Papers of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres

Item

Country: GB
Name of institution (official language of the state): National Library of Scotland
Language of name of institution: eng
Contact information: postal address: 92 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1JN
Contact information: phone number: 0044 0131 623 3876
Contact information: web address: https://www.nls.uk/
Contact information: email: manuscripts@nls.uk
Reference number: Acc.9769
Type of reference number: Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state): Papers of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres
Language of title: eng
Creator / accumulator: Earls of Crawford and Balcarres
Date note: 14th century/20th century
Language(s): fra; eng
Type of material: Textual Material
Scope and content: Papers of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres mainly comprise records concerning their estates in Fife and Lancashire but also include documents on the creation of the "Bibliotheca Lindesiana", the management of estates in Jamaica, and the literary, diplomatic, and political activities of the family. This collection contains documents regarding Isaac Sasportas' plot to invade Jamaica in 1799, as well as the respective trial, which ended with his execution in December 1799 (Personal Papers, 23/10/1176–1188). From Saint-Domingue, Sasportas had planned an invasion of British Jamaica with the aim of emancipating enslaved Africans. Still, this plan ended up being leaked by Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture.
Archival history: This collection was transferred from the John Ryland University Library on November 1, 1988, and deposited by Lord Balniel.
Administrative / Biographical history: The Earl of Crawford heads the house of Lindsay, whose origins date back to the barons of Crawford, who flourished in the 12th century. This house has included several individuals who have played leading parts in the history of Scotland.
In the early 19th century, after the death of George Lindsay, the 22nd Earl of Crawford (1758-1808), the earldoms of Crawford and Lindsay were separated. The earldom of Crawford remained dormant from 1808 to 1848, when the House of Lords adjudged it to James Lindsay, 7th earl of Balcarres. James' father, Alexander, the 6th earl of Balcarres (1752-1825), was with the English troops in America during the struggle for independence, and was governor of Jamaica from 1794 to 1801.; (source: Encyclopedia Britannica 1911)
Access points: locations: Haiti (former Saint-Domingue); Jamaica
Access points: persons, families: Sasportas, Isaac
Access points: subject terms: Sephardim in the Caribbean; Emancipation; Legal matters; Slavery; 18th century
Access points: document types: Family papers; Legal records
Access, restrictions: Permission from the depositor is required to access and for reproduction of this collection.
Finding aids: Detailed finding aids are available in the Special Collections Reading Room.
Links to finding aids: The National Library of Scotland online catalogue
Author of the description: Carla Vieira, 2022
Bibliography: Debien, Gabriel, and Pierre Pluchon. 1978. “Un plan d’invasion de la Jamaïque en 1799 et la politique anglo-américaine de Toussaint-Louverture.” Revue de la société haïtienne d’histoire, de géographie et de géologie 36 (19): 3–72.; Girard, Philippe. 2020. “Isaac Sasportas, the 1799 Slave Conspiracy in Jamaica, and Sephardic Ties to the Haitian Revolution.” Jewish History 33 (3): 403–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10835-020-09358-z.; Loker, Zvi. 1981. “An Eighteenth-Century Plan to Invade Jamaica; Isaac Yeshurun Sasportas — French Patriot or Jewish Radical Idealist?” Transactions & Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England) 28: 132–44. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29778924.

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National Library of Scotland