An introduction to the plantation journals of the Prospect ... - Microform

NOTES
1 The author is indebted to David Smith for first drawing his attention to the records of
Prospect Estate. He is also grateful to Jessie Campbell (former chief archivist) and the staff
of the Barclays Group Archive for research assistance, to Paul Knights and Roderic Vassie
of Microform for overseeing the microfilming of the documents and the preparation of the
introduction, and to Michelle Craig McDonald, Douglas Hamilton, Barry Higman, Henry
Oakeley, Barbara M. Philpott, and James Robertson for their generous advice on specific
points arising during the course of research. Study of Prospect Estate was originally
undertaken in order to provide post-graduates studying at the University of York with access
to documentary records illustrative of enslavement. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the
enthusiasm of graduate students taking the module ‘Slaves and Slavery’ for this project.
2 A gap in the historical record between 1793 and 1817 prevents a comprehensive
enumeration of the population. The figure of 162 is the peak number recorded during the
years 1784-93 and 1817-38.
3 For more detailed analysis of Prospect’s demographic history, see S.D. Smith, ‘Life and
Labour on a Jamaican Sugar Plantation: Prospect Estate, 1784-1832’, Wadabagei: A Journal
of the Caribbean and its Diaspora (forthcoming, 2006).
4 See Table 1, items 0627-0017, 0627-0019, 0627-0023.
5 Regrettably, a lack of resources has prevented the author from conducting fieldwork
personally in Jamaica’s archives where additional information undoubtedly exists (references
to records in Jamaican archives in this introduction were kindly supplied by Michelle Craig
McDonald).
6 P.W. Matthews and Anthony W. Tuke, History of Barclays Bank Limited (London, 1926), 68.
The reference to the date ‘1784’ makes it clear that Matthews and Tuke refer to the owner of
Prospect Estate. In passing, it can be noted that the Barclays Archive appears to contain
only two other manuscripts containing information about West Indian slavery: items 0009-
0197, ‘Deeds Relating to Plantations in Grenada, 1825-6’ and 0627-0019, ‘Small Notebook
Containing the History of the Wadman Family’.
7 Barclays’ Connection, Issue 11 (October, 2001), 15. It was this reference that David Smith
brought to the author’s attention and which initiated the present project.
8
Peter Manning, The Origin and Early History of Barclays Bank in Pall Mall (London, 1985),
5-9.
9 Barclays Group Archives, Manchester, 003-0234, Records found at the Pall Mall Branch,
Ledger, Current Account No. P, A-F, 1 January 1802 - 31 December 1803 (the account
records a balance carried over from 1801).
10
S.D. Smith, ‘Merchants and Planters Revisited’, Economic History Review, vol. lv (2002),
448.
11
An example of the letters written by London commission merchants to their planter
correspondence is The Lascelles and Maxwell Letter Books (1739-1769) ed. S.D. Smith
21