[WILMOT HORTON (Robert John).]
West India Colonies: Coloured Population.
CENSUS OF ENSLAVED AND FREE MEN
Published under the supervision of R. J. Wilmot Horton of the Colonial Department, this record of the comparative number of free and enslaved men between 1820 and 1826 in the West India colonies includes Antigua, Bahamas, Grenada, Honduras, Tortola and Trinidad. No reliable information was available for Jamaica and so has been omitted.
The controversial Slave Registry Bill was passed in 1815, to better control the illicit slave trade after the passing of the 1807 Abolition Act. Further acts were passed in 1816 and 1817 to give a more accurate returns, which were made until 1834. Enslaved populations were also being watched carefully as plantation owners were no longer able to procure captives and were thus reliant on procreation among their existing workforce.
