Antigua 558 (Island of Barbuda, a dependency of Antigua)

2nd Nov 1835 | 492 Enslaved | £6286 18s 11d

Claim Details

Claim Notes

Parliamentary Papers p. 83.

T71/877: claim from Sir C. B. Codrington Bart., as owner-in-fee.

Henry Nelson Coleridge, Six Months in the West Indies, in 1825 (New York, 1826) p. 253: 'Barbuda is holden under a long lease from the crown by Sir Bethel Codrington upon the service of presenting a fat sheep to the commander-in-chief of Antigua, whenever he visits the island. This is generally commuted for a turtle or a buck. The inhabitants are two white overeseers, one of them a German, and about four hundred slaves. Mr James, the attorney of the estate, visits them occasionally and at those times resides in the old castle with his family. No sugar is grown on this island, and the labor consists in raising provisions and building droghers'.

Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey, The West Indies in 1837 (London, Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1838), Appendix D (Barbuda) pp. xxiv-xxv: the authors allude to Sir Bethel Codrington's public correspondence with T. F. Buxton (reprinted in the Anti-slavery Monthly Reporter). 'Many of our readers will remember, that Barbuda is the private property of Sir Bethel and that the happy condition of its inhabitants was brought prominently forward by him, in the correspondence referred to.' Barbuda was a nursery for enslaved persons, 'to supply the waste on the Codrington estates in Antigua'. Now, over 100 enslaved persons were in banishment on Antigua. Due to the baneful influence of the Superintendent, 'They have no Laws' and no resident religious instructor. Antigua would not legislate for Barbuda: 'their neglect...is said to have induced the proprietor to adopt the graceful alternative of emancipating the slaves by a deed under his own hand'. Reference to 'this little despotism'.

Times 10/06/1836 p. 7: account of litigation over the will of Mrs Caroline Walrond, the mother of Bethel Walrond and sister of Sir Christopher Bethel Codrington (who was Bethel Walrond's uncle).

Times 19/04/1837 p. 6: account of litigation over funeral expenses.

Sources

Henry Nelson Coleridge, Six Months in the West Indies, in 1825 (London and New York, 1826). See pp. 243-54 for Barbuda; Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey, The West Indies in 1837 (London, 1838), Appendix D; The Times, 10 June 1836 and 19 April 1837.


Further Information

Colony
Antigua
Claim No.
558
Estate
Island of Barbuda, a dependency of Antigua
Collected by
Liggins, J.
Uncontested
Yes

Associated Individuals (1)

Awardee (Owner-in-fee)

Associated Estates (1)