Category Archives: The Letters
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 November 1781
26/11/1781
By the end of November 1781, news of the British capitulation at Yorktown had reached Jamaica. In Taylor’s formulation, the failure of British forces in America, combined with the new high duties on sugar, amounted to a catastrophe for Jamaican planters. This war with the whole world must and will involve Britain and her dependencies […]
Also posted in British Government, Kingston, Navy, North America/USA, Sugar, Taxes/duties, War Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 November 1781
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 November 1781
26/11/1781
Taylor saw enslaved people as little other than units of production but understood the necessity of enforcing routines that were conducive to efficient and sustained work. Here he talks about the value of having a medical doctor resident at Arcedeckne’s Golden Grove estate and critiques the practices of the white overseers who superintended the daily […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Enslaved people, Food/provisions, Jobbing, Kingston, Plantation management, Slave trading Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 November 1781
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 28 August 1781
28/08/1781
Taylor’s callous disregard for enslaved people as anything other than commodities and units of labour is evident in his reaction to the effects of the storm at Arcedeckne’s Golden Grove estate, which he managed as Arcedeckne’s attorney. The shocking human cost of the hurricane is nevertheless apparent, although Taylor conflates this with a diatribe about […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Enslaved people, Famine, Food/provisions, Kingston, Navy, Plantation management, Spain, Taxes/duties, Trade, War Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 28 August 1781
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 18 August 1781
18/08/1781
On 1 August 1781, another hurricane hit Jamaica. It was less severe than the hurricanes of 1780, and again much of the damage was in the west of the island. However, as Simon Taylor’s letter mentions, shipping was driven ashore in Kingston Harbour, and there was damage in eastern districts, where Simon Taylor’s Lyssons estate […]
Also posted in Disease/health, Enslaved people, Food/provisions, Hurricanes, Lyssons (plantation), Plantation management Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 18 August 1781
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 June 1781
26/06/1781
The increase in the duty on sugar came in the budget of March 1781. A duty that had been a little under 6s 4d per hundredweight in 1776 now rose to over 11s 8d. The Prime Minister, Lord North, explained that the new tax was necessary because of the expenses of the war, which compelled […]
Also posted in British Government, Hurricanes, Kingston, Navy, Sugar, Taxes/duties, Trade, War Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 26 June 1781