In July 1667, the Peace of Breda ended the second Anglo-Dutch war. Under the terms of peace Surinam was ceded to the Dutch (Zeeland). The Articles of Surrender of the Colony of Surinam were agreed, upon the ship Zealand, on 16 March 1667 and confirmed by the Breda treaty. These articles provided for the British subjects’ removal from Surinam, they did not remove. The Treaty of Westminster in 1673 again allowed for the removal of the British subjects and in 1675 commissioners were sent from England to bring away “his Majesty’s subjects, their slaves, goods, and estates.” Removal was voluntary.
Along with the HMS Hercules, two merchant ships were hired for the transportation to Jamaica, the America and the Henry and Sarah. The ships departed Surinam in August 1675 and landed at Jamaica in September 1675.
A list of his Majesty’s subjects and slaves transported in his Majesty’s ship, Hercules, from Surinam to Jamaica, viz.:
Andrew and Dolorosa Knight, Ferdinando and Lucretia Woodstock, John and James Jennison, John Lawtis, John Horne, Thomas Sparkes and Thomas Abraham, Christians, with 64 slaves
Major Rich. Scott, with 33 slaves
Hierome and Jane Westhorpe, and John and Mary Creamour, Christians, with 50 slaves
George Gordon, and George Gordon junr., and Mary Hawkins, Christians, with 26 slaves
Samuel and Eliza Tare, and Benj. Holeman, Christians, with 12 slaves
Arthur and Mary Norris, John and James English, Mary Norris, junr., Grace Norris, Daniel Ohane, Will. Johnson and John Taylor, Christians, with 44 slaves
Matthew Eliza Hide and Mary Eliza Hide, junr., Christians, with 35 slaves
Dorothy Wayle and Eliza Render, Christians, with 83 slaves
Arthur Gally, Robert Hudson and George Tindall, Christians, with 42 slaves
William, Mary, William, Philip and John Yearworth, Christians, with 15 slaves, belonging to Aaron de Silva
Isaac de la Parr, Overseer, and Gabriell de Solis, with 33 slaves
William and Dorothy Boone, James and Joane Grimes, Samuel Earle, and Anne Matthews, Christians.
Total, 53 Christians and 449 slaves.
Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 9), America and West Indies, 1675-1676, also Addenda, 1574-1674, Preserved in the Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1893. pp. 285-287.
More information about West Indies’ Planters can be found in the book:
Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713