Global Encounters and the Archives: Britain’s Empire in the Age of Horace Walpole

Letter to Mr. William Adair on Slaves in Havana, December 28, 1763

In 1762 the British briefly captured Havana from the Spanish, who had occupied Cuba since Columbus invaded the island in 1492. The naval squadron controlled by George Keppel, Earl of Albemarle and eventual governor of British Havana, appears in the map's upper right. Paired with this document is a letter that Keppel sent to his friend William Adair the following year, explaining his decision to limit the "importation of blacks" into Havana during his governorship. He was concerned that too large an enslaved population would (1) be dangerous, given the weakened, sickly British military presence there; (2) tempt the Spanish to invade the colony (and, potentially, capture enslaved persons for their own plantations); and (3) limit the number of enslaved persons whom planters on other British West Indies islands could purchase.

Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library

George Keppel, Earl of Albemarle

Keppel Papers (1704-1786)The Keppel Papers include the largest collection of materials on the British occupation of Cuba as well as private correspondence and estate papers of George Keppel (1724-1772).Extent: 9 volumesSummary: The nine volumes of the Keppel Papers form the largest collection of materials on the British occupation of Cuba outside the National Archives in London. They offer unique insight into Britain's brief— and often violent— control of Cuba in the middle of the eighteenth century. Historians of Cuba frequently see this as a vital moment in shaping the future directions of Cuba and so this collection is invaluable not only to British colonial history, but to the history of Cuba herself. This collection also provides material on the British Empire outside of Cuba and on Keppel's private life. George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle (1724-1772), wore many hats during his service to the Crown in the mid-eighteenth century. He served as MP for Chichester, Governor of Jersey, commander-in-chief of the invasion of Havana during the Seven Years' War and governor of Cuba in the mid-1760s. The volumes in this collection are rich with correspondence from various period's in Keppel's life. Some of the papers deal explicitly with political economy, largely during Keppel's short and controversial governorship in Havana, during which time he deported the city's bishop, imposed illegal taxes on merchants trading in the island, placed an embargo on the exportation of flour and greatly restricted the general importation of slaves into Havana. Aside from the papers from this short stint in his political career, much of the correspondence in the rest of the collection addresses Keppel's family estates in Ireland and Holland, each of which were plagued by lawsuits, though these letters also contain wills, marriage agreements, rent negotiations and other accounts. This collection balances not only political and private correspondence, but also local and imperial views of Britain's political economy through the lens of a man who, like many others, held positions and lands both in England and throughout her Empire.