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The Thomas Thistlewood Papers (1748 – 1796) are a unique perspective into occurrences of the social, political, economic and meteorological history of 18th century Jamaica. 

Thomas Thistlewood Esq., an Englishman, worked as a cattle pen overseer in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica and later became a property owner in Westmoreland, Jamaica for over thirty years. His commonplace journals are considered a unique record of day-to-day life on a working plantation in the British West Indies. The journals provide insight into the customs of the enslaved, their horticultural practices on their small plots – their produce were sold among themselves or to wealthy buyers such as Thistlewood. His meticulous records of botanical practices and medical observations are a drastic contrast to his acts of gender-based violence against enslaved females.

His meteorological observations were cited several times daily and were so detailed they were accepted for inclusion in the 1774 Edward Long publication, History of Jamaica published. The weather reports are the most detailed coming out of Jamaica for the period and showed Thistlewood’s observations on rainfall, wind, temperature readings at sunrise, noon and sunset. 

The overarching value of the Thomas Thistlewood Papers manifest in the potential to unearth meaningful details and stimulate impacting research, particularly in the realm of climate change