Thomas Thistlewood
About
Thomas Thistlewood was an English-born planter and diarist who spent the majority of his life in the British colony of Jamaica. Born in Tupholme, Lincolnshire, Thistlewood migrated to the western end of Jamaica where he worked as a plantation overseer before acquiring ownership over several slave plantations. During his time in Jamaica, he kept a diary in which Thistlewood recorded numerous aspects of his life. Eventually spanning over 14,000 pages, the diary detailed the brutal mistreatment of the slaves he held authority over, first as an overseer then as a plantation owner.