On 26 March 1812, an Order in Council established compulsory registration of enslaved people in Trinidad, the first such registry in the British West Indies. Plantation owners had to report enslaved people and changes such as sale, inheritance or movement. British authorities framed registration as a way to detect illegal imports after the trade ban. The registry also made human beings legible to the colonial state as enumerated, transferable property. Today, the records can help descendants recover names and family relationships, though they were produced for surveillance and slave ownership.
On 24 November 1783, Spain issued the Cedula of Population, opening Trinidad to immigration by Roman Catholic settlers from Spain’s allied nations, particularly French Caribbean colonies. Land grants,...
On 18 February 1797, British forces captured Trinidad after Spanish Governor José María Chacón capitulated at Valsayn. The change of imperial ruler did not free the people held in slavery or dismantle...
On 25 March 1802, the Treaty of Amiens formally left Trinidad in British hands, excepting it from the return of other Spanish and allied colonies occupied during the war. The treaty settled a...
On 25 March 1807, the British Parliament passed the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The act prohibited British participation in the transatlantic slave trade, but it did not abolish...
On 14 May 1811, Britain enacted legislation to make the 1807 trade ban more effective, prohibiting the movement of enslaved people into British colonies from foreign territories and between...
👉 Order in Council establishes Trinidad’s compulsory slave registry
Current
26 March 1812
On 26 March 1812, an Order in Council established compulsory registration of enslaved people in Trinidad, the first such registry in the British West Indies. Plantation owners had to report enslaved...
On 12 July 1819, Parliament created a central Registry of Colonial Slaves in Britain to receive copies of registers sent from the colonies and to regulate the removal of enslaved people between...
On 15 May 1823, the House of Commons debated the future of slavery in the British colonies. Thomas Fowell Buxton called for a process leading to the extinction of slavery, while the debate also...
On 16 March 1824, the House of Commons considered papers on efforts to “ameliorate” conditions for enslaved people in the West Indies, including Trinidad’s Protector and Guardian of Slaves. The...
On 28 August 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent. It legally set abolition in motion across British colonies, including Trinidad, but did not give most adults immediate freedom:...
On 1 August 1834, the British Slavery Abolition Act took effect in Trinidad. Children under six were freed, while most adults were placed in an apprenticeship system that compelled them to continue...
