ecclesiastical affairs and a window into colonial communities and society. Mentions other religions. 

Finding Aids: West Indies General Correspondence is summarized for each island or region in the catalogue record. A listing of each of the documents, with summaries for each, is available in print and online (see Electronic Finding Aid section in catalogue record). 

 

William Hewitt. Papers: 1756-1790 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .H4W5P3 

Keywords: Ceded Islands, Dominica, Tobago, Saint Vincent, British colonial official, personal finance, land, property, enslaved people, hurricane, wartime experience, misfortune, family 

Summary: While the inclusive dates of the Papers extend from 1756 to 1790, most of the material falls within two periods, 1766 to 1772, and 1777 to 1781, and relates mostly to Hewitt's time in the West Indies, including his role as commissioner for the disposal of land in the Ceded Islands, and as land and property owner, including property in enslaved people Provides insight into his personal experience in the Caribbean during a difficult period - international conflict, devastating hurricanes, as well as into the world of personal finance as someone who was an investor. The geographic focus includes the islands of Grenada, the Grenadiers, St. Vincent, Dominica, Tobago, and to a lesser extent, Barbados - predominantly Dominica. The categories of material include various financial records, diary of voyage to the West Indies; correspondence, in and outgoing; various types of documents pertaining to property, including those enslaved; official papers; legal documents; and papers relating to Hewitt's death and estate. Many communications contributed by family members, West Indian planters and surveyors, and English merchants. 

Finding Aids: Available electronically are content listings - one giving name and date coverage of each of the documents, and a second with detailed summaries for each manuscript, numbered 49-163. See Electronic Finding Aid section in the catalogue record. 

 

Senhouse, Joseph and William. Material Relating to the West Indies from the Senhouse Papers: 1762 - 1831 

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LFR .S4J6P3 

Keywords: public official, customs, agriculture, natural history, government, colonialism, trade, geography, Black history, slavery, plantations, planters, health and welfare, commerce, travel and description, ships, shipping, privateering, race, Barbados, Dominica 

Summary: This microfilm edition of the Senhouse Papers consists of the records of Joseph Senhouse and his brother William, but primarily from Joseph. They contain memoirs; letter books; several waste books and account books under the categories as private trade, cash books, plantation journals and ledgers, and customs accounts; observations; maps; leases; plantation estimates; memorandum books; and a marriage settlement. The records document the brothers' experiences as customs officers and planters in the British West Indies. Plantation and "slave" records make up a substantial portion of the Papers. The Papers provide a glimpse into the social and economic life of the West Indies, before, during, and immediately following the American Revolution. 

Finding Aids: Available digitally a list of documents relating to privateering and a transcription of Joseph Senhouse’s “Memoirs of Dominica,” 1772. 

Search & Access Collection

Accessing The Loyalist Collection

 

Searching The Loyalist Collection Catalogue

 

Things to Keep in Mind 

Contemporary language and place names are to be kept in mind when searching; these reflect the time period created or viewpoint of the creator. This also includes the Collection's catalogue descriptions or summaries of each title which have been written over several decades; it is an ongoing process to update these. An example would be moving away from using the term "slave" to "enslaved." 

Most of the titles in The Loyalist Collection catalogue are summaries of content and vary in the detail they include - from very sparse descriptions to lots of detail. For the titles in this subject guide, we have updated the descriptions to include more keywords, but the Collection catalogue has no formal subject search fields as seen in the Libraries’ catalogue. Thus, if you do not get meaningful results, this could be the descriptions are too basic. Trying different terms is another strategy.

 

Ways to Search

1. Keyword search

2. Advanced search

3. Browsing either by creator (such as government departments or individuals) or one of five categories (see explanation below). 

**See Search Tips page to use the catalogue more effectively and understand your results. 

 

Search Term Examples: 

• Agriculture/sugar/patents 

• Bahamas/Havana/Ceded Islands  

• Black history/Black loyalists/Black people  

• Exotic plants/horticulture/botanic garden 

• Hurricanes/natural disasters/weather 

• Indentured servants 

• Maroons  

• Navy/admiralty/Admiral Rodney 

• Plantations/estates/planters 

• “Slaves”/slavery/slave trade 

• Medicine/health/hospital/sick/dr. 

• Religion/Church of England/rev. 

•  West Indies/Caribbean/Windward Islands/Leeward Islands 

 

Accessing Collection- In Person

 

Library Location

5th floor of the Harriet Irving Library, Room 520A. See floor plan.  

Collection Arrangement 

Shelved in 5 categories or sections: Church (LCR), Family (LFR), Military (LMR), Public ie. government (LPR), and Special Collections (LSC).  Public is further subdivided geographically into America (United States), Great Britain, Jamaica, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec.  

Reading Call Numbers

HIL-MICL FC LFR .B7E3L4 is located in The Loyalist Collection in the Harriet Irving Library (HIL-MICL), in the Family Records section (LFR). “.B7E3L4” represents the call number within that section.  

*Books attached to the Collection are searchable in the Libraries’ catalogue and have the location HIL-MICGDL in front of the call number. You can also see a list by subject from The Loyalist Collection’s website under the Print Materials link. (These are in the main reference books, thus do not circulate.) 

Equipment - read/print/scan sources 

See Microforms Collection website for information. 

 

Accessing - Inter-library Loan 

Within Canada you may borrow material in The Loyalist Collection via your local library. Your library will place a request to our inter-library loan unit. Elsewhere, special permissions are required - email mic@unb.ca. The books attached to the Collection are in-house only (Hil-MICGDL location). 

 

Accessing - Staff-assisted Research & Copying  

Staff are available to assist. See Microforms Collection website for information

 

 

 

Further Reading & Sources

Further Reading - Books & Primary Source Databases

 

Books - Accessing

 

Hint:  Remember to utilise the footnotes and bibliographies within your secondary sources to point you in the direction of key sources on your topic. 

1. Libraries’ catalogue, WorldCat – perform a title, subject or keyword search to find books, journals, articles, etc. E-books can also be separately searched by clicking on the “More” tab found above where one types in a search term. Helpful video tutorial is available to assist further. 

2. Inter-library Loan:  Books and other materials not available at UNB may be available for loan from another institution through our Document Delivery service.  Searching in the catalogue by default searches UNB Libraries’ titles; but if a title of interest is not found, click on “Libraries Worldwide” in the column to the left of the screen and search again. Select the "Request Item" link to order from another library. 

3. Browse the book shelves for relatable material, either in the Library's main collection (HIL-Stacks) or in The Loyalist Collection print materials (HIL-MICGDL): 

 

• F 1601-1629 – West Indies 

• F 1630-1640 - West Indies – Bermuda 

• F 1650-1660 – West Indies -  Bahamas 

• F 1741-1991 – West Indies – Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico) 

• F2000-2151 – West Indies – Lesser Antilles (Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, islands along Venezuelan coast, and individual islands) 

• F2155-2191 – Caribbean Area. Caribbean Sea 

• HT 851-1445 – Slavery 

Where are they? To interpret the locations within the Library, click on Locations Guide underneath the search box for a floor plan. 

 

Selected Books - Print 

 

• Baugh, Daniel A. The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest. New York: Longman, 2011.  

• Beckles, Hilary and Verene Shepherd. Caribbean Slave Society and Economy: A Student Reader 

• Dayfoot, Arthur Charles. The Shaping of the West Indian Church, 1492-1962. West Indies: Press University of the West Indies, 1999. 

• Higman, B. W., ed. Trade, Government and Society in Caribbean History, 1700-1920 (Kingston: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1983) 

• Hulme, Peter. Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797 (London: Methuen, 1986) 

• Ingrahm, K.E. Manuscript Sources for the History of the West Indies: With Special Reference to Jamaica in the National Library of Jamaica and Supplementary Sources in the West Indies, North America, and United Kingdom and Elsewhere.

• Knight, Franklin W. et al. General History of the Caribbean. London: Macmillan Publishing: UNESCO Publishing, 1997-2011. (6 volumes) 

• Oldfield, J. R. Popular Politics and British Anti-slavery: the mobilisation of public opinion against the slave trade, 1787-1807 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995) 

• O’shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson. An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 

• Richardson, Bonham. The Caribbean in the Wider World, 1492-1992: A regional geography (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992) 

• Riley, Sandra. Homeward Bound: a history of the Bahama Island to 1850, with a definitive study of Abaco in the Bahamian Plantation Loyalist Plantation Period (Miami, Fla.: Island Research, 1983) 

• Shepherd, Verene, Bridget Brereton, and Barbara Bailey, eds. Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective (New York: St. Martin’s, 1995) 

• Sheridan, Richard B. Doctors and Slaves: A Medical and demographic History of Slavery in the British West Indies, 1680-1834. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 

• Siebert, Wilbur H. Loyalists in East Florida, 1774-1785 (Boston: Gregg Press, 1972) 

• Siebert, Wilbur H. The Legacy of the American Revolution to the British West Indies and the Bahamas (Boston: Gregg Press, 1972) 

 

Selected Books - E-books 

 

• Archer, C. V. H. & Fergusson, Wilfred K. Laws of Barbados. Barbados: Advocate Co., 1944. Revised and Consolidated. (Covers 1667-1942, 5 volumes with index volume.) 

• Beasley, Nicholas M. Christian Ritual and the Creation of British Slave Societies, 1650-1780. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010. 

• Buisseret, David. Historic Architecture of the Caribbean (London, Kingston, Port of Spain: Heinemman, 1980) 

• Curry, Christopher. Freedom and Resistance: a social history of black loyalists in the Bahamas (Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2017) 

• Farnsworth, Paul. Island Lives: historical archaeologies of the Caribbean (Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 2001) 

• Jeffreys, Thomas. The West India Atlas (London: printed for Robert Sayer and John Bennett, Fleet Street, 1780) 

• Morgan, Kenneth. Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 

• Mulcahy, Matthew. Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean, 1624-1783. Baltimore: Hohns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 

 

Selected Books - Databases

 

Eighteenth Century Collections **Available to UNB and STU community. 

• Consists of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera published between 1701 and 1800. Subject categories include history and geography; fine arts; social sciences; medicine, science, and technology; literature and language; religion and philosophy; law; general reference. Cross-searching with and access to EEBO (Early English Books Online 1475-1700). 

 

Selected Primary Source Databases

 

Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice. Primary source documents from libraries and archives around the world, including The National Archives and British Library in Great Britain. For example, a search for Jamaica from material in The National Archives found specific volumes scanned from microfilm of the originals from the Colonial Office - Original Correspondence, Jamaica (CO 137), Naval Office Returns (CO 142), and maps (CO 700); Treasury Department - “Slave Registers” and “Returns of Slaves” (T 71), and ship list and voyages in service of Royal African Company (T 70); Records of the Chancery - Letterbook (C 104), and papers in the office of the Hon. Nicholas Herbert relating to sugar plantations and trade (C 107); High Court of Admiralty - Records of the Slave Trade, adviser to the Treasury with lists of slaves (HCA 37)  

U.K. Parliamentary Papers. Offers a comprehensive collection of primary sources for the 18th, 19th and 20th century, for Britain, its colonies and the wider world. Included are the following Series: Bills and Acts, 1695-2018; Command Papers, 1802-2018; House of Commons Papers, 1715-2018; House of Lords Papers, 1714-1909; Hansard, 1803-2005; Journals, 1688-1834; Debates, 1774-1805; Histories and Proceedings.  

 

 

External Resources

External Resources

 

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies. British History Online. The State Papers Colonial are the accumulated papers of the secretaries of state relating to colonial affairs from the 16th to the 18th century. This series details papers relating to Colonial America and the West Indies for the period 1574-1739. These transcribed full summaries are printed in chronological order and do not necessarily reflect the archival ordering of the documents. Most documents come from The National Archives’ Colonial Office records - CO 1 and CO 5. Click on the volume of interest; then search.  

Digital Library of the Caribbean. A cooperative of Partners within the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean that provides users with access to Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials held in archives, libraries, and private collections. Comprises collections that speak to the similarities and differences in histories, cultures, languages and governmental systems. Types of collections include but are not limited to - newspapers, archives of Caribbean leaders and governments, official documents, documentation and numeric data for ecosystems, scientific scholarship, historic and contemporary maps, oral and popular histories, travel accounts, literature and poetry, musical expressions, and artifacts.  

Endangered Archives Programme, British Library. The Endangered Archives Programme seeks to preserve cultural heritage and make it available to as wide an audience as possible. To achieve this we provide grants to applicants to digitise and document archives. ‘Endangered’ means material that is at risk of loss or decay, and is located in countries where resources and opportunities to preserve such material are lacking or limited. ‘Archives’ refers to materials in written, pictorial or audio formats, including manuscripts, rare printed books, documents, newspapers, periodicals, photographs and sound recordings. Click in search field for topic or island of interest.

Legacies of British Slavery. Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery. Established at University College London. Focused to this point on slave holders, this site contains information about (1) every slave-owner in the British Caribbean, Mauritius or the Cape at the moment of abolition in 1833; (2) all the estates we have identified in the British Caribbean in the period 1763-1833; and (3) all the slave-owners, attorneys, mortgagees and legatees we have identified to date for the estates between 1763 and 1833. Entries for individuals include information about the activities, affiliations and legacies of these men and women, with a particular emphasis on the "absentee" owners based in Britain. The data in the records from the Slave Compensation Commission was a starting point for the project, providing a more or less complete census of slave ownership in the 1830s. To gather data on those enslaved, future work is to incorporate data from Registers of the enslaved produced between 1817 and 1834.  

Slave Voyages.  Collaborative digital initiative that compiles and makes available records of the slave trade, hosted at Rice University. Includes Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Intra-American Slave Trade Database, People of the African Slave Trade Database, and Image Galleries of people, places, vessels and documents.

Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora: The images. Selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. The growing collection currently has over 1,200 images. This website is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public - in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World.