Category Archives: The Letters
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 14 December 1786
14/12/1786
Here Taylor discusses the quality of sugar shipped to England from Chaloner Arcedeckne’s estate, Golden Grove, and discusses the poor health of enslaved people, particularly in western Jamaican parishes, linking this to the unusually bad weather and restrictions on trading with the United States. Taylor provides some detail on his strategies for providing sustenance for […]
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Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 11 October 1786
11/10/1786
Taylor’s brother died of a fever, although the evidence available in Taylor’s letters does not allow for a more precise diagnosis of his illness. Here, Taylor reflects on the medical treatment that his brother received, on his own health, and on the preponderance of sickliness among whites in Jamaica. He also discusses the debts of […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Family, Kingston Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Charles Price, Simon Taylor, Sir John Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 11 October 1786
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 1 June 1786
01/06/1786
The 1780s were a transformative decade in Taylor’s life. The American War and its aftermath transformed his political outlook towards a distrust of the British government in London, a perspective that became more entrenched with the advent of the parliamentary campaign against the slave trade in 1788. His sugar estates were adversely affected by the […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Drought, Family, Hurricanes, Kingston, Natural disasters, Plantation management Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor, Sir John Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 1 June 1786
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 10 October 1783
10/10/1783
By the end of 1783, Taylor expressed his satisfaction with work at Golden Grove, under the supervision of the overseer, Madden. Taylor described his plans for improving the cultivation and productivity of Golden Grove, which included the purchase of more enslaved workers and the avoidance of ‘jumping crops’, which were years of heightened productivity created […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Enslaved people, Food/provisions, Hurricanes, Lyssons (plantation), Pens/livestock, Plantation management, Slave trading, Sugar Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 10 October 1783
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 10 October 1783
10/10/1783
In 1784, James Ramsay published his famous and influential Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies. Ramsay had lived as an Anglican clergyman in the British-Caribbean colony of St Kitts (hence Taylor’s comment here about the Windward Islands in the eastern Caribbean) and drew on his experience there […]
Also posted in Abolitionism, Christianity, Defence of slavery, Enslaved people, France, Lyssons (plantation) Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 10 October 1783