It is possible to carry out research on some of these subjects in the NAS, which holds the records of Scottish courts and churches, and some estate papers relating to slave-owning plantations. Other aspects of the trade are better researched elsewhere, for example in The National Archives, London, or in other archives and libraries. The following sections deal with aspects of the slave trade and suggest relevant sources of information.
Contents
Enslavement in Africa
and slave trade voyages
Slave
markets and auctions
Slaves on plantations
Researching specific slaves or former slaves in Scotland
Records of prominent former slaves
The abolition movement
Court of Session cases
Estate and plantation records
Business records of merchants and slave owners
Wills and testaments
Registers of deeds
Pictorial evidence
Maps
Searching NAS, SCAN and NRAS online catalogues
United Kingdom government sources
- Acts, statutes and slave registers
- Manumissions
Websites and bibliography
Enslavement in Africa and slave trade voyages
There is little evidence in the National Archives of Scotland
(NAS) of the enslavement and movement of slaves to African ports
prior to shipping. Log books of ship voyages normally remain the
property of ship owners and very few have found their way to Scottish
archives. The NAS holds one letter describing a voyage on a slave
trader from Bleney Harper (in Barbados) to William Gordon &
Co., Glasgow, May 1731 (NAS ref. CS228/A/3/19). A greater proportion
of evidence on the enslavement and movement of slaves can be found
in The National Archives (in London) in the records of the African
trading companies, Customs Outport, Board of Trade and the Admiralty.
For more details see the research guides on the slave trade on The
National Archives website (see below under United
Kingdom government sources). Where evidence of the slave trade
voyages exists in Scotland it is generally through court cases.
For example, four cases involving owners of ships engaged in the
slave trade, which were heard in the High Court of Admiralty in
Scotland are: Daniel v Graham, 1721 (NAS ref. AC9/718), Clark v
Inglis, 1727 (NAS ref. AC9/1022), Horseburgh v Bogle, 1727 (NAS
ref. AC9/1042) and Alexander v Colhoun & Co, 1762 (NAS ref.
CS228/A/3/19). The records of the Horseburgh v Bogle case are important
as they give very detailed information about the way in which the
slave trade was carried out in the early eighteenth century. There
are more than 70 items including financial records, witness statements
and other legal papers providing evidence of the export of 'guinea
goods' from Britain to Africa, the role of the ship's surgeon as
supercargo in purchasing slaves for transportation, and his contract
with the Scottish merchants who backed the venture.
Slave markets and auctions
Following the union of parliaments in 1707, Scotland gained formal
access to the transatlantic slave trade. Scottish merchants became
increasingly involved in the trade and Scottish planters (especially
sugar and tobacco) began to settle in the colonies, generating much
of their wealth through slave labour. Evidence of the acquisition
of slaves from slave traders and other slave owners can be found
among the Estate
and plantation records and the Business
records of merchants and slave owners.
Slaves on plantations
The main source of information in the NAS for events and conditions on plantations is estate papers of landowners in Scotland who owned plantations in the colonies. Letters, inventories and, occasionally, estate plans in these collections are an excellent source for researching the lives of slaves on plantations in the colonies, their living conditions and the general attitude towards slavery and the slave trade. See below under Estate and plantation records and also Pictorial evidence.
Researching specific slaves or former slaves in Scotland
It is usually time-consuming to find information about any individuals in Scotland who lived prior to mid-19th century, but there may be opportunities for researching slaves or former slaves in Scotland. Church attendance for slaves was not allowed in most colonies on the grounds that baptism might have prompted slaves to claim their right to freedom as Christians. Once in Scotland, however, many slaves were allowed to be baptised, and evidence of this should be in old parish registers of baptisms or kirk session minutes. At the point of baptism slaves or former slaves often took the surnames of their masters, which should be borne in mind when searching baptismal registers. Released slaves were also allowed to marry and you may find an entry for their marriage in the old parish registers of marriages. Old parish registers are held at the General Register Office for Scotland. Some of these records are available using the ScotlandsPeople e-commerce website. Kirk session records of the Church of Scotland and most other presbyterian churches can be viewed in the NAS (and in some cases in local archives) (NAS ref. CH2-3), but most are not indexed.
In correspondence (social letters) and household records of families which owned slaves you might find letters or diaries referring to household slaves or accounts for things purchased for them. They sometimes also contain copies of wills, which might reveal if any slaves lived in the household and whether they were bequeathed themselves or were the recipients of the bequests. Lists of slaves are occasionally found in estate collections and these vary in the amount of detail they give, but they usually include the names of the slave, their age, any other family members and sometimes origin and medical condition.
Some former slaves were employed as apprentices with tradesmen. To find out more about the different types of trade records, read our guide to Crafts and trades.
In the late-eighteenth century there was a tax on some categories of servants in Scotland and surviving tax rolls for these are held by the NAS, arranged by burghs and counties and then by household, with the names of the servants and sometimes their jobs (NAS ref. E326/5-6). For more details read our guide to Taxation records.
After their release (or successful escape), some former slaves joined the Army. Muster rolls list new recruits and might mention any former slaves that joined. Searching them can be an arduous and time-consuming task, so you should ideally know the regiment the individual served in and their complete name. For more information on muster rolls, see our guide on Military records.
Until the abolition of slavery, the release of slaves was formalised
through a 'manumission', i.e. a legal document granting the slave
his or her freedom. Manumissions are contained within the papers
of the Colonial Office and Foreign Office, held at The National
Archives (TNA) - see below under United
Kingdom government sources.
Records of prominent former slaves
Not much is known about how former slaves integrated in
Scottish society, how they felt about and utilised their freedom.
This is because there are very few first-hand accounts in Scottish
archives left by former slaves. However, some individuals were well-known
in Scotland at their time, such as George Dale, who was transported
against his will from Africa, aged about eleven and ended up in
Scotland after an unusual career as a plantation cook and crewman
on a fighting ship. In 1789, during the time of the French Revolution,
The Society for the Purpose of Effecting the Abolition of the African
Slave Trade gathered evidence like George Dale's life story for
the anti-slavery abolitionist cause (NAS ref. GD50/235/2). You can
read a transcript of this document in our news feature on George
Dale.
Another well-known former slave was Scipio Kennedy. He had been
brought to Scotland by Captain Andrew Douglas in 1702 from the West
Indies, where he had been transported as a young boy from the African
west coast. In 1705, Scipio joined the family of the Captain's daughter
who married John Kennedy from Culzean in Ayrshire, and it was here
that Scipio got his surname. He stayed in this family for an initial
20 years, during which time he was baptised and probably also received
some education. Through his baptism, Scipio was free according to
Scots law, so that when he decided after 20 years to continue service
with his former owner for another 19 years, this was formalised
by an indenture, which is held in the NAS (NAS ref. GD25/9/Box 72/9).
Little is known about his later life, though he appears once in
the kirk session minutes of Kirkoswald on 27 May 1728 (NAS ref.
CH2/562/1), accused of fornication with Margaret Gray, whom he later
married. We know from references in the old parish registers that
they had at least eight children and continued to live in Ayrshire
until Scipio's death in 1774.
Between 1756 and 1778 three cases reached the Court of Session
in Edinburgh whereby runaway slaves attempted to obtain their freedom.
A central argument in each case was that the slave, having been
bought in the colonies, had been subsequently baptised by sympathetic
church ministers in Scotland. The three cases were Montgomery v
Sheddan (1756), Spens v Dalrymple (1769) and Knight v Wedderburn
(1774-77). The last case was the only one decided by the Court.
James Montgomery (formerly 'Shanker', the property of Robert Sheddan
of Morrishill in Ayrshire) died in the Edinburgh Tolbooth before
the case could be decided. David Spens (previously 'Black Tom',
belonging to Dr David Dalrymple in Methill in Fife) sued Dalrymple
for wrongful arrest but Dalrymple died during the suit. Joseph Knight
sought the freedom to leave the employment of John Wedderburn of
Bandean, who argued that Knight, even though he was not recognised
as a slave, was still bound to provide perpetual service in the
same manner as an indentured servant or an apprenticed artisan.
(see Court of Session cases).
The abolition movement
Many individual Scots were involved in the movement to abolish
slavery or helped runaway slaves in Scotland in their quest for freedom.
The Church of Scotland and other churches were also involved in the
petitioning of parliament to abolish the slave trade in the late-eighteenth
century and early-nineteenth century and individual church ministers
baptised slaves in order to aid their attempts to gain freedom. The
Court of Session cases challenging the status of slavery in Scotland
reveal that local people helped runaway slaves – see under Court
of Session cases. The NAS and SCAN online catalogues
and the National Register of Archives can be used to some extent to
search for material about the abolition movement and leading abolitionist
figures, such as William Dickson of Moffat and William Wilberforce.
See under Searching
the NAS, SCAN and NRAS online catalogues below.
Researchers into the abolition movement in Scotland should refer to
Iain Whyte, Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery, 1756-1838
(Edinburgh University Press, 2006).
Court of Session cases
The Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, heard
some cases concerning the commercial and property-owning aspects of
the slave trade. Three cases concerning the status of slaves in Scotland
also survive among the unextracted processes of the court in the NAS,
as follows: Montgomery v Sheddan, 1756
Among the petitions, declarations and other submissions by Sheddan
and Montgomery in Court of Session (NAS ref. CS234/S/3/12) there
survives the bill of sale from Joseph Hawkins, Fredricksburg, to
Robert Sheddan of ‘One Negroe boy named Jamie’ (9 March
1750). To read more, see the feature on the Montgomery
slavery case.
Spens v Dalrymple, 1769
The papers in unextracted processes are NAS ref. CS236/D/4/3 box
104 and NAS ref. CS236/S/3/13. For more information, see the feature
on the Spens
slavery case.
Knight v Wedderburn, 1774-7
The unextracted processes for this case (NAS ref. CS235/K/2/2) include
an extract of process by the Sheriff Depute of Perth against Sir
John Wedderburn (1774) and memorials by Wedderburn and Knight. For
more information, see the feature on the Knight
slavery case.
Estate and plantation records
Scottish families who settled in the colonies maintained contact
with their relatives in Scotland, and extensive series of correspondence
survive in some Scottish estate collections. In these letters, the
work and life of slaves on the plantations is often touched on, and
we also learn how slaves rebelled against their captivity, either
by absconding from their owners or through organised rebellion. Although
most slaves were made to work on their owners’ plantations, individual
slaves were often employed in their owners’ households as servants,
and would occasionally be mentioned in letters or diaries. It was
mostly these slaves whom owners would take with them if they returned
to Scotland. Accounts reveal any expenditure made for slaves, such
as clothing, food and vaccines but also things like shackles and collars.
Estate collections sometimes include household inventories drawn up
at the death of the estate owner, which might mention slaves. Estate
plans might show how slaves were accommodated. Some examples of plantation
records in the NAS are Cameron & Co., Berbice, 1816-1824 (NAS
ref. CS96/972), William Fraser, Berbice, 1830-1831 (NAS ref. CS96/1947),
Robert Cunnyngham, St Christopher’s, 1729-1735, (NAS ref. CS96/3102)
and Earls of Airlie, Jamaica, 1812-1873, (NAS ref. GD16/27/291). The
OPAC can be searched by planter’s name, plantation name or by
keywords such as ‘slavery’, ‘slaves’, 'negro',
'negroes', ‘plantation’ or a combination of keywords.
Business records of merchants and slave
owners
Business records (such as correspondence, accounts and ledgers) give
an insight into how the slave trade was operated. Letters between
slave traders can reveal how slave markets and auctions were identified
and how slaves were transported to the colonies and sold there. Merchants’
correspondence relating to the slave trade often concerns the triangular
trade with the colonies but may also include references to the abolition
of the slave trade insofar as it affected their business. Letters
to and from purchasers tell us about the characteristics customers
typically looked for in slaves. Accounts will usually give the sum
of money paid or received and may also mention the purchasers' names
and the physical condition of the slaves. Although slaves’ names
are occasionally included as an ‘identifier’, normally only
their first name is given. Examples of business records in the NAS,
referring to the slave trade are Buchanan & Simpson, Glasgow,
1754-1773 (NAS ref. CS96/502-509) and Cameron & Co, Berbice, 1816-1824
(NAS ref. CS96/972-983). The CS96 records normally relate to Court
of Session cases, whose references may be found in the same catalogue
entry. To find relevant business records, you would ideally know the
name of the company or individual dealing in slaves, as the entries
in the OPAC are arranged by record creator. However, the above examples
were identified by using relevant search terms such as ‘slave’,
‘slaves’ and ‘slave trade’.
Wills and testaments
There is evidence from wills and testaments that slaves in the colonies
were regarded as ‘moveable property’, i.e. they could be
bequeathed after the owner’s death. Copies of original testaments
of plantation owners may survive in estate papers or among family
papers. If the testament was registered by a court whose jurisdiction
covered the plantation itself, the registers might survive in the
relevant national archives of that country. Scots who owned land in
both the colonies and in Scotland could have their testaments registered
in the Commissary Court of Edinburgh and (later) the Sheriff Court
of Edinburgh. The registers for both of these have been digitised
and are searchable online via the ScotlandsPeople website. See below
under Websites
and bibliography.
Registers of Deeds
Contracts, indentures, factories and other legal papers concerning
the sale of slaves can give details about the transaction, the parties
involved, the price paid and other conditions under which the sale
was to be finalised. Some of these are among collections of estate
and plantation records or family papers (e.g. indenture between John
Davies, Antigua, and James Matthew Hodges, Antigua, regarding the
sale of a slave, 1833 (NAS ref. GD209/21) and indenture between Eliza
Mines, Jamaica, and Cunningham Buchanan, Jamaica, regarding sale of
two female slaves, 1809 (NAS ref. CS228/B/15/52)). It is possible
that many others might appear in the various registers of deeds in
the NAS, which can be very time-consuming to search. Many registers
are not indexed, and those which are indexed are only by personal
name. For more details on searching registers of deeds see the research
guide.
Pictorial evidence
The NAS frequently receives enquiries for images of slaves, the slave
trade, the abolition movement, aspects of plantation life and related
topics. Almost all of the information in the NAS relating to these
topics is in written form. The best source of pictorial illustrations
and images in Scotland is Glasgow City Libraries and Archives. A good
starting point is the 2002 exhibition ‘Slavery and Glasgow’,
which is available online at the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) website.
Maps
Two published maps of the Gold Coast have come to the NAS via private
record collections: (1) map of Africa according to Mr. D'Anville with
additions and improvements and a particular chart of the Gold Coast,
showing European forts and factories, 1772, published by Robert Sayer,
London (NAS ref. RHP2069), and (2) map of Africa, improved and enlarged
from D'Anville's map, including inset map of the Gold Coast and vignette
of African figures, 1794, published by Laurie & Whittle, London
(NAS ref. RHP9779). Some access restrictions apply to the second map:
consult NAS Historical Search Room staff.
Searching NAS, SCAN and NRAS online catalogues
The NAS online catalogue is at http://www.nas.gov.uk/catalogues/default.asp.
It contains many detailed entries at item level, and it is possible
to search it using terms such as ‘slave’, ‘slavery’
etc, and by the name of a plantation or plantation owner. It is less
likely to yield information on individual slaves and former slaves
unless they became well-known.
The Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) online catalogue contains summary
details of collections of records in more than 50 Scottish archives.
Again this might be useful for searching for records of plantations
and their owners, but not many other aspects of slavery. The SCAN
website also contains the exhibition Slavery and Glasgow, which displays
images of many of the types of material covered by this guide. The
SCAN website is at http://www.scan.org.uk.
The online register of the National Register of Archives for Scotland
(NRAS) is a catalogue of records held privately in Scotland. For more
information go to the NRAS pages http://www.nas.gov.uk/nras/default.asp.
United Kingdom government sources
Acts, statutes and slave registers
The Act of 1807 only abolished the transatlantic slave trade, i.e.
the shipping of slaves from Africa to the colonies in the Americas.
The sale and transport of slaves between colonies were not affected
by this legislation. Moreover, in spite of the new law, the slave
trade across the Atlantic continued illicitly. In response to this,
the British government passed a Bill in 1815, requiring the registration
of legally-purchased slaves in the colonies. The system of slave registration
was gradually introduced by 1817. The registers are an excellent source
for researching individual slaves. The amount of detail they give
varies, but you can generally expect to find the owner’s name,
the slave’s name, age, colour, country of birth, occupation and
further remarks. You should be aware when studying these records that
there was some opposition to the registration bill among slave owners,
so the registers are not complete. The NAS does not hold slave registers.
For most former colonies, you will need to contact the respective
national archive services.
In 1816, another Act came into force, requiring an annual return of
the slave population in each colony. The returns were obtained by
parish and normally record the owner’s name and the number of
male and female slaves in their possession; they do not normally include
the slaves’ names. These records are a good source for identifying
individual slave owners. Returns were taken until 1834.
During the 1820s, the British government began to make provisions
for the gradual amelioration of slavery. This development towards
its complete abolition in the British colonies is well documented
in private and business letters from slave owners as well as speeches
and pamphlets by abolitionists (see The abolition movement). The new
measures imposed by the government included Acts for the ‘government
and protection of the slave population’, passed between 1826
and 1830. These Acts addressed topics such as minimum standards for
food and clothing, labour conditions, penal measures and provisions
for old and sick slaves. In Jamaica, slaves could no longer be separated
from their families, and released slaves were allowed to own personal
property and to receive bequests. Murder of a slave was to be punished
with death. In Barbados, owners were instructed to have all their
slaves baptised and clergymen were required to record births, baptisms,
marriages and deaths occurring in the slave population. Slaves charged
with capital offences were to be tried in court in the same way as
white and free-coloured persons. In Grenada, every slave was to be
given a proportion of land adequate to their support and be granted
28 working days per year to cultivate it. In Antigua, owners were
required to build a two-roomed house for every female slave pregnant
with her first child. A printed abstract of these Acts is held within
a private collection in the NAS (NAS ref. GD142/57). For further information
see the Parliamentary Archives website. (see below under Websites
and bibliography).
Manumissions
Occasionally, owners would decide to release some of their slaves.
The release was formalised through a ‘manumission’, i.e.
a document granting the slave his or her freedom. Manumissions are
contained within the papers of the Colonial Office and Foreign Office,
held at The National Archives (TNA). For more details of these and
the records of the Office of the Registry of Colonial Slaves and Slave
Compensation Commission, 1812-1851, including the central register
of slaves in London, see the research guides on the slave trade on
The National Archives website (see below under Websites
and bibliography).
There are also some individual manumissions contained in estate papers
held privately in Scotland. To search these and to find out more about
how to access them, see the website of NRAS.
Websites and bibliography
Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) -use the online catalogue to search
for records relating to slavery in Scottish archives and view the
Slavery and Glasgow exhibition
The National Archives, London (TNA) -consult the research guides
on slavery and the slave trade
One Scotland website - includes a list of resources on Scotland
and the slave trade
Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) - learning resources on the
role of Scottish merchants in the slave trade
ScotlandsPeople - census returns; civil registers of births, deaths
and marriages (from 1855 onwards); Old Parish Registers of baptisms
and marriages; wills and testaments registered in Scotland
Parliamentary Archives website - includes a micro-site: Parliament
and the British Slave Trade
For the website addresses for all of these see above under other websites.
Books -
Eric J Graham, A Maritime History of Scotland 1650-1790 (Tuckwell
Press, 2002)
Eric J Graham, Seawolves: Pirates and the Scots (Birlinn Ltd, 2007)
David Hancock, Citizens of the World: London Merchants and the Integration
of the British Atlantic Community, 1735-1785, (Cambridge University
Press, 1995)
Alan L Karras, Sojourners in the Sun: Scottish Migrants in Jamaica
and the Chesapeake, 1740-1800 (Cornell University Press, 1992)
Kenneth Morgan, Slavery, Atlantic Trade and the British Economy, 1660-1800
(Cambridge University Press, 2001)
Iain Whyte, Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery, 1756-1838
(Edinburgh University Press, 2006)
Frances Wilkins, Dumfries & Galloway and the Transatlantic Slave
Trade (Wyre Forest Press, 2007)
The National Archives of Scotland
Crown Copyright 2007 |
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