1826 - 1827. pp. (vi) of Index, 182, 62 unnumbered. Folio. Full vellum, slightly marked. Written in various hands. William Shand of Fettercairn (1776 - 1845) gave evidence to the 1832 Select Committee on the Extinction of Slavery. He was positioned as having been a planting attorney with experience of managing 18,000 to 20,000 enslaved people in his time in Jamaica between 1791 and 1823, he returned there between January 1825 and May 1826 which is referred to in the letters. It also emerged that he owned 1200 people as a result of purchase 'about 1801.’ With the above in mind one would assume that slavery and slaves would be prominent in this letter book, but it is not. There are fourteen direct references. The first on p.33 ‘and the produce more in proportion to the number of slaves…’; p.36 ‘I know the negroes are capable of anything that is bad and that poor Mr Hall could not have avoided this.’. This is in reference to a fire in the cane fields and to the fact that John Marshall ( in the Index James) had been slow in alerting Shand to what had happened; p.39 ‘ You will have gained a point for which you will gain much credit if enabled to do without the whip or any coercive instrument in the field but I am enough of the old school to doubt the absence of means of immediate punishment answering the present generation…’ There are two further mentions of slaves in this letter to Alex Geddes, who was an attorney and planter; p46 ‘ The remarks made by you on the state of the negroes are very unpleaseant… but when last in Jamaica I thought the slave population seemed comparatively contented and peacefully disposed and not likely to attempt anything at present.’ (Unknown correspondent); p. 73 ‘ It is satisfactory to learn that the negroes are healthy and that few deaths have taken place, also that the stock are in good condition.’ This letter is to Alex Geddes; p.82 ‘and I believe many poor people are aware that our slaves are more comfortable than they.’ This is after ‘It is most gratifying to be able to acquaint you that the tide of fortune is turning fast in favor of the Colonies.’ p. 89. comparing Britain with France ‘I believe I may safely add, of much greater Slavery than exists in our Colonies,’; p. 125 again that the negroes ‘exhibit appearance of peace and contentment…’; p.138 in regard to laying a road with hard material ‘without which the inconvenience to the negroes will be great to the labor in carrying coffee on their heads’; p. 151 mentions the Jamaican Slave Law; talking about the new still he is designing ‘ any intelligent negro…’ In the unnumbered pages ‘Mrs Bumpler’s power of attorney … had reached you …she is dependent on her negroes”… & ‘ I must request that lists of slaves with increase and decrease of slaves & stock be transmitted to me’. These letters written between the Slave Trade Act of 1807 which abolished the British slave trade and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 which abolished British slavery show a mixed concern for the slaves and though vital to Shand’s plantations as a labour force have very little mention when compared with the bulk of the correspondence. This, in regard to Jamaica, is concerned with the crops - sugar, coffee, rum and pimentos and the shipping of such. Shand is eager to build a new still on one of his estates and goes into detail for its construction, having a model made in the UK and discussions with a prominent English chemist. As executor of his brother John’s will he is concerned with paying his debts. John Shand (1759 - 1825) had fled Scotland to escape his creditors and before he could be declared bankrupt. William Shand’s other problems appear to be some disagreement with Lord Carrington and with James Gayleand or Gayliard, his attorney in Jamaica, who ceased to work for him without giving a reason. Shipping of goods gets plenty of coverage. Shand is very keen on goods, especially coffee, being sent to Trieste, rather than London, Liverpool or Bristol. He writes to John Iver Borland who arrived in Trieste in 1815 and started a grain business before going into construction building factories and warehouses. Trieste became known as Little Liverpool. The ships mentioned are Gazelle, Rocket, Zeno and Hotspur. Shand writes mainly from London and Edinburgh, briefly from Fettercairn and the last letter is from Paris. He was keen to go to France to see how the French treated sugar beet. The first mention of travel from Edinburgh to London is by the mail coach, but later he goes north by steam boat. When in London he attends Parliament. Family matters are mentioned, mainly to do with his brother’s will. There is much repetition as he tells different recipients the same information. Both Shand and Borland went bankrupt. Reference - UCL Centre for the Studies of the legacies of British Slavery and Catalogue of Cultural Heritage Civic Museums of the Municipality of Trieste

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