Northumberland Archives holds the Carr-Ellison family archive (ZCE). This letter is part of that collection. Ralph Ellison was an eighteenth-century merchant, based in Northumberland. He bought Hedgeley Hall, near Powburn, in 1786.

The house is still in the Carr-Ellison family. The main focus of his trade was northern Europe, but he also tried to extend his business interests into America. We have found no evidence that he had direct business interests in the trade of enslaved people.

The Skerrett family were friends of the Carr family. There are a number of letters between various members of the two families in the archives. John Nicholas Skerrett was in the army. The letters from John to Ralph repeatedly mention John’s wish for promotion and the money necessary to buy a commission. To become an officer in the army, a soldier needed to have a commission, which had to be paid for.

Skerrett refers to America several times in his letter. It seems that he fought with the British against the Americans during the American War of Independence (1775-1783). His letter gives the impression that he didn’t receive the recognition that he felt he deserved.

Pronounced loo-sea (like the girls’ name, Lucy). The British built Fort Charlotte at Lucea in 1746.

In 1661 Barbados introduced the first “Slave Code”, officially named “An Act for Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes”. The Code defined people of African origin on the island as chattels – they were the property of slaveholders, to do with as they wanted. The Code gave the holders of enslaved people the right to punish, torture and kill them. Other British colonies introduced similar Slave Codes. Jamaica adopted a version of the Barbados Act in 1664.

The structure of the plantation economies on islands like Jamaica meant that large enslaved African workforces were overseen by a very small number of white European slave holders. Revolt and resistance were a constant fear for the owners of plantations.

Resistance could take many forms; running away (it is estimated that 10% of enslaved people ran away from their holders), maintaining African traditions, refusing to work and even poisoning the food given to slave holders.

Large scale uprisings took place numerous times in Jamaica from 1655 until abolition in 1834. Tacky’s Rebellion had occurred 28 years before the writing of Major Skerrett’s letter and was therefore still within living memory. Takyi was a Ghanaian nobleman who led the 18-month uprising.  (See links below for further information.)

The British took control of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. Some of the Africans who had been enslaved by the Spanish took this opportunity to run away into the dense Jamaican jungle and set up communities. They came to be known as Maroons. Further runaways from the British added to their numbers. During the late 1600s and early 1700s the Maroons were in conflict with the British and at war between 1728 and 1739 (The First Maroon War) and 1795-6 (The Second Maroon War). The Maroons used guerrilla tactics against the British, whose troops had greater numbers and more technologically advanced weapons.

At the time of this letter, the Society for the Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade had been meeting for little over a year. Opposition to the slave trade was becoming organised, particularly around the figure heads of William Wilberforce (Member of Parliament) and the Bishop of London. A parliamentary investigation into the trade (rather than slavery itself) was ordered by William Pitt, the Prime Minister, and published in April 1789.

It is interesting to note that Skerrett blames Wilberforce and the Bishop of London for raising the hopes of the enslaved people of Jamaica. This implies that the enslaved plantation workers were receiving, interpreting, and circulating news of political events in England.

A very worthy and Respectable Naval Officer, and Merchant has made 50,000

According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator this would have been worth at least £7.7 million in 2020. This was money made from selling the products grown and processed by enslaved people.

Skerrett also mentions letters of credit worth £1000. This would have been worth about £150,000 in 2020.

Letters of credit and remittances are ways of transferring money. The development of the trade in enslaved people meant that British merchants needed to be able to send and receive money across the Atlantic. During the eighteenth-century the slaving ports of London and Liverpool became international centres for banking and insurance.

Sugar was the main export from Jamaican plantations. Indigo, a type of dye, and pimento, or all spice, were also grown on the island by enslaved workers.

Documents from the eighteenth-century regularly use language that is unacceptable. People of African descent were often called “negroes”, as in this letter.

Snow – a type of ship

House of Assembly – the parliament of Jamaica, founded 1664.