A Learning City: Bristol’s archives feature in BBC GCSE history film

Posted on by Fay Curtis.

Allie Dillon, Senior Archivist

David Olusoga and Don Jordan during filming at Bristol Archives

David Olusoga and Don Jordan during filming at Bristol Archives

2016 is the Year of Learning in Bristol and we’re enjoying sharing Bristol’s archive collections as widely as possible to show the value of historic records for learning and education.

We’re really pleased that archives from Bristol Archives are being featured in a new short film on the BBC’s new GCSE website, ready for the new history curriculum which will be introduced later this year.

The film tells the story of British indentured workers who emigrated to North America in the 17th century, many of whom sailed from the port of Bristol.

With a growing demand for people to work as cheap labour in the new colonies, young people were contracted to work overseas without pay for an agreed time, in return for the promise of a house, land or payment at the end of their term.

The system was known to be exploitative: many of these people were forced into contracts (which lasted as long as five or seven years) and they often suffered terrible working conditions.

In the film, TV historian David Olusoga and writer Don Jordan examine records which show Bristol’s attempt to manage this problem.

On 29 September 1654, the city’s Common Council introduced an ordinance to prevent the ‘inveigling, purloining, carrying and stealing away’ of ‘boyes, maides and other persons, and transporting them beyond the seas & there selling or otherwise disposing of them for private gain & profit’. (Ref. 04273/1)

As a result, the Council required all indentured servants to be registered before they left Bristol to work overseas and these servants were all listed in registers known as ‘Servants to Foreign Plantations’ (Ref. 04220). Each person’s name was recorded, with details of their destination, their master and the terms of their employment.

Entries in the register Servants to Foreign Plantations

Entries in the register Servants to Foreign Plantations

Between 1654 and 1679, the names of about 10,000 servants who embarked from Bristol were recorded in this book. Most were labourers, farm workers or tradesmen, mostly from the West Country, Wales and the Midlands.

The film is freely available on the BBC’s Bitesize website and it will be used by teachers in classrooms across the country. We hope you enjoy watching – if you know any teachers, please send them a link to the page.

Featured documents:

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