# Digitization of British colonial slavery records > Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/digitization-of-british-colonial-slavery-records > Updated: 2026-09-29T21:22:22.000Z. Sources: 4. Developments: 2. Ancestry, in partnership with University College London and the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, has digitized and released approximately four million records online regarding the British slavery era. The collection, titled the Former British Colonies Enslavement Registers, is derived from roughly 300,000 pages of manuscripts held at the UK National Archives. Spanning the years 1813 to 1840, the records cover twenty former British colonies and dependencies, including Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Trinidad, Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope. These documents were originally produced by the British government following the 1807 abolition of the transatlantic slave trade to monitor enslaved populations and prevent illegal trafficking. The entries provide detailed personal data such as names, ages, origins, physical descriptions, family connections, births, deaths, and changes in ownership. The project aims to assist historians and descendants of the African diaspora in tracing family lineages and documenting the lived experiences of enslaved individuals. ## Timeline ### 2026-09-29: Ancestry releases 4 million British colonial slavery records online Nearly 4 million digitized records of enslaved people from 20 former British colonies (1813–1840) are now searchable online to help descendants trace family histories. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/ancestry-releases-4-million-british-colonial-slavery-records-online ### 2026-09-27: Ancestry releases 4 million records on British slavery Ancestry and University College London have released four million digitized records detailing British slavery in twenty colonies between 1813 and 1840, offering new insights into enslaved populations. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/ancestry-releases-4-million-records-on-british-slavery --- Cite as: Digitization of British colonial slavery records. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/digitization-of-british-colonial-slavery-records