Ancestry.co.uk is putting online a collection of slave records. The archive which will eventually cover three million slaves in South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean.
Simon Harper of ancestry.co.uk said: "As few records exist which document the lives of individual slaves, the Former British Colonial Dependencies' Slave Register Collection, 1812-1834 will for many be the only record of their ancestor ever having existed and so represents a vital resource for everyone with or interested in researching slave ancestry.
"With few relevant collections online, it has not been easy for those with ancestors from former British colonies or territories to research their black family history, however ancestry.co.uk's new collection will help bridge major historical gaps for many people."
more after the fold
Slave records aren't the most common of documents, so an archive like this will become a great resouce of data.
the website that it is posted on is: Barbados slave register
Over almost 200 years from the mid-1600s many thousands of black slaves were
transported from Africa to work the sugar plantations: the slave trade was not
abolished until 1807 and slavery until 1834.
Today, people all over the world are the descendents of these slaves and efforts
to trace their slave ancestors are being expedited by the increase in historical
records available online, the growing popularity of black family history and the
overcoming of research obstacles specific to black history.
Tracing black ancestry can be challenging, due mainly to inconsistent record
keeping in the 18th and 19th centuries in regard to slave ownership and low
literacy levels within black communities at the time.
More details:
Marking its black history collection, Ancestry.co.uk has launched the 1834 register on the website which is hoped to help many people in the UK of Barbadian origin trace their roots.
One of the busiest slave trade 'hubs' in the 18th and 19th centuries at the height of the British empire, the register contains the names of 99,349 slaves and 5,206 slave owners - an average of 19 slaves to every owner. However the full collection does include several people owning up to 400 slaves.
Of the 99,349 slaves listed, 46,347 were male and 52,982 female: 26,787 were aged ten or under.
Hopefully the data in this collection will help people that are looking for info on their families history.
Thank you for reading
jeff