Thousands of Black individuals named

British Parliament: Colonial Office; Robert Wilmot Horton (1784-1841); William Montagu, 5th Duke of Manchester (1771-1843); Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (1762-1834).

Slave Population. Further Papers and Returns, presented pursuant to address, relating to the Slave Population of Jamaica, St. Christopher’s, and The Bahamas.

London, Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be printed, 14 May 1823.

Folio. 158 pp.

Disbound.

A highly important document providing the names and personal details of thousands of Black individuals —men, women and children—  who were manumissioned (made “free”), married, born and died in three former British plantation colonies in the Caribbean, between 1808 (the end of the slave trade) and 1823. Furthermore, it documents the plight of individuals committed to jails or workhouses as runaways who claimed to be free. An invaluable source for Black ancestry. At the end it includes a “Copy of a letter […] enclosing returns of slaves imported into and exported from the port of Port Maria, since the 1^st January 1808.”
The work also contextualizes the legislative struggles between the abolitionist movement and colonial powers in the early 19th century. Following the inadequacy of the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, the 1819 Slave Registration Act marked an effort to regulate and monitor slavery, mandating the central recording of slave transactions. These documents reflect the resistance from colonial planters and the advocacy of figures like William Wilberforce, who sought to expose inhumane practices. Published by the House of Commons in 1823, this volume was part of a series that shed light on parliamentary debates, colonial slave legislation, and growing calls for reform, including the influential critique by the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery. These records not only trace the systemic oppression but also underscore the mounting pressure for justice and systemic reform within the British Empire.

Condition: paginated by hand in ink, one or two faint spots, last quire loose. Otherwise in very good condition.

Reference: Sabin 26257.