Newspapers

Publication Dates: 1821-Present

There are several newspapers that has been published in the history of Trinidad. These publications can be of utmost importance when conducting family histories. Advertisements in newspapers can provide valuable information about the name of the business, its location and the managers, directors or agents involved with the business within a particular time period. Passenger Lists can also be found providing the names of people departing and arriving into the island, on what vessel they arrived or departed, to which country they were going to or coming from and if there were children with them. Obituaries containing a person’s death announcement can also be found in newspapers giving details of the names of the deceased, where they lived, their profession and the date on which they died. There were reports of events and incidents which occurred providing the specifics of names of persons involved, location and what happened. There were comprehensive reports on proceedings of the legislative council meetings, town hall meetings and treasury reports with the names of those who were present and what transpired during the meetings.

Court cases were also published in newspapers with names of persons involved, the estate they were from, occupation, who the offence was committed against and whether they were jailed, fined, or the case was dismissed. Offences ranged from robbery to breaches of indenture contract. The names of lawyers and witnesses were also contained within in the accounts of court cases. Other information which may be useful to family histories that can be found in newspapers include lists of letters remaining in the Post Office, sitting magistrates, marriages, births, persons qualified to be jurors, return of applications for licenses to sell spirituous liquor and notices of forfeiture of property. These various types of information include the names of people,  their addresses and occupation which is important in tracing a family’s history. Also in the area of sports, names of persons organizing as well as playing in cricket matches and other sporting activities were publicized. Some of the newspapers which are available include:

1. The Trinidad Royal Gazette
2. The Port of Spain Gazette
3. The San Fernando Gazette
4. The Trinidad Guardian
5. The Daily Express

Location: National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago