This lecture examines the transformation of Grenada in the south-east Caribbean following its cession from France to Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The Ceded Islands were the largest territory gains for the British Empire in the eighteenth century and opened up the first opportunities for Scots after the Union of 1707 to settler-colonise in the West Indies. From this period until the abolition of plantation slavery in the British West Indies in 1834, Scots became disproportionately influential in the island’s development. They acquired plantations and invested capital, thus integrating the colony into Scotland’s mercantile networks based upon Atlantic commerce and chattel slavery.
This lecture draws upon research in plantation records, merchant correspondence, and colonial archives in Scotland, England and Grenada undertaken for the monograph The Glasgow Sugar Aristocracy: Scotland and Caribbean Slavery, 1775-1838 (2022). Examining the crucial role played by Scottish merchants, planters, and administrators in reshaping the island’s economy and society, particular attention will be paid to Ninian Home (1732 – 1795). The proprietor of Paxton House exemplified the early Scottish settler-colonisers who helped transform the island into a major sugar and cotton economy sustained by enslaved people.
Many other Scots also repatriated slavery-derived fortunes up to 1834 and beyond, which helped reshape the Scottish economy and society notably through philanthropic initiatives. Thus, Grenada will be considered as a case study of Scottish imperial engagement, demonstrating how a small Caribbean island underpinned Scotland’s transformation. Ultimately, the lecture reassesses Grenada’s place within both the history of Scotland’s global Empire and the making of the British Atlantic world.
Dr Stephen Mullen is Lecturer in History (Legacies of Atlantic Slavery) at the University of Glasgow
Back to What's On