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Public Record OfficeResearch resources for Caribbean Studies and theHistory of Black and Asian people in the UKCASBAH SURVEY REPORTPilot survey of a sample of Public Record Office archivesby Mairi RobertsonCASBAH Project ArchivistCONTENTGeneral SummaryMethodologyData collationKeywordsCollections strengths/weaknessesConclusionsPRO re-indexing projectReferencesAppendicesAppendix 1: Targeted collectionsAppendix 2: Political figures/historical eventsAppendix 3: Embedded recordsContact DetailsGeneral summaryThe aim of the CASBAH pilot survey of the Public Record Office (PRO) collections was to examine a selected group of PRO archival records to indicate the potential range and extent of material relevant to Caribbean Studies, and the history of Black and Asian people in the UK. Given the extent of the PRO’s holdings this pilot does not claim to be a comprehensive survey, but provides an interesting glimpse of a cross section of records. This survey report provides a summary of the findings. The PRO is a CASBAH partner. It is the national archive of England, Wales and the United Kingdom. It brings together and preserves the records of central government and the courts of law, from the 11th century to the present day and makes them available for public consultation. PROCAT is the online multi-level catalogue of the Public Record Office. It provides the main means of accessing information about the records held by the Public Record Office. The catalogue is organized hierarchically, with seven levels of description: Department,Division, Series, Sub-series, Sub Sub-series, Pieces and Items. PROCAT also incorporates online information leaflets and ready-constructed popular searches. Since a full survey of the PRO collections was not feasible in the time available to project staff, PROCAT was searched for relevant collection-level and series-level records to incorporate into the CASBAH dataset and provide an appropriate sample of the research resources available there. This work builds on the initial search of the PRO online catalogue by CASBAH project staff, for descriptions of collections within the files of the Colonial Office (and its predecessors), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and other files documenting Britain's links with the Caribbean region and records relating to the migration experiences of Black, Asian and other minority ethnic peoples in Britain. Initially, around 40 series-level records from the following 6 major collections were selected as follows:
The majority of the records selected contain information about Britain's historic, colonial links with the Caribbean region but several series-level records convey information about the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain. For example:
Please see Appendix 1 for other relevant record series such as:
The methodology in this survey involved an examination of the PRO Online catalogue to facilitate searching the PRO’s holdings. The PRO Catalogue is primarily organised in sections covering each government department's records. The Browse function allows use of the online catalogue as a paper list, going through catalogue entries as listed within their originating departments, divisions, record series, etc. To make the most of the Browser you need to know under which department reference (eg: CO) you are likely to find the information you seek. This type of search was used for the targeted collections and for identifying deeply embedded lower level records. The SEARCH screens were used to search across departments using a thematic CASBAH search criteria devised by the project team. Searching the catalogue is a better alternative if you are not familiar with the administrative history of the UK. A variety of search options are available in PROCAT: Guided Search, Index Search, Search the catalogue, Field and Advanced Searches. This search was used mainly for political figures and historical events, the combined phrase/department code search was useful in producing embedded information. The following list of key themes compiled by the project team were used to consider the PRO records:
A list of key political figures and historical events in Caribbean history, and a list of relevant political figures in Black and Asian history in the UK, from the TUC Collections were drawn together to search the PRO. This produced six lower level records (see Appendix 2). As the PRO records are concerned mainly with British colonial administration and government, it is important for researchers to be aware that records concerned with key political figures in Caribbean history are unlikely to be retrieved by searching on the names of Caribbean individuals alone because of the way in which 18th-early 20th century Caribbean history was written, from the perspective of govenor generals through despatches. When conducting searches, a related name search for the ruling government representative at the time of an historic event often retrieves relevant records. For example, searching for information about Jamaican freedom fighter Paul Bogle's activities involved a search for Governor Eyre which retrieved a record referring to the Morant Bay rebellion: PRO 30/22/16E Lord John Russell: Papers. Data collation The PRO pilot survey took place during the period December 2001-January 2002. The main aim was to: Collate archive collections and identify relevant lower level records for collation for the CASBAH database. Collation involved summarising and indexing of the PRO archive collection descriptions. Accumulate terms for thesaurus and authority lists. Relevant records were transferred from the PROCAT into text documents to summarise, edit and html tag, then transferred into Microsoft Access. Finding Aids PRO Online Catalogue, PRO Online guides, preliminary work done by CASBAH project staff. Within the sample of PRO records, it was noted that the lower level collections contain deeply embedded references to relevant material. The difficulties encountered in locating this material are in part due to the way in which colonial history was written ie from the British colonial administration perspective, but also due to the nature of the PRO holdings being concerned mainly with British relations. For example, the institution of slavery which divided slave and personal ancestry, leads to problems with searches on personal names: to give one example, a search for Olaudah Equiano was unsuccessful but a search for his slave name"Gustavus Vassa" locates the reference: PRO TS 24/12/2 A Letter from Olaudah Equiano to Thomas Hardy, 1792. Problems encountered when relevant information is deeply embedded include: issues of visibility necessary to generate oblique and tangential search terms difficulty of providing an overview searching necessary at sub-series and sub-sub series level time-consuming to examine records at this kind of level. (See Appendix 3 for further examples of deeply embedded records). Transfer and indexing of records The transfer and indexing of records from PROCAT to the CASBAH database involved summarising and modifiying some records to highlight material directly pertinent to the project's subject remit. For instance, in the case of an embedded file reference such as DO 200/186: Sir Alexander Bustamante, Prime Minister 1964-1967, this reference has been used to create a composite primary record in the CASBAH database, a plethora of other lower level references to Bustamante are detailed in the Scope and Content section. Derogatory terms referred to in the PRO records such as "coolie" are always in double quotes in the CASBAH database text. For example, CO 318/122 references to "coolie" immigration. Subject terms Derogatory terms such as "Blacks", "Coloureds" where they appear in PROCAT have been omitted from the CASBAH database and appropriate subject terms used. For material that was not covered by the UNESCO thesaurus or PRO categories, subject terms were devised based on the archive material and conferred with colleagues before being entered onto the database and prepared for consideration for submission to the UNESCO thesaurus. Any new non-UNESCO terms are based on the current sample and form a starting point from which to develop further terminology as further subjects are uncovered within the PRO holdings. Corporate/Personal names There is a general lack of indexing of Corporate/Personal names and in particular a lack of indexing of personal names relating to Caribbean, Black and Asian history. Place terms There are a number of non-current terms and these have not been transferred to the CASBAH database for example, the term British West Indies. Following the training day at the PRO facilitated by Louise Craven, which covered subject indexing, the UNESCO thesaurus, PROCAT and PRO practices and development principles, it became clear that in terms of indexing, the CASBAH project indexes at collection level while the PRO indexes at series level as well. The PRO has utilised the UNESCO thesaurus, but also added its own categories for eg dates to events, dates to chapter numbers, and record types for eg court rolls. Collection strengths/weaknesses Bearing in mind the limitations of this pilot survey, the main subjects which were covered in the CASBAH sample of PRO records include:
Significant gaps include:
There appears to be a significant gap for Asian history in the UK in the PRO sample, as few references have been found though this could be an issue of visibility/embeddedness. The following are a few examples of relevant references found: British Admiralty Asian Workers Union: question of recognition 1952-1955 in ADM 1 Trial of Udham Singh: CRIM 1/1177 HO 144/21444, HO 144/21445, MEPO 3/1743 PCOM 9/872 Sikhs: discrimination against in employment (1920s onwards) HO 376/151 NB "SinghUdham" is inputted as one word in the PROCAT leading to search and retrieval problems. *A search on Udham and Singh brings up 7 records pertaining to Udam Singh and this type of search is recommended (*pers. communication, PRO staff). The aim of the pilot survey was to provide a study of how key records relating to Caribbean Studies, and Black and Asian history in the UK at collection level and lower levels in the PRO, can be drawn out. The survey has resulted in a total of 53 PRO records being collated for inclusion on the CASBAH database. These are composed of 7 collection-level descriptions drawn from: CK, CO, FCO, FO, HCA, HO, WO, and 40 series-level descriptions, which are drawn mainly from the above record series. In addition, 6 file level descriptions have been included as a result of searching for Caribbean, Black and Asian named individuals and significant historical events. This survey demonstrates that material relevant to Caribbean Studies, Black and Asian history in the UK can be found across a wide range of record categories at the PRO, meaning that researchers may need to search through several record classes for information on a particular event, place, individual or period. Further potential record groups to target: There was not enough time to examine records held in: Privy Council and Privy Council Office: Miscellaneous Unbound Papers 1481-1946, but material that may be relevant to Caribbean history appears in the subseries within PC 1: Colonial Papers (PC1/46/1 - PC1/57/85B) and Colonial Papers (PC1/58/1-PC1/66/40. There are a number of existing finding aids in the form of leaflets available on the PRO web site which provide search tools and indicators which may help to identify archival records of relevance to Caribbean Studies and Black and Asian history in the UK covering, for example: Colonial Office: Register of Correspondence, 1926–1951 Refugees and Minorities Dominions Office Immigrants There was not enough time to examine the material in the PRO leaflets, but this might be a useful avenue to explore in the future and could usefully augment existing list of CASBAH sample of records. Further useful PRO file references can be found within: Fryer, Peter (1984) Staying Power: the History of Black People in Britain. A second edition of the PRO guide: Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors. Sources in the Public Record Office is currently being written. It will include geographical chapters which will briefly describe the history of each former British West Indian country and the main genealogical sources outside of the PRO. An online questionnaire is available at http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/query%5Fform.htm as an attempt to capture information held by West Indian archives and other institutions on their holdings relevant to family historians. The results of this survey may appear on the CaribbeanGenWeb project web site at http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/ which is an on-line data repository and resource centre. Louise Craven at the PRO indicated that a large cataloguing project is being carried out in CO records involving CO 111, CO 137, 152, CO 295 and CO 321, all of which concern correspondence between the colonial administrators and HM Government. This should should be completed by the end of the financial year. These records include references to Marcus Garvey and the first mention of rastafarianism in the PRO’s records. She also suggested examining the HO series, particularly under the index terms immigration, certificates of aliens,denization and naturalization & DO series: DO5, DO 6, DO 57 concerned with emigration and settlement. The DO records are small (only 224 series). Update on PRO re-indexing project The PRO cataloguing project mentioned above, was in the final stages of completion when this report was written and should be available on PROCAT by the time this report appears on the CASBAH web site. The PRO has striven to address the historiographical issues which underlie many of CASBAH's findings regarding visibility and indexing of personal and corporate names. For example Alexander Bustamante, Dr Rita Hinden, Marcus Garvey, Norman Manley and Eric Gairy and relevant Corporate bodies (eg the People’s National Party), have now been indexed and it is likely that references to these individuals and corporate bodies, and other related names, will increase as the PRO Cataloguing programme continues. This PRO project has also begun to develop indexing terms on health and welfare issues, and education. Fryer, Peter (1984) Staying Power: the History of Black People in Britain. http://www.pro.gov.uk/ (PRO website) http://www.catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ (PRO online catalogue) http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/query%5Fform.htm (Questionnaire: Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors. Sources in the Public Record Office) http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/ (The CaribbeanGenWeb Project:an on-line data repository for queries, family histories, and source records). PRO pilot survey: targeted collections General, collection-level descriptions: ADM - Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies, 1205-1992 CK - Records of the Commission for Racial Equality and predecessors 1965-1991 CO - Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire Marketing Board, and related bodies 1570-1990 FCO - Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors 1950- 1990 FO - Records created and inherited by the Foreign Office 1567-1993 HCA - Records of the High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts WO - Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies 1568-1990 Series-level descriptions: Admiralty and Naval Forces Records ADM 1 - Admiralty, and Ministry of Defence, Navy Department: Correspondence and Papers 1660-1976 ADM 104 - dmiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Service Registers and Registers of Deaths and Injuries 1742-1957 ADM 128 - Admiralty: North America and West Indies Station: Correspondence, Reports and Memoranda 1810-1913 ADM 215 - Admiralty: Naval Dockyard, Bermuda: Register and Papers c1887-1936 ADM 241 - Navy Board: Antigua Dockyard: Letter Books 1779-1825 Commission for Racial Equality Records CK 1 - Commission for Racial Equality and predecessors: Annual Reports 1966-1991 CK 2 - Race Relations Board: Minutes and Papers 1965-1980 CK 3 - Community Relations Commission: Minutes and Papers 1965-1977 Colonial Office Records CO 300 - War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Trinidad Miscellanea 1804-1945 (not a very detailed series description, but quite a unique set of records) CO 318 - Colonial Office and Predecessors: West Indies Original Correspondence 1624-1951 CO 441 - Colonial Office and Predecessors: West Indian Incumbered Estates Commission, 1770 - 1893 CO 950 - Colonial Office: West India Royal Commission (1938 to 1939) 1938-1939 CO 971 - Colonial Office: West Indies, United States Bases: Original Correspondence 1941-1951 CO 1031 - Colonial Office and Commonwealth Office: West Indian Department: Registered Files (WIS Series) 1948-1967 CO 1042 - West Indies Development and Welfare Organisation: Registered Files 1938-1958 Colonial Office Map Series: CO 700 - Colonial Office and predecessors: Maps and Plans: Series I, 1595-1927 CO 1047 - Colonial Office: Maps and Plans: Series II 1779-1947 CO 1054 - Colonial Office and successors: Maps and Plans, 1897-1984 CO 116 - Colonial Office and predecessors: British Guiana, formerly Berbice, Demerara and Essiquibo, Miscellanea including Papers of the Dutch West India Company CO 137 - Colonial Office and predecessors: Jamaica, Original Correspondence (Correspondecne and reports relating to Norman Manley and consitutional change in Jamaica 1938-1943) CO 1031/13 - Refusal to allow Dr or Mrs Cheddi Jagan to remain in Trinidad in spite of opposition questions in Parliament suggesting intervention by HMG. 1952. CO 1031/2976 - Civil servants in Grenada: allegations by Mr Eric Gairy, former chief minister 1962 4. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Records FCO 23 - Commonwealth Office: Atlantic Department: Registered Files (G Series) 1966-1968 FCO 63 - Foreign and Commonwealth Office: North American and Caribbean Department and Caribbean Department: Registered Files (AN Series) 1968-1977 FCO 53 - Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors: Nationality and Treaty Departments: Registered Files (NN, NT, TY and GN Series) 1967-1970 (re. Immigration) Foreign Office Records FO 84 - Foreign Office: Slave Trade Department and successors: General Correspondence before 1906 1816-1892 FO 371- Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906: 1906-1966 High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts HCA 35 - Slave Trade Adviser to the Treasury: Report Books HCA 36 - Slave Trade Adviser to the Treasury: Unregistered Papers HCA 37 - Slave Trade Adviser to the Treasury: Registered Papers Home Office Records HO 230 - National Advisory Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants: Minutes and Papers 1963-1965 HO 231 - National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants: Minutes and Papers 1964-1968 HO 344 - Home Office: Commonwealth Immigration (British Subject Immigration (BSI) and Commonwealth Immigration (CWI) Symbol Series) Files, 1949-1979 H0 355 - Home Office: Immigration Branch, 1922-1973 HO 376 - Home Office: Racial Disadvantage (RDI Symbol Series) Files 1963-1981 HO 45 - Home Office: Registered Papers 8. Other relevant series-level descriptions AO 14 - Claims Commissions: Various Claims 1795-1846 (for the records of the Slave Compensation Commission) E 134 - Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Depositions taken by Commission c1558-1841 (because it contains the following item " E 134/8Geo3/East9 - Interrogatories, Depositions taken at Bristol 18 Apr 8 Geo 3, 1768. John Lean v. Edward Nicholas, William Tombs, Thos. Longden, John Fowler, John Vaughan the Younger, Thos. Eastern the Younger. Depositions for Plaintiff and Defendants. Concerning the ship "Juno" belonging to Defendants and sent by them from Bristol to the Coast of Africa to convey Negro Slaves purchased there to Jamaica in the West Indies. 8 Geo 3 East") NDO 4 - National Debt Office: Abolition of Slavery Act 1833, Registers of Compensation Paid to Slave Owners 1835-1842 T 71 - Office of Registry of Colonial Slaves and Slave Compensation Commission: Records 1812-1846 LAB 26 - Ministry of Labour and National Service and successors: Welfare Department1940-1956 (for information on the Seamen's Welfare Board and 'Lascar' seamen in Britain) DO 200/186 - Sir Alexander Bustamante, Prime Minister 1964-1967 PRO 30/22/16E - Lord John Russell: Papers MEPO 3 - Metropolitan Police: Office of the Commissioner: Correspondence and Papers, Special Series PRO TS 24/12/2- A Letter from Olaudah Equiano to Thomas Hardy, 1792. PC 1/59/5/1 Jamaica, West Indies: representation of Board of Trade for confirming an act to give several free mulattos the same privileges as English subjects born of white parents. PRO Pilot Survey: Political figures/historical events Some key political figures in Caribbean history Barbados Bussa' (n.d.) Early 19th century escaped slave and freedom fighter who led a slave revolt against white planters and the West India Regiment in Barbados in 1816, known as the 1816 Rebellion. Grantley Herbert Adams, (1898-1971) - first Premier of Barbados and founder of the West Indies Federation (originally born in Trinidad). Errol Walton Barrow (1920-1987) - founder-member of the Democratic Labour Party in Barbados and Prime Minister in Prime Minister from 1966 to 1976 and 1985 to 1987. Sarah Ann Gill (1795-1866) - anti-slavery campaigner and Methodist missionary. Clement Osbourne Payne (1904-1941) - Barbadian trade unionist (originally born in Trinidad) and political activist who campaigned against the rule of the white 'planter class' in Barbados during the 1930s. Samuel Jackman Prescod (1806-1871) - Barbadian abolitionist and campaigner for 'Free Coloured' rights. Helped get the vote for 'Free Coloureds' (i.e. dual heritage people) in Barbados in 1831. Hugh Worrell Springer (1913-1994) - academic and the first General Secretary of the Barbados Workers' Union from 1940 to 1947. Also involved in the Barbados independence movement. Frank Walcott (1916-1999) - Established the first trade union in Barbados (Barbados Workers' Union ) in the 1940s and was actively involved in Barbados independence struggles within the Labour Movement. Jamaica Paul Bogle (c.1825-1865) Leader of the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 against white colonial rule in Jamaica. George William Gordon (1818-1865) - a Black landowner who assisted Bogle in the organisation of the Morant Bay Rebellion. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) - founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association Alexander Bustamante (1884-1977) - campaigner against colonial rule in Jamaica and founder of the Jamaica Labour Party. Became the first Premier of Jamaica (1944-1954) and Prime Minister at independence in 1962. Norman Manley (1893-1969) - Lawyer and politician. Founder of the People's National Party in 1938. Premier of Jamaica from 1954-1962. Samuel Sharpe (c.1800-1831) - freed slave and leader of the Jamaican slave revolt of 1831, known as the '1831 Christmas Rebellion' Nanny of the Maroons (c.1690 – 1750) freedom fighter and leader of the Portland Maroon communities in Jamaica. She was a free black woman of Ashanti origin who lead the Portland Maroons to victories against the British forces and against plantation owners between 1730 and 1750. Guyana Cheddi Jagan (1918-1997) - campaigner against British colonial rule in Guyana (formerly British Guiana), founder of the People's Progressive Party in 1950, leader of the House of Assembly, in the colony's first democratically elected government in 1953. First prime minister of Guyana in 1961. Later President of Guyana from 1992 until his death in 1997. Dominican Republic Juan Bosch (1901 - 2001) - First democratically elected President of the Dominican Republic, 1962-1966. Grenada Eric Gairy (1922 -1997) - First Prime Minister of Grenada after independence in 1974. * Political and historical figures in UK Asian/Black history A-D Bavin, Tom (1909-1984) Involved in developing the National Union of Plantation Workers of Malaysia, in 1957 became the Director of Organisation in Plantation Workers International Federation. He contributed to the work of the ICFTU, ILO and other international bodies. Brazier, John Trade union advisor to the Governments of the Malayan Union and the Colony of Singapore. Had previously served in the labour and co-operative movements. Bustamante, Sir Alexander (1884-1977) Prime Minister of Jamaica and Minister of External Affairs from 1962-1967. Buxton, Charles Roden (1875-1942) - Acting Chairman of the Labour Party Advisory Committee on International Questions and the ad-hoc Imperial Sub-Committee from 1924-1925. Citrine, Sir Walter (1887-1983) General secretary of the TUC from 1926 of the IFTU from 1928. President of the World Federation of Trade Unions. Member of the West India Royal Commission in 1938. Creech Jones, Arthur (d.1964 ) Member of the TUC's Colonial Advisory Committee from 1937 and a leading figure in the Fabian Colonial Bureau. Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1946-1950. Dalgleish, Andrew (d.1964) A member of the Commonwealth Advisory Committee from 1947 also served on the Secretary of State's Colonial Labour Advisory Committee F - J Feather, Victor, Lord (1908-1976 ) Worked in the TUC's organisation department until appointed by Citrine to work as the TUC's representative in the West Indies. Appointed General Secretary in 1969 . Foggon, Sir George (1913-) Overseas Labour Advisor at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1966-1976 Hinden, Rita A colleague of Marjorie's at the Fabian Colonial Bureau which she was instrumental in setting up. While Marjorie was working for the TUC's International Department she was working as the editor of the moderate Labour journal Socialist Commentary. Hood, Walter. Started work for the TUC in June 1950. He was responsible for the colonial section of the International Department. The aim of the department was to help the African people to form strong and democratic trade unions and to help counter the influence of WFTU. He did a lot of work on the Copperbelt with the British and Rhodesian miners utilising a strong understanding of the industry having been a miner himself. He retired in October 1971 and died on 7th January 1974. He was highly regarded by Marjorie and is mentioned in her acknowledgements in The TUC overseas. K - N Lewis, A E. Started work for the TUC in Autumn 1956 and worked as an assistant in the International Department, mostly in developing countries which had not yet gained independence. He was involved in setting up the ICFTU Kampala College and also went to Aden to assist with a trade dispute. In 1959 he did some work for the Northern Rhodesia Mineworkers Union arising from new legislation being introduced by the House of Commons. At the end of 1959 he left the TUC to work for the Nigeria Employers Association. Makonnen, T R - Treasurer of the International African Service Bureau Narayanan P. P., Dr. (b.1923) Malaysian trade unionist, founder of the NS Plantation Workers Union and President of ICFTU Asian Regional Organisation 1960-1966, became President of ICFTU in 1975. O - Z Orde- Browne, Sir Grenville St. John (1883-1947) Senior Commissioner and Labour Commissioner, Tanganyika Territory, from 1934 was a member of a committee of experts on native questions at the ILO in Geneva and in 1938 became an advisor on labour to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Passfield, Lord / Webb, Sidney (1859-1947) Colonial Secretary from 1929, responsible for the Passfield despatch of 1930. Roberts, F O - MP, was the first TUC representative to arrive in the West Indies Selwyn- Clarke, Sir Percy (1893-1976) and Hilda (d.1967) Sir Percy held various medical positions in the colonies including Deputy Director of the Health Service of Nigeria and Director of Medical Services, Hong Kong. He was also Governor and Commander in Chief of the Seychelles 1947-51. His interests were listed as Commonwealth problems and social welfare. Tewson, Sir Vincent (1898-1981) TUC General Secretary 1946-1960. President of ICFTU 1953-1955. Wallace Johnson, Isaac - Secretary of the International African Service Bureau Woodcock, George (1904-1979) TUC General Secretary 1960-1969, member of the British Guiana Constitutional Commission, 1954. *The list of Asian and Black political figures in UK history in this appendix is an extract drawn from the following report: Trades Union Congress Library Collections (TUC) CASBAH SURVEY REPORT APPENDIX: Key figures mentioned in the Marjorie Nicholson Papers. Dr Roiyah Saltus–Blackwood. Embedded Records Political figures/historical events The SEARCH screens were used to search across departments using a list of political figures and historical events relating to the Caribbean Studies, Black and Asian history in the UK. (See Appendix 2 for a detailed list). This proved reasonably fruitful for locating deeply embedded material, though a search for an historical event such as the Morant Bay rebellion, fails to retrieve any records, as does a search on Paul Bogle, a key figure in this event. However, a search using an oblique reference, for example for "Governor Eyre", the colonial administrator of Jamaica at that time, does bring up relevant material, for example: Caribbean history PRO 30/22/16E Lord John Russell: Papers. These records consist mainly of the private and semi-official correspondence and papers of Lord John, later Earl, Russell and make reference to the so-called Morant Bay Rebellion, 11th October 1865, and the role of Governor Eyre (acting governor of Jamaica in 1861 and governor from 1864-1866). PRO TS 24/12/2 Edinburgh. Gustavus Vassa, the African to [Thomas Hardy]. This file contains a letter from Olaudah Equiano "Gustavus Vassa" to Thomas Hardy. (cited in Appendix A: Staying Power. A Letter from Olaudah Equiano to Thomas Hardy, 1792). This file can only be found by searching for "Gustavus Vassa" , which was Olaudah Equiano’s slave name. NB. A search on the PRO reference for this file was unsuccessful because the reference could not be resolved as a PRO, former PRO or former departmental reference. The context of this file is as follows: TS Records created or inherited by the Treasury Solicitor and HM Procurator General's Department Division within TS General and miscellaneous records of the Treasury Solicitor and HM Procurator General TS 24 Treasury Solicitor: Miscellaneous Papers on Sedition Cases TS 24/12 Miscellaneous Correspondence Asian history in the UK A similar type of search on personal names and events was used for Asian history in the UK, and retrieved a number of references to the trial of Udham Singh: CRIM 1/1177 HO 144/21444 HO 144/21445 MEPO 3/1743 PCOM 9/872 NB SinghUdham is inputted as one word in the PROCAT leading to search and retrieval problems. Thematic search The Browse function which allows use of the online catalogue as a paper list, was used for the targeted collections whose originating department was already identified. A number of lower level embedded records were identified in this way and by using a combined Searchscreen and department reference. These included for example: ADM 104: Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Service Registers and Registers of Deaths and Injuries. This contains at sub-series level Records of the Royal Naval Hospital Bermuda, 1832 to 1883. Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire Marketing Board, and related bodies (CO) contains embedded files at sub-series level, held in the following series for example: CO 318: Colonial Office and Predecessors: West Indies Original Corespondence. This series contains original correspondence relating to the West Indies. The series also contains papers of and relating to the Royal Commission on the West Indies (1940) and the Caribbean Commission. Contained within the Secretary of State original corespondence (without parent) at sub-series level are important records such as: CO 318/116 and /117: Abolition of Slavery: Part 1 and 2 (1833) Also at sub-series level are references to "Negro" education (1835) CO 137: Colonial Office and predecessors: Jamaica, Original Correspondence 1689-1951. This series contains original correspondence relating to Jamaica. A number of records at sub-series and sub-sub series level relate to Alexander Bustamante, Norman Manley and constitutional change in Jamaica, 1938-1943. CO 116 Colonial Office and predecessors: British Guiana, formerly Berbice, Demerara and Essiquibo, Miscellanea including Papers of the Dutch West India Company (in addition contains reports of protectors of slaves and papers as well as papers of the Dutch West India Compnay 1686-1792) E 134: Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Depositions taken by Commission concerns the slave ship "Juno" from Bristol, and the international slave trade. HO: Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies. Relevant files can be found at Series level but in series without parent files it is necessary to conduct a search within the sub-series on Caribbean, Pakistan, Asian, Indian, etc to locate these. Other file references include HO 376 on racial disadvantage and HO 344 relating to immigration from the British colonies. Notes on other PRO Catalogue material No description is available at sub-series level in PROCAT for CK 1 which comprises annual reports of the Community Relations Commission 1968-1976, the Race Relations Board 1966–1976, and their successor, the Commission for Racial Equality 1997-1991. For sub-series without parent that have relevance to CASBAH, all the PRO references are given in Scope, along with a subject listing listing of particular items. AcknowledgementsMany thanks to CASBAH project staff and PRO staff. In particular, Mandy Banton, Meg Sweet and Jill Rush. Contact DetailsTo contact the Public Record Office telephone 020 8392 5200, email: enquiry@pro.gov.uk or visit the website at: http://www.pro.gov.uk or send enquires to: Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU. Created: February 2002 by Mairi Robertson CASBAH Project Archivist
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