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Slavery in Jamaica, Records from a Family of Slave Owners, 1686–1860

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People with baskets and sacks pick cotton on a plantation.

Papers relating to the Jamaican estates of the Goulburn family

Though Jamaica was not a monocultural economy, its agricultural and commercial life was largely based on slavery and sugar cultivation
Professor Kenneth Morgan,  Brunel University

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From public life in Britain to the cane fields of Jamaica

Enslaved people standing in rows using tools to dig cane holes.

This collection contains records from the Surrey History Centre detailing the Goulburn family’s longstanding ownership of the Amity Hall plantation and associated properties in Jamaica during the seventeenth and eighteenth 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 the resistance and organisation of enslaved workers.

Contents

Slavery in Jamaica, Records from a Family of Slave Owners, 1686–1860...

Papers relating to the Jamaican estates of the Goulburn family

Discover 
Sugar production in the West Indies in the 17th century, using an evaporating furnace (left), grinding mill driven by oxen (right), dwellings (lower right), and a large plantation house (upper right).

Highlights

Section of a typed letter for The attention of the members of the University of Cambridge who are inclined to support Mr. Goulburn at the approaching election, dated 28 April 1831.

Licensed to access Letters and printed papers relating to Henry Goulburn's parliamentary candidature (Apr 1831-May 1832)

This document includes papers relating to Henry Goulburn's parliamentary candidature and reveal the influence of the abolitionist movement on Goulburn’s election to represent the University of Cambridge.

Section of a handwritten letter dated 2 April 1805.

Licensed to access Letter book (1790-1791 and 1805-1811)

This document contains correspondence, chiefly with the family’s attorneys.

Section of a handwritten letter dated 13 January 1798.

Licensed to access Letters from William Goore (Jan 1796-May 1805)

This document provides a unique insight into the management of Amity Hall, including the shipping and sale of produce.

Section of a ledger addressed to Thomas Samson, regarding Amity Hall Estate.

Licensed to access Statements of account (1802-1833)

This document details the financial position of Amity Hall Estate, through statements of account.

Insights

  • Amity Hall was a sugar cane plantation located in Jamaica and administered by several generations of the British Goulburn family. Henry Goulburn, who came to own the properties, was an aristocratic Conservative MP for several seats in the south of England.

  • This collection contains archival material offering a comprehensive overview of the complex and brutal operations of a sugar plantation.

  • The documents cast a light on the management of Amity Hall, including statistics on the price of enslaved workers and the crops they produced, the family’s response to abolitionist opposition in Britain, and files detailing the plantation’s cruel policies towards enslaved workers.

  • The collection documents the horrific conditions in which the enslaved workers had to exist. Enslavers like Goulburn retained full control of their lives and treated them as commodities.

  • The collection contains correspondence between the Goulburns and their agents who took care of the day-to-day management of the plantation.

  • The liberation of enslaved peoples via the Emancipation Act of 1833 is also covered in the documents.

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