The collection contains 300,000 pages of registers from 1813-1840 across colonies including Jamaica, Barbados, Mauritius, and Trinidad, with detailed entries on names, ages, physical descriptions, and family ties. Records originally created by the British government to monitor enslaved populations as property are now being repurposed by descendants to reconstruct family histories and understand their heritage.
4m records of enslaved people across British colonies now searchable online
The records document the lives of millions of enslaved people across 20 former British colonies between 1813-1840, preserving their names, ages, family relationships, and experiences under enslavement.