Francis Russell Hart Collection (Boston, MA)

This archive could be useful to those in North America with an interest in eighteenth and nineteenth Jamaica. From the abstract it is described as a 'collection consists of deeds, wills, leases, inventories of plantations, manuscripts, and maps gathered by Francis Russell Hart relating to the history of the West Indies and Central America, specifically Antigua, Barbados, Colombia, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Christopher, St. Thomas, and Trinidad.'

Francis Russell Hart (1868 - 1938) had an interest in Caribbean history and wrote three historical books, a number of articles and his own recollections on time spend working in the region. Namely Admirals of the Caribbean (Boston, 1922), The Disaster of Darien; the story of the Scots' Settlement and the causes of its failure, 1699-1701 (Boston, 1929); and The siege of Havana, 1762 (Boston, 1931) - the first being out of copyright and available here.

Much of the collection is related to the works mentioned above and the material often copies of originals. The Jamaican material relates mostly to government correspondence, printed items from newspapers and extracts. Other documents related to the British West Indies can also be found in this collection.

For more information: MHS Francis Russell Hart Collection

History of Liverpool privateers and pirates

Prof. David Eltis has written a forward to this edition published in 2004 using the original late nineteenth century text. Gomer Williams was local journalist with a great interest in the Liverpool's mercantile history. Jamaica featured heavily in the narrative that tackles the city's involvement in privateering through to slavery and the abolition movement. Using primary source material the first section deals mostly with shipping. For anyone considering the trade connections between Jamaica and Liverpool, this book invaluable. A large section on the war of independence in North America is less relevant to the West Indies. The second part to the book on Liverpool's rile in the slave trade provides a multitude of references to the triangular trade with Jamaica. It has a very useful appendix, detailing ships, destinations and cargo for further research. The original 1897 version is freely available on archive.org (History of Liverpool privateers and pirates)