Nicholas Darnell Davis collection

Davis had a life-long interest in the history of the West Indies and more specifically of Barbados, and this collection comprises a vast body of material gathered by him from archives in Britain, the Caribbean and Europe. He contributed many historical articles to newspapers and periodicals in British Guiana, Barbados and the United States. His intention to compose a comprehensive history of the West Indies was frustrated by ill health.

Nicholas Darnell Davis (1846-1915) was born in Grenada, and spent brief periods in Mauritius and Sierra Leone, but his main public career was in British Guiana [Guyana], where he served as Postmaster General (1876-1881), Comptroller of Customs (1881-1895), and Auditor-General (1895-1908).

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Presented by Nicholas Darnell Davis around 1915.

Includes index.

MSS 7

Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), p. 139-40.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Davis wrote 'Cavaliers and roundheads of Barbados' (Demerara, 1883) which drew upon sources within the collection.

This collection level description was created by NE and MJC.

Davis, Nicholas Darnell, 1846-1915, historian