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| African slaves working in British colonial dependencies during the 18th and 19th centuries formed the working backbone of the British Empire, making it both rich and powerful... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For more than 200 years from the mid-1600s, many hundreds of thousands of African slaves, most taken against their will, worked mainly on sugar, tea and tobacco plantations in far flung corners of the British Empire such as the Caribbean, India and Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. The use of slaves made the Empire rich to such an extent that at its height it covered almost one quarter of the world’s population. The British slave trade was not abolished until 1807 and slavery until 1834. Today, people living all over the world are the descendents of slaves, and their efforts to trace their ancestors are being expedited through both an increase in the number of historical records now available online, and the use of DNA to accurately establish the geography of their ethnic ancestry. |
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| About the Former Colonial Dependencies Slave Register Collection, 1812-1834 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed records of slave ownership exist from 1812 onwards due to the British Government finally succumbing to public pressure to stamp out the slave trade, which became illegal in 1807. From 1812, slave owners had to complete a slave register every three years so that the British Government could monitor ownership and stamp out illegal trading. No slave could be bought, sold, conveyed, imported, exported or inherited without first being registered. The registers, the originals for which reside at The National Archives, contain information such as parish, owner and name of slave, approximate age, and in some instances birthplace. In many instances slaves took (or were given) the surname of their owner, and more often than not their age was approximated. The actual ownership of slaves did not become illegal until 1834. This unique and important collection is comprised of registers from 23 colonial dependencies and contains more than 2.7 million names of slaves, and also 280,000 slave owners. The following former colonial dependencies are represented: |
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| How DNA Ancestry can help in your search to discover your African roots… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A challenge for those with slave ancestry is to establish where their ancestors came from in Africa. In recent years, DNA testing has become a popular way for those of African descent learn more about their African origins, and also to identify living cousins around the world. Using a simple mouth swab, science can now tell us to what group (called a haplogroup) our ancient ancestors belonged to, as well as trace their migration patterns over time.  By submitting a sample into Ancestry’s DNA database, potential matches with living cousins around the world can also be identified. To learn more about how you can use DNA to trace your family history, click dnaAncestry. |
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| Tracing your black ancestry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracing black ancestry can be challenging, due mainly to inconsistent record keeping in the 18th and 19th centuries in regard to slave ownership and later, low literacy levels within black communities, which had a significant impact on the accuracy of information they were asked to provide. Nevertheless, a number of core resources such as censuses, and also more specialized historical record collections such as the slave registers, which pertain to black history, do exist and are now readily available. Below is a Step Guide for getting started on tracing your black ancestry, and also a list of additional resources which may be of use. |
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| Step One - immediate relatives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Find out all you can from parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, and also look for any family records lying around the house. Write everything down and discard nothing – it may be ‘the piece’ in the puzzle you need later on. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Step Two - search UK records | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For any relatives that you know of or have traced
living in the UK before 1901, the England, Wales and Scotland Censuses
can be used to add branches to your family tree. In the UK, a census
has been taken every 10 years since 1841. Importantly, these records
include birth place, which may prove an invaluable arrow pointing
in the next direction towards which you need to look. If your relatives came to Britain after 1901, access the UK immigration records available at The National Archives in London. These records include information such as name and age, last address in their home country, occupation, and also the names of other family members with whom they may have been traveling. |
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| Step Three – search international records | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| When you have established from where your ancestors
came before arriving in the UK, you can use local records to trace
when they came to that area, and if they were slaves, when they were
set free. And don’t just rely on the surname of your ancestor
corresponding to the slave owner’s surname, as this is not always
the case – also use occupation and address, age and birthplace
(if listed). Post-1834, why not also search ‘core records’ if they are available such as censuses, parish records and Birth Marriage and Death Records. A full list of additional resources, by country, can be found to the left of this page. |
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| Step Four – search slave owners | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Once you have discovered the name of your ancestor’s last slave owner, research the slave owner to see what they did with their property, because slaves were property - bought, sold, and traded. At this point you are doing the genealogy of both the slave owner and the slave, which may be twice the work, but will help you better understand the life and circumstances of your slave ancestor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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