Although the Slave Trade Act of 1807 ended Britain's involvement in the trade of enslaved people, it was not until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 that slavery became illegal in most British colonies.

Although all 665,000 enslaved people in the British Caribbean colonies were declared to be emancipated, this did not mean immediate freedom. Instead, formerly enslaved people were forced to work without pay as ‘apprentices’ for the same people who had held them in slavery. This was to last for a further four years if they were domestic servants, or six years if they were agricultural workers. Only children under the age of six were immediately freed under the 1833 Act.

The apprentice system was overseen by ‘Special Magistrates’. Protests against the system took place in the Caribbean which successfully led to it ending in 1838.

Record of the years following the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act

John Anderson, a lawyer from Inverness, was a Special Magistrate. His 1836-38 journal records disputes he resolved and events in St. Vincent. Although he thought racial slavery was immoral, he also had racist opinions and was extremely biased in favour of the estate owners. Even the colonial government disapproved of some of his actions, such as when he sentenced 41 apprentices to whipping.

A full transcript of the journal is available at the University of Aberdeen library.