James Knight
Relatively little is known about James Knight himself. He was likely born in the British Isles, but moved to Jamaica and claims that he settled there “upwards of twenty years.”[1] He worked as a merchant, but, by the early 1740s, had taken possession of Molyne’s Estate and Whitfield Pen in the parish of St. Andrew’s.[2] Enslaved people laboured on these estates and when the land was probated, fifty two slaves were working there. Enslaved men made up the majority, thirty nine, although there were thirteen enslaved women and three enslaved people listed as children.[3] This was the only information on these individuals that was discovered by the author of this project. Records from the National Archives claim Knight attained the position of Receiver General on Jamaica.[4] This role, authorised by the crown, involved the control of public monies.[5] On his return to Britain, he settled in Stoke Newington and died sometime in the late 1740s, leaving his Jamaican lands, and slaves, to his son John Knight.[6]
The Manuscripts
The manuscripts are part of the Edward Long papers. This collection includes an assortment of literature collected and composed by Edward Long.[7] The collection covers the period 1734 to 1813. The majority of the documents are available in their physical form at the British Library or as digital microfilm through the British Online Archives.
Document Name | Volumes | British Library Reference | British Online Archives Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
A Portion of the History | 1-2 | Add MS 12417 | 73198E-09 |
Draft D | 1 | Add MS 12418 | 73198E-08 |
Draft C | 2 | Add MS 12420 | 73198E-07 |
Draft B | 2 | Add MS 12419 | 73198E-07 |
Draft A | 2 | Add MS 12416 | 73198E-06 |
Draft A | 1 | Add MS 12415 | 73198E-06 |
Footnotes
[1]James Knight, The Naturall, Morall, and Politicall History of Jamaica, and the territories thereon depending, from the earliest account of time to the year 1742, Vol. 2, autograph, British Library, Archives and Manuscripts, Add MS 12416, ff. 169.
[2]Morgan, Kenneth. “Material on the History of Jamaica in the Edward Long Papers: An Introduction to the Microfilm Collection.” Wakefield: Microfilm Academic Publishers, 2006, 7; “James Knight,” Legacies of British Slave-Ownership, UCL Department of History, last modified 2019, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146649569.
[3]“James Knight,” Legacies of British Slave-Ownership, UCL Department of History, last modified 2019, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146649569.
[4]“Knight, James (fl. 1725-1745),” The National Archives, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F68836.
[5]Jack Greene, Creating the British Atlantic: Essays on Transplantation, Adaptation, and Continuity (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013), 148.
[6]“James Knight,” Legacies of British Slave-Ownership, UCL Department of History, last modified 2019, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146649569.
[7] Morgan, Kenneth. “Material on the History of Jamaica in the Edward Long Papers: An Introduction to the Microfilm Collection.” Wakefield: Microfilm Academic Publishers, 2006, 7.