The Glasgow Sugar Aristocracy: Scotland and Caribbean Slavery, 1775–1838

375 Pages·2022·19.658 MB·English

by  Stephen Mullen

The Glasgow
Sugar Aristocracy
New Historical Perspectives is a book series for early career scholars within
the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Books in the series are overseen by
an expert editorial board to ensure the highest standards of peer-reviewed
scholarship. Commissioning and editing is undertaken by the Royal
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The series is supported by the Economic History Society and the Past and
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Series co-editors: Professor Elizabeth Hurren (University of Leicester) and
Professor Heather Shore (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Founding co-editors: Simon Newman (University of Glasgow) and Penny
Summerfield (University of Manchester)
New Historical Perspectives Editorial Board
Professor Charlotte Alston Northumbria University
Professor David Andress University of Portsmouth
Dr Christopher Bahl Durham University
Dr Milinda Banerjee University of St Andrews
Dr Robert Barnes York St John University
Dr Karin Bowie University of Glasgow
Professor Catherine Clarke Institute of Historical Research,
University of London
Professor Neil Fleming University of Worcester
Professor Ian Forrest University of Oxford
Dr Emma Gallon University of London Press
Professor Leigh Gardner London School of Economics
Dr Sarah Longair University of Lincoln
Dr Charlotte Wildman University of Manchester
Dr Nick Witham University College London
The Glasgow Sugar
Aristocracy
Scotland and Caribbean
Slavery, 1775–1838
Stephen Mullen
LONDON
ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS
Published by
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS
SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY
© Stephen Mullen 2022
The author has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND
4.0) licence. More information regarding CC licences
is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses.
Copyright and permissions for the reuse of many of the images
included in this publication differ from the above. Copyright and
permissions information is provided alongside each image.
Available to download free or to purchase the hard copy
edition at https://www.sas.ac.uk/publications.
ISBNs
978-1-909646-77-3 (hardback edition)
978-1-912702-33-6 (paperback edition)
978-1-909646-93-3 (.epub edition)
978-1-909646-78-0 (.pdf edition)
DOI 10.14296/fyax1274
Cover image: The Port of Glasgow (drawn and engraved by W. H. Bartlett
and J. W. Appleton). Published in William Finden, The Ports, Harbours,
Watering-Places and Coast Scenery of Great Britain (London, 1836–42).
To my mother and father

Contents
List of illustrations ix
List of tables xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Maps xv
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction 1
1. Emergence 29
2. Trade and commerce 57
3. A Glasgow-West India house 89
4. ‘Wanted, to serve in the West Indies’ 119
5. Jamaica 147
6. Grenada and Carriacou 183
7. Trinidad 211
8. Glasgow-West India ‘spheres of influence’:
embedding the profits of Caribbean slavery 253
Conclusion 293
Appendix 303
Bibliography and manuscript sources 313
Index 347
vii

List of illustrations
5.1 James Hakewill, Llanrumny estate, St Mary’s, Jamaica (1820–21) 151
6.1 The buildings of Maran estate in the island of Grenada (1822) 193
7.1 Richard Bridgens, ‘Protector of Slaves Office (Trinidad), c.1833’ 217
8.1 Marble busts of James Ewing of Strathleven (1775–1853) and
James Buchanan (1785–1857) 255
ix