Main causes

• Mary Wiltshire, owner of Bayley’s and Wiltshire’s plantations, made provisions for the freedom of her favourite slaves in her will:

  • Mulatto Betsy and her daughter Kitty-Ann
  • Mulatto Nanny and her daughter Elizabeth Else
  • Mulatto Maria and her child Mulatto Harriett
  • George Sealy
  • Black Sabroe
  • Mimbo and her daughter Jenny
  • Old Philly
  • Old Cain and George, Old Phillip’s son
• Mary Wiltshire's son, John, inherited the plantation but refused to carry out her wishes for the freedom of her favourite slaves, leading them to fight for their freedom
• Enslaved populations were aware of the abolitionist movement in Britain and were willing to support their friends in Europe by staging rebellions
• Freed-coloured individuals in Barbados wanted greater civil liberties, including:

  1. The ability to testify against whites in court

  2. The right to protect property and self

  3. Protection from whites who robbed, cheated, and assaulted them

  4. The ability to inherit property from their white fathers
• The success of the Haitian Revolution between 1791 and 1804 inspired slaves in Barbados, like Nanny Grigg, to seek independence using a similar strategy
• The 1815 Registry Bill was a major cause of rebellion as slaves misinterpreted its purpose, believing it was an attempt by planters to prevent them from receiving the freedom Britain intended to grant them