Add MS 89334/1

Journal recounting Coleridge's initial two year residence in the West Indies, following his appointment by the Colonial Office as bishopric of Barbados. Coleridge recounts his father's life as well as his own upbringing, education and early church career before detailing his voyage and findings in the Caribbean. At the time of his appointment, Coleridge was instructed to investigate the wellbeing of the enslaved people, the state of the clergy and physical condition of church property and his entries recount his various investigations and proposed improvements. The manuscript contains transcripts of letters to and from other clergymen and the councils of different islands, as well as reports sent to London. The islands within Coleridge's bishopric, including Trinidad, Antigua, Nevis and St Vincent, are handled in particular detail. Each receives a short description, first of physical aspect and climate and subsequently a survey of its principal challenges. The journal closes with Coleridge's return on leave to Ottery St. Mary.

The volume itself was gifted by a member of Coleridge's clergy in Cowley, Oxford, as specified on p.1: 'This handsomely bound volume, with another, and a port-folio, were given to me, as a mark of regard, by one of my flock, on my leaving my chapel for that higher office in his church'.