Description:Birmingham and The West Indies.
Birmingham's antislavery activists held a special interest in the West Indies. The reader's list for this travel narrative includes here both Joseph Sturge and other members of the "Friends Reading Society". This evidence becomes important when we consider that Sturge himself would visit the islands not long after. In 1837, on behalf of the Birmingham Anti Slavery Society, Sturge went in search of first hand information on how local labourers were being mistreated. On his return, he published his own antislavery travel narrative called 'The West Indies in 1837'. This text would play an important role in ending the corrupt ‘apprenticeship’ system in the colonies.
The West Indies "Apprenticeship".
What was the apprenticeship? This system came into affect after 1834, when the direct ownership of slaves in the West Indies was made illegal. After this time, ex-slaves were now to remain contracted to their previous owners for another duration of another seven years as ‘apprentices’. In reality, the apprenticeship system was easy to corrupt and still left labourers subject to abuse- as Sturge’s fact finding trip helped to prove.
Birmingham-Montserrat Connections.
Sturge’s personal connection with the West Indies did not end there. After the August 1st 1838 Emancipation Act when the apprenticeship was finally abolished to ears early, Sturge now helped to buy some land on which ex-slaves could restart their own communities.
In 1857 he bought some land on the island of Montserrat. Here, he created a free labour lime-juice plantation to show that forced enslavement was not needed to create wealth. ‘The Montserrat Company’, as it was known, continued in various forms until the mid twentieth century. It supplied the local works firm J & E Sturge with raw materials for their chemical works. (J & E refers to John and Edmund, two of Joseph Sturge’s brothers, who had set up business in Birmingham). There was once a large advertisement for Montserrat juice facing Victoria Square (see link below).
Today there is a significant Montserrat community in Birmingham as many were displaced from their home on the island when a volcano erupted in 1996, causing huge amounts of destruction. It is also worth noting that like Birmingham, Montserrat has historically been home to a large proportion of Irish settlers and labourers.
Resources
The archives of The Birmingham Anti Slavery Society, The Birmingham Friends Reading Society, and The Montserrat Company can all help to broaden our understanding of this transatlantic antislavery link.
"The Birmingham Anti Slavery Society" Minute Books.
Birmingham City Archives: MS IIR62.
"The Quaker Reading Society".
Birmingham City Archives: MS 2160.
"The Montserrat Company".
Birmingham City Archives: MS 1436.
See also:
Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey, A Visit To The West Indies. (1837)
Local Studies and History, Black History Collection: 972.9 STU (Reserve Stack:ask at desk).