British Slave Records Online

Ancestry.co.uk has posted 3 million names of slaves held across the British Empire in the early 19th century, putting hundreds of thousands of pages of searchable information online to help slaves' descendants research their past. The project uses registers that the British government created between 1813 and 1834 in an effort to stamp out the slave trade by ensuring plantation owners did not buy new slaves. Britain abolished the trade in 1807. Slavery itself was outlawed in the colonies 17 years later.

Information from about 700 registers from 23 British territories and dependencies include Information available on these records includes: name of owner, parish of residence, name, gender, age, and nationality of slave.

Colonies were required to conduct censuses of slaves and their owners every three years. Records were kept on site and copies submitted to the Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves. After the office was disbanded, some 200,000 pages of names were placed in the National Archives in Kew, in west London.

Although estimates vary, researchers say tens of millions of African men, women and children were enslaved and shipped to the Caribbean and the Americas. Many of these were sent to British-controlled islands such as Barbados, Jamaica and the Bahamas, where they were forced to work in plantations.

In 1807 The Abolition of Slave Trade Act came into force. The act made the trade in slaves from Africa to the British colonies illegal. To combat illicit transportation following this act many of the British Colonies began keeping registers of black slaves who had been so-called “lawfully enslaved”. In 1819 the Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves was established in London and copies of the slave registers kept by the colonies were sent to this office. Registration generally occurred once every three years. The registers continue through to 1834 when slavery was officially abolished.

This database contains the slave registers for the following colonies and years:

• Antigua (1817-1818, 1821, 1824, 1828, 1832)
• Bahamas (1822, 1825, 1828, 1831, 1834)
• Barbados (1817, 1820, 1823, 1826, 1829, 1832, 1834)
• Berbice (1818-1819, 1822)
• Dominica (1817, 1820, 1823)
• Grenada (1817-1834)
• Honduras (1834)
• Jamaica (1817, 1820, 1823, 1826, 1829, 1832, 1834)
• Mauritius (1817, 1819, 1822, 1826, 1830, 1832, 1835)
• Nevis (1817, 1822, 1825, 1828, 1831)
• Sri Lanka (Ceylon) (1818-1832)
• St Christopher (1817, 1822, 1825, 1827-1828, 1831, 1834)
• St Lucia (1815, 1819)
• St Vincent (1817, 1822, 1825, 1828, 1831, 1834)
• Tobago (1819-1834)
• Trinidad (1813, 1815-1816, 1819, 1822, 1825, 1828, 1831, 1834)
• Virgin Islands (1818, 1822, 1825, 1828, 1831, 1834)

The following colonies are not included in this collection but can be viewed in paper form at The National Archives:

• Jamaica (pieces 193, 206-208)
• St Christopher (pieces 261-263)
• Grenada (piece 264, 266)
• Dominica (pieces 359-363)
• Nevis (piece 369)
• St Lucia (pieces 382-390)
• Demerara (pieces 391-436)
• Berbice (pieces 441-446)
• Montserrat (pieces 447-451)
• Bermuda (pieces 452-455)
• St Vincent (pieces 494, 496)
• Mauritius (piece 566, 571)
• Cape of Good Hope (pieces 652-662)

   

Comments

[Joan Paggett Owens]

This is wonderful, but how would most of us blacks know how to really trace our family members, since the slave owner gave them new names and just listed them as "gal", "winch", "gal"; "boy" etc. I am in search of my family and can only go as far as ggg and that is beter than most, however, I can only go as far as grandfather on Henry Paggett. Hope there will be info as to how to find our families. Joan

[Cathy A.]

You would be amazed at the amount of detail available in these records. In all the records I looked at, the slaves all had names. In the St. Lucia lists, large numbers also had surnames, which was a surprise to me. Many of the registers have the slaves in family groups, so you can know who the parents and siblings were. All the registers list age and country of birth. If the slave had died since the previous year, cause of death is given. If they were sold on, it tells you where they went etc.

If you are able to trace back to your first ancestor born into slavery and have an idea of the country/parish, owner or plantation perhaps from death records after abolition etc., it would be very possible to trace your family back. The database allows you to search by the slave's first name, last name, owners name, key word etc.

This database will be a very useful tool.

[dianne nurse gittens]

This great information i do have infomation on a great great grandmother if i can find information on her parent/s i will be happy; i understand they came from Haiti and probably came to trinidad via grenada.
dianne
Trinidad and Tobago
PS i have no idea of her name but i do have a picture of my great great grandmother.

[ASHA JOSEPH]

THE NEWSLETTER WAS VERY INTERESTING. WILL I FIND INFORMATION ABOUT THE MANDINGOS WHO CAME TO TRINIDAD PRIOR 1807 IN THE DATABASE? i DEED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THEM. MANY OF THE MANDINGOES LEFT EAST TRINIDAD TO RESIDE IN PORT OF SPAIN. THEY ALSO FORMED A SOCIETY TO HELP FREE OTHER SLAVES JUST BEFORE EMANCIPATION. WHAT ABOUT REPATRIATION FOR THESE FREE SLAVES WHERE WILL I GET THIS INFO?