Despatches; Apprentices. This volume covers a period after the termination, on 1...

CO 28/131

1839 Sept-Dec.

Despatches; Apprentices. This volume covers a period after the termination, on 1 August 1838, of the transitional scheme of compulsory labour known as 'apprenticeship' which was introduced by the 1834 Emancipation Act. Despite its title, therefore, its contents are concerned with the regulation of the newly freed working population.

Papers include:

• abstracts and reports of appeals heard before the Assistant Court of Appeal;
• papers illustrating concerns that 'persons in poor circumstances' will be unable to afford the costs of appeals to the Court of Error;
• correspondence relating to legislation concerning: militia, police, regulation of the relations between labourers and employers, regulation of emigration of labourers;
• answers of police magistrates to questions raised in Lord Glenelg's circular despatch of 1 October 1839: names of persons legally ejected from land or buildings with details of cases; names of persons convicted as rogues and vagabonds with details of cases; names of persons entering into any contracts of service with names of parties, length of service, payment, etc; names of persons convicted for breach of contract of service with details;
• reports [manuscript and printed] of the judges of the Assistant Court of Appeal and of magistrates on the working of the 'Free System' and covering working and living conditions, working relationships, pay, ejection and trespass, availability of labour, condition and education of children, child labour, demand of labourers for 'the luxuries of life', provisions of savings banks, prospects for forthcoming crops;
• summary of number of punishments imposed during the last year of the apprenticeship scheme and the first year of freedom;
• summary of convictions in periods 1 March to 31 July 1838 and 1 March to 31 July 1839 together with comparative table of complaints made against apprentices or free labourers during the same periods;
• governor's address on the opening of the Legislature together with replies from the Legislative Council and Assembly;
• correspondence between the governor and the bishop of Barbados concerning the increase in numbers of clergy, extension of education, and progress of friendly societies; with list of churches, chapels and school houses existing before 1825 or erected since to replace buildings destroyed in the 1831 hurricane; churches, chapels and school houses added; list of clergy connected to rural chapels and chapel schools; and reports of church and chapel districts;
• correspondence and papers relating to prison administration and the punishment of juvenile offenders, including printed copy of 'official correspondence relative to the Act authorising the infliction of corporal punishment for certain breaches of prison discipline ...';
• printed correspondence relating to the possible establishment of 'courts of reconciliation' on a Norwegian model, and reports of experiments in holding such courts.

Public Record(s)

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

International

Labour

Army

Migration

Religions

Caribbean

Policing

Children

Friendly societies

Wills and probate

Prisons