Sir William Beeston papers

This collection contains Sir William Beeston's correspondence and a journal segment from his second tenure as Governor of Jamaica. The correspondence from April 1702 discusses the management of his estate after Beeston was recalled as governor and includes instructions for the management of his enslaved workers. The first four items on an inventory of property he is leaving in Jamaica are property receipts for enslaved workers, one who is identified as Maria. The inventory also includes a line discharging a woman and her child, presumably a manumission of an enslaved woman and child.

The journal, dating from September 1698 to June 1699 with the days of the week noted using astrological signs, covers the first expedition of Scottish colonists in the Gulf of Darien who attempted to establish the colony New Caledonia, and the initial English and Spanish response. Beeston includes mention of Richard Long, captain of the ship Rupert Prize as well as Vice-Admiral John Benbow, naval commander of the West Indies. Also in the journal are entries about outfitting vessels against pirates as well as the search for the pirate William Burke. When writing about ships carrying enslaved persons, Beeston uses the term "ye Assiento" to refer to the trade of enslaved persons with the Spanish.

There is also correspondence from George Bennett and Mary Rule to Jane Modyford Long, Sir William Beeston's daughter, discussing the estate and a list of items to be sent from England to Jamaica. Lastly, there are receipts from 1721-1724 for the Jamaica estate.