Despatches from John Brathwaite Skeete, president (items 1-55), and James Lyon, governor...

Despatches from John Brathwaite Skeete, president (items 1-55), and James Lyon, governor of Barbados, together with letters from 'offices' (Government departments and other organisations) and individuals on matters relating to Barbados. Despatches are described at item level; correspondence from offices and individuals is not, and correspondents and subjects are as follows: Offices: Admiralty (refers to claim of John Thomas, a Greenwich pensioner but now a slave, for arrears of pension and asks 'how this man can now be a slave having once been in His Majesty's Service' and how he has been employed since his discharge in 1815; reports appointment of Major General Sir James Lyon as vice admiral of Barbados and Major General Nathaniel Blackwell as vice admiral of Tobago; provision of passage for Sir James Lyon); Agent (application of Mr John Poynter Musson for post of attorney general, supports Mr Walrond's memorial, cannot provide further information on case of Mr Walrond as requested, forwards remonstrance of the House of Assembly against instructions concerning communication of the secretary of state's despatches); Commander in Chief (forwards letter from Major General Mainwaring relating to the admission of discharged 'black' soldiers into hospital [not in volume]); Law Officers (their opinion that the verdict in the case of the slave Adam is unsafe but that there are grounds for a re-trial); James Stephen, legal adviser ('dummy' sheet referring to report of the attorney general on the illegal importation of slaves from Barbados: filed under Trinidad, see CO 295; case of slave Jack Stephen convicted of stealing a cow); Treasury (requires copy of instrument empowering the governor to remit fines, remission of fine of £150 imposed on J Coulston, suggests that the governor be authorised to remit fines up to £50, circumstances under which the purchase of the proposed residence for the bishop can be sanctioned, asks if the bishop's bill of £330 for house rent is to be paid, approves allowance to Sir James Lyon of £800 per annum for 'table money', directs payment due to P Shepherd out of the escheated estate of Esther Millington); War Office (forwards claims of Major General Mainwaring to additional pay in consequence of the command of the Windward Islands having devolved on him, in reply to enquiry states that John Moncine formerly a sergeant in the Ordinance Military Labourers in the West Indies is not on the Chelsea Hospital pension list, issue of pay to Sir James Lyon); Committee of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery in the British Dominions (forwards extract from letter stating that numerous infractions of the laws abolishing the slave trade have recently taken place in Barbados); Ecclesiastical Board ('dummy' sheet referring to correspondence about vacant clerical appointments and passage money for schoolmasters [not in volume, filed under West Indies, see CO 318]) Individuals: R Aberdeen (sends letter for forwarding to the governor); Sir John Byng (declines offer of post of governor); J Butterfield (claim of Mr Musson to have the post of advocate added to that of attorney general); Howard Bovell (seeks Order in Council to allow him to transfer 'a number of negro families' from Barbados to Trinidad); John Coulsten (forwards further copy of his petition seeking remission of remainder of his term of imprisonment); Cavan Brothers & Company (duty imposed illegally by authorities at Martinique [with enclosures in English and French]); Richard Elias Fitt (his plan for the abolition of slavery); James L Forrester, Demerara (requests authority to search for a certain deed of entailment); Greenwood & Cox (requests certificates for authorisation of payment of salaries); George Harper, 'free black man' (claim for the escheated property of Elizabeth Sybilla Stede); Johnston & Company (asks if Mr Clayton's credentials are with the Colonial Office); J D Maycock (requests warrant for his appointment to Council); John Moncine, formerly of 60th regiment of foot and the corps of military labourers (seeks a passage to Barbados for himself and family [see also under War Office above]); J P Musson (seeks promotion); Mr Maitland (necessity for lighthouse on the south-eastern promontory of Barbados); Benjamin Walrond, former deputy naval officer (seeks compensation for lost of his post); W Wainwright (forwards letter from Mr Bovell seeking permission to move 'negro families' from Barbados to Trinidad [see also under Bovell]); Sir Henry Warde (explanation of salary return, seeks response to earlier correspondence, his thanks for expression of king's satisfaction with his administration of the government of Barbados)

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