Irish indentured servants in the Caribbean – a guide to sources

The concept of the 'Irish as slaves' in the seventeenth century is topic discussed at length and on occasion with some rather outlandish assertions.  The below is a quick outline of some of the material that can be used for the study of the Irish indentured servants in the Caribbean in the seventeenth century. It focuses mainly on the English speaking islands as very few Irish went to the French or Spanish possessions on an indenture.

The book Ireland, slavery and anti-slavery (Basingstoke, 2007) by Nini Rodgers is essential reading. From page 33 onwards it sets out the historical context and provides a clear definition, both in the context of Irish history as well as its relation to black slavery. It also includes various examples and extensive bibliography. Her points about indentured servitude present a natural starting point.

Many of the Irish indentured servants came to Barbados, one of the first English possessions in the Caribbean. The work of Hilary McD. Beckles is essential. The article: Hilary McD. Beckles, A ‘riotous and unruly lot’: Irish Indentured Servants and Freemen in the English West Indies, 1644-1713 in the William and Mary Quarterly third series, vol. 47, no. 4 (Oct., 1990) deals specifically with the Irish on the island. It also gives a good number of references to material on use in further research.

Beckles is also the author of A History of Barbados Cambridge, 2006) and the chapter ‘The ‘Hub of Empire’: the Caribbean and Britain in the Seventeenth Century’ which can be found in The Oxford history of the British Empire: volume I: the origins of empire (Oxford, 1998). In the same series Ireland and the British empire (Oxford, 2005), Jane Ohlmeyer deals with aspects of the Caribbean in the chapter ‘Early modern Ireland and English imperialism’. Other writings by Beckles include ‘Black over white: ‘the poor white problem in Barbados slave society’ in Howard Johnston (ed.) After the crossing, immigrants and minorities in Caribbean creole society (London, 1988) which considers the legacy of indentured servitude. 

The Leeward Islands also presents some interesting material. Donald Harman Akenson, If the Irish Ran the World: Montserrat, 1630-1730 (Liverpool, 1997) is essential as the island had a predominantly Irish population. Note that the number of indentured servants was small on Montserrat. However, Akenson has some very interesting views on the Irish and how they engaged with a colonisation project. A more recent work is Natalie A. Zacek, Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670-1776. Cambridge, 2011) – it has one chapter on the English, Scottish and Irish and her thematic approach on the white settler society on the islands presents some very interesting points.

Recently, an interesting article is Kristen Block and Jenny Shaw ‘Subjects without an empire: the Irish in the early modern Caribbean’ in Past and Present, no. 210 (Feb. 2011). They have actually used some rarely used Spanish sources which added a different dimension to the Irish experience in the Caribbean. There is more on these connections in the Irish Migration Studies in Latin America that can be found here.

On primary source materials, Richard Ligon A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados was originally published in the late seventeenth century. It has been reprinted in various formats, although last year’s edition prepared by Karen O. Kupperman gives a good introduction and gives a great insight into the Irish presence on Barbados in the seventeenth century.

The John Thurloe material can be found at British History Online and has a lot of correspondence from the Caribbean. It mentions the Irish on Brabados and the Leewards quite often. It also hold the correspondence between Thurloe and Henry Cromwell (Oliver's son and the commander-in-chief in Ireland) over sending 2000 Irish 14 year olds to Jamaica. The latter never happened as the shipment and  holding of the potential deportees was never financially viable.