Histories

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. “Papers Relative to the West Indies: Part II Jamaica.” Parliamentary Papers 1841, sess. II, (344), vol. 3. 401 p.
Significant collection of evidence concerning the transition to “free labour” and the response of the colonial state. Correspondence between Governor Metcalfe and Lord John Russell complaining of the intervention of special magistrates against the interest of landholders. Summary of Jamaican legislation and debates reveals the tensions between property owners and labor. Extensive report on the inadequacies of Jamaican prisons and gaols, with statistics and some prison plans. Contains biannual reports of special magistrates covering labor conditions, landlord- tenant relations, missionary activities, education, wage and labor costs, and production statistics. One report includes a comparison of plantation expenditures under slavery, apprenticeship, and freedom. Also includes statistics on increase in property-owning laborers between 1838 and 1840.
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Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. “Returns on the
Number of Immigrants into the British West India Colonies and British Guiana since 1834, and All Votes of Money for Purposes of Immigration, and Annual Expenditure of the Same for the Like Period.” Parliamentary Papers 1843 (136), vol. 33.
Statistical returns for all colonies, broken down by colony, year, sex, immigrants (European), and “Captured Africans.” Good example of occasional returns which have statistical value as they cover period between 1834 and 1842 (exact years vary by colony).