The emancipation of the British West Indies refers to the abolition of slavery in Britain's colonies in the West Indies during the 1830s. The British government passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, which emancipated all slaves in the British West Indies. After emancipation, a system of apprenticeship was established, where emancipated slaves were required by the various colonial assemblies to continue working for their former masters for a period of four to six years in exchange for provisions. The system of apprenticeship was abolished by the various colonial assemblies in 1838, after pressure from the British public, completing the process of emancipation. These were the steps taken by British West Indian planters to solve the labour problems created by the emancipation of the enslaved Africans in 1838.
Anti-slavery movement and emancipation policy
Religious, economic, and social factors contributed to the British abolition of slavery throughout their empire. Throughout European colonies in the Caribbean, enslaved people engaged in revolts, labour stoppages and more everyday forms of resistance which enticed colonial authorities, who were eager to create peace and maintain economic stability in the colonies, to consider legislating abolition. The Haitian Revolution in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, the most successful slave uprising in the Americas, heightened British sensitivities to the potential outcomes of insurrection. In addition to slave revolts, Enlightenment schools of thought and evangelism led members of the British public to question the morality of slavery and the slave trade and during the 18th and 19th century there was a surge of abolitionist agitation. Religious figures played a prominent role in the crusade against slavery. Anti-slavery societies such as the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) circulated pamphlets about the cruelties and inhumanity of slavery, and petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures were sent to the British Parliament, many of which came from women's organizations. Collectively, these men and women politicized slavery and placed pressure on the British government to abolish it. Developments in capitalism also contributed to emancipation. Some scholars, including Trinidadian historian Eric Williams, have claimed that with the emergence of capitalism, slavery was no longer profitable, and as such increased support for abolition beginning in the late 18th century.
In 1807 British abolitionists saw partial success in their efforts when the government passed the Slave Trade Act, abolishing the slave trade. After passage of the Act, these reformers continued to press for the abolition of slavery itself. The British government formally abolished slavery in its colonies with passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. The legislation went into effect in August 1834 whereby all slaves in the British Empire were considered free under British law. After long and heated debates in Britain, the government agreed to compensate West Indian planters for shifting from slave to free labour, allotting £20 million for this purpose. However, the slaves were not compensated. In fact, the Abolition Act transformed the slaves into "apprentices", except in the cases of Antigua and Bermuda where the colonial governments rejected apprenticeship and fully emancipated slaves in 1834.
Apprenticeship
Policy and conditions
The Slavery Abolition Act established a system of indentured servitude or "apprenticeship" that required freed slaves to continue to work for their former owners as apprentices. The gradual emancipation measure was implemented to ease the transition from slavery to freedom for slaves and former masters but it was in large part a result of concerns about emancipation's effect on West Indian sugar production. As stipulated in the emancipation act, field hands were apprenticed for a period of six years, household labourers were to work for four, and children under the age of six were immediately freed. All apprentices' names were to be placed on a registry that served as documentation of their required service.
Apprentices were required to work no more than 45 hours per week without compensation and were paid for any additional labour. Policy makers reasoned that the opportunity for some paid labour would teach slaves how to be industrious. In return for unpaid labour, ex-slaves received food, housing, clothing and medical treatment from their employers though the Act did not specify precise quantities. Apprentices were prohibited from working on Sundays. If financially able to pay the remaining years of their service, an apprentice could purchase his or her own freedom.