Slavery in Jamaica, Records from a Family of Slave Owners, 1686-1860
Papers relating to the Jamaican estates of the Goulburn family of Betchworth House
The Goulburn Papers provide essential information on how one absentee planter coped with the issues of abolitionism, amelioration, slave emancipation, apprenticeship and full freedom for blacks in JamaicaBrunel University
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Witness the rise and fall of slavery in Jamaica and beyond
This collection contains records detailing the Goulburn family’s longstanding ownership of the Amity Hall plantation and associated properties in Jamaica during the 17th and 18th centuries. The plantation had 300 acres of land cultivated for the lucrative sugar cane and at its peak housed almost 300 enslaved people.
Most of the papers concern the properties when they were administered by Conservative MP Henry Goulburn between 1805 and 1856. They provide a comprehensive overview of the operation and eventual abolition of the slave trade in Jamaica and the West Indies. This covers everything from abolitionist criticism of Goulburn’s plantation to resistance and organisation of enslaved workers.
Note: This collection is accompanied by an online guide written by Professor Kenneth Morgan.
Contents
Slavery in Jamaica, Records from a Family of Slave Owners, 1686-1860...
Papers relating to the Jamaican estates of the Goulburn family of Betchworth House
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Volumes
Insights
- Miscellaneous papers & correspondence relating to the management of the estate' includes a valuation of Margaret Williams Samson and her seven children as the estate's property.
- The 'correspondence with factors & sales accounts' discusses the management of the estate. Other letters list paid workers, their pay and their roles.
- The 'miscellaneous papers relating to Henry Goulburn's parliamentary candidature' reveal the influence of the abolitionist movement on the slave owner's election to represent Cambridge University.
- The 'correspondence with agents and others' covers a discussion upon whether children who were slaves should be separated from their parents in July 1807.
