Barbados Court Records

Barbados   Court Records

Pre-1800
Despite it's small size, Barbados had many courts. A survey of Barbados records completed in 1965 revealed that the following courts have records surviving before the year 1800:

None of these records are available at the Family History Library. Chandler's guide assists researchers in tracking them down.

England Chancery Court
Genealogists should not neglect the English Court of Chancery when studying early Barbadians. Abstracts of some of these records, relating to residents of the West Indies, were published in Caribbeana in the early twentieth century. See Barbados Periodicals to learn more.

England Privy Council
Caribbeana carried a series of articles on appeals to the Privy Council from the West Indies, which includes Barbados residents:


 * 1600s-1700s - 'Appeals to the Privy Council,' Caribbeana, Vol. 6 (1919):63-72; Vol. 6 (1919):117-120; Vol. 6 (1919):154-158. Digitised by dLOC - free. Antigua, St. Christopher, Jamaica, Virginia.

Vestry Minutes
Church of England vestry minutes, which could be termed church court records, survive from the mid-1600s for select Barbados parishes. Pre-1700 records have been published:


 * St. Michael Parish, see The Journal of the Barbados Museum &amp; Historical Society, Vols. 14-17.
 * St. John Parish, see The Journal of the Barbados Museum &amp; Historical Society, Vols. 31 (pages 32-49), 33.